The week begins with a pop challenge based on trivia. The teams ring in to answer questions; if the team gets a question wrong, the other team gets a chance to steal. Winning team goes to the Four Seasons spa and resort for the night, and gets pampered with a nice dinner, etc. Losing team has to clean the kitchen and the gym. Brown rice has 3.5 times as much fiber as white rice (blue steals). Salmon has omega-3 fatty acids (blue steals again). Strawberries contain the most ellagic acid (black steals). Oat fiber is unique in its effect on blood pressure control (black steals). Avocado has 50 calories in a one ounce serving (blue wins). Black team bemoans their fate while blue gets massages and facials, but black gets to work and burn calories.

The next day is a challenge with Chef Curtis Stone present as the judge. It’s a cooking challenge: make an appetizer, entrée, and dessert using only 12 (6 per team) ingredients. The two teams take turns selecting ingredients from a table, and the other team doesn’t get to use the same ingredient. They have 30 minutes for cooking. The winning team gets a 5lbs. advantage at the weigh in. Black takes shrimp, salmon, lemons, oranges, red bell pepper, raspberries, wild rice, and mushrooms. Blue takes tomatoes, pork loin, dark chocolate, cauliflower, parsley, pears, pomegranate, and strawberries. Black does a shrimp cevice with red pepper, lemon, onions, and chives appetizer (26cal). Blue does spinach, feta cheese, and pomegranate salad with balsamic vinegar (135cal). Black wins appetizer. For entrée, black does salmon with wild rice (557cal); blue does pork tenderloin and mushrooms with cauliflower (297cal). Blue wins main course. For dessert, blue does a half cup of raspberries with chocolate drizzle for dessert (92cal); black does and caramelized pears, goat cheese, and strawberry drizzle (60cal). Black wins the dessert and the overall challenge. Jillian is thrilled with the challenge report and Bob is concerned for both Michael and the extra 5 pounds heading into the last chance workout. Michael returns after the last chance workout and his grandma is on a ventilator; one of the last messages she sent to him was, “Kick some ass!”

Blue team is “not confident” going into the weigh in. Black starts with a .42% advantage from the 5 pounds. Andrea loses 5 (2.06%), Sam loses 8 (2.80%), Ashley loses 7 (2.39%), Sherry loses 3 (1.81%), and Stephanie loses just 2 (0.95%). Stephanie was looking forward to getting below 200 and starts to cry when she sees her result. The black total is 2.09%, and with the extra 5lbs they get 2.50%. For blue, they need 46 pounds to win; Lance starts with 8 (2.76%) and Daris loses 10 (3.88%). Koli is looking to lose over 100 pounds and get below 300 pounds at the same time by losing at least 7 pounds; he loses 9 (2.94%) and is ecstatic, and Sam comes and gives him a hug and congratulates him: “This is what it’s about—no black and blue!” O’Neal loses 9 pounds (2.89%), and Sunshine pulls a huge 9 (4.0%). Michael just needs to lose one pound to get blue the win, but there’s some “drama” since he was gone for some of the week and “stressed out”. Michael takes the scale 8 pounds shy of 400 pounds; he ends up losing 11 pounds (2.70%) and says, “That was for my grandma! I’m doin’ you proud!” He’s now in the 300s. Blue team easily wins with 3.11% total loss, and black team will be sending someone home; Sam had the highest percentage loss for the team so he’s safe.

Going into the elimination, Sherry says she wants to stay and Ashley says she has over 100 pounds to go, and she “needs her mom”. Andrea says she’s finally starting to figure out who she is, and Stephanie says she’s scared to death to work so hard and not see results. Interesting to note that Andrea and Stephanie are in 10th and 11th place of the remaining players for weight lost so far, having been passed by Sunshine this week. At the voting, Ashley says she couldn’t vote for her mother and she voted for “a threat”: Andrea. Andrea says she struggled in deciding between two people, so she voted for Sherry. Sam says he needed the three strongest competitors to come back and fight this week, and he votes for Sherry. Sherry votes for Andrea, giving two votes each. Stephanie has the deciding vote, and she says Sherry has been her “mom”, but she still votes her home. Sherry is actually the second highest percentage weight loss of black team and fourth overall, trailing Sam by a scant 0.04%.

Two months later, Sherry is competing in a paddle boat race in Knoxville. She’s down to 138 pounds—25 pounds lost since going home. She also visits her husband’s grave and says he taught her how to live life and enjoy it. She wants to be at her wedding weight from 30 years earlier. They show a wedding photo, and for a 5’1″ person she looks like she was under 120 pounds. Next week it looks like the players will be going home for a visit.

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