TBL - Who you gonna vote for?

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Personally, I think this episode was kind of a lot of fluff. All the contestants went home for 30 days. Reuter thinks this is because they overlapped seasons and they had to wrap up the prior season finale. Either way, I think it was a little silly. Why go home for 30 days RIGHT before going home for good? If the 30 day break had been more in the middle, it might be a novel idea, but right before they go home for good?

Anyway, here is a breakdown of the episode:

1. They all return home. Did anyone else notice that either Ron & Mike actually had different limos or else the show tried hard to make it look like they did? Why would they take two different limos to the same place. Silly.
2. Everyone gets home to big celebrations. Speech speech, etc. Ron & Mike start trying to work on Mike's brother Max (who is bigger than Mike and younger!). Tara is nervous about hanging out with her friends and not drinking and gorging on 1/2 price bar appetizers (yum, wings). And did you notice, Helen's daughter is still looking pretty large? Way to go Helen. You're all skinny at the cost of your daughter's health. Mother of the year.
3. The contestants get a box on their porch again. No cookies this time. Darn. But, the DVD announces their challenge. To run a MARATHON this time. This just seems like a bad idea. A marathon takes much more time to train for than just 30 days! I won't go into it more than that, but Reuter has a lot more to say...
4. Jillian & Bob make visits to all of the contestants at their homes. This takes a lot longer for Jillian since she has 3 and Bob only has Ron left. (Good luck Bob.) But, fortunately, Helen, Mike & Ron all live near Detroit.
5. Jillian talks to Mike about letting go of his quest to "fix" his brother. Max has to want to do it himself.
6. Jillian talks to Tara & Helen about life balance. When Helen was talking about how busy her life was, I kind of was annoyed. She was like "I have my husband and my family..." Um, ok. Your kids are grown. Your husband just handled life without you for 17 weeks. What exactly is so taxing here? It's not like that one chick that went home to her 500 young children (on the yellow team). Jillian actually made both Tara & Helen have a drink. Helen looked like she was scared to death of her glass of wine. Little bit different than when they were on their spa getaway! And Tara, she just has the most addictive personality. From overeating, to overdoing it on the workouts. She just can't do anything in moderation. I guess it is good she got addicted to food and not crack.
7. Bob visited Ron and took Ron & Max to the gym. He gave Max a good workout. Then he helped him a little with his nutrition. He had Max go get a "normal" meal. He brought back a double cheeseburger, large fries and a milkshake. Yum! Good choice! Bob showed him what 600 calories of that would be. It still looked tasty. Max seemed to respond really well to Bob. It was good to see.
8. Time for the marathon. Each contestant was running for $10k to donate to the charity of their choice. Along the marathon route, there were people waiting to run with the contestants. First it was family members. Then it was past contestants. They had Bernie, Ali, Michelle, a couple others, and HEBA. Why did they have her? She is not even likeable! Mike had injured his hip training for the marathon, so he had to walk it. Just like his big poppa. (Although, he was walking much faster.)
9. Tara & Helen finished in pretty good time! Tara was under 5 hours! Mike was much slower because he was walking, but he still finished. Ron had a TON of trouble along the way. At one point they were taking his blood and making him eat stuff. I thought he was going to flat line. His hands were shaking like crazy! I expected him to throw in the towel like he did on the 1/2 marathon. But, Ron really impressed me and he pushed through. I think the fact that all of the former contestants were walking with him helped a lot. He was holding all the girls' hands. Mmmmhmmm. Ron was liking that.
10. Ron finally finishes and Mike is there crying. Then the brown team + Max stand there crying and hugging. They're a tearful bunch.
11. They all get their $10k checks. I kind of wish TBL had shown who they decided to donate the money too. I wanted to know!
12. At the weigh-in, the contestants put up some numbers that would be pretty good for them if it was a week. But, this was 30 days! Yes, it was 30 days at home, but still...
13. A total nightmare to team brown, Mike & Ron fall under the yellow line together. Just like last season when Heba fell under the line with her husband, Ron begs for America to vote for his son. Mike says to vote for either of them. Last season it was hilarious how everyone ignored Heba's husband and didn't vote for Heba. Haha! I don't think this time will be the same. Mike is much more likeable than Heba!

I already voted (for Mike). I want Tara to have some competition. VOTE HERE!

Oh, and apparently, Lee is a Tara-hater as well. Last night while she was on one of her rants about how she thought she couldn't do something but then she did, Lee was like "Everytime she starts talking, I get the urge to change the channel." Best quote of the night!

Can't wait for the finale next week! Lee doesn't think that anyone is going to end up "super buff" this season. I think he'll be surprised. Some people I really want to see:

* Daniel & David

* Joelle (I hope she's fat. That is so mean to say, but man she was the worst!)

* Kristin

* Nicole (the black chick that came back to the ranch momentarily)