bob harper

This week on 'The Biggest Loser' (Tue., 8PM ET on NBC), the four remaining contestants returned home. But would going back to their comfortable old surroundings mean slipping back into their former ways?

[Spoiler alert.]

It must be hard to have come so far -- and still have so far to go. Contestant Michael Ventrella has lost 192 pounds on 'The Biggest Loser' (Tue., 8PM ET on NBC). But he's still the fattest contestant on the show, and he's having a little trouble handing this fact.

[Spoiler alert.]

(S09E15) With the elimination of Victoria last week, it was suddenly two teams of two versus three teams of one. Looking at those numbers, if those teams of two united, the solo acts would be in trouble. Seven contestants left. It doesn't matter if you're best friends in the whole wide world. When you're this close to the end, you play the game.

That's exactly what the contestants started doing this week, in a way more transparent than we've seen all season. Unfortunately, in that same week they had to leave the comfort of routine at the 'Biggest Loser' ranch and head for the dude ranches of Texas. Alison Sweeney informed us that five of the fattest cities in America are in Texas, which means they need some motivation.

In honor of those five cities, that motivation comes in the form of a 5k run the contestants will be doing with groups of Texans rallied through the radio. Get through that, corral some calves and get ready for a weigh-in where the temperature is only 34 degrees. Everything's ... colder in Texas?

(S09E14) Half of the remaining contestants in the house will make up the Final Four, and the other half will be going home. Want to know how I know that? Because Bob explained the math to me. That Bob Harper, he's not only a trainer, but he's clearly an advanced mathematician as well.

(S09E13) Danny Cahill, who won last season of 'The Biggest Loser,' was so much fun to watch on his journey to success. Who better to come and inspire the current batch of contestants? He was joined by CNBC's Suze Orman, who came back to offer financial advice to the contestants, or at least that's what we were led to believe.

In truth, she did little more than ask a couple of them how in debt they were, and then made her prediction as to who would win based on various financial factors she knew about them. She made a last minute change to her pick based on a revelation one of the contestants made right there.

I remember last year her talking about the financial burden of being overweight, and really getting into some real discussion, but this time she had virtually nothing to say. Maybe they saved all the good stuff for her CNBC show this weekend; which would mean her appearance was little more than another blatant 'Biggest Loser' commercial.

Losing weight is no fun. And it's especially no fun when you're being yelled at by semi-sadistic trainers in front of a national TV audience. And so, on the latest episode of 'The Biggest Loser' (Tue., 8PM ET on NBC), the contestants took revenge on hosts Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels -- by throwing them into the mud.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S09E12) Is there any point in saying it was a crazy week in the house anymore? The producers seem determined to make every week more intense and stressful than the week before, and that's exactly what happened.

Right off the bat, Alison Sweeney announced that contestants would have a chance throughout the week to earn immunity. They stuck a button in the middle of the gym. The first person to hit the button opened the scale. If they lost at least 2% of their total body weight, immunity was theirs. If they didn't, they were out of the hunt for that week.

Right away, the queen of gameplay, Melissa, was gunning for that button. With no allies in the house, she would need it to save her bacon should she fall below the yellow line. And then there was the challenge.

(S09E11) Well, all hell broke loose at the Biggest Loser ranch this week. There was so much chaos going on, we didn't even get time for a normal challenge, which isn't to say there wasn't a challenge, and there weren't two people with immunity this week. But I'm getting way ahead of myself.

As promised, we got to see a lot of familiar faces, and a couple of not-so-familiar faces, as the eliminated contestants returned yet again for a chance to return to campus. It was a little odd seeing some of them at a size that is clearly before what we saw in their "after elimination" packages.

The return was especially difficult for the original blue team, Cherita and Victoria Andrews, as neither of them have had the opportunity to spend even one full night as part of 'The Biggest Loser' on-campus experience.

(S09E09) This was a very emotional week for the contestants. Remember when O'Neal thought Sunshine had been eliminated, and the producers made him wait until the last possible moment to see that she was still there? They were at it again this week with Daris, only the news wasn't so good. Why they can't just let the first person in say, "Sorry, bud," and put him out of his misery, I don't know.

Actually, I do. It's good for ratings. Also good for ratings is a sexy chef, which is why they brought Curtis Stone back for a food-themed week. Even the blatant product placement in-show commercials were food-based, covering avocados, milk and a silent shout-out to Subway.

There were two challenges this week, and I'm going to go ahead and spoil right here that the black team finally won a challenge, though I won't tell you which one -- or if it was both. It was a much needed boost of confidence for the team, coming off of that brutal weigh-in loss last week on top of all those challenge losses.

'The Biggest Loser' (Tue., 8PM ET on NBC) often gets emotional, but this episode might have been the most emotional yet.

Michael cracked the 400 lb. mark, dropping to 397 lbs, and wept as he said it was for his grandma. "I'm getting there. I'm getting there," he said. "I worked my tiny little butt off when I was in Chicago. It was my way to, like, run away from the pain."

As trainer Bob Harper said, "It doesn't even matter if Michael wins this show or not. Michael has already won this game." And he's inspired a whole bunch of other people along the way. Way to go, Michael! We're cheering for you!

Watch the video after the jump.

(S09E08) Poor O'Neal. Apparently, nobody clued him in to who the vulnerable members of the blue team were going into last week's elimination. That meant he could sit there at the house a completely and total emotional wreck for the cameras to zoom in on, fretting that his daughter Sunshine had gone home. How much do you want to bet a producer outside asked the blue team to go into the house with Sunshine last to up the emotional drama.

Gotta wring out those tears however they can!

This week it was all about wringing out sweat in double-time, as Alison dubbed it "Work Week." Contestants had to add an eight-hour-a-day job to their regular exercise routine for one week to give them a taste for what it will be like for them when they get back out into the real world. But first ... why don't you pull that semi?

(S09E07) With Olympic fever finally over, we can get back to the real competition on NBC prime time: the one involving weight loss. 'The Biggest Loser' returned, dropping us right back to the last new episode, the competition between Darrell and Cheryl to stay on the Ranch.

From there, we get one of the nastier temptation challenges with the highest stakes yet. The winner of the challenge would get to divide the remaining contestants into the Blue and Black teams, as well as assigning Immunity to one player. They could even choose themselves for that latter position.

To say the winner's selections were interesting would be one of the bigger understatements of the year. Thankfully, this person was able at least to secure their own position on the Ranch into the next week, because there's no guarantee anyone else would have done so.

(S09E06) In honor of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, so conveniently on NBC as well, the contestants of 'The Biggest Loser' got to spend their week working out with the world-class athletes at the Olympic training center in Colorado. The vacation, along with the higher altitude, impacted how their bodies reacted to their workouts, leading to smaller numbers on the scale, and one startling result.

To make matters worse, Alison informed them they would not only be competing this week as individuals, instead of teams, but that two of them would be sent home. It was the return of the dreaded red line. The contestant falling below that would be eliminated immediately. The next two lowest percentages of weight loss would fall below the yellow line and one of them would be going home. But even that process wasn't quite as expected.

Trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper confronted contestant Melissa Morgan on 'The Biggest Loser' over suspicions that she intentionally threw the last two weigh-ins.

Harper took Morgan to task, implying she's done something to prevent herself from losing weight.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S09E04) Good lord there was a lot of drama in the Biggest Loser house tonight. After the yell-fest last week between Bob, Jillian and the Red team, I was confident that we'd get the fallout from that as the trainers tried to work with Lance and Melissa -- and we did -- but drama came from another direction as well.

By the end of the episode, I was ready to completely send two teams home just so there could be some damned peace and quiet in the house for once. I got 25% of my wish.

Faced with the challenge of forging ahead on his own, and after getting encouraging, but tough, words from the other contestants, the pressure was on Michael to prove his worth in the house, with the other contestants and most importantly, for himself. His journey of commitment was completely overshadowed.