by David McAlpine

Last night on The Biggest Loser, it was the biggest night of twists yet as one player re-joined the game and a calculating plot left viewers and contestants alike feeling confused and betrayed.

The first order of business: a new contestant. The five people from the beginning of the show who never made it on initially (or the first time someone returned) came back for a weigh-in to determine who would be coming back. The weigh-in results were:

Anna: -39 (-11.82%)
Sandy: -25 (-9.65%)
Corey: -37 (-9.46%)
Shanna: -21 (-8.68%)
Montina: -17 (-5.92%)

Anna earned her way back into the house and the ability to divide the remaining teams into Blue and Black, giving one person immunity for the week and the chance to join the team that loses a member. All in all, the teams were fairly matched, including Anna, who put herself on the Black Team with Jillian, who gave Patrick immunity.

But the episode started to take a turn for the worse. There was talk of how Patrick was so valuable to the Black Team…could they really be strategizing to lose to somehow pick up Patrick?

At the challenge, the teams were competing based on their knowledge of food-related trivia. You would think after 11 seasons, the contestants would be better at it, but they just turn out to be even worse. In addition to the trivia, both teams had to do physical tasks including climbing 21 flights of stairs. The Black Team won, earning them Biggest Loser food packages when they go home and letters from home. Seeing the Blue Team in defeat, four of the members of Black opted to give their letters to people on the Blue Team.

Strategy began to bubble to the surface again when Mark, Brendan and Frado started talking about throwing the weigh-in to get Patrick back. Jillian hated the fact that they were targeting Anna, so she made a plea to them to try harder.

The weigh-in results were as follows:

Patrick: -10 (-2.81%) [immune]

Blue Team ::
Jesse: -16 (-4.98%)
Adam: -11 (-3.18%)
Lisa: -8 (-3.08%)
Aaron: -12 (-2.86%)
Mark: -9 (-2.49%)
Jessica: -6 (-2.36%)
Total: -62

Black Team ::
Ada: -9 (-4.02%) [Biggest Loser]
Rick: -10 (-3.37%)
Frado: -9 (-2.84%)
Elizabeth: -5 (-2.24%)
Anna: -5 (-1.72%)
Brendan: -2 (-0.63%)
Total: -40

Though the typical big losers dropped big numbers and Anna had trouble adjusting to the ranch (per usual), Brendan, who normally drops a good portion of weight, lost only two pounds this week, raising the question: did he throw the weigh-in?

Even worse, when it got to the voting room, the target wasn't newcomer Anna. No, instead it was powerhouse Rick, who has been losing consistently well during his time on the ranch. Everyone except Anna and Rick voted for him (they voted for Elizabeth), earning Patrick back on their team.

Now at home, Rick has lost an astounding 120 pounds and plans to keep going for the season finale--he wants to lose another 50 so he can get back to the weight her was when he got marries. Not only has he done well, he's inspired his family to lose weight, too.

The Biggest Loser airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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