Final Four!

We start with a glimpse of Week 1, where everyone started and the images are pretty shocking compared to how the contestants look now.  There are lots of clips of Bob and Jillian screaming in the gym and the contestants sweating and crying.  It’s kind of awesome.

Ali tells everyone they’re going home for 60 days, and that they’re going to face some big challenges.  No Bob and Jillian, no ranch, and all the temptations of being home.  And after two months they’ll come back to the ranch for one last weigh-in.

Sound familiar?  The same thing happened last season.

And just like that everyone is going home.  (No good-bye to the trainers at the ranch? Okay then.)  The homecomings are just what you would expect them to be.  Everyone cries when they’re reunited with their families.  There’s lots of screaming and jumping up and down, and it’s sweet.  The families are all just beaming with pride and joy at the transformations that have taken place.

At Home:

Danny likes to take drives when he feels like he needs to refocus.  He says it’s a constant mental struggle to stay on track.  Amanda talks about how she’s always used her weight to hide and fighting to avoid falling into old habits.  Rudy has finally realized that food isn’t the answer to his problems, and working out is a healthier option but he needs to confront the larger issues.  Good call Rudy, too bad you didn’t open up like this back on the ranch when Jillian and Bob were there to help you… Meanwhile Liz and her husband have a heart-to-heart about the state of their marriage and how important it is for them to find some happiness.

The contestants get surprise packages at home that include a DVD from Bob and Jillian.  The DVDs also have clips of the contestants during their original interviews.  The trainers (mostly Bob) give them big pep talks the contestants get recharged.  And then surprise surprise – the trainers call each person and tell them they’re going to run a marathon.

Holy cow man.  Twenty-six point two miles.  Amanda is the only one who seems even remotely psyched about it.  Everyone else is a little worried.

Then there’s some product placement for the Biggest Loser game on Wii, which does look kind of fun actually.  And then Curtis Stone shows up at Danny’s house to teach him how to cook healthy food.  I’m sure something else happened after that point but I don’t know what it was.  I was busy thinking naughty things about Curtis Stone and that delicious accent of his.

Mmmmm…  Where was I?

Trainer Home Visits!

Bob and Jill surprise their contestants at home they’re sooo excited.  Jillian visits Danny and Liz and Bob visits Amanda and Rudy.  Everyone talks about how difficult it can be to adjust to life at home compared to the focus they could maintain on the ranch.  Real life is hard, and finding a balance is really difficult.  This is the downside of the show.  You lose weight super quick at the ranch and then BAM! Real life has been waiting for you all along and it’s there to knock you on your ass.  Jillian says that the ranch is there to make a person strong enough to deal with their real lives, which makes sense when you think about it.  (I’m glad they included this part in the show.  It helps bring home the reality that losing 100+ pounds in 11 weeks at the ranch is different than losing 100+ pounds at home.)

Blah blah Subway product placement…

The contestants start training on their own for the marathon.  Liz is running the 1-mile track from her front door to her mailbox over and over to train.  That would be… boring.

Final Challenge!

Ali greets everyone for the marathon.  When they finish the race they’ll get $10,000 to donate to the charity of their choice (sponsored by Biggest Loser protein shakes, naturally).  And they’re off!  Amanda and Rudy take the early lead but Danny and Liz are happy running together shortly behind.  All of the sudden Tara from last season is there to surprise them!  And then Dena is there to meet Rudy and run with him.  Amanda’s best friend is there to run the last half with her.  Then Tara.  Amanda has a minor meltdown because she wants to keep running but her legs are like lead and she has to walk, but she keeps going.  At mile 15 Danny has a horrible pain in his hip, legs and knees and thinks about quitting.  Amanda starts to struggle at mile 23 but Tara helps push her to keep going.  Bob meets Rudy at mile 25 for the last 1.2 miles.  And the last mile of the race is the same mile they ran on Week 1.  That’s awesome.

Rudy wins, with a time of 5.5 hours.  Helen and Mike from last season are there to meet him at the end.  Bob meets with Amanda for the last mile and they book it to the finish line just after Rudy.  That just leaves Danny and Liz and Danny is struggling.  He and Liz stop for some ice and then push through the pain to keep going.  They’re going to finish.  They’re determined.

Liz and Danny lean on each other all the way through the race and it’s kind of sweet.  Jillian meets them for the last mile and she’s beaming to see them finish.  They end it at just a shade under seven hours.

Go Losers!  They all did it!  But the weigh-in is still looming…

Weigh-In!

The two people who fall below the yellow line will be up for a elimination and America will get to choose who makes the cut.  During their two months at home the contestants have lost:

Liz -16

Amanda -16

Danny -59 (Holyshit!)

Rudy -43

That means Liz and Amanda are up for elimination.  To cast your vote go to NBC.com.  Voting ends at 3 p.m. EST today, December 2nd and you get 10 votes per email address.

Next week? Finale time!