The Biggest Loser Asia (season 1)

The Biggest Loser Asia is a reality television series that began broadcasting on the Hallmark Channel in Asia on November 24, 2009. The show is a spin-off of the American programme The Biggest Loser, in which overweight and obese contestants attempt to lose weight for a large sum of money. David Gurnani emerged as the champion of the first season, winning US$100,000 and Renault sponsored by TC Euro Cars.^[1] The first season was recorded at the A Famosa Resort in Malacca, Malaysia during late 2009. It is hosted by Malaysian television personality, Sarimah Ibrahim. The trainers are Kristy Curtis, who is the Group Exercise Manager from Fitness First Australia^[2] and Dave Nuku, who is the Fitness First Asia’s Regional Fitness Manager^[3] will train the red and blue team, respectively.

Season 1

Contestants

After the audition, 30 contestants were brought to the filming location. From there, 16 contestants were chosen by the trainers after an elimination challenge. The other 14 who were not chosen were sent home.

1. The contestants' name on the weigh-in screen may different

2. Starting in week 9, the teams were then dissolve and the contestants will compete as individuals in the Black Team

3. Carlo filled in Del's vacated spot after he was removed in Episode 2

4. The yellow line determined the elimination. Marilyn was in the 4^th place, but Martha's immunity meant Marilyn would be below the yellow line and was eliminated

At home contestants

At the finale, it was revealed that the contestants were secretly having their own competition, each having their own Fitness First trainers. The top four were announced. Ruby lost 20 kg (20.83%), P.A. (his nickname) lost 36 kg (22.78%), Austine lost 37 kg (27.61%) and Zenny lost 33 kg (31.73%). She won $10,000, $2,000 courtesy of PayPal and a lifetime membership in Fitness First. Her trainer, Fidie, won a trip to Gold Coast, Australia with $1000 allowance.

Weigh-Ins

The weights are measured in Kilograms.

Teams

     Member of Kristy's team

     Member of Dave's team

Game

     Week's Biggest Loser

     Immunity (Challenge)

     Week's Biggest Loser & Immunity (Challenge)

     Last person eliminated before the finale

Notes

1. Since Carlo, who took Del's spot, didn't go through the entire week, Del's weight loss was added to the Red Team's total.

2. Mietta was not weighed since she was taken to the hospital for a blood test due to a fever.

3. Marilyn was immediately eliminated for having the lowest percentage in the Elimination Weigh-In. She came in 4th place, but was pushed below the line by Martha, who had immunity

Weight Loss History

Notes

• Bold means that he/she was the biggest loser of the week.

Elimination Voting History

      Immunity

  X  Below yellow line, unable to vote

  X  Not in elimination, unable to vote

  ?  Vote not revealed

      Eliminated

      Last person eliminated before finale

      Valid vote cast

Notes

1. Tony couldn't attend the elimination at Week 5 as he was in the Prince Court Medical Hospital due to kidney stones.

2. Hafiz didn't want to write anyone of the Blue Team's name. Instead, he wrote his affections for Christine on the card.

3. Carlo couldn't bear to vote for either of his countrymen, so instead, he ended up voting for the host to make Biggest Loser history.

4. Marilyn was automatically eliminated for falling below the yellow line in the Elimination Weigh-In.

Episode Summaries

Episode 101: "The Relentless Pursuit"

The episode shows the auditions held at the Fitness First outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Episode 102: "Bring It On!"

The chosen 30 were taken to the a field in A Famosa Resort in Malacca, Malaysia, where they were greeted by the host, who, later, told them to pair up and face an on-the-spot elimination challenge. They would perform three different forms of exercises and the trainers will choose 8 people each to join their team. The Red Team consists of Del, Aisha, Garry, Christine, Desmond, Rashmi, Nadia and Kevin, while The Blue Team consists of Leonore (a.k.a. Goddess), David, Marilyn, Tony, Damietha, Aaron, Martha and Hafiz, a paramedic who lost his job to get there. The rest were sent home.

That night the team checked out the villa. The next day they were given a small talk on nutrtion and then taken to their first exercise, where The Reds were facing a hard time with the notably tough exercise, while Damietha fell into a pothole and twisted her ankle in the simpler workout, which resulted in her taken to the hospital. After training, the humorous Desmond went to Kristy and said that he was homesick, felt pressure from being looked up to and the exercise was too hard. Kristy told him to think long and hard with his decision. That night, he phoned "baby" to consult. She said that she missed him and should return home. He was still unsure what to do. The next day, Damietha return from the hospital, with a crutch.

The team were introduced to their gym were taken to their first ever weigh-in to find out their starting weights. Desmond was last to weigh and announced that he has decided to pull out of the show, stating that his heart is not there. He left the room, leaving a sad Red Team behind.

Episode 103: "Red Alert!"

The Red Team became even more demoralized because Del, who initially injured his arm during a Typhoon before the show having to leave for a surgery, as he had to have surgery for his then dislocated elbow. Kristy surprised them the next day by bringing back Carlo, who was originally one of the unselected 14. In his first workout, he was showed to be strong.

In the first challenge, a team member will race up a flight of stairs to a water slide at A Famosa Water World. He/She would then raise up a flag, signalling the next one to go. The last member will race up and go down the slide. The winning team will spend the day at the park. Damietha sat out due to her recovering ankle. The Blue Team had a lead which grew stronger and they finished before the last Red, Carlo, even took his turn.

Kevin, during a workout, had a headache and then suffered hypoglycemia in bed. He was sent to the ambulance and returned normal the next day.

At the weigh-in, Goddess, the smallest Blue sat out. Since Carlo didn't have as much time of training, Del's weight loss was added to the Red Team's. They led the entire weigh-in, until David, second to last, lost 13 kg. Hafiz lost 14 kg, giving his team victory, 68 to 60 and the title of the week's Biggest Loser. After rumours, deals and discussions, Rashmi received 2 votes for being the weakest while Aisha received 4 votes as her members thought she was strong enough to continue her journey at home. She said to us that she wanted to be at 50 kg.

Episode 104: "The Plateau Effect"

Kristy is still proud of her team.She reminded them that there will eventually be a plateau in the Blue Team's weigght loss and to keep focus. Meanwhile, The Blue Team played a convincing prank on Dave, telling him they lost the weigh-in, its fake details and voted out Hafiz, who later surprised him by sneaking in through a door behind him. He was happy and they were then reminded not to be confident with their victory.

One night, Carlo made a Skype call to her wife and discovered that she was pregnant with their first child. He told everyone and they were happy for him. Later, they suggested names for the baby.

The challenge had 3 team members taking turns running across a paintball field while an opposing team member shoots paintballs at him/her. Marilyn and Mietta sat out. The Blue Team won with five hits to one, earning themselves a night bowling at the A Famosa's Cowboy Town, while The Red Team were punished to reluctantly clean the villa, both sides.

The weigh-in had The Blue Team sitting out their two smallest members, Mietta and Goddess. All the numbers appeared lower than last week. Tony eventually needed 2 kilos for a second win. He lost nothing and The Red Team won 18-17.

While discussing about the elimination, the team agreed tha the voting will be done by integrity. It ended up 4 votes to Goddess, 1 for Mietta, and a vote from Tony to himself, which Sarimah said to be a Biggest Loser first. Goddess than had and intense, emotional blow-up, stating that she was the outcast, the vote were based on popularity and accused the team deliberately alienated her. They argued until Sarimah stopped her at a point. In her parting words, she said if they lose, they'll know one of the reasons why: its because they voted out the wrong girl.

Episode 105: "Two Face"

Dave is disappointed with the loss and urges the Blue Team to work harder, while Kristy is thrilled with her team still fully intact and overjoyed that they have finally won something. She reminded them that the competition has only begun and that things will be heating up in the weeks to come.

Having lost the weigh-in, Dave pushes the blue team even harder and introduces the TRX workout that uses a person’s own body weight in a resistance training regime. Dave is encouraged at the progress of each blue team member. Despite a more confident red team, Kristy is concerned at the amount of effort that the women in red are putting into training. At the villa, Kristy introduced both the teams a valuable tool in the form of the biggestloserclub.asia website, where one can calculate the amount of calories consumed by a person, and the amount of calories being worked off on a daily basis.

The Challenge had 2 male and 2 female members from each team ina race consisting taking turns riding a Malacca trishaw 200 meters down a stretch of road and make a u-turn before returning to the finishing line. Both trainers will ride with them as passengers and to provide moral support. The Red Team had an early lead. At one point, Carlo said that The Blue Team is not starting at the official starting point. David, annoyed by Carlo’s comments, throws a water bottle to the ground in anger. Tony apologises to Carlo for David’s blow up. Rashmi last red, struggled with her trishaw. The Blue Team took the lead while Rashmi's bicycle chain had fallen off, giving The Blue Team another victory. They were rewarded with a Halloween celebration at the A Famosa’s Cowboy Town.

The next day, Damietta was suffering from a high fever. Despite taking medication and getting a dose of antibiotics from the doctor the night before, her condition still does not improve. The doctor becomes concerned that Damietta could be suffering from Dengue fever and decides that it is best to send her to the hospital for a blood test. Both teams experienced a rigorous bootcamp-style training in the mud and rain for their last chance workout.

At the weigh-in, since Damietta still has not returned from the hospital, she was automatically excluded from the weigh-in, evening out the numbers between the blues and reds. Once again Tony needed 2 kg. He lost 5 and The Blue Team eventually won 27-23.

As the Red Team deliberated on elimination, the women are convinced that Garry is two-faced and has talked behind their backs about his fellow red team members. Garry however defended himself, claiming that the accusations are lies and that he had been “played” by Rashmi who started the rumours. Garry also brought up the Filipino alliance and argued that the alliance has to be broken if any of the other non Filipino red team members wanted a chance in the game, but Carlo responded, that despite looking out for his fellow Pinoys, “there are no free rides in this red house, if we don’t pull calories, if we don’t put in the performances then that has to be addressed.” Rashmi, is also concerned of her place in the red team, knowing that it was her fault that the red team lost the challenge and that she had proven to be the weakest member.

Garry had 3 votes, Rashmi had 2 when Kevin had to give the deciding vote. Thinking that she missed her children he voted for Nadia, resulting in Garry's elimination. He left the red team with his blessings.

Episode 106: "The Lie"

Upon arrived at the Villa, Kristy immediately notices Garry's absence, and was enraged by it. She expresses her rage and displeasure by saying they look ' pathetic ' and promises to make the Red Team pay for voting off their strongest player. Meanwhile, the Blue team celebrates their victory and the return of Damietta, who was previously admitted to the hospital. She tells everyone that she had gastratitis and exaggerates that she needs to take a long break or even leave the show. Dave Nuku then engages a conversation with her in private to make sure that Damietta is making the best choice for herself. For now, she is certain that she wants to leave

At the workout, Kristy drills her Red Team to the ground, forcing everyone to work harder to compensate for Garry's elimination. Everyone is shown to be struggling. In the confessional, Nadia tears up complaining about how crazy the workout is. For the Blue team however, things are smoother save for the fact that Damietta might leave. After the workout, Damietta brings Dave aside and tells him that she lied about having to take a long break. She then tears up after saying how bad she feels if she lets him down. Dave then tells her that he is always proud of her and reminds her of her achievements her on the Biggest Loser.

This week's challenge is a temptation challenge. The teams are brought into a room with 2 tables; one with a healthy spread, the other with an unhealthy spread. The objective is to search for immunity under each plate. The first person to find immunity can chose to either see a loved one or add 3 kilograms to their team's total weight loss. In addition to that, the winning team gets to decide who from the Blue team to sit out the next weigh in .The table with the healthy spread has more plates to begin with and only has one immunity up for grabs whereas the table with the unhealthy spread has 3 immunities up for grabs and has less plates than the other table. After a brief discussion, the Red team has decided to go for the unhealthy food because they desperately need the 3 extra kilograms, whereas the Blue team decided to go for the healthy spread, saying that they'll have a hard time burning off the unhealthy food. Once Sarimah said go, the Teams scrambled to eat the contents on the plates to search for immunity. The Blue team is shown struggling to eat all the healthy food ( Hafiz mentioned in the confessional on how much he hates eating vegetables and fruits ). After an ardous search, Nadia stumbles upon immunity and the Red team can finally stop eating. The Red Team celebrates their victory, while the Blue team continues to look for immunity. It is eventually found by Martha. Then, Nadia informs Sarimah that she would add 3 kilograms to their total weight loss, saying that ' it was for the team '.

Upon returning to the gym for a workout, Kristy is overjoyed that her Red team has won a challenge, but at the same time is shocked to know what the Red team has consumed during the challenge. Meanwhile, Dave Nuku encourages his Blue team saying ' the Reds will have a hard time burning off the junk they've eaten '.

Afterwards, there was an emotional meeting between Nadia and her brother plus daughter. Nadia describes how shocked she was to see them. During this time, Nadia's brother encourages her to go all the way. Afterwards in the villa, Tony started to experience severe pain in his abdomen which he believed was his kidney stones. He was immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment. At the weigh in, the Red Team chose to sit out David and Hafiz, who lost 6 kg and 4 kg respectively. In the end, the Red team's 3 kg advantage took the victory from the Blues, beating the blue team's 13 kilograms lost with a 15 kilogram loss (15 kg including the 3 kilo advantage).

During elimination, the Blue team decided to send Damietta home.

Episode 107: "Nuku Has Gone Cuckoo"

Following last week’s elimination of Damietha in The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 Episode 6, by the blue team, Kristy was ecstatic and Dave didn’t seem too troubled about losing Damietha and I don’t blame him after the stunt she pulled. This week the teams were visited by Datin Farah Diba Khan, a dietician with Prince Court Medical Centre. It was good that she stressed the importance of carbs in our diet and also talked with each contestant individually.

Dave also managed to pay a visit to Tony at the same medical centre, who seemed in a bad way, bringing along a handmade card from the blue team. The blue team seemed to genuinely miss Tony a great deal especially Martha and Marilyn.

In training, the blue team looked very strong but in the red team Christine was slacking due to a hurting knee, although Rashmi seemed to have improved. A half-dead Kevin, due to skipping snacks, had a miraculous boost of energy where he even started singing when Kristy decided to treat him to half a can of 100-Plus.

The dance-off challenge was pure fun. A member from each team was pitted against each other and they were judged by students from the Melaka International School. Hafiz of course did his robot dance, Martha shook some serious booty, Kevin did a lot of sexy thigh revealing, Rashmi dished out aerobic moves and David turned out to be a crowd pleaser. It was a narrow fight and was won by the blue team 3:2. The prize was an absolutely heavenly massage at the A Formosa Angelic Massage. It looked so good that I’m seriously considering paying a visit there myself.

The red team lost the weigh-in by just 1 kg when Aaron David pulled a 4 kg loss while everybody else was averaging about 2 kg. So for the elimination the choice was between Rashmi and Christine. During the team conference before the elimination, Rashmi and Carlo pointed out that Christine could have worked out more and Nadia said that Christine didn’t help out around the villa as much. Not sure if Kevin said anything about anything but I would sure like to hear him air his grouses one day.

During the elimination vote, it was tied at 2 between Rashmi and Christine and Carlo sent Rashmi home by revealing her name as the deciding vote. All I can say is, although Rashmi performed better than Christine this week, her past uncommitted attitude caught up with her. With Tony making a return from the hospital, the end of The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 : Episode 7, sees the blue team with 6 strong members and the red team reduced to 4. Will any of the red team members survive till the finals?

We shouldn’t also forget the revelation of Hafiz’s crush on Christine especially when he was worried sick about the elimination. It waits to be seen if Christine will reciprocate his feelings in the coming weeks.

Episode 108: Water Works

The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 Episode 8 of course opened with a very disappointed and upset Kristy when she found out that the red team had lost last week’s weigh-in though she wasn’t surprised that Rashmi had been voted out. She got all the details of the votings and made sure that Christine, who slacked last week, knew that it could’ve easily been her instead of Rashmi and that the red team was not going to tolerate slackers.

During training Kristy busted the red team and for the first time it looked like there was harmony and team spirit. Blue team’s training was slightly more entertaining when Dave teased Hafiz into punching harder with statements like “Christine is going home with me tonight”.

The challenge this time was car-pulling with rope. I feel the blue team won the challenge by a mile because they were more synchronized whereas all the three members of the red team were pulling the rope in 3 different directions. After the challenge Sarimah announced that the first winner of The Biggest Loser Asia will also win a Renault Koleos worth USD70,000 raising the stakes to USD170,000 ! The blue team was treated to letters from home as their prize for winning the challenge.

The weigh-in was a shocker this time. Martha and Marilyn were chosen to sit-out the weigh-in by their team and they decided between themselves that they would water-load to get bigger numbers next week. Martha confessed to their strategy while on the scales when Sarimah asked her why she seemed happy with her zero weight-loss.

The red team were rewarded for their hard work in the gym with a 4 kg loss each. Unfortunately those numbers were not enough to ensure a win since Tony pulled a 10 kg win which seemed incredible to me.

A clearly devastated and shaken red team voted Nadia out at the elimination. Kevin broke down with Carlo and Christine looking equally pained. The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 Episode 8 leaves the red team down to 3 members, half the size of the ever-strong blue team.

Episode 109: "Bad Karma"

The first showdown was Kristy’s confrontation with Dave regarding the blue team’s water-loading strategy. He told her that it was not against the rules.

The challenge this week was partly physical which the blue team again won. With Carlo being the only physically strong member in the red team and Christine nursing a ripped cartilage the tide was against them once again. The reward for the blue team was getting to choose which of their team members sat out the weigh-in and a heavenly seaside dinner at the Cumulus Restaurant.

The red team won by 1 kilo and the reason for that is David’s unexpected zero weight loss.

Hafiz was voted out unanimously when his team decided that he had lost focus. Christine was as he said, his inspiration not a distraction. Rather than voting for another contestant, he wrote “I ♥ Christine” on his platter at the elimination.

Episode 110: "The Tides Have Turned"

The prank that the red team played on Kristy was priceless. As Kristy said, their wins had been so few and far in between that it was so easy to get her to fly off the handle and if Carlo had really been voted out, I’m pretty sure she would literally have had Christine and Kevin’s heads on the chopping board. Dave was calm and composed when he found out that they had lost. I admire him for quickly rallying around and focusing on David’s zero loss instead. We need to treat losing weight as we would competitive sport where the focus is always on improvement. When we fall off the wagon or plateau, we just need to address the issue, make the changes and carry on. That is the great thing about all the Biggest Loser trainers inclusive of Dave, Kristy, Bob, Kim and Jillian, if emotions get the better of them, it’s only for the moment and they always go back to focusing on the goal.

As expected Sarimah announced the beginning of singles but the surprise really was the introduction of total percentage weight loss. Even then there is a slight difference with the US Biggest Loser show where the weekly percentage weight loss is calculated for the week instead of taking in the total percentage weight loss. This means that a contestant, especially for someone like Kevin, can have the biggest percentage weight loss for the week but still go to the bottom of the chart when total percentage weight loss is calculated because he has to play catch up.

Anyhow, going into the new week with singles and percentages is bringing about a big change in the game. No more relying on team members to make up for your low numbers, no more alliances and especially no more taking risks with water-loading unless you’ve won immunity with the challenges.

Despite there being no more red or blue teams, the contestants still trained with their previous trainers. In fact it would have come as a surprise if they switched trainers at this point. As I suspected earlier, Dave came right out and said that he and Kristy trained differently (unlike Bob and Jillian who train the same way). Exactly how different, we will never know because the show never exposes the complete training methods used but it is interesting to note that even celebrity trainers who are privy to the latest developments in the fitness world, have different approaches.

David won this week’s football challenge with 2 goals. Luck instead of skill was the order of the day and it made me realise just how skillful and fit professional football players had to be. The importance of fitness, I have to say, can and should never be underestimated.

The effect of singles and percentages were obvious in the weigh-in where the contestants were more distressed than ever. I had never seen Martha in such a state. This will only mean that all contestants will be increasing their efforts in training the coming week. David came out tops again with a weight loss of 8 kg while Kevin and Christine fell below the yellow line and faced elimination.

Christine was voted out almost unanimously for two reasons. Firstly, she is a bigger threat than Kevin currently and secondly Kevin needs to be at the villa more. I expect anyone who goes up against Kevin in elimination to be voted out, at least for the next few weeks, until and unless Kevin catches up in his percentages. I end my review of The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 : Episode 10 with the hope that the producers redefine the voting rules so that contestants are only be able to put up probable names. It is more interesting for the viewers to know who Carlos and Hafiz would have actually voted for and their reasons for it.

Episode 111: "Hearts Like Stones"

The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 Episode 11 was a teary one for me but first things first. Dave and Kristy met the contestants together for the first time after an elimination which we’re not accustomed to and Kristy couldn’t show too much emotion about the loss of Christine. The discussion among Carlo, Kristy and Kevin about Kevin’s old eating habits was an eye-opener. 3-boxes of 18-inch pizzas every night for dinner was what brought Kevin to his extremely overweight condition. When an overweight person admits to their embarrassing former eating habits, it means that they are already on the path of progress. They have realised the folly of their past ways and now understand the importance of eating healthy. Therefore I believe Kevin has crossed a barrier.

Kevin amazed everyone in the biceps test where he beat trainer Dave Nuku’s 123 kg with his 149.5 kg. Carlo came in with a close 146 kg. I reckon it’s Kristy’s training method that produced such results since Tony, David and Aaron just averaged about 30–47 kg. Kristy also introduces variety to her training but her sessions are shorter than Dave’s. From what I gathered from the show, Kristy trains her contestants about 6 hours a day and Dave does about 10–12 hours. So what the former blue team loses in terms of variety in training which gives the advantage of muscle confusion, they make up in extended hours in the gym.

We were also given the visual of how a 1 kg blob of fat looks like. It was smaller than I expected and Kristy said that fat mainly stores toxins. Exercise and drinking plenty of water is one of the best ways to eliminating toxins in the body and we would indirectly reduce fat by reducing toxins.

The 5-minute calorie challenge was interesting. Although all of them, except Tony did the stepper, Carlo burnt the most calories by a huge difference because he carried a 25 kg barbell at the same time. Carrying weights while exercising apparently has a huge impact. Adding ankle and wrist weights in our cardio workouts is an excellent way to maximise calorie burn. Carlo burnt 153 calories while the next closest was David with 81 calories. Carlo was very clever to add weights in the challenge which won him immunity and a USD1,000 shopping expense sponsored by PayPal. Kristy helped Carlo with choosing his clothes and selected a much smaller size than what Carlo’s currently is. So we can definitely hope to see Carlo in great shape in the finale.

David came out tops again in the weigh-in while Martha and Kevin fell below the yellow line. Kevin and Kristy had an inkling that Kevin would be voted out and Kristy shared some time with Kevin consoling and motivating him. Watching this scene brought tears to my eyes, because you know how dire Kevin’s situation is and how much he wanted and needed to be there especially when it was this week that he came out of his comfort zone so to speak. Tony had the best percentage for the week with 2.83%. If the show followed the US style of measurement, then he would have been the biggest loser of the week instead of David. It is a credit to Tony since he is the oldest contestant of the season.

As expected by everyone else and opposite to my prediction last week, Kevin was voted out unanimously by the blue team. Though I feel extremely bad for Kevin’s elimination, I understand that it is a game and someone has to go. Kevin would definitely have benefitted from a longer stay at the villa but he is not the responsibility of the other contestants since ultimately this show is a game. Though there is no more red or blue team, old friendships and alliances cannot be forgotten so easily unless an ally becomes a threat in himself. Unlike viewers who are not personally involved in the game, the former blue team would have viewed Kevin as a threat and competition from an opposing team instead of someone who needs more help than anyone else. This is just my view since the blue team has taken quite a beating from the public for eliminating Kevin.

Episode 112: "Last Man Standing"

I think by far The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 : Episode 12 has been the most exciting. As the season draws to an end, eliminations and strategies are on every players’ mind. I admire the former blue team’s strong alliance. Normally at the individual stage of the game, the idea is to always eliminate the biggest threat but instead they had agreed to always vote off a former red team member if the choice existed.

Kevin’s parting letter to Kristy deserves a mention here. It shows just how big a role, support and guidance play in your life. Trainers and those in similar mentoring professions have the ability to change people’s lives for the better and Kristy and Dave are among those who are blessed with such a job.

Kristy was left with just Carlo this week after Kevin’s elimination. It reminded me of Bob and Eric from The Biggest Loser Season 3 where Eric got Bob all to himself towards the end. Dave however was spread thin among the 5 former blue team members. At this point I wondered if this ratio was going to give Carlo the advantage that he needed.

Though Martha and Carlo both vied for immunity in the challenge this week, the competition ended with a neck-to-neck race between Carlo and Marilyn instead. Marilyn certainly showed how much the immunity meant to her when she attacked the jelly with a ferocious tenacity. She beat Carlo, who equally gave it a good shot, by a mere 3 seconds. Marilyn displayed a will of steel that proves she is a threat to be reckoned with. Her prize: immunity and a breathtaking helicopter ride over AFamosa and the city of Kuala Lumpur.

One thing puzzled me in this particular temptation challenge. In past challenges, contestants who go for it need to finish eating the whole platter. The risk in succumbing to a temptation is that you gain calories for nothing if you lose. That is why you’re asked to decide prior to the challenge if you want to go for it or not. Surprisingly enough Tony, Aaron, David and Martha were allowed to stop mid-way. This way, the risk factor was completely taken away and those who lost the challenge did not gain the 2545 calories(except Carlo of course). The fact that the contestants were asked to make a decision by putting up a placard of “YES” or “NO” before the challenge was pointless as they could stop even after the first mouthful, without any penalty.

The Muay Thai Council’s training session this week was a delightful watch for the viewers but definitely not for the contestants. The training was headed by former world champion Stephan Fox who accompanied by other experts, were ready to handout a good thrashing. Dave and Kristy had to watch helplessly on the sidelines as their beloved contestants were manhandled and terrorized into working harder than ever. The high point was when the unsuspecting contestants were hit in the stomach during their situp exercise. I truly believe now that Muay Thai is ‘the’ weight loss workout but only if you have Stephan Fox breathing down your neck and screaming “harder” “harder” in that hoarse voice.

Of course this week’s weigh-in was a nail-biter for the former red team fans. Carlo, the last “red” man standing and the only other contestant aside Marilyn who had consumed all 2545 calories, had his work cut out for him. To everyone’s utter surprise, Carlo overcame all odds and lost an astounding 9 kilos to save himself and push Tony under the yellow line with Martha. He emerged the biggest loser of the week and shot up to second placing on the leaderboard right below arch-competitor David. Not particularly known for big numbers, Carlo’s 9-kg feat overshadowed David’s impressive 6 kilo loss. I was pleased to see David and the rest clapping away for Carlo. It showed good sportsmanship and proves that it is hard not to acknowledge the well-deserved achievements of a worthy competitor especially when you know how much effort has gone into it.

Carlo indeed comes across as someone who is extremely focused and competitive, has a clear cut view of his priorities, is not ruled by emotions and above all has a very cool head on his shoulders. It is this winning combination that made him persevere in a seemingly losing battle. In fact all those who have taken part in this competition are highly driven people to have accomplished all that they have. Like they say “success is 1% skill and 99% attitude”.

The teary elimination was mainly a struggle among the tight-knit and fiercely loyal former blue team members. It is never easy to vote-out someone who has shared a journey in overcoming pain and adversities with you. Therefore their emotions were completely understandable, more so of King David’s who has always wanted to keep the blue family together. Sadly in end, we saw Tony go in a 3-1 vote. Even the attempts, of our compassionate host Sarimah, to cheer them up did not have any impact whatsoever. The “blue” team was inconsolable.

Episode 113: "In Full Gear"

The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 Episode 13, the final episode before the finale, did not do justice to the viewers’ anticipation of a “fight to the finals”. Perhaps expectations were too high after the explosive Episode 12.

For the first time after the elimination last week, the contestants sat down and spoke to each other as individual players. Aaron, one of our least controversial contestant, admitted to employing strategy in voting Tony out which of course did not go down too well with the passionately loyal former blue team member, David. The sombre mood gave way to excitement as they started the week that would seal the fate of the final 4.

First up was the introduction to the Lose Big Win Big program at Fitness First. This is the program that the contestants would be following once they go back to their real lives to prepare for the finals. Dave and Kristy helped walked them through the program which is also available to members of the public who are interested in losing weight.

The contestants were also treated to a make-over at Toni&Guy who lay claims to being the most powerful hairdressing brand in the world. Among them I think Martha and Marilyn’s changes were the most drastic. Martha had her tresses snipped off and coloured a striking red. Marilyn, I must say looked absolutely stunning with her new cut. I could not take my eyes off her every time she was on camera for the rest of the episode.

Then came the rolling-the-ball-from-within challenge. Much to everyone’s surprise Martha won the challenge with her “crawling” technique as opposed to the others’ “rolling” technique. The rolling method looked much more tiring and slow and made Martha’s crawling look almost easy. For her well-deserved win, Martha was treated to a shopping spree at Wan Utama shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, which she gladly took advantage of.

The other unbelievable prize was the “Golden Ticket” to the finals! Who would have thought TBLA would offer immunity in its pre-final leg of the first season. Although Martha was almost guaranteed a spot in the finals even without the Golden Ticket, due to being the smallest threat, the immunity certainly saw to her slacking in the last week!

At the weigh-in Sarimah sprung the other surprise. There was only one place below the yellow line and the person who fell below it was to be automatically eliminated. As expected David and Carlo went above 30% of total body weight lost. David emerged the week’s biggest loser with 3.77% for the week followed by Carlo. This then brought the fight for the last place in the final four between Marilyn and Aaron.

As we know it, Martha pushed Marilyn below the yellow line with her immunity. At this point, had TBLA followed weekly percentages, it would have been Aaron instead of Marilyn since she beat Aaron by 0.77%. Also had there been a vote-out, the contestants would have opted to vote Aaron out as he would have been considered the bigger threat. Unfortunately for Marilyn and fortunately for Aaron, TBLA did not follow weekly percentages and decided to eliminate the elimination in this crucial week.

Like I said in the beginning The Biggest Loser Asia Season 1 : Episode 13 was a let down in the sense that the immunity gave one contestant an easy ride to the finals which did not depend on the weight loss achieved. On the other hand this “show” has seen the elimination of contestants based on criteria other than weight loss so we just have to go with the flow of the show.

Finale Summaries

The final show that witnessed David Gurnani winning The First Biggest Loser Asia lost more than 80 kg

References

External links

• Official site