Another great week on "The Biggest Loser." This week started off with a challenge. The blue and black teams raced to dig up hidden items in the sand. Once they dug up the buried boxes, they got what they needed to unlock a treasure chest, and inside... were plane tickets home! The blue team got their chest unlocked first, so they won. Ah, but of course there was a wrinkle.
The blue team got to choose whether they wanted to take the tickets and go home for the week, or if they wanted to give the tickets to the black team and send them home for the week. No individual choices; the whole team goes, or the whole team stays. What do you do? Go home and see your family that you haven't seen in six weeks? Or stay on the ranch where you've got the structure and support to keep losing weight?
The blue team decided to stay at the ranch and send the black team home. It was a bittersweet decision for both teams, because everyone understood the trade-off. So here's the first example of sabotage I saw in this week's episode. The blue team made a tactical decision to put the black team in a tough position. They knew that it would be more difficult to lose weight at home than at the ranch, so they took advantage of their position and put the black team in that difficult place. From a competitive standpoint (remember, this is a competition, not just a reality show) they absolutely played it right.
The second kind of sabotage I saw in this week's episode was much more subtle and subconscious. So subtle, in fact, that I can't prove it took place, but I'm absolutely sure that it did. As the camera crews followed the black team members at home for the week, there were several instances in which the contestants were put in difficult situations when it came to food. The scene with Dina at the restaurant is a great example. Out with family, the very people who care for her, she was surrounded by huge amounts of greasy food. Her own husband ate a plate of food the size of her head! Shay had a similar experience when she went out to eat, as did Amanda while at a cookout.
As much as the people around us love us and want us to be healthy and safe, there is also always a competing urge that runs subconsciously, and that urge is for things to not change too much. Shay was clearly the fattest in her friend group that went out to lunch. What do you think is going to happen if she becomes thinner than them? There will be a part of them that is genuinely glad for her, but there will also be a part of them that is envious. This dynamic runs through all relationships, and it can lead to little forms of sabotage.
Another form of sabotage is hidden in love and the desire to comfort those that you love. Having been gone for six weeks, it's probably safe to say that the contestants' families were glad to see them. Wouldn't it be normal to welcome a loved one home with some of their favorite comfort food? Amanda went to a cookout that had barbecued brisket and all kinds of comfort foods. The food wasn't just there for her, but for everyone, but still, it's a small example of how people create an atmosphere of comfort for the ones they love that can actually contribute to their obesity. Is it sabotage in the traditional sense? Of course not, but it still could sabotage the person's success.
Week 6 of "The Biggest Loser" drove home one of the most important messages of the show. Obesity is not just an individual problem; it's a cultural problem. Individuals will have a certain level of success when they start to make different choices, but ultimately we all have to change as a culture if we are to be really healthy.
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