[1] The season premiered on January 6, 2009, with 11 overweight couples (relationships to one another ranging from mother and daughter to husband and wife and cousins) competing for a cash prize of $250,000.
Bold denotes whom has the overall highest percentage of weight loss as of that week First aired January 6, 2009 The premiere episode begins with Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, the show's personal trainers, addressing home viewers by discussing Americans' lazy habits.
It's noted that Season 7 features several new records for participants, including the oldest couple, Jerry and Estella (each age 63), the youngest man (Mike, age 18), the heaviest female (Carla, 379 lbs/172 kg), the heaviest male/contestant (Daniel, 454 lbs/206 kg), the tallest contestant (Blaine, 6' 8"), and the most 400+-pound contestants (three) in American Biggest Loser history.
A large portion of this week's episode is focused on the problems of Joelle, who appears to lack motivation and is not putting forth sufficient effort.
Ultimately they agree that Dan needs it more, as he is a young man who has had a serious problem all his life and has never been thin, while Jerry has the support of his wife at home and was once at a healthy weight.
Carla (silver, at home) eats three slices of pizza, five chicken nuggets, one taco, and two cupcakes, for a total of 2710 calories, winning the challenge.
At the weigh-in, the Black team has the highest percentage of weight loss, while Joelle and Damien (both of whom are being trained by Bob), fall below the yellow line.
Daniel, Kristin, and Helen are the winners of the first round, and chef Curtis Stone shows them how to make a low-calorie substitute for Buffalo wings.
At home, Daniel can now run for over 19 minutes and no longer needs to take medication for diabetes, while David has reportedly quit smoking.
Aubrey and Mandi (Yellow team) win the challenge, just beating Sione and Filipe, and are given the choice between a $5,000 prize or a two-pound advantage at the weigh-in.
In addition, Joelle went home to Southfield in order to vote in the presidential election during the past week of training,[6] which angered Carla and others.
Some of the strongest teams (Black, Brown, and Blue) end up failing early on, and the challenge comes down to four women's teams—Pink, Green, Yellow, and Purple.
Meanwhile, Helen and Shanon are turning Jillian's side of the gym into a lounge, and when Bob comes to check on them, he thinks it's hilarious, but he reminds them that this isn't the time to slack off.
[7] First aired March 3, 2009 Rocco DiSpirito visits the ranch and teaches the contestants something about cooking unhealthy foods (cheeseburgers, pizza, and burritos) in a healthier manner.
Dr. H comes by to talk to the contestants, and singles out Tara and Mike as two people who have broken records at the ranch for weight loss and muscle growth.
Tara's choices are Mike vs. Cathy, Sione vs. Mandi, Filipe vs. Kristin, Helen vs. Ron, and Laura vs. Aubrey, with herself being exempt from any face-off.
Filipe gets angry and has an emotional confrontation with Jillian, in which he complains that the real problem is that she won't work with him and he feels rejected.
When the contestants return to the ranch, they discover that Helen ate one cookie and elected to add a five-minute penalty to Tara's time, thus Sione wins the challenge.
At the weigh-in, Tara and Kristin are close to losing 100 pounds for the season, which would represent the first time a woman has lost that amount while at the ranch.
Kristin becomes frustrated at Bob's intense focus on Sione and Filipe, and the two have a talk in which she explains that she needs him a lot if she is to reach her goal of being the first woman to lose 100 pounds on the ranch.
Helen also had a lot of weight piled on her and ended up with 215 pounds; Ron says that she "left the fold" (by choosing Jillian), and needs to be warned as a result.
The 100 trays are hiding fattening snacks, some healthy Extra gum with cash, and one lucky golden ticket that will give the player who uncovers it the power to cast the sole vote at the elimination.
As each player tries to get the lucky platter, they rack up the calories, Kristin only eating one or two food items before realizing that that's how she'll gain weight and possibly put herself below the yellow line.
Tara loses her footing and spends more than a minute trying to get back on the line, but she picks up speed and takes the lead from Filipe with less than 100 feet (30 m) left and wins.
First aired April 28, 2009 This week's challenge required each contestant to carry all of the weight that they have lost since starting on the ranch and climb up hills.
Tara, seeing people ahead of her, was motivated to catch up and she was the first to reach the end and throw her bag off the edge symbolizing the fact that she is putting all that weight behind her and it will never weigh her down again.
First aired May 5, 2009 After Filipe's elimination last week, Helen, Mike, Ron, and Tara are sent home for 30 days before they come back to the ranch for their penultimate weigh-in.
[7] Arizona Road Racers, the organizing body for the marathon, issued a statement on their website explaining that the Pattersons were not listed in the event results because they did not run the entire 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi).
[10] Jillian Michaels told TV Guide magazine that while filming the season she was investigated by the show's producer after contestant Filipe Fa accused her of doping participants by providing them with drugs.
Those appearing in the episode included (but were not limited to): Helen, Tara, Mike, Ron, Filipe, Sione, Jerry, Estella, Nicole, and Damien.