by David McAlpine

 

Last time on The Biggest Loser, the Blue Team won immunity and Tracey was safe for another week, much to the dismay of the other contestants. Instead, fan favorite Abby Rike, the widow who lost her husband and children in a car accident, was voted off.

 

This week, the contestants are off to Washington, D.C. And what better way to change the country’s obesity problem than to go to the nation’s capital?

 

However, last night seemed to be more about the location and the country’s problem in general (or, rather, the population’s problem) than about the contestants themselves. It was even insinuated that, since they went to the White House, their show is important. It was almost a little scary.

 

The teams first head to the Jefferson Memorial, where Alison gives a quick history lesson. Thomas Jefferson believed in individual rights, so being there is the perfect place to enter the last stage of the game: individuals. Everyone gets to wear their original color, but even though there are two Oranges and two Pinks, everyone is on their own.

 

The first challenge is the most innovative I’ve seen on the Biggest Loser in a long time. It’s not an endurance competition, it’s not a temptation thing, and it doesn’t involve some incredibly physical task that would be difficult to do if you were overweight. Instead, each person is challenged to go out and collect as many people as possible for a giant workout in front of the Washington Monument. The winner gets a “huge” advantage in the immunity challenge and a free trip to Subway.

 

Everyone has their own strategies. Some take to walking the streets, some stay in one place and gather people. Allen heads to the nearest firehouse and tries to recruit fellow firefighters, while Liz tries to charm and guilt people into doing it for her. Everyone brings their crews over to the Washington Monument, where it seems really close. In fact, Ali says it only came down to one person. The winner? Liz and her guilt-driven ways. Gotta love her!

 

Then they actually all got to work out. It was great to see Jillian walking through the crowds of people, yelling at everyone. If only I could feel the wrath of Jillian Michaels, my life would be complete. At the end of the day, Bob even stood on a firefighter’s back as he did push-ups. Yes, that’s how intense they got with America.

 

The contestants’ next stop was the Senatorial Summit where they met with two Senators and got to share stories. It was really emotional and nice to see, but really not much else to elaborate on.

 

Now it’s time for a super intense immunity challenge, which will have the contestants visiting four major places in Washington, D.C. Each round, the bottom three finishers will be eliminated. Because she won the reward challenge, Liz has a ticket that enables her to skip one leg, but not the last one. For the first round, everyone has to run a mile (and, of course, there’s flashbacks to week 1). Rebecca is the first to finish this time, followed by Daniel, Allen, Amanda, Rudy then Liz. Danny, Tracey and Shay are all eliminated, though Tracey is happy that she was able to get through the leg period.

 

Next, they go to the Lincoln Memorial, where they’re starting at the top of the steps. At the bottom of the steps is a pile of 17,954 pennies, one penny for each pound lost on the Biggest Loser to date. Then, they have to race back up the steps and put their pennies in their “bank,” a clear tube with a marker. Liz chooses to skip this leg, putting her automatically into the next round. Apparently they can’t use their shirts to carry pennies, so it’s all in the hands. Rudy finishes quickly, followed by Daniel. It comes down to mere pennies between Rebecca and Allen, but in the end, Rebecca prevails.

 

Round three takes us to the Capitol Building, where each contestant left has to balance on a brick while holding a yoga ball over their heads. Daniel falls first, followed by Liz, leaving Rudy and Rebecca to compete for immunity this week.

 

The final challenge takes place in front of the White House. Rudy and Rebecca each have a workout step in front of them and the first one to reach 206 steps (one for each contestant on the show since season 1) wins immunity. From the start, it’s clear that Rebecca is going to win it, and in the end she totally pulls away.

 

The last chance workout is just as intense as before, even though they’re on vacation. And that’s the point of the segment! Even though you’re on vacation, you can still find time and easy ways to workout.

 

And we’re back to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the weigh-in. With everyone as individuals and Rebecca having immunity, the stakes are even higher than before. The weigh-in results are as follows:

 

Rebecca: -4 (-1.79%)

Daniel: -11 (-4.04%)

Danny: -12 (-3.48%)

Allen: -9 (-3.44%)

Amanda: -7 (-3.27%)

Rudy: -9 (-2.64%)

Shay: -9 (-2.24%)

Tracey: -3 (1.52%)

Liz: -3 (-1.36%)

 

It’s the ultimate showdown: Tracey vs. Liz. The last few weeks have been building up to this point. They obviously have a rivalry, so which one will win out when it comes down to the votes? My money is that Tracey is leaving just because everyone doesn’t like her

 

And it’s pretty obvious that that was the main theme of the discussion. Tracey is too out of control, while people enjoy Liz being around. Plus Liz doesn’t lose weight, and Tracey has shown more than once that she can drop the pounds.

 

When it came down to the votes, everyone except Shay gave Tracey the boot. Shay’s reasoning: “I want to see people fight to be here.”

 

After all this, Tracey looks fantastic. I mean, she looks like a completely different person. Of course, there’s a montage of her falling during the mile and not being able to get up, but after the show is over, she runs another mile in 11:22.18. She says the show changed her life for the better more than she ever though it could have and she’s training for a marathon. She’s lost 41 more pounds since being home, too. Congrats to Tracey!

 

Tune in next week to The Biggest Loser to see next week’s shocking double elimination—only at 8/7c, Tuesdays on NBC.

 

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

 

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine

 

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