by David McAlpine

Last week on The Biggest Loser, another twist was thrown the contestants' way when not one but two players returned to the game. Former Blue Team member Victoria was voted in by the contestants, while villainess Melissa won her spot back in the game. To make matters more interesting, the two had immunity for the week, making sure they'd stick around. Instead, Stephanie and Sam fell below the yellow line and Stephanie was seen as the shadiest resident of the ranch, resulting in her getting voted off.

Tonight began with Melissa (who else?) talking about how happy she is to be back at the ranch. Meanwhile, clouds of doom were settling in over the gym and lightning was striking in the background as she savored her return. It wasn't long before Alison introduced the deviously competitive immunity challenge, however.

Each contestant was given a card that said what 2% of their body weight equaled, which was how much they had to try to lose this week. Once they think they've lost that much weigh, they press the magic button and everyone knows. You get on the scale and see what happens. If you do lose 2%, you automatically get immunity. If you don't, you lose your chance at safety and have to face the scale.

It's a game that only a player like Melissa could love. Would she devise a plan and do it? Or would her coming back open up her eyes to the real reason why everyone is here: to change their lifestyle? Well, instead of Melissa hitting the button first, Victoria does. She fails to hit the 2% mark and loses out on immunity.

Before anyone else gets a chance to hit the button, they get another challenge, this time to avoid a disadvantage. Each player has to carry a total of 100 weights, totaling 1,000 pounds, from one end of a pool to another. The winner gets a two-week trip to the new Biggest Loser resort, while the loser earns a one-pound disadvantage during this week's weigh-in. Of course, there's a twist. Once you finish, you can choose to help anyone else finish their carrying so they have less of a chance of losing.

Sunshine, the natural swimmer, bursts out to an early lead and finishes in a solid first place, earning a trip to the ranch. Of course, she goes straight to helping her dad, who ends up needing it. After O'Neal finishes, it's just Michael and Melissa left, so you can guess what happens: almost everyone helps Michael, leaving Melissa in the dust and with a pound added on to her total.

Now, this sets those wheels in Melissa's head into overdrive and her scheming self comes up with a plan: wake up in the middle of the night and work out like crazy before hitting the button. That way, if she hit the 2% mark, she'd win immunity and the disadvantage wouldn't matter. However, Sam and Koli are a step ahead of her and decide to hit the gym before going to bed.

While almost everyone is asleep, the siren sounds after Sam hits the button. He gets on the scale and his weight loss is 3.82%, earning him immunity for the week. A grumpy Melissa starts to pout since a) she knows she has to work extra hard to overcome the disadvantage and b) everyone ganged up on her. Bob offered some stoic words which were basically a longer version of "what goes around, comes around," and she knew she was in trouble.

It was finally time for the weigh-in; the results were as follows:

Sam: -10 (-3.82%) [immune]
Victoria: -9 (-3.89%)
Sunshine: -7 (-3.47%)
O'Neal: -8 (-2.75%)
Ashley: -7 (-2.58%)
Michael: -9 (-2.36%)
Koli: -5 (-1.78%)
Daris: -4 (-1.69%)
Melissa: -2 (-1.12%) *with the one-pound disadvantage
Andrea: -2 (-0.88%)

Some highlights from the weigh-in: Victoria placed ahead of everyone, despite not hitting the 2% mark when she pushed the button. Sunshine dropped below 200 pounds and none of the contestants were good at hiding their joy on the inside when Melissa's advantage cut her below the yellow line.

Andrea begins spouting off about how she wants to be in the final four, she wants to be here, she needs to stay…you know, the typical speech. First, however, she asked Melissa to leave. When Melissa came back, she approached the game (again) from a strategy point, saying that she's a weak player and she'll drop below the yellow line every week, so it's better to keep her around.

In the elimination room, though, it wasn't even close, as everyone voted for Melissa to leave the ranch. She gets a second transformation moment which, to her credit, looks even better than the first. Apparently she's a huge fan of the color red now and she's been running half-marathons. Even though you may not like her, you have to give her credit for trying.

Tune in next Tuesday at 8/7c to the Biggest Loser to see last season's winner Danny return to the show--only on NBC!

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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