[3] Among notable stories, Shay Sorrells grew up in foster care while her mother unsuccessfully struggled with heroin addiction,[3] while Abby Rike lost her husband and children in a head-on collision caused by a speeding driver.
[4] Amanda Arlauskas became a contestant after winning a public vote against Erinn Egbert (who got at-home special assistant packages and made a cameo appearance in the week 12 episode) held during the Season 7 live finale.
Daniel wins the race, Allen came in 2nd, Amanda came in 3rd, Rebecca 4th, Dina and Rudy both came in 5/6th, Abby came in 7th, Antoine 8th, Liz 9th Alexandra in 10th, Júlio 11th, Danny 12th, Sean 13th, Shay came in 14th, Coach MO 15th and Tracey came in 16th even though she would have been fourth or third but she ran out of energy so she collapsed.
Daniel, winning the race, has first choice of teammates and chooses Shay as his partner, granting her immunity as well for the first week.
The other contestants pick teammates in the order of finish; Tracey and Coach Mo are paired up because they were not chosen by another player.
[9] First aired September 22, 2009 Alison offers the participants a challenge – if the group can lose a combined total of 150 pounds, then all of them can stay for at least one more week; otherwise, two of them will be eliminated.
However, the remaining members pick up the slack (Tracey loses 10 pounds in her first week despite her medical restrictions while Julio, the remaining black team member, loses 19 pounds, a six-pound improvement over the prior week, a surprise to Shay, who was highly critical of his passive attitude toward the workouts).
Tracey chooses to take the two-pound advantage out of a fear that one of the other contestants would jump over the line before her when the amount of weight offered was higher.
Before setting off to train everyone else, Bob and Jillian sit Tracey down for a talk, and tell her to stop, think, and stare fear in the face without panicking.
Tracey and Abby sit out due to injury, so the three contestants without teammates in the competition (Mo, Julio and Allen) each carry 250 pounds.
It affects the results for a couple teams, and Jillian comments to the camera that it's one of the nastiest examples of game play the show has ever seen.
First aired October 6, 2009 On the first morning of Week 4, Bob and Jillian meet with teams and hear how Antoine and Sean "fell on the sword".
First aired October 13, 2009 The show starts with a temptation that resembles Wheel of Fortune meeting "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": spin a wheel (with 36 spaces) to win the "Golden Ticket" (which allows the winner to choose teams and trainers), win $1000, or eat 1000 calories.
That ends up making her the biggest loser on blue team, so she's immune if they lose (but it does not appear likely at this point).
He talks about his group called "The Village" that he founded to help kids, and he focuses a lot more on exercise and nutrition.
At home, the contestants struggle with their family responsibilities and their desire to eat healthy and work out at the gym.
To help explain the challenge, Derek Jeter (who owns several New York-area 24 Hour Fitness franchises) is on the big stadium TV.
Prior to the disclaimer credit, the episode is dedicated in the memory of her deceased husband (Rick) and children (Macy and Caleb).
The next day the contestants go meet and talk with two Senators (Kirsten Gillibrand and Bob Casey, Jr., both of whom serve on the Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms) about the issue of obesity among youth and children.
Daniel and Rebecca move spin bikes into Shay's room so that the young members can exercise while the other team thinks they are sleeping or resting.
The challenge this week is a repeat from a previous season: they have wires crossing a chasm with pictures of their "old selves" on the other side.
The winner of the challenge wins a two-week trip to the new Biggest Loser resort in St. George, Utah.
Jillian learns that Rudy's weight gain began with the death of his older sister when he was a teen and she talks with him about it.
First aired November 24, 2009 Investment guru Suze Orman makes a guest appearance on the show to advise the contestants and to administer a quiz.
Back at the house, Danny plays and sings a song he wrote about their time at the Biggest Loser Ranch.
The winner (Danny) wins a Chef Curtis Stone visit to their home to show them how to cook right.
They all come back to run the marathon, and at the halfway point each one is accompanied by a companion: Rudy gets Dina, Amanda gets her best friend, Liz gets her husband, and Danny gets his wife.
Rebecca Meyer wins the $100,000 prize for the greatest percentage of weight loss among the eliminated contestants.
Thus the new record-breaking weight loss of 55.58% means that Danny Cahill wins the $250,000 prize, and is the eighth season's Biggest Loser.
She was listed as being 238 at the second weigh-in, Which means she lost 12 pounds the first time her weight was announced on the show.