JillianMichaels-related stories
Posted Nov 11th 2009 11:44AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews
(S08E09) Suddenly, it's game on! After this week's double elimination, we're left with our final six competitors. Now they've no choice but to start playing the game. No more of this "who deserves to be here" crap, because there's a quarter of a million dollars on the line and they're starting to smell the finish line.
With Tracey gone, it looks like the producers have found their next "villain," though it could just as easily be a case of the whineys with another contestant -- a contestant with a history of whining.
Both challenges were endurance events, with one having the contestants jump up and grab tennis balls secured to a panel by velcro strips, and the other having them jump off a trampoline and through a hoop a couple of hundred times. When Ali announced that it took 100 jumps through a contestant's hoops to eliminate them, I was flabbergasted. I was also pretty sure we were going to see an injury.
Continue reading Review: The Biggest Loser - Week 9
Posted Nov 4th 2009 2:00AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews
(S08E07) As promised, absolutely everything
Biggest Loser was transported to our nation's capitol, Washington DC, for the week. The contestants had to deal with vacation eating, exercising, and even their challenges and the weigh-in happened surrounded by national monuments.
It was a pretty exciting thing for our contestants, and even Bob and Jillian were somewhat in awe of the majesty of where they were. The episode wasn't as emotionally gripping as it's been the last few weeks, but I think a lot of that has to do with the distractions of everything that was going on this week.
It's hard to have an emotional breakthrough when you're away from the comfort of the Ranch and the Biggest Loser Gym, and all the trappings that have come to make these contestants feel at home. So I found myself worried as to what would happen after a week of chaos when these guys got up on that scale.
Continue reading Review: The Biggest Loser - Week Eight
Posted Nov 1st 2009 8:01PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Video, The Biggest Loser
This season of
The Biggest Loser has to be one of the most emotional of them all. When Abby went home last week (no spoiler griping - it was last week), it was truly inspiring to see how she's been able to move ahead with her life and let people in again. If someone whose been through one of the worst tragedies you can imagine can do that, it gives you hope that anything is possible.
This week, the remaining contestants head to Washington D.C., for a fun adventure that will take them from the Lincoln Memorial to the inside of the White House kitchen. The players also learn that they'll be competing as individuals rather than teams. Their first challenge: race around the National Mall and try to bring as many people as possible back to the Washington Monument for a public workout with trainers Bob and Jillian.
Continue reading What's Hot on SlashControl: Preview of this week's Biggest Loser
Posted Oct 21st 2009 1:19AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews
(S08E06) What's the most bittersweet prize you can win on
The Biggest Loser? A trip home. Oh how great it is to see your family, but all that time at home with your favorite temptations and without Bob and Jillian kicking your ass up one side of the gym and down the other. It can also be the worst reward possible.
At this week's opening reward challenge, the winning team won tickets home. But, to make things more interesting, they also got a choice. They could take the tickets and the trip home, or they could send the other team home, thus gaining the advantage of an extra week in the gym with their trainer.
I was looking for a lot of things to happen this week, but I was a little surprised at what came about with Daniel. He's been such a positive force of inspiration and support that I was actually surprised when he had an emotional epiphany and breakdown stemming all the way back to his initial weight gain.
Continue reading Review: The Biggest Loser - Week Six
Posted Oct 14th 2009 9:31AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Watercooler Talk
Eliminations on
The Biggest Loser are always heart-wrenching. Much as the contestants hate being away from their families, they've made the decision to try out for the show, and once they're there, the last thing they want to do is go home and back to their unhealthy habits.
Many of them truly are fighting for their life, and you just know that without the motivation of laying it all out there on TV -- not to mention the grueling paces that Bob and Jillian put them through -- some of them might never gain control over their weight.
Continue reading The wrong person went home on last night's Biggest Loser
Posted Oct 14th 2009 2:31AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews
(S08E05) It's been a lot of fun seeing Bob and Jillian working together to help everyone on the Ranch lose weight and become better people. It was a good idea to pair up these total strangers as teams of two, so that they could develop a personal support structure. Everyone was in a good and happy place, and things were moving along.
Everyone except for Tracey. It is amazing how soundly she is despised in this game by nearly everyone there.
But still ... one big happy family, right? Wrong! This week everything we thought we knew about this season was thrown out the window, and once again a single contestant was given ultimate power in how the new face of
The Biggest Loser would play out. At least until they change it again.
Continue reading The Biggest Loser: Week Five
Posted Oct 7th 2009 1:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S08E04) Last week's episode of
The Biggest Loser was about choices. Tracey made the choice to become the most hated woman in the house. This week, the theme was again choices. More specifically, how do you choose what to eat when you have to eat out? To drive home the point, Alison locked up the kitchen and forced the contestants to eat out for every meal this week.
To make matters even worse, Tracey hasn't been able to work out at all, and as the promos showed, her frustrations with her health continued into this week. However, despite restricted exercise, Tracey dropped eleven pounds last week. Could she do it again?
Could they all hang in there to make it another week on the Ranch? See, that was funny because of this week's challenge. Everybody had to hang on an incline above a pool as long as they could. Scary thought for 437-pound Shay. But surprises awaited.
Continue reading The Biggest Loser: Week Four
Posted Sep 30th 2009 2:16AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S08E03) Perhaps as a response to no one going home last week, or maybe it was always in the cards, but tonight saw the elimination of entire teams as opposed to the individual elimination of week one that sent Alexandra home. This meant that the stakes couldn't be higher as everyone was going to have to pull their weight to shed those pounds and keep their team safe, right?
You'd think so.
In a very interesting and revealing twist, Alison announced that this week on
The Biggest Loser Ranch, it was all about choices. As such, she set up several scenarios, challenges and temptations whereby people could make choices that could not only affect their fate in the game, but everyone else's, as well. Let me tell you, choices were made and all hell broke loose!
Continue reading The Biggest Loser: Week Three
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 3:28AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S08E02) It's week two on
The Biggest Loser ranch, and you know what that means? You don't? Well, let me tell you.
Biggest Loser first week weigh-ins are notorious for ridiculously huge numbers. These people are shocking previously inactive bodies they've been filling with the worst possible foods into a sudden regimen of regular exercise and proper diet. Before their bodies can react, they dump weight. It's nothing for contestants to drop 20-30 pounds in the first week.
By the second week, their bodies go into a protective mode, hoarding carbs as they try to figure out just what the hell is going on. It's common for contestants to turn around and drop only a pound or two, or even gain weight. So why not, Alison Sweeney, come out and tell the contestants that if the 15 of them can collectively lose 150 pounds in week two, none of them will be going home. If they fail, two are out. No pressure, right?
Continue reading The Biggest Loser: Week Two
Posted May 7th 2009 2:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
Next week is the season finale of this run of
The Biggest Loser. But before we can get there, they had to perform the hardest task of their entire lives; a full 26.2 mile marathon. All this while spending 30 days at home. But this isn't the going home before the finale trip. This 30 days culminated in another weigh in
before the finale. And the revelation that only three of the final four would be competing for the quarter of a million dollars.
I've really found myself enjoying the gameplay this season, especially the Ronfather's maneuvering to keep his son Mike in the game. The fact that he somehow managed to keep himself in the game to this point is equally astonishing. In fact, considering his extensive injuries and the sheer number of times he's fallen below the yellow line, I think we need to give him credit for being one of the shrewdest players in the game. But let's look at all four of our finalists.
Continue reading Sizing up the final four on The Biggest Loser: Couples
Posted Feb 27th 2009 1:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
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.
Continue reading I'm not sure if the new Blue Team "gets it" on The Biggest Loser
Posted Jun 13th 2008 8:02PM by Erin Martell
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels is joining the exer-gaming trend.
The Biggest Loser star is
developing her own fitness game for Nintendo Wii.
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 will incorporate Wii's Balance Board into a fitness program. Michaels will provide health advice and exercise routines. She has already released a book (
Making the Cut) and a workout DVD called
30 Day Shred.
Michaels hopes that her latest venture will attract younger customers as well as adults, and that it will contribute to the fight against childhood obesity.
Fitness Ultimatum follows in the footsteps of
Wii Fit, another exercise game released earlier this year. Majesco Entertainment intends to release the game during the upcoming holiday season.
Continue reading Jillian Michaels has a Wii fitness game in the works
Posted Oct 8th 2007 3:02PM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Apprentice, Survivor, America's Next Top Model, Big Brother (US), TV Squad Lists
So, I was going to do a list about the most villainous women of reality TV but then I thought...wouldn't a list of bad-ass women be way more interesting? Being bad is overrated (almost as overrated as being good). But being bad-ass, now that's a tricky balancing act, one that is way more intriguing.
This list therefore is dedicated to the women of reality TV that make being bad look oh so good. And no, Omarosa Stallworth-whatever is NOT on the list. I'll explain why after the jump.
Continue reading The top 10 bad-ass women of reality TV
Posted Sep 21st 2006 6:57AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, NBC, OpEd
(S03E01) I don't watch that much reality television, but I like this one because it seems to work for the contestants. And maybe for viewers too: last season I watched and got inspired, losing fifty pounds myself. So I've been looking forward to this.
But wait a minute: Jillian Michaels -- the tougher of the two trainers in earlier seasons is gone, much to my disappointment. Had I paid attention when she announced her
departure months ago, maybe I wouldn't have tuned in tonight. I really like how she drove the men's team last year, and they seemed to love her too. That, and this time there are
fifty contestants to wade through. One from each state in the union. The obese nation theme gets a lot a play early on. But fairly quickly they're whittled down to a manageable group of 14: seven men and seven women. Unlike last year, they are
not divvied up into teams based on gender. The other 36 will continue the challenge on their own at home. However, the parade of fifty hopeful contestants marching down the hill to the Biggest Loser Ranch is an impressive sight.
(Spoilers after the jump.)
Continue reading The Biggest Loser (season premiere)
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