(S08E13) And then there were four. Well, three. And then one. But another one, too. As promised, Alison quickly revealed which of the ladies would face off against Rudy and Danny for the quarter-of-a-million prize. But the exciting thing about these finales is seeing the amazing transformations all the contestants have gone through.

This season certainly provided plenty of "S/He looks amazing!" moments throughout. It also offered us two awesome surprises, and neither of them have to do with the winner of the show, and the $100,000 "At Home" prize.

The big challenge for Amanda and Liz was if either one of them could really compete with the guys in this finale. Last week, at their last weigh-in on the Ranch, neither of them came anywhere near what the men were able to do. I certainly didn't expect it to matter which one America chose. Rudy and Danny were going to take this.

I would love to know how close the vote was between Liz and Amanda. I think Liz may have alienated some of the viewers through the season with her attitude, while Amanda was a constant underperformer on the scale. But America voted for Amanda once (to put her into this season), and they did it again.

What was disappointing for me, though, was seeing Amanda and Liz on that stage. They just didn't look that dramatically different from the last time we saw them. Remembering Helen and some of the other winners in years past, these were not the bodies of people who were going to be able to take this title away from Danny or Randy.

Before they got to the final results, though, we had to sift through all the former contestants to see how their efforts at home worked. The one among them with the highest percentage of weight loss was looking at the $100,000 "At Home" prize. Just looking at them file through, it became obvious that it was going to come down to Julio, Rebecca or Tracey.

All three showed astonishing weight loss, with only Tracey looking too thin. I think she looked much healthier and better in the video package they showed of her doing that marathon from her elimination package. It looks like she may have pushed herself a bit too aggressively for the top prize.

Rebecca, though, was the one who took the top prize of the eliminated contestants; she dropped 139 total pounds for a 49.82% weight loss on the season.

As expected, Amanda didn't come close to this, nor did Liz. Both were in the 34% weight loss range, so it did indeed come down to Rudy and Danny. After competing all season against one another, it was the slimmest of margins that decided the winner. Rudy dropped 234 pounds while Danny shed 239. But Danny started smaller, so his percentage was higher. Danny shed 55.58% of his total body weight, ending the season at 191 pounds. The final tally for Rudy is 208 pounds, or 52.94% weight loss.

Both of them looked amazing, and the sheer joy on their faces at how much they've changed the course of their lives was almost worth more than the prize. I do wonder, though, if Rudy gets a prize for second place; he still lost more than Rebecca.

The night offered a few more surprises, though. We already knew that Antoine and Alexandra had hooked up since their elimination from the Ranch. In tonight's live finale, Antoine took center stage and proposed to her. Don't worry. She accepted.

The other surprise came for Shay, who followed Daniel's path almost exactly. Last season, Daniel went from 454 pounds to 312 by the start of Season 8. He wound up at 201 pounds, finally having achieved a healthy weight. At 476 pounds, it was unrealistic to expect Shay to drop all that weight in one season (despite what Rudy and Danny managed to accomplish). Instead, she went from 474 to 304, which is a great loss for her.

I thought for a minute, when Alison brought her back onto the stage, that she was going to get an invite into the new season, but I guess since it's a "Couples" edition, that wouldn't be too easy. Still, she got a hell of a consolation prize, and we get the promise of getting to see her journey continue. Subway set up a deal with her. If she comes back at the Season 9 finale and weighs in again, she will get $1,000 for every pound she loses. Her vow was to get to 204 by then, but she can do even better. Talk about killer incentive!

[To re-live the season, check out clips and full episodes of The Biggest Loser at SlashControl.]