by David McAlpine

This week on The Biggest Loser, it was week two of the contestants' New Zealand journey, full of adventure, scenery and, of course, intense workouts.

Exhibit A: Ali greets the contestants this week with their twist--the game is now every man (and woman) for themselves. No more teams, no more couples, everyone is responsible for their own weigh in. Judging by some of the shocking numbers in the recent past, this was perhaps good for some, but very, very bad for others.

But before Ali leaves, she gives the contestants a preview of the self-reflecting they'll be doing this week…by leaping off a platform and bungee-jumping into the ravine below. Since recent episodes have been geared towards getting over fears, this seems to be like the be-all-end-all of confrontation: extreme adventures.

Take Brett's adventure, for example. He takes Jay and Austin up the side of a cliff, using only metal rungs. Or Cara, who takes Kaylee and Hannah to the world's highest cliff jump on a bungee swing over a canyon. A very large, very deep canyon. It scared me just watching. But watching everyone triumph over their fears was, without a doubt, endearing and inspiring.

This week's challenge was another adventure-oriented one, as the contestants had to riverboard (half kayaking, half surfing) down a very active river for half a mile. It wasn't even close as Olivia took the lead at the beginning and won the race by a clear margin, winning a trip for her and her sister to a New Zealand landmark, Milford Sound.

This week was a particularly big week for Hannah and Kaylee. Hannah has been struggling with her self-worth the whole time she's been on the show, but she seems to finally have found it, just in time for the workouts. Kaylee, on the other hand, was super inspired by her father going home and gained the determination and the perseverance to push through and stay in the game.

After some intense last-minute workouts, it was the moment of truth for the final 8. The results were as follows:

Rulon: -10 (-3.22%)
Kaylee: -5 (-2.98%)
Irene: -4 (-2.48%)
Olivia: -4 (-2.33%)
Austin: -5 (-1.96%)
Jay: -5 (-1.85%)
Hannah: -3 (-1.83%)
Ken: -4 (-1.62%)

For the first time in a while, two people who genuinely wanted to stay, Hannah and Ken, fell below the yellow line. And that's what made it truly heartwrenching: they both clearly wanted them to stay, and their respective partners fought hard for them to stay.

After some teary arguments, it was made clear that Austin and Olivia were keeping their family members, leaving it up to Rulon, Kaylee, Irene, and Jay. Irene votes for Ken, Kaylee votes for Hannah and Jay votes for Ken. Since the best Ken can do is tie and he had the lowest percentage of weight loss, his journey on the ranch was ended.

However, it was no bad news for Ken, as he's at home now and living a positive and spiritual lifestyle. He's not only getting involved with his kids' lives and trying to show them how adventurous he can be, he's trying to inspire others to lose weight, too. Ken was down over 140 pounds total after returning home and hopes to be even lighter for the finale.

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine