Chris Haston/NBC
The cast of "The Biggest Losers."
By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor
Longtime fans of "The Biggest Loser" are familiar with a phenomenon known as "the week-two curse." Anyone who didn't know about the troubles that traditionally follow the contestants' earliest efforts, certainly got a crash course on the curse Monday night.
The action picked up right where it left off in the last episode -- with the white team reeling from the loss of TC, whose ouster came hot on the heels of Nikki's voluntary exit. With just three members going forward, Jillian Michaels' team worried what the future might hold.
But Team White was far from the only one to fret. Host Alison Sweeney announced that the dreaded red line would return to the weigh-in again and claim another victim without so much as a vote. So the unlucky one with the lowest percentage of weight loss on the losing team by the end of the week would go the way of TC.
That had everyone worried, and that's where the so-called curse concerns came in. On "The Biggest Loser," the second week is often regarded as the hardest week. Players drop big pounds during week one, but often plateau after their initial success. In past seasons, losing no weight at all or even gaining a pound or two wasn't unheard of in week two. That goes for frontrunners and lagging "Losers" alike.
So with that thought looming over the contestants, they all prepared to give it everything they had. Good thing, since Bob Harper, Dolvett Quince and Jillian each set up outdoor gyms to put the players through their paces.
The workouts were, as always, grueling. But they weren't the toughest stuff the contestants faced. In fact, the huffing and puffing must have seemed easy compared to what came next for some of them -- one-on-one visits with "Loser's" resident doc, Robert Huizenga.
Jackson, from Team Red, learned that sleep apnea was robbing his body of much needed oxygen every night. Pam, from the white team, viewed a test tube highlighting the cloudy fat content in her own blood. The assessments were particularly harsh for Team Blue's Gina and Michael. She discovered she had "out of control" diabetes, while he learned that at age 34, he had the arterial calcification of a man in his late 70s.
They each aspired to use the bad news as a motivator for a better future, but first they had to get through the rest of the week's obstacles.
Speaking of obstacles, the official challenge for the week saw eight-time NFL Pro Bowler Antonio Gates direct the teams through speed drills. Teen players Biingo (blue), Lindsay (red) and Sunny (white) were on hand and stood to benefit the most, since the team to complete the drill in the best time would win $5000 and (a visit from another NFL player) for their kid's school.
In the end, the small but determined (and really fast) Team White won it for Sunny.
But unfortunately, that was the only bit of good fortune the three-member team had all week.
Despite a rough weigh-in for Team Blue -- complete with a zero-pound loss for Jeff -- it was the white team that fell to the curse and ultimately came in last place.
The team of three was suddenly down to just two. It was their seemingly strongest player, Nate, that fell under the red line.
"That makes me really sad. It does," Nate said. "I look back, and I'm proud of the work that I've done. I was starting to write a new book of my life. I wanted 'The Biggest Loser' journey to be a lot longer than two weeks."
There was hardly a dry eye to be seen -- even Jillian broke down.
Still, it wasn't all bad news for Nate. In an update at the end of the show, he revealed that he's continued his weight-loss progress back home. He also had a big reveal for his girlfriend.
After declaring, "I feel like I deserve her now," Nate got down on one knee and proposed.
She said, "yes!"
Find out what the competition holds for the remaining contestants when "The Biggest Loser" airs next Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC.
What did you think of the results on Monday night? Do you think it was really Nate's time to go? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
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