The contestants are excited to hear from host Alison Sweeney that they will all be going home for two weeks. Each player returns home to emotional reunions with friends and family, after which they navigate the challenges of being back in their real lives, facing the same temptations that brought them to the ranch and realizing all of the things they are capable of doing now that they couldn't do before. When they come back to the ranch, they'll compete in a 5K challenge on a treadmill just as they did in the first episode of the season, but this time, they're going to run the 5K all by themselves. And just as before, each will pick who they want to train them - Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels or Cara Castronuova and Brett Hoebel - in the order in which they finish the challenge. Then a few contestants reach milestones at the weigh-in, after which another player is sent packing.
Season 11 Episode 9 of The Biggest Loser resulted in a 0.00 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
The simple idea of The Biggest Loser, familiar to dieters the world over, is that "whomever loses the most... wins". Losing weight will be difficult, though, as the 12 contestants (six male and six female) will be faced with "real-life temptations" that their new "approved weight-loss skills and resources" should help them overcome - if they want to win, that is.
The twelve contestants will be divided into two teams of six, cleverly named the Blue team and the Red team. The teams will be mixed by gender and will be organized to be approximately equal in weight. Each team will then be assigned a "team trainer" to teach it individual fitness and nutrition regimens. According to NBC, one trainer has a tough 'boot camp' attitude while the other offers a much calmer approach yet remains strict and focused on results. So ... will the carrot or the stick work better?
The personal fitness trainers on The Biggest Loser will be Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper. Michaels' celebrity clientele includes entertainment mogul David Geffen, Amanda Peet, Vanessa Marcil, Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Paulson and Jeremy Renner. Harper is a consultant to trainers and teachers alike, and has trained such celebrities as Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Guy Ritchie, Lauren Dern, Selma Blair, Jessica Alba and Dermot Mulroney.
To be sure that the contestants do not drop dead on the air from all the unaccustomed exercise, they will be under the supervision of off-camera medical experts, including Robert Huizenga, author of "You're OK, It's Just a Bruise", the book on which the feature film Any Given Sunday was based, and UCLA nutrition professor Dave Heber.
During each week's broadcast, the teams will face difficult and demanding daily work-outs culminating in a weekly competition in the form of a challenge, but the moment of truth will come during a weekly weigh-in. At the weigh-in, each team member will be weighed to determine the total pounds lost as a team. The team that loses the least amount of weight is faced with having to eliminate one of their own. In the end, the winner of The Biggest Loser walks away with $250,000 and a healthier body augmented by new coping skills.