‘The Biggest Loser’: Is that a bull’s-eye on your back?

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I didn’t see that one coming.

When did Tracey get a set of crazy eyes and completely lose her mind? What in the world was she thinking? First, she threw her partner, Coach Mo, under the bus when she traded away their ability to train with Bob and Jillian for the week in exchange for a 2-pound advantage in the weigh-in. Then she ate 400 calories in cupcakes and won the ability to rule the game by choosing whose weight would count at the weigh-in. Then she proceeded to alienate everyone, and I mean everyone, from Bob to Jillian to every last one of her teammates (even Coach Mo looked like he wanted to kick her).

And yet ... and yet ... somehow she managed to lose 11 pounds.

You know who this reminds me of, right? Heba.

Some other highlights:

Bob and Jillian are people, too, and they have feelings: ‘It’s kind of a slap in our face.... This is what we do, this is our purpose, and all of a sudden we walk in and it’s like ‘Oh, we got rid of you for 2 pounds,’ Bob said. Added Jillian: ‘We’re like the best in the world at weight loss, millions of people around the world want an opportunity to spend a day training with Bob and I, and this girl trades us for 2 pounds.... Not the brightest bulb.’

That Jillian might be rubbing off on Bob. Did you see how he dissed and dismissed Amanda for insisting that she couldn’t sprint on the treadmill? ‘Don’t ever say you can’t do anything.... It pisses me off.’

Dina and Jillian having a meeting of the minds: ‘Do me a favor?’ Dina asked Jillian. But Jillian already knew what the favor was: ‘Don’t talk to you.... You got it.’

Jillian interrupting the weigh-in to rip Coach Mo for insisting he had no choice but to stick by his partner, Tracey: ‘I don’t think so, Coach Mo. I think this is part of your problem.... It’s not okay. You need to be here and you needed help this week.... You need to start looking out for yourself, ‘cause she’s not going to do it for you.’ (To prove Jillian’s point, Coach Mo only lost 1 pound this week.)

Tracey was cunning as she wielded her ability to pick whose weight would count at the weigh-in. She made mortal enemies of the pink team (as Bob predicted), and the orange team. And it’s a sign of how much she is now hated that no one, absolutely no one, bothered to clap when the scale revealed that she lost an impressive 11 pounds. (‘This is definitely one of the nastiest forms of game play I have ever seen on the show,’ Jillian said. ‘It’s just gross.’)

Tracey’s maneuverings helped send partners Sean and Antoine, and Daniel and Shay, below the dreaded yellow line. Sean and Antoine didn’t want to leave anything to chance in the elimination room: They effectively volunteered to depart so that Shay could stay, because they did not believe that she could continue with her weight loss at home. (I was reaching for the Kleenex at this point.)

But here is the real question: Is Tracey a master strategist who shrewdly seized control of the game while everyone was still in that blissful honeymoon stage? Or is she, to quote Jillian, ‘b-a-n-a-n-a-s.’

If she can continue to lose weight like this, it won’t matter.

The post-show look at the contestants today is always one of my favorite parts of the show, and this one definitely did not disappoint. We learned that Sean and his wife, who is having a baby, plan to name their new daughter Jillian. And that Antoine had an added reason for wanting to go home: As soon as he got there, he looked up Alexandra, who left in week one. The two are now seriously dating (and working out, and eating healthy meals together). And, to quote Antoine, they have ‘a future’ together.

Awwwwwwww!

-- Rene Lynch