Red Line, Yellow Line

Things got changed up quite a bit on The Biggest Loser this week. Allison first gave the contestants the good news that they'd be headed to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to train with Olympic athletes. Throughout the show, several Olympic and Paralympic athletes worked out with and gave tips to the contestants. Nutritionists at the center talked about the different types of meals and caloric intakes athletes had to consume depending on their sports.

On the not-so-good news side, the contestants were informed that two people would be going home. That darn red line was back as well as the yellow one. Whoever fell below the red line would go home immediately.

Koli struggled a bit emotionally this week. Not only was he already struggling with his own self-confidence and self-worth, but he was shaken by John's departure last week. He had it in his head that John deserved to be on the ranch more than he did. It took a talk with Bob to put him back on the right path to believing he deserved to be on the ranch just as much as anyone else.

Speed skater J.R. Celski was on hand for the slide board challenge (which mimicked the movements a speed skater makes as he races) in which the contestants raced to see who could get to 500 slides first. It was a heated race to the finish between Sam and Melissa, but Sam edged her out in the end. The advantages that Sam, Melissa and Sunshine won in the challenge by coming in in the gold, silver and bronze spots were for naught as they just aimed their extra shots in the biathlon immunity challenge at each other. For the immunity challenge, the normal skiing of biathlon was replaced with running, and the shooting was aimed at taking fellow contestants out of the running by shooting at targets by their names. It came down to a race between perhaps the two people least able to run -- Darrell and O'Neal. In the end, O'Neal barely finished ahead Darrell and won immunity.

The last chance workout included both a normal gym workout and a boot camp at 24-hour fitness with Olympic figure skater Rockne Brubaker.

At the weigh-in, Michael didn't quite make the 100-pound record, missing Rudy's record from last season by 6 pounds. Still, very impressive weight loss with 11 pounds. The only other person in double digits was Sam, with 12. Daris lost 9, and Allison announced that he is the person with the biggest percentage of weight loss on campus so far. Miggy reached a milestone as she lost 7 pounds to go below 200 pounds. When everyone had weighed, it was Melissa's one-pound gain that sealed her place below the red line and automatic elimination. Cheryl and Darrell were below the yellow, but in another twist Allison announced that in the spirit of the Olympics their fate wouldn't be decided by votes but rather a head-to-head challenge. Everyone filed outside, and Cheryl and Darrell had to balance supports on their heads that were holding up their Olympic-style torches. I didn't see this coming, but the end of the challenge won't be shown until next week.

What moments did you enjoy this week? What surprised you? Is anyone like me in thinking that Melissa seems very genuine in her frustration about the inconsistency of how she loses and gains weight? She couldn't have meant to gain a pound this week, I don't think. Who do you think will win the challenge -- Cheryl of Darrell? And how adorable are Sunshine and O'Neal? They are just the cutest father-daughter team.

And in a total side note, anyone else really annoyed by the obvious product placements for products like Extra Sugar-Free Gum? I want to scream every time I see one. It's not that I don't think the products have value, but the obviousness of the in-show commercial just annoys me.