by David McAlpine

Last week on The Biggest Loser, it was Melissa and Victoria's first week back on the ranch without immunity. An episode-long twist threw everyone for a loop when it forced them to wager their chance for immunity against their ability to lose 2% of their body weight. Eventually Sam won safety and Andrea and Melissa fell below the yellow line. The deliberation wasn't even close and the house decided to unanimously eliminate Melissa, sending her home for a second time.

A new day dawned on the Biggest Loser ranch, and the sky was noticeably brighter for most, probably because Melissa was no longer a presence. The game could finally shift away from the ugly gameplay and towards the ideal goal of losing weight and learning how to live a healthier lifestyle, right? Not going to lie, I'll miss the drama a little bit, but it's good to take a break.

This week's theme was all about money, starting with the pop challenge. Simply, each contestant had to balance quarters on a platter, all while adding them to the platter, and the last one standing would win $10 for every quarter that was on the platter. Michael was the only steadfast one throughout the entire challenge and won no problem, netting himself $1,000. However, Total, the sponsor of the challenge, thought he gave 100% and decided to double his winnings. Sunshine also won $650 due to her perseverance because she seemed to be having the hardest time of anyone, yet she stuck with it.

Straight out of CNBC, Suze Orman and last year's winner Danny Cahill give the contestants a visit and a pep talk about money. Apparently people who live healthier lifestyles are more likely to manage their money well. Danny is a true testament to that, explaining how he improved on his $45,000 debt from the beginning of his Biggest Loser season.

Off to the side, Suze gets to put in her own two cents (Get it? Ha!) about who she thinks is going to be the Biggest Loser. Sunshine turns out to be her pick, because she counts her calories. Apparently she likes Koli, too, but he doesn't count his calories. Hasn't this show taught us that it's more than counting calories, it's making good lifestyle decisions?

Onto the immunity challenge, which, well, isn't an immunity challenge at all. Each contestant has to sort through a pile of keys (140 of them, to be exact) to find one of two that starts one of the pair of Mazda 3's waiting for two of them as a reward. Of course, it's raining and the cars are at the top of a hill, so it's still physically exhausting. Because it's completely random, you don't know who's going to win until you hear the car starting, which makes it that much more exciting. Take that, editors!

Andrea wins the first car and she couldn't be more excited about it, since she apparently drives nothing but go-karts back home. Shortly after she wins, O'Neal wins the second car, but in true fatherly fashion, gives it to his daughter. Aww! How adorable.

Since the contestants were already muddy from digging for keys out in the rain, Bob figures he can throw them around in more mud for their final chance workout. Eventually it just turns into mud wrestling and both Bob and Jillian get dragged into it. Much to Jillian's dismay, they even scoop the mud into her pants. Boy, was she pissed, and she took it out on everyone in the gym later that day.

The weigh-in results were as follows:

Daris: -7 (-3.00%)
Michael: -9 (-2.42%)
Ashley: -6 (-2.27%)
Koli: -6 (-2.17%)
Victoria: -5 (-1.84%)
O'Neal: -5 (-1.77%)
Sunshine: -3 (-1.54%)
Andrea: -3 (-1.33%)
Sam: 0 (0%)

The shocker of the night was definitely Sam not losing any weight, despite it looking like he worked out really hard. He and Andrea fell below the yellow line, making the two of them vulnerable to voting. While speaking, each kept it focused on themselves, not the other, and it was clear that this was a difficult decision for everyone to make, because they didn't want either to go. Ashley votes for Andrea to stay, but everyone else votes for her to leave, sealing her fate.

Andrea said during her speech that she was finally starting to get the swing of things and it definitely showed during her transformation clip. Now that she's at home, she's working with kids with special needs and she's running with her dog, as well as driving her new Mazda 3.

Tune in the the Biggest Loser next Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC to see what happens when a temptation challenge gives one contestant the sole vote and what devastating news one contestant receives!

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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