TVSquad

This week on The Biggest Loser, Alison switched things up turning this from a "couples" game into a "team" game. In an effort to balance the playing field again, the ten remaining contestants were being split into two teams, determined by the flip of a coin. What this meant was that the chance existed that one team may be split up. There were two contestants, Dane and Helen, who'd already lost their partners, so teams could have stayed intact but it was unlikely.

Ultimately, of all the teams there was one that absolutely needed to stay together. I've been a big fan of the Brown Team for a few weeks now. We've gotten to watch some pretty touching moments between Ron and son Mike, and Mike has proven himself to be a genuinely decent kid. However, Ron has really been struggling to hold his own. Their trainer Bob even told Mike point blank that he was going to need to carry his father through the weigh-ins. If ever there was a team that needed one another, it was the Brown Team.

So when the Brown Team came up, there were three slots on the Blue Team and one slot left on the Black Team. And of course you know it came up black, tearing them apart. If that wasn't bad enough, from there the Blue Team seems to have just fallen apart completely. Certainly their heads are not in the game, even if their hearts are.

Dane said it right after the Blue Team lost the weigh-in and he was facing potential elimination. At the end of the day, this is a competition. If the Blue Team doesn't want to shed people every week, they need to be getting rid of their weakest player. All season people have been eliminated based on heart and emotion and all of that, but now the fate of the whole team is intertwined. As much as I like Ron, that big finger was pointing at him. Injured as he is, how can he possibly contribute the numbers the team needs to compete? Logical.

Then they sent Dane home, even after he'd proven his weight-loss prowess by setting a Biggest Loser record (losing 100 pounds in 8 weeks). I understand that Ron wants to stay there, and I'd hate to see him go home, but keeping Ron one more week makes it all that much more likely that Aubrey, Cathy, Kristin or Mandi will be going home next.

Let's face it, the Black Team is far stronger than the Blue Team right now. Let's compare: I hate to say it, but men generally have an easier time losing weight than women do. The Blue Team now has injured Ron and four women, while the Black Team has Filipe and Sione who are constantly pulling big numbers and Ron's son Mike who's in the habit of trying to lose weight for two people. Then you have the exception that proves the rule. Love her or hate her, Tara is a machine and just keeps shedding pounds.

I think the Blue Team may have just made a huge mistake, gamewise, by getting rid of Dane. They forgot it was a game and voted with their hearts. Yes, Dane has proven he has the will to lose weight, but without him they're all more vulnerable to getting booted from the Ranch. They're going to have a really, really tough time beating the Black Team in the weigh-ins, or the challenges. Unless Ron can quickly recover a bit from these problems with his knees, or there's another shake-up among the teams, the future doesn't look too bright.