Biggest Cast Yet

Last night was the season premier of The Biggest Loser. Last week was a "where are they now" about former contestants. This was the first official episode of the new season. With the new season are many changes.

I previously discussed Allison Sweeney being the new host, so no need to rehash that. I will say that so far I am liking her more than Caroline Rhea as host. Don't get me wrong, I love Caroline Rhea. I think she is hysterical. I once met her in person and she is just as charming and funny in real life as she is when she performs. However, she was not a good choice for host of this show. Allison seems to be a better fit. In addition to having a new host, the most remarkable thing about this season is the competitors. This is easily the largest cast yet on the show. I don't mean in number, I mean size. Most of the men were close to, if not over 400 pounds. The women were equally plus sized. We are talking people who need to lose well over 100 pounds each.

The show began with 18 contestants. Trainers Bob and Kim parachuted out of an airplane over the desert and the fist challenge was for the competitors to run to them. The first one to each trainer would be the team captain and get to select the other 5 members of his or her team. Making people who have never exercised before run a mile in the desert?!? Are they insane? Once the winners were determined and the two teams of 6 formed, the remaining 6 were told they were going home. However, shortly after the red and blue teams left, a black clad figure rode up on a motorcycle. Jillian is back!!! She is now training the black team. No one knows about the black team. The black team will be revealed to the other teams and trainers after they have been working for 2 weeks. In the meantime, Jillian is working their butts off in the desert.

I don't know who will react worse to Jillian's return, Bob or Kim. Bob lost to Jillian 2 seasons in a row. Kim replaced Jillian last season. I am sure each will not be happy to see her. But at the same time I think they will be happy to have her back.

Another change this season is that the contestants are no longer staying at luxury ranch. This season they are staying in a dorm. Gone are the lush surroundings of the past 3 seasons. Also this season, the trainers attend all the weigh-ins. In the past, the trainers only heard about them from their teams. Now the trainers will get to see how hard the weigh-ins actually are. Perhaps this will motivate the trainers to work harder.

At the end of the episode, the red team lost Amber who at 5'4" weighed in at almost 300 pounds. She lost only 7 pounds in the first week, she was the last person to reach the trainers in the run across the desert and she even told her trainer Kim to send her home. She didn't have the drive that is needed for this game. In this game not only are you losing weight for yourself, but also for your team.

I am really looking forward to this season. 3 trainers, bigger contestants, new host. It is an all new show. I just wish the editing was better. I don't need the 30 seconds shown before the commercial break repeated after the break. It was only 2 minutes.