Previously on The Biggest Loser Transformed Luke was sent home at the elimination, as he probably should have been, since he gained weight at the weigh-in, the most cardinal of sins on a weightloss show!

Today, contestants get messages from home. Then training, then a cooking session!

There’s a knock on the door in the morning and Nikki answers it to find a stack of presents with each of their names on them.

Nikki says she loves sharing these moments with Amy, she’s her closest friend in the house. Awwww!

Nikki’s in tears straight away, a photo of her daughter Lilly at her daycare thing. She’d been questioning her decision to go away but she feels more motivated now.

Amy’s got some achievements in her box, things she should be proud of. Like coaching a soccer team for four years after playing for sixteen years! She’s barely old enough to have played for sixteen years, nice work!

Simmo’s got a huge stack of photos from his family, along with a usb key to plug into the telly and watch. It’s his sister and he misses her a lot. Aww!

Simmo also has one fingernail painted. I assume one of the girls attacked him!

Lynton’s got a bunch of photos and a PLANE! A little model biplane. Cool. His photos aren’t so well taken, but he likes that they’re the things his Mum knows he’d like to see.

Lisa-Faye (not a real name) is in tears as well. Her little boy’s favourite teddy is on the top of the box. She knows parents go away all the time, but this is the longest she’s had to be away. Simon’s got his son’s little teddybear and towel thing. He’s not sure how his son can sleep without his teddy.

Matt opens his box and can smell his family, hah! Brett’s got one of his son’s dummies, and “Rabby”, toy rabbit that never normally leaves home, so it’s a big sacrifice from his little girl.

Matt’s in tears when he opens his box too. Pictures of… his boyfriend? And dogs. He doesn’t actually say, so I’m assuming a lot there. He says he’s basically unrecognisable, Brett says. Matt’s got a steely determination to him now.

And Matt’s family has also put some pillow spray in the box, which Brett says they definitely need!

First training team today is Orange, they’ve brought motivations from their letters from home. Nikki has a picture of her daughter Lily, not that she seems to need much pushing lately as she was the biggest loser on the team this week!

Lisa-Faye (not a real name) has realised how vulnerable you can be in the competition after the weigh-in, so now she’s not going to stop. Not going to stop exercising, getting the diet nailed, etc. Her transformation will mean 20 more years with her son, she’ll see him walk down the aisle, see grandchildren.

Wow, way to put the pressue on. He’s just a wee lad!

After training Libby has her team run out into the rain for a rain dance. Must be nice after a hot workout.

Shannan’s team look very happy today, so because they’re on a high he’s going to do something a bit more fun. They’ll each design an 8 minute workout to lead the team through, with Shannan’s guidance.

Matt’s on first and he’s getting them to do 8 minutes of cardio because Shannan’s said they need to get that higher. Shannan’s obviously very proud of Matt today, he’d never been in a commercial gym before and today he’s taking charge of the training session like a professional trainer.

Matt tells Shannan he still feels a bit uncomfortable, but he’s enjoying it. Shannan has a chuckle with him.

Amy’s next and Shannan’s just as happy with her efforts. She’s got Simmo and Lynton semi-competing on the resistance bikes and puts the resistance up on Simmo’s because she knows he can work harder.

Simmo’s really looking forward to getting his turn as instructor so he can smash the others.

Simmo’s been the biggest loser three times and everyone wants to know his secret. Shannan says it’s not the exercises it’s his determination and drive, from day one.

Amy’s goal this week is to be the biggest loser of the week, she reckons she can take him. Simmo challenges Amy to hit 75rpm on the assault bike and hold it for 10 seconds. Shannan’s egging her on, too. Amy says the boys inspire her and she loves getting in there and competing right alongside them.

Lynton’s session has everyone on the spin bikes going 8 seconds as hard as you can then 12 seconds rest. Over and over. Matt was expecting Lynton’s session to be a bit easy because he thinks Lynton still lacks confidence.

Everyone’s super surprised by how bloody hard he’s pushing them in training. Everyone agrees Lynton’s session was the best, Matt says he “hates him”. Hah!

And now, time for another nutrition challenge! Qualified chef, nutritionist and fitness trainer, but best known as The Healthy Chef. Teresa Cutter! Everyone’s very happy to see her, they all love her book which they’ve got in the house and cook from regularly.

Teresa says her journey started when she was 9 years old. Highschoolers were measuring heights and weights in her class and she was 10-15kg overweight at the time and that got her eating better and exercising more.

Now? She’s skinny as!

Today she’s teaching the contestants about gut health, how to help their gut function and whatnot. Nikki knows nothing about gut health, what even is that?

Amy says they’ve all clearly not been listening to their bodies and that’s how they got to where they are.

Teresa’s showing them a carrot cake they can make with half the normal amount of sugar and is gluten free “which is fantastic”. Yes, if you’re a coeliac. Otherwise it’s bloody pointless.

Only takes five minutes to make! Simon says he’s never been a fan of carrot cake, why have that when you can have chocolate cake. Indeeeed!

500 grams of grated, raw, organic carrot. I assume grated, raw, carrot-from-the-supermarket would also be okay.
300 grams of ground almond meal.
4 organic eggs.
Half a cup of maple syrup.
Two teaspoons of ground cinnamon.
About a cup of blueberries.

Mix it up, bake in a moderate oven (160 degrees celsius) for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Here’s one she prepared earlier! It looks a little burnt, good thing this isn’t Bake Off.

Also, here’s some icing she prepared earlier! Labna (?) icing. Yoghurt, it’s made from yoghurt. That’s not icing, then.

Extra blueberries on top. Nikki says it looks way too good to be a healthy cake!

Now they’ve tasted her cake it’s time to cook five of her quick, healthy gut dishes. They’ll be cooked in a relay and the first team to finish all five dishes to Teresa’s satisfaction will win an important advantage for something or other, later in the week.

First dish is a gluten free pumpkin bread. Second dish is a strawberry protein smoothie. Third, a massaged kale salad. Fourth, braised white fish with tumeric. Fifth, gluten free low carb spag bol. Spiralised zucchini instead of pasta. Seen that already!

Orange Team only has three people, so two of them have to cook twice. And since Simmo’s got the power, he gets to pick who has to cook twice.

So, Simon and either Nikki or Lisa-Faye (not a real name) will have to cook twice?

Simon and Nikki will be cooking twice, Simmo confirms. Lisa-Faye (not a real name) says she’s never seen Simon cook something in a frypan that hasn’t ended up black. Oh dear!

Lisa-Faye (not a real name) is taking the first leg, starting off with the pumpkin bread. She’s leaving the skin on her pumpkin and blitzing it in the food processor.

Lynton’s doing the bread for Blue and is grating the pumpkin by hand, not in the machine. Which might be the right way? Lynton’s feeling more confident with his cooking now. Amy says they joke that Lynton can’t cook but he’s good at following a recipe. Careful list following is definitely a good skill for a pilot to have, not sure how often that translates into the kitchen though!

Teresa finally wanders over to Lisa-Faye (not a real name) and asks her why she’s left the skin on her pumpkin. Bit late, Teresa! She’s already wasted a bunch of pumpkin! Lisa-Faye (not a real name) thought maybe it was for extra fibre but apparently not.

Lynton’s got his pumpkin breads in the oven before Lisa-Faye (not a real name) is even ready.

Brett’s on the protein smoothie next, beavering away as Teresa finally saunters over to check Orange’s bread. It’s good, time to get on with it!

Interestingly they’re not using pre-made milk for the smoothie, they’re blending up almonds and sieving the chunks out. Not a fan of almond milk, but it’s interesting to see they’re doing it from scratch.

Blend the milk with some strawberries and bananas and you’re basically done. Easy task for Brett, who isn’t too confident in the kitchen.

Simon’s struggling. Hasn’t got his glasses on so he can’t see which one the teaspoon is versus the tablespoon. He’s a tip, teaspoons are smaller!

He’s doing okay, but Simmo’s on to the massaged kale salad. Lots and lots of green stuff!

Simmo’s getting checked by Teresa and he’s used coriander instead of parsley. Now his salad will taste the wrong kind of gross!

The blunder has given Orange a chance to catch up. Nikki’s beating her salad up more than massaging it, so she puts a look of bliss on her face and feels it up more slowly. “Make sure it’s really well tossed.” Ahuh.

After his blunder, Simmo is still ahead when he calls Teresa over for a taste. Nikki’s salad is tasted a bit later but it looks like it’s not such a distance between the two anymore.

Amy’s doing the Blue Team’s fish dish because it can be a bit hard to get right. Meanwhile, Simon’s staring blankly at the ingredients display because he can’t work out what two of the things look like. Teresa finally comes to his rescue after he’s stood there for about five minutes. Advantage back to Blue!

Amy’s also tasked with picking out a pumpkin bread from the oven. It looks really good, so they’re all really happy with Lynton’s effort at the start.

Simon’s struggling in the kitchen, still. He’s good at all the physical challenges but garbage in the kitchen. They’re probably doooomed!

Amy’s a bit worried about her fish because it’s thin in some parts and thick in others, so it might be overcooked or undercooked, but it smells good and Teresa’s happy with it and the pumpkin bread. Onwards to the spag bol, that Matt’s cooking.

Matt seems quite comfortable in the kitchen, but it’s still a competition. Go fast!

Simon doesn’t normally eat fish but he’s impressed by how good it looks and smells, and Teresa’s happy too. Nikki’s last leg, she turns out a pumpkin bread for Teresa and it tastes good too.

So it’s Nikki and Matt, head to head for the final stage. Nikki’s good in the kitchen, so it’s not all done and dusted yet. Amy’s also calling out encouragement to Nikki, because they’re all mates by now. Bit of a change from othe seasons, where the bitterness has overtaken them all.

It’s getting close so Matt’s told to hurry up a bit… Teresa comes over as he plates up some zucchini and says it looks a bit soggy. Do it again!

It’s basically back to evens now, with Nikki blazing away after apparently cutting her finger at some point? A bandaid has appeared!

Matt’s second plating of the zucchini looks much the same as his first but apparently it looks better now?

It’s all come down to the grating of some parmesan and an ad break shows up before we find out who puts their hand up first. DUN DUN DUN!

Matt’s got his hand up first, so he’ll be judged first. If it’s wrong and Nikki’s got it right, it’s all over for Blue.

Teresa says it’s got some good bite in the zucchini, the bolognaise stuff is well seasoned, and it’s all acceptable. Blue Team wins and just about hug Matt to death.

Nikki’s disappointed, but pleased it was so close in the end.

Blue’s reward? An afternoon of pure luxury. Massages, manicures, pedicures. Amy’s thrilled, Matt’s thrilled, the other boys not so much?

Simmo and Brett are first to get a pedicure. Brett’s actually got a lot of pedicures before, he goes with his daughter on Daddy-Daughter dates. She’s only four but they have a lot of fun together. Aww!

The Orange Team sneak in to the reward room to have a giggle with the Blues. Nikki presses her face to the window to make a piggyface. Cute! When they come inside Lynton says he’s pretty sure this is the room for winners! Lisa-Faye (not a real name) fake throttles him for that one.

Then the show glitches out and we’re mid-tomorrow-night teaser. Where I guess everyone who was previously eliminated is getting a chance on the scales, with five of them to battle it out in the arena for a ticket back in. Expected, but still exciting! Always good to see who’s done really well on the outside after the kickstart.