Monday, March 1, 2010

Episode 10: “The Tides Have Turned”


The Blues return to the villa without Hafiz. “No more boyfriend” taunts Carlo to Christine. The Blues tell Christine about Hafiz’s declaration of love in the elimination room and blame her for his exit. Believing that it was ’strategy’ on the part of the rivals, Christine remains unconvinced about the reasons the Blues gave for voting off one of their strongest team members.

The morning after elimination, the remaining Reds decide to play a prank on Kristy. Christine and Kevin pretend that they had voted Carlo off the competition instead.

Kristy walks in, saying with exasperation, “I feel like its deja vu all over again.”

Reminded of Garry’s untimely exit from the team, Kristy is burning with fury. As her temper rises and she demands a clear explanation for this bizarre vote off, Carlo pops out from behind the pool table, surprising Kristy. Kristy is ecstatic and gives the whole team a hug.

She is pleased that the water-loading episode is behind them and that they can now move forward with renewed energy.

Kristy feels optimistic about the direction the team is heading towards. “I feel like this is a victory we needed right now and I do feel like the tides have turned.”

Over at the Blue team, David, who didn’t lose any weight during the last weigh-in, is feeling down and out. However, trainer Dave reassures the Blue family of his faith in them and encourages them to put their defeat behind and power forward.

Dave tells them, “This has nothing to do with the effort that you put in the gym. You can be a hero one minute and zero the next minute. And back to hero the following week.”

Moments after, the Blues and the Reds are told to gather at the weigh-in room. Instead of elimination, Sarimah announces that the teams will be dissolved and each individual would be on their own from now on.


The news visibly takes all eight contestants by shock. Without a team to rely on for winning challenges and weigh-ins, the contestants realize that the competition is now anybody’s game.

Sarimah goes on to explain that their weight loss will no longer be determined based on total kilograms lost. Instead, it will be calculated as a percentage of their total weight lost from their initial weights at the start of the competition.

Furthermore, the elimination process will be changing as well. The two people with the lowest percentages of weight lost will fall below the yellow line and be up for elimination. Those above the yellow line will then vote out one of the two below the yellow line.

Once she finishes explaining the rules, Sarimah calls each contestant up on the scales to announce their current position in the competition.

Aaron is up first. He has lost an impressive 30kg from his starting weight of 159kg, showing a total weight loss percentage of 18.87%.

Next up is Aaron’s fellow former Blue teammate, Tony. His weight loss of 24kg gives him a percentage of 17.65 %. Tony is more than happy to have made it this far.

Then, Christine shocks everyone with her weight loss percentage of 19.53%. Currently holding the top spot, her excitement and joy is apparent.

Previous week’s Biggest Loser, Marilyn, is next in line. Her weight loss of a total of 28kg and percentage of 17.73 % places her in third place, right behind Aaron.


Martha is next on the scale and is disappointed with her 16.54% weight loss percentage, especially since Christine, whom she thought was her closest competitor, is way ahead of her on the scoreboard.

Former Red team member Carlo weighs in next. His 25kg and 18.94% weight loss pushes him straight to second position.

With David and Kevin still to come up, Martha is visibly worried as she is precariously balanced just above the yellow line.

With a total of 35kg lost since the day he arrived, David takes his rightful place at the top of the chart with a total weight loss percentage of 22.29%! This places him at the top spot, and the rest will have to work doubly hard in order to usurp his number one spot.

Kevin, who took the title as the heaviest contestant in The Biggest Loser Asia, is called up last. Unfortunately, an impressive 34kg lost in the competition to date is not enough to pull him above the yellow line. His weight loss percentage of 15.81% places him right at the bottom of the table.


With their names clearly seen below the yellow line, Martha and Kevin realize that every effort that they put in the gym will decide whether they make or break it in this competition.

“I’ve already told myself that I need to push harder. I need to do more and up my game.” Says Kevin.

There may be no more teams in the competition but old habits die-hard. Returning to the villa, the eight remaining contestants naturally split up into their former teams and gather separately to express their thoughts. Voicing the thoughts in the house, Aaron says, “Even though Sarimah has said that we are no longer in teams, I still think that you can’t push aside the relationships that have been built.”

As the former Blue team head off to their side of the villa, the former Reds finish dinner. Carlo voices a concern that plagues all 3 Filipinos - “…there are still five Blue team members in the house. And we know for sure that they have bonds and alliances that won’t be broken, so, it would be absolutely fatal for us not to support each other through this phase of the competition.”

Reminiscing about their time together as a team, Tony, David and Aaron start looking at some old photographs. The camaraderie between the former Blue family is evident as Tony takes pot shots at his friends. The unflattering photographs, especially of Martha’s, don’t really offend her.

Seeing a bigger, fatter self in each of the pictures, they are reminded how far they have come. With David reminiscing, “Those pictures remind us you know, that we came here to this competition not only to lose weight but to find a new family from all over Asia. And that’s the most beautiful part of it.”

The next morning, Dave and Kristy stand together in the gym, waiting to congratulate the lucky eight.

“When I was standing next to Kristy in the gym, preparing to hand out the black T-shirts, I was so focused on this milestone that we had achieved. We had come down to the final eight. I mean I felt kind of teary inside,” notes Dave.

After congratulating each one of them for making it this far, Dave and Kristy start to hand out black T-shirts to them.

Carlo takes the first T-shirt from Kristy, and later explains, “My biggest motivation is to lose a 110 pounds. I mean I want to be a better husband. I wanna be a more energetic and more vested husband with my wife.”

Christine gets her shirt next and says, “It’s great that the Filipino alliance made it up to singles. We’re all going to motivate each other.”

Kristy turns to the last former Red team member and hands over a shirt to Kevin. Like everyone else in the room, he is incredibly proud of having made it to this stage of the competition.

Dave then starts with the former Blues and Aaron is the first person he gives a black T-shirt. Aaron too is reminded of the reasons why he decided to be a part of this life-changing competition. “What motivated me to join the show was my family. Because I have two daughters and I keep telling people that they are only going to have one childhood. And I want to be fit enough and around long enough to make sure that they have the best one possible.”

David gets his black T-shirt next and as he wears it, he makes a point to mention how the Blue family will bond together no matter what.

For Marilyn, receiving the T-shirt signifies the milestone she has reached by making it this far. Her dream of being able to conceive is now within reach and she is keen to go that extra mile for it.

The baby of the group, Martha honestly shares her reason for being here – “I want to win Biggest Loser Asia because I’ve never been thin. I’m nineteen. I want to wear a bikini. I want to have a boyfriend!”

With their black T-shirts on, the eight gather in front of the two proud trainers, are told that they have the choice to train with either of the two trainers. Coming with different training backgrounds, the contestants will gain a lot from both Kristy and Dave, but as training beings, it is no surprise to anyone when the contestants gather around their former respective trainers and segregate into their former teams, in separate rooms.

Kristy observes, “It’s funny when we put the black shirts on, my team immediately went into our own corner and left the Blues in their own corner so we’re still not mixing as one cohesive unit yet.”

Training carries on as usual except for the two unlucky contestants below the yellow line. Martha is aware that if she doesn’t push herself harder, she may never be able to change the order of names on the board at the end of the week weigh-in.

She admits, “For the first time in the competition I am actually quite scared. I am below the yellow line. I actually lost 21 kilos and it’s the least amount from everybody here. And for that reason I just pushed myself so hard this week.”

On the other side of the gym, Kristy is making a special effort to guide Kevin and motivate him to change his fate in the game, reminding him that he is currently in last position.

It is the first singles challenge in the competition and the contestants are keen to show their best. Sarimah stands in front of a modified goal post, with some footballs gathered at her feet.

Sarimah explains that each contestant will have five chances to try and kick the football through any of the holes in the modified goal post. Each successful kick will give them one precious point. The contestant with the most goals will be declared the winner of the challenge. Then, the contestants find out what they are kicking for – a surprise reward to be revealed later, and the most precious prize of all – immunity!

Marilyn is the first to be called upon to kick things off, and she does it in style, with a goal scored with her very first kick. Despite not liking the game, Marilyn is obviously enjoying herself.

Marilyn’s single goal sets off a trend of sorts, with Tony, Christine, Aaron and Martha all scoring only once out of their 5 tries. Kevin comes up next, struggling a little more than the others. He explains, “I never played football before. That’s my first time of doing that. So it is a bit difficult for me.” He is the only one in the line who does not manage to be a part of the five- way tie.

Sarimah informs the remaining two contestants, “Two is the number you need to focus on, guys!”

With that, David manages to score with two successful goals. The last person in this first singles challenge is Carlo. Knowing that the man to beat is his archrival, David, Carlo is confident that he has got what it takes to beat him.”

It looked really easy. It didn’t look difficult at all. It’s a snap. No problem. Should be getting 3 or 4 in at least.” Carlo confidently says. However, he grossly underestimates the challenge and doesn’t manage a single goal at all.

This makes David the winner of the Challenge and he is the lucky one to get a surprise reward, as well as the golden ticket of immunity.

David steps out of the villa to find a letter addressed to him. Reading it aloud, he discovers that his surprise reward is a special treat - an Indonesian meal cooked by a world-class chef at Afomosa D’Garden restaurant. He confesses to having missed local food while at camp and is elated by this surprise reward.
As David enters the restaurant, he realises that he couldn’t have been more wrong about his reward. Seated at one of the tables is Levine, David’s fiancé, waiting for him. Seeing her, he can barely put his happiness into words. “I was just amazed and shocked and with all these feelings combined into one, I can’t even express it man. It’s just too unbelievable.”

Over a meal, David tells Levine about all that he has learnt and the weight he has lost. Her shock and awe at his weight loss are apparent when she says,” I was mesmerized by the way he looked. He was amazing, seriously gorgeous. He’s changed. He is a different person now, and I’m really proud of him.”

Then David’s brother, Sagar, and his cousin, Twinkle, walk out from behind and wrap their arms around David, giving him an even bigger surprise. They all express their joy at having this opportunity to spend some time together and Sagar says a prayer of thanks at the end. With their wine glasses in the air, they all make a toast, which sums up how each of them feels - King David all the way!

Then, it was time for the weigh-in. One of the most crucial ones to date, Kevin in particular, feels the pressure. “This week’s weigh-in is going to be crucial because I’m number eight. I’m below the yellow line so I’m really scared I might go home this week, but I just have to think positive."

Christine, on the other hand, is feeling confident. “I’m the top female in this competition and I beat out a lot of the guys so far, so I feel confident going into this weigh-in this week with no regrets. Absolutely no regrets.”

Sarimah reminds the contestants about the yellow line and how the two people with the lowest percentage of weight loss will fall below it and be up for elimination. The weigh-in starts with the person whose weight loss will not matter – David.

Having won immunity, he is safe, but he is still keen to find out how he has done. He is overjoyed when he sees an 8kg loss up on the screen. The total weight lost by him since the start of the show stands at 43kgs, with a percentage of 27.39%. It looks like he won’t really need his immunity ticket after all. Marilyn is up next, putting up a respectable 5kg loss on the board. That results in her total weight loss number to move up to 33kgs since the start of the competition. Her 20.89% of total weight loss percentage moves her into second place for now.


Carlo follows Marilyn and he is a bit disappointed with just a 3kg weight loss. Even so, his 21.21% of total weight loss percentage gives him a chance to move above Marilyn. However, although his total weight loss of 21.21% is definitely been an achievement for him, he recognizes that “the only way any of us former Red team members can stay in the game is to stay above the yellow line, because the former Blue team members will pick us off one by one.”

And it is a former Blue team member that follows Carlo up on the scales. Tony is all smiles as Sarimah tells him that he has a total weight loss percentage of 22.06%. This instantly puts Carlo into third place, after him. The second Filipino in the competition, Kevin, is up next. Despite losing 38kg since the start of the competition, his total weight loss percentage only stands at 17. 67%.

With Kevin threading on a fine line, Aaron steps up the scales and surprises everyone, including himself, by putting a huge 23.27% on the board. With this, he immediately pushes Tony out of second placing. Kevin has now moved to sixth place in the rankings and is balanced precariously just above the yellow line.
However, Christine proves to be the big shocker at this first ever Singles weigh-in. Her weight loss of a mere 1kg for the week is utterly unexpected, and with a weight loss percentage of 20.31%, she now pushes Kevin below the yellow line and takes the sixth place in the order.

Christine expresses her disappointment in herself, saying, “To be in this position absolutely sucks, specially with the way that I pushed myself in the gym this week.”

Now it’s time for the last person to be weighed in. Having been anxious throughout the weigh-in, Martha is apprehensive and a bundle of nerves about finding out where she stands and whether all her hard work has paid off. Then, all the tension in the room is dispelled when her total weight loss percentage comes up on the board. As Martha celebrates her 20.47% percentage loss and a close shave from elimination, Christine, however, watches her name go below the yellow line.

With heavy hearts, Kevin and Christine walk out with the rest of the contestants, knowing that they must now plead their case and convince the others that they really need to stay in the game.

After deliberation, Christine reiterates how hard she has worked in the gym, but she knows that the former Blues are a tough lot to crack. “The former Blue team has a very strong alliance and I know what they’re thinking – I’m not stupid.” She also makes it a point to highlight the fact that she is Martha’s main competition in the game.

Kevin, on the other hand, is quiet. He is encouraged by Tony and then tells everyone how he “doesn’t want to sway” their votes. The man with the hardest job in the room is Carlo. He knows that he has the fate of one of his fellow Filipinos in his hands. “My head tells me to vote for Kevin because he may not be as strong an ally in this game and to choose between my two Filipino countrymen – it is the toughest decision I’ve had to make since I’ve been here and I’ve still not made up my mind."

It is time for elimination and this time there are six people carrying platters. These are the platters that will reveal whose journey has come to an end here on The Biggest Loser Asia. Sarimah greets all eight contestants to this first ever singles elimination. After hearing Kevin’s and Christine’s thoughts on being below the yellow line, she starts the process of cutting the fat.

Immunity winner David is the first to go. Before revealing his vote, he says, ”The reason I made this vote is because the other person needs this more than this person I am voting for.” With that, David lifts the lid on the platter to reveal Christine’s name.

Next up was Carlo, who makes Biggest Loser history with his choice. He reveals the name that he has written down, which immediately lightens up the mood in the room for the moment. Everyone, including Sarimah, is left stumped as he goes on to say, “I vote for Sarimah.”

Martha is up next. She is all honesty as she says, “I just want to say that I feel lucky today. Christine had a plateau, that’s why I could catch up with her.” Then, she lifts the lid to show that her vote is for Christine. The voting tally now stands at two votes for Christine.

When asked about her comments on Martha’s vote, Christine says, “I could be a potential threat, and of course the former Blue team, you know. There’s a strong alliance there. I can understand them wanting to save Martha, because if I stayed in this competition one more week, I could be out of my plateau.”
Marilyn, another former Blue team member, is up next. Marilyn reveals her vote for Christine, written in the same style as her fellow Singaporean contestant Hafiz, when he had professed his love for Christine during his elimination.

Marilyn’s vote is the last nail in the coffin and Sarimah asks Christine to leave immediately.

There are seven contestants left in the room and Sarimah reminds each of them that they need to stay focused and do everything they can to remain above that yellow line, in order to win that sole title of becoming Asia’s first Biggest Loser.

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