Biggest Loser, Week 12

We've made it to the final week of the show before next week's finale. It wasn't unexpected that we got a lot of retrospective in this episode, showing just how far the contestants have come. Seeing how unhappy they were at the beginning, I'll admit, caused me to choke up. We got to see their homecomings, including Danny asking his wife to renew their wedding vows and Liz telling her husband that they need to work on their marriage but that she wants it to work, for them to have a second chance like The Biggest Loser has given her a second chance.

The final four got surprise visits at home from Jillian and Bob, and they talked with the trainers about how hard it is to maintain a workout regimen in real life, when working out isn't their only "job." Rudy, especially, seemed to be struggling with this since he works really long days and wants to spend time with his wife and daughters.

Curtis Stone also showed up at Danny's house to give his family a healthy cooking lesson, and I have to say those baked potatoes he made looked fabulous. I'm going to have to give those a try. And bonus -- they were less than 290 calories a piece versus 850 calories for a typical loaded baked potato.

The shock of the night for the contestants was when they heard they were going to be running a marathon, an event that marathon runners train for well in advance. When marathon day came, Rudy continued to be a machine and ran the entire 26.2 miles in 5 hours, 12 minutes and 41 seconds, achieving the goal he'd set for himself -- run the entire thing and in less than 5 1/2 hours. Amanda came in second 16 minutes later. Danny and Liz, probably the closest team during this season, stuck together throughout the race and crossed the finish line about an hour and a half after Amanda. It was inspiring to see everyone keep going, determined to finish, despite their intense pain.

Then it was time for the weigh-in, time to see how the contestants had done at home over the past 60 days. Danny won the weigh-in by clocking in a huge 59-pound loss, bringing him to 229 pounds, down from his starting weight of 430. Next was Rudy with a 43-pound loss, bringing him to 253. Amanda and Liz both lost 16 pounds, putting them below the yellow line and in the position of asking America for votes to make them the third person vying for the title of The Biggest Loser. I just placed my vote, and I urge you to do the same at www.nbc.com.