by David McAlpine

Fresh from Shanon’s sacrifice, Helen is filled with doubt about her daughter leaving to keep her in the game, but she soon gets over that. I thought it was sweet of Shanon to do that for her mom, so I was glad to see that Helen was able to develop a positive attitude about the situation—it makes me root for her that much more.

To add to the emotional mix, Allison throws a shocker into the competition: no more couples, the teams are dissolving into the Black Team (led by Jillian) and the Blue Team (led by Bob). As if that weren’t enough, the winner of the competition gets to keep their partner and their trainer. Like the football drill, one contestant from each team has to lie down on the ground, then jump up and onto their colored marker 100 times. And, just for fun, they’re doing it all in the mud, as if this won’t be difficult enough.

At the start, it’s clear everyone wants it, but the field soon narrows to Tara and Sione, neck and neck until the last marker, when Tara ekes out a win. Naturally, Sione is pissed and gets visibly upset, feeling he let Filipe and Bob down. While he sulks, Tara and her partner Laura stick with Jillian. Helen, coming in last, is forced to switch trainers, joining Jillian’s team.

The remaining couples have to flip a coin: if it lands on their original trainer’s color, they must split up; landing on the opposite color guarantee’s they stay together but they switch trainers. Filipe and Sione flip black and join Jillian, which sets off Sione even more. Mandi and Aubrey flip blue, keeping them together, but placing them on Bob’s team, joined by Dane. Mike and Ron end up with black, splitting them up; Mike with Jillian and Ron with Bob. By default, Kristen and Cathy get to stay together and with Bob (which is a good deal for coming in 5th if you ask me), but they’re obviously upset the teams switched.

Between challenges, the teams begin to feel out their new dynamics. Sione gets upset, Jillian gets angry, Bob cries. People hug, people yell, Ziploc gets a product endorsement, yada, yada. In the end, the teams come together for their weekly challenge. I mean come on, there can’t be any drama until the weigh-in looms, right?

Wrong. In the longest weekly challenge ever, the teams must ride stationary bikes for 24 hours straight. The team that rides the farthest wins and gets an advantage. Everyone is motivated and back on track until Ron, Kathy and Mandi decide to try and get everyone to stop so they can rest.

Just in time, Sione’s mood changes and he steps in with a motivational speech that gives everyone a new gung-ho attitude about the competition. I’m all for not quitting, too, but it seemed a little…hm, contrived?...that he had such a change of heart. But it worked, since Black clobbered Blue, 301 miles to 264. Tara proved to be a challenge beast, riding 58.8 miles by herself, more than any other contestant.

Due to President Obama’s speech, part 2 of this episode will air tomorrow, so be sure to watch for the conclusion.

(Image courtesy of NBC)

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