S16.E08: Penalty Box

[Tara Ariano]

The players compete in a challenge involving water and giant treadmills, and the winning team gets a chance to penalize the two losing teams. Elsewhere, Bob Harper advises two Comeback Canyon contestants about setting priorities.

[bigskygirl]

All I can say is I am glad for one hour episodes. It is just a repeat of past seasons ideas with different contestants and trainers.

[RedheadZombie]

I was hoping Blake would get to makeovers, so someone could free her from that hair.

[catalogrrr]

I like the one hour episodes, too. Much less repetition. I still watch out of the corner of my eye and miss things but at least it's a shorter episode. :)

Can someone explain what Blake was wearing on her feet? They looked like air casts.

Rob and Lori can go any time.

There are other contestants that I actually like but I still can't be bothered to remember all of their names. Sigh ...

[WhineandCheez]

That African American former NFL blue guy needs to win (name?). He carried each member of his team and now he is carrying Lori's depressed, hangdog ass.  He should win for it.

 

So glad too it's one hour now.I think by now we have proved that trainer or not, in the gym or not, none of it FRICKIN' MATTERS.  It's probably just hormones and body chemistry that week. Thought it was interesting that apparently they cook their own food.  I thought they had a cafeteria type thing they went to.  Has the show always been so secretive about the food part??

[Primetimer]

A tread-mauling challenge sends one team to Sin City.

Read the story

[ramble]

Even pretty Dolvett didn't help this episode. It was boring. I like the blue former football player too WhineandCheez. He's working hard, enthusiastic & seems to be enjoying himself. Win it all guy whose name I can't recall.

I was glad to see Blake go. She was causing my teeth to wear down from grinding them in annoyance. I also really find it hard to listen to her stories of life long struggles & former glory that she's lost when she is freaking 18 years old.

My next wish to leave is Mad Kermit. He alternately creeps me out & makes me worry that he's on the verge of a homocidal rampage. It's a visceral reaction with him. I just don't like him.

I was disappointed no one went bonkers in Vegas. I know these folks need to get healthy & learn new habits, but an evil part of me wanted to see a drunken pig out that closed down the buffet. I have no shame.

Edited October 31, 2014 by ramble

[Mu Shu]

God I wanted it be thin eyebrow woman. Loved her barking orders and worrying about JJ. When she lost the treadmill challenge. And the weigh in of her team. Suck it, rodent eyes. Oh, and being "all state in H S volleyball" is nowhere the level of being in the NFL.

These people just have too much weight to lose to make it compelling week to week. The results are too subtle due to morbid obesity, and Woodys. Man boobs and stretch marks make me cringe. Rage boy is just creepy.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I was hoping Blake would get to makeovers, so someone could free her from that hair.

I hope they chop it right off if she ends up getting back in. 

[Princess Sparkle]

I like the one hour episodes, too. Much less repetition. I still watch out of the corner of my eye and miss things but at least it's a shorter episode. :)

Can someone explain what Blake was wearing on her feet? They looked like air casts.

Rob and Lori can go any time.

There are other contestants that I actually like but I still can't be bothered to remember all of their names. Sigh ...

I believe they are air casts; in a previous week, she mentioned she had stress fractures in her feet.

[pally]

Damien has been all over his daytime job at ESPN the last 2 days.  He looks really good, very muscular and he said he hasn't been this small since middle school.  He pointed out he weighed over 300 in high school which may indicate he is less than that now.   He wasn't allowed to say exactly how much he has lost.  They must be on the at home hiatus between the filming on the last episode and the finale otherwise I can't see him being allowed to be back working if he was simply eliminated.  I like him so I hope he made the finales

Edited October 31, 2014 by pally

[Mu Shu]

It takes a lot of balls to get up there every week with your junk hanging out.   Imagine how hard it must be for an 18 year old girl, what with body insecurities even small girls experience.   I like Blake.   She's comported herself as a young lady and has been very low key and mature.   Later for Dolvett insinuating she needs to "open up" to lose weight.   She has lost weight.  And it seems she's suffering stress fractures, which limits how much working out she can do.    All these people are too heavy for such extended high impact cardio. 

 

I'll say it again:  Sonya for the win.   She's an animal, and a total delight of a person. 

[auntjess]

 

I was disappointed no one went bonkers in Vegas. I know these folks need to get healthy & learn new habits, but an evil part of me wanted to see a drunken pig out that closed down the buffet.

Are you kidding?  Sonya would have seriously hurt anyone doing that.  She kept them going.

This was so different from "pride on three" from a much earlier season.

I like Damien a lot, and hope he does make it at least to the finals. 

[Eeksquire]

I think this is the best edit that Blake's gotten since she's been there - they toned down her doofy teenagerness and then it made me sad that she was at the bottom (although really, if she has stress fractures in both feet, it might be for the best - can they institute a mercy rule of some kind?)  I'm hoping for a Damian/Sonya finale - don't really care who's in the third spot because either the rest cannot leave soon enough for me (ROB) or I have no idea who they are the rest of the white team? Couldn't tell you what most of their names are).

 

I do appreciate that all of the teams this year seem to be about just going about things and getting it done without too much whining or excessive arrogance.

[newyawk]

You cannot tell me that there was only ONE place to eat in that hotel. ALL casino-hotels have multiple restaurants, whether in Vegas or Atlantic City. Failing that, there is no shortage of restaurants of all calibers in both cities. Everyone knows that the worst food for you is going to be there in large quantities at the buffet. It would have been much smarter for them to go to one of the restaurants that I know were there, because they would have had more choices and more control. I wonder if the producers limited them to ONLY eating at the buffet. At least it seemed they were able to find some food there that wasn't too catastrophic.

 

I hate that the show was moved to Thursdays. It isn't a day off for me so I can't watch it live and it is taking me longer to find it online now after it airs, for some reason.

 

I feel like JJ, seeing that he had drinks and some other not-so-great stuff in Vegas and still lost 7 lbs, is going to get it stuck in his head that he can continue to eat that way and stay on top of his weight. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that with him, that is a slippery slope and I am wondering how he will continue to do at home..

 

"if you do open up, you'll never struggle with your weight again." No, no, no, Dolvett. Platitudes, schmattitudes. You can recognize the issues and still continue to have the struggles. It is not that simple. I feel like I missed the part about Blake opening up, unless "I don't like being lonely" was it. I was kind of surprised that I got my wish and she was the red line victim for this week. Well, better her than Scott. 

 

Damien is astounding. I cannot believe he pulled it off AGAIN..9 pounds! I am so glad he's still there. But I hate that he has been put in the position every week since the beginning, of having to be the one to rescue the team.

 

I actually like Comeback Canyon. I like the idea of there being a second level to things after people think they are going home. I am sorry to see Gina go, but wow, neither her nor Jackie lost very much this week. Then again, neither were losing big numbers back on the Ranch, either. Gina is starting to look fantastic, though.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

The way that everyone was so paranoid in Vegas with the eating and drinking leads me to believe that there is a lot of fear being instilled, and not a lot of portion control and real world stuff being taught. One drink, or one piece of something cooked it butter isn't going to kill them, they just can't do it all the time!

[Jersey Guy 87]

Every decent hotel in Vegas has a gym they could have worked out in.  As others have mentioned there are tons of places to eat, you don'thave to go to the buffets.  But I guess that's what the producers wanted so that's where they ate.

 

I think if my team won a challenge I'd stick my own team with the "spend a week without your trainer" penalty because it never seems to hurt anyone.  Nice message, Biggest Loser.

[beaker73]

The way that everyone was so paranoid in Vegas with the eating and drinking leads me to believe that there is a lot of fear being instilled, and not a lot of portion control and real world stuff being taught. One drink, or one piece of something cooked it butter isn't going to kill them, they just can't do it all the time!

This is where this show fails in my opinion. Losing weight isn't all about the hard core workouts. It's also about nutrition and learning how to eat better. We see virtually nothing about food and I suspect it's because they're placed on such restrictive diets that the show doesn't want us to see that.

What would have been nice is to have seen Jen sit down with her team and say, "Hey, if you want to have a cocktail one night that's fine. Stick to a glass of wine or stay away from sugary drinks. Use club or diet sodas as your mixer. It's OK if you want a slice of duck from the buffet or a scoop of pasta. Just balance it out with grilled veggies or a salad." Teach them how to eat for the rest of their lives.

One of my favorite scenes from this show was when Jillian visited Tara at home and took her to lunch. Tara was all stressed about the finale and Jillian told her to have a glass of wine and Tara just about fell out of her chair. Jillian was all like, "Good god, it's one glass of wine. You need to learn how to live your life." She was right.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

What would have been nice is to have seen Jen sit down with her team and say, "Hey, if you want to have a cocktail one night that's fine. Stick to a glass of wine or stay away from sugary drinks. Use club or diet sodas as your mixer. It's OK if you want a slice of duck from the buffet or a scoop of pasta. Just balance it out with grilled veggies or a salad." Teach them how to eat for the rest of their lives.

One of my favorite scenes from this show was when Jillian visited Tara at home and took her to lunch. Tara was all stressed about the finale and Jillian told her to have a glass of wine and Tara just about fell out of her chair. Jillian was all like, "Good god, it's one glass of wine. You need to learn how to live your life." She was right.

They are creating really disordered eaters. ( Does that make sense?)

These people won't survive back in their real lives if they fear eating. Then they'll crash and binge and end up back where they were. 

[beaker73]

They are creating really disordered eaters. ( Does that make sense?)

These people won't survive back in their real lives if they fear eating. Then they'll crash and binge and end up back where they were.

Makes perfect sense. They're either going to gain it back or go to the other extreme like Rachel and Helen.

[worleybird]

So where did the White Team get all their Vegas clothes from? The had already lost 7 weeks worth of weight, so the clothes they might've brought from home would've been too big. It's these little details that bug the heck out of me. LOL

[mamey2422]

@pally

Damien has been all over his daytime job at ESPN the last 2 days.  He looks really good, very muscular and he said he hasn't been this small since middle school.  He pointed out he weighed over 300 in high school which may indicate he is less than that now.   He wasn't allowed to say exactly how much he has lost.  They must be on the at home hiatus between the filming on the last episode and the finale otherwise I can't see him being allowed to be back working if he was simply eliminated.  I like him so I hope he made the finales

 

He does look really good. I know he's been all over TV but just in case:

https://sqor.com/posts/399247c3-9551-4696-8982-a5ee6aaac914

 

Woody is my favorite and I am rooting for him to win it all.  I haven't watched this show in years but the ex-athlete angle drew me in and Woody, and the blue team, kept me interested.

[Eeksquire]

One thing that struck me about the Vegas trip: When we see the contestants week to week, they're always in their workout gear, so you can tell the difference as they're losing.  When that's the only visual, I start to think, "Wow - that guy is really doing great!"  But, put them in "regular" clothes and man, it just highlights how far they have to go still.  The biggest one that hit me was JJ - when he had his "regular" clothes on in Vegas, suddenly it was obvious why his teammates were so worried about him!

 

(Also: they didn't need to dump the champagne after one sip.  That was ridiculous, as was the whole shot fiasco.  They've got the Vivofits and surely it would be easy enough to figure out "Ok, I had a glass of wine, that's 120 calories, so I need to do extra physical activity for 120 calories and hey! I've got this neat device that will tell me EXACTLY HOW TO DO THAT.")

[nccueagle84]

I'm not that sad that Blake was at the bottom & had to leave.  She annoys the heck out of me.  I don't even understand how she even got to be the weight she started at.  She's only 18, so if she was a high school track star wouldn't that have just happened a year ago? How to you gain that much in a year?  Or did run track in like the 9th grade and that's 3-4 years of weight gain?

[Mu Shu]

I don't know what sport Blake did, but if it was track and field, probably shot put or discus.    She could have been a bench warmer in any case, since she doesn't strike me as terribly athletic, but then again, most of them don't.     

 

She has at least 1 more and probably 2 more weeks at crapout canyon,    so she should have gotten enough instruction and motivation to do it on her own.  Thirty more pounds down, and she'll look quite nice. 

[WhineandCheez]

crapout  canyon

 

They need to call it " Last Eliminated Gets To Stay Exactly One More Week" Canyon, but that doesn't flow very well.  It's a joke.  

[Lesia]

If these people, who have access to trainers and dieticians, and who exercise 8 hours a day only manage to lose 3 pounds in a week, A/ it shows that weight loss is a deeply complex thing, and 2/ that food plays a greater role than this show would like to admit.

I used to exercise like a madwoman for years, doing video workouts. My weight was basically stable, between 125-130. About 6 years ago I was put on migraine preventative medication, and it completely took away my appetite. I didn't want to eat at all. I dropped to 116 in the blink of an eye. It was really astounding.

Yes, I agree that they are producing "disordered eaters."

[Mrsjumbo]

Hmmm, I need that migraine prevention medicine! :)

Once again I chuckled as Crapback Canyon was a fail. It's a good idea in theory- 2nd chances and all, but keep everyone & have them compete at the end. The way it is now, odds are always that the ranch person, who came from a small loss will beat out the canyon person, who had to have a bigger loss the previous week.

What was up with the casts on Blake's feet? What are they doing to the contestants?

I also wanted to see someone losing control in Vegas. Since I still don't know most contestants, I was shocked to see JJ's age posted as 22. I would have guessed 42.

Damien or Sonya for the win! I think both have humble, hardworking personalities.

I don't see how Blake "opened up". She only said that she missed her friends.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I don't see how Blake "opened up". She only said that she missed her friends.

She's 18. That's all she had going on! ( Unless deep down, she knows she needs her hair trimmed and can't admit it)

Dolvett and the show are trying to be a little too dramatic with this girl. Let her adjust to being away from home for the first time. 

Edited November 3, 2014 by Mrs OldManBalls

[Jersey Guy 87]

Blake annoyed me by talking about how she "did stuff on her own."  Actually, no, you didn't do anything on your own.  You were in a highly controlled environment with people on your ass basically 24x7.  I don't see her keeping the weight off "on her own" once she bounces out of Bob's House of Horrors.

[sunrisepink]

They need to call it " Last Eliminated Gets To Stay Exactly One More Week" Canyon, but that doesn't flow very well.  It's a joke.  

 

I think my favorite snark on this segment so far has been the nickname "Comeback Craphole."

[LoneHaranguer]

 

They need to call it " Last Eliminated Gets To Stay Exactly One More Week" Canyon, but that doesn't flow very well.  It's a joke.

Bob is running the ranch's checkout desk. Contestants hang around a week while the arrangements are made to send them home.

[rozen]

Bob is running the ranch's checkout desk. Contestants hang around a week while the arrangements are made to send them home.

 

Ha!

 

Comeback Canyon only has a chance to being interesting when it's near the end, and he has two people of the same gender. At that point everyone will be mostly muscle and gristle without much weight to lose, then some people might hang out more than a week.

 

Blake might have had a chance if she didn't have stress fractures in both feet, and if women kept falling below the red line. She's been one of the most consistent weight losers on the ranch(young, high metabolism) and could possibly have beat out a couple of weeks. But now she's stuck with low impact stuff and will be swiftly booted by the next person. I've felt some kind of way for Blake ever since the at home letters, where her mom called her 'piglet' or something equally heinous. And then they showed a picture of her mom, looking like an aging pageant queen, being hoisted up by Blake. I suspect there are some unpleasant at-home interactions and wouldn't be surprised if her mother actively undermines her.

 

I've watched too much Extreme Weightloss: Home Addition, I'm always suspicious of near family members, rofl.

Edited November 4, 2014 by rozen

[Kromm]

Bob.... you and your Comeback Craphole SUCK!

[Dittohead]

 

This is where this show fails in my opinion. Losing weight isn't all about the hard core workouts. It's also about nutrition and learning how to eat better.

and

 

... food plays a greater role than this show would like to admit.

I agree with the person who said that people this size probably shouldn't be doing such extreme cardio work. 

Over the past seven months I have managed to lose more than 40 pounds by diet alone. I limit my calories to 1200 per day.  (I do not exercise due to leg and foot problems.) My blood sugar and cholesterol numbers went down to healthier numbers.  On the one hand I am ecstatic that I was able to lose that much, but on the other, I can't see that much of a difference physically when I look in the mirror.  I am guessing that the bottom line, at least for me, is that diet plays a much bigger role in getting the weight off, but exercise is what you need for chiseling out your muscles and getting rid of flab. Even after a forty pound loss I have only gone down one size in my blue jeans.

[Mu Shu]

and

I agree with the person who said that people this size probably shouldn't be doing such extreme cardio work. 

Over the past seven months I have managed to lose more than 40 pounds by diet alone. I limit my calories to 1200 per day.  (I do not exercise due to leg and foot problems.) My blood sugar and cholesterol numbers went down to healthier numbers.  On the one hand I am ecstatic that I was able to lose that much, but on the other, I can't see that much of a difference physically when I look in the mirror.  I am guessing that the bottom line, at least for me, is that diet plays a much bigger role in getting the weight off, but exercise is what you need for chiseling out your muscles and getting rid of flab. Even after a forty pound loss I have only gone down one size in my blue jeans.

Food is probably the biggest factor, I agree.    It just takes too much exercise to use it to drop weight alone.    I'm sure they are calorie restricting, too, but the amount of exercise they're putting in is not only hard on their stressed bodies, it's unsustainable if you have a job, a life,  or hopefully both. 

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Food is probably the biggest factor, I agree.    It just takes too much exercise to use it to drop weight alone.

The rule of thumb for walking/running is "calories = (your weight) times (distance in miles)", so not eating is a much more efficient way of losing weight, but there's a limit to how far you can take that, and it means that the contestants have to rely on exercise to get the big numbers needed to stay in the competition.

[Eeksquire]

I think for these guys, it's both: because they are so heavy, their basal metabolic rate is a pretty high number of calories.  If you take their calories back to 2,000 per day or even 1500-1800 per day, they're going to drop pretty large numbers based on food alone.  The exercise should be a bonus.

 

Of course, that's the constant refrain of everyone I know: "I wish they would talk more about the food on this show!" Even if they did webisodes with each contestant and the show's nutritionist about how to determine how many calories they should be consuming per day to lose X lbs per week.  Not to mention, then you could see what the differences are between the men and women, the extremely heavy and the less than extreme (at least for this show where everyone is starting from morbidly obese).

[Meushell]

She's 18. That's all she had going on! ( Unless deep down, she knows she needs her hair trimmed and can't admit it)

Dolvett and the show are trying to be a little too dramatic with this girl. Let her adjust to being away from home for the first time.

Yes, it annoyed me that her "low" weight loss was blamed on her not opening up. She's been doing great against the others, and that's without being a 300+ guy. She's worked hard enough to get stress fractures. Dolvett should acknowledeged she was due for an off week, not implying it was her fault for not bringing in the drama.

[newyawk]

Blake had had a a number of 5 pound weeks before she went to three and then one, so for this show, I think she was doing average. I don't have the impression, based on what I have seen of her, that she has it in her at this point, anyway, to keep off whatever weight she loses for the long run, once she isn't competing in a weight loss contest.