Week 3 opens with Joe missing his fiance, his kids, and his home. Jeremy provides great advice telling Joe that his two and four year old kids won’t remember their dad being gone, but they will remember him being skinny when they are older.

The teams are faced with a temptation challenge in which each team has a chance to eat as much Panda Express food as they can in 5 minutes. The team that consumes the most calories would earn the right to choose the pairings for match-up week, along with gaining a 2 pound advantage that they could distribute however they wanted. Cassandra is the only player to take part, eating two fortune cookies for a total of 60 calories.

Ultimately, being away from his family gets the best of Joe and he decides to withdraw from the competition and returns home. He is already back home in New York when Bob finds out and receives a phone call from his trainer expressing disappointment with Joe’s decision.

Tempers run high as players compete head-to-head in the gym and on the scale. Emily and Roy go 500 meters on the rowing machine and Dolvett arranges a challenge between Conda and Cassandra with the balance ball. Cassandra wins and although Conda believes Cassandra cheated, holds her end of the bargain and buys Cassandra lunch from Subway.

The challenge is a water relay with obstacles. Alison announces that the Black team must forfeit Joe’s match-up since he left voluntarily. The Black team is frustrated because a plus match-up for them turned into a loss without a weigh-in.

As the challenge gets going, the Black team starts to come unraveled, with Megan in particular struggling to pump water and transfer it into a spinning water wheel. After a switch, the Black team regains their momentum and starts making up ground on the Red team. Ultimately they come up just short and the Red team wins video chats with their families.

Several of the Red team members give up their prize to their loved ones, including Mark giving his to his son. Unexpectedly, Buddy gives his prize to Mark so that he and Chism can both enjoy a chat with their family together. Everyone takes their chats with their family to reaffirm their reasons for being at the ranch.

After the chats, we get an update from the Aqua team, who are a week away from being able to try and earn their chance to get back on the ranch! Bob surprises Adrian and Daphne and takes them to Planet Fitness to work them out hard. After Joe withdrew, Bob notes the desire that the Aqua team has to earn a spot on the ranch.

Dolvett arranges a rematch between Conda and Cassandra at the last chance workout and despite Conda’s continued trash-talking, Cassandra wins fair and square once again. After the fun, Bob and Dolvett ramp up the intensity of the Last Chance Workout. They emphasize the head-to-head matchups and preach hard work while some players wonder how Cassandra will use the red team’s two-pound advantage. Mark pushes himself on the treadmill while Chism and Jeremy intensify their workouts.

The Black team heads to the weigh-in a little uneasy because of their one point deficit. Cassandra divides her two pound advantage by giving a pound to Megan and a pound to Gail. Nancy loses only 2 pounds but wins because of Joe’s departure giving the Red Team an early 1-0 lead.

Buddy goes up against Megan, with Buddy announcing himself as the favorite. His confidence was unfounded however and Megan wins the weigh-in without even needing the one pound advantage. Up next are Kimmy and Gail and again, the Black team doesn’t need the advantage and takes a 2-1 lead.

Lauren and Jeremy go nose-to-nose and after Lauren loses 3 pounds, Jeremy drops 11 pounds and picks up the Black team’s third point. Roy and Emily take to the scale next and the 63-year old Santa Claus doppelgänger matches up against the former Olympian. Roy loses 9 pounds which is just enough to edge out Emily and pull the red team back within one point. Emily expresses some frustration over how far she has fallen from her Olympic days.

With three more pairings to go, Mark and Chris take to the scale. Mark loses 8 pounds which is enough to beat Chris and knot the score at three. Kim and Chism head up to weigh in, with Kim expressing how much she hates to lose. She loses six pounds which forces Chism to lose more than 8 pounds to win. He loses 9 and secures no worse than a tie for the Black team. Kim is visibly upset and calls Chism a “baby”.

Just as it did all week, things come down to in-house rivals, Conda and Cassandra. Conda expresses confidence in her ability to win, but Cassandra brushes off the trash-talk and the ladies take to the scale. And just like the rest of the week, Cassandra blows Conda out of the water, losing 8 pounds to Conda’s three.

Cassandra is the biggest loser for the week and her win gives the Black team a victory and sends the Red team to the elimination room. Dolvett calls out Conda’s work ethic and dedication while she simply scoffs at the criticism. Roy is the Red team’s biggest loser and cannot be eliminated as they head to the elimination.

Nancy garners two of the first three votes, but Lauren receives the next four of the next five votes and is eliminated. Conda, the Red team’s most polarizing member and with the team’s second lowest weight loss, does not garner a single vote. Lauren is surprised by the turn of events but vows to prove the team right and succeed at home.

Lauren has lost 53 pounds and is running a half-marathon, which she hopes to finish in under three hours. She reflects on her past as an athlete and starts to remember that the athlete has been inside of her all along.

This was week three of The Biggest Loser: No Excuses and was broadcast on NBC Network January 17, 2012.

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