By Ali Vincent, Special to BiggestLoserClub.com

If it wasn't for so many of the contestants having such distaste for Joelle and her work ethic, I fear that the Brown team would not have been so lucky in getting to stay another week after falling below the yellow line two weeks in a row. Contestants are less likely to give a break to a team two weeks in a row, and the Brown team is truly a threat.

Memo to the Brown team: YOU NEED TO EAT. I know, I know, we as a whole have a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that we need to eat to lose weight but WE DO! Mike and Ron are figuring that out the hard way, and they must accept it if they are going to pull this off.

Uh-Oh, Here Here's Alison
When you are on the ranch and host Alison Sweeney unexpectedly walks into a room, it's usually not a good thing :) As much as we contestants love to see her, it means there is something tricky in store for us! This time it was a "pop" challenge with a reward everyone wanted, a day on the ranch with a family member. In the end, the big hearts of the contestants gave it to Mandi.

She was so excited and really felt like that was exactly what she needed. So when Jill found out and was upset about it, my heart skipped a beat for Mandi. I know what it feels like to want Jill to be happy with you and the choices you make on the ranch. But Jillian is right. There really is no time for distractions, and you never know what kind of possible tailspin might occur from having time outside of your usual routine -- particularly if the last encounter with family members was less than enthusiastic about wanting you to be a part of The Biggest Loser.

Yoga Time
The first five or so weeks of being on the ranch is a lot of really hitting it hard in the gym and then there is the time when you need to put it all together, so incorporating activities like yoga is essential. Yoga incorporates the physical and mental part of challenging yourself. I was at home during this point of my journey, so I never got to do yoga with Bob but I did pick it up at home. It's important to find balance and stillness.

Cathy did appear to be a natural. You could see it in her face, and it would make sense going through the trials of sobriety to be able to release yourself to a different place in your mind and soul. This may have been her first time doing actual yoga, but she has been to that place before.

Trainer Strategies
Leave it to Jill to figure out whatever it takes to get a contestant to the point of performance. I seriously got scared for Laura when Jill asked Tara to come over and slap her in the face if she dropped her hand because you knew as well as Laura and I did that she WOULD :) (out of love and concern of course). If it takes Jill putting them up against each other that is exactly what she will do. It isn't fair for one team member to do more than the other. God bless Jill, she is the best!

I love Bob and how the contestants really thought even for a minute that they were going to have a trip to Subway that involved a car ride :) Isn't it funny that our first thought for most of America when we think of leaving our houses to go somewhere that it will involve a ride? It still amazes me how I have started thinking of things differently, and although I haven't quite enrolled my friends to join me in walking to go shopping, I'm working on it.

Partner Power
Each week there's a new example of the power behind working as a team. You cannot do this alone and our partners, whether on the ranch or at home, depend on us 100% as do we on them. I was so impressed by Cathy and Kristin at this holding-the-pole challenge. You could tell that Cathy mentally went to her yoga place and Kristin -- she's just got it. Tara may be more vocal than Kristin but these are the two to watch out for! Holding a pole aloft for four hours and 40 minutes, you try it. Even just with your arms above your head not even holding anything, how long can you last? Then try it with a partner in your life. I bet you can last longer as a team. Cathy and Kristin just have this amazing balance in regards to each other. Congrats on immunity ladies!

I love that Mandi got to see her husband and then to have the little knocks from her boys... doesn't get better than that :)

Hitting Close to Home
Ready or not, the pressure is getting more intense with each passing day. Mike is truly coming into his own, and I know what it feels like to worry about the health of a parent. Not many know, but my mom, in a routine angiogram, coded while on the table nine months before we went to The Biggest Loser ranch.

After the doctors got my mom back, she was on life support for the next 48 hours. When she woke up, in complete Bette-Sue fashion she thought everything was fine, while my sister Amber and I thought we had lost our mother. In that case we had no control but knew we had to get healthy, so being on The Biggest Loser gave us life. Mike knows that he has to be on the ranch for a full life but his father has to be there for life itself. To watch Mike push through his limits in the last-chance workout, I felt like I knew why and how he was able to dig deep within himself. This is what it's going to take to continue their journey together.

So this is the week only one team falls below and now the teams will start having to be split this time for good :( I can't believe Kristin gained two pounds! My knees about fell out from underneath me. In the past if a contestant who has immunity gains weight they lose their immunity and are weighed in with the rest of the contestants, so as you can imagine I about died!

I hate that anyone has to leave the ranch and although the contestants followed the wishes of Blaine and sent him home, I am definitely interested to see Bob's reaction, particularly since he told ALL of his team that Dane was the only option.

See you next week for episode 6!


Ali Vincent of Season 5 was the first woman to ever win The Biggest Loser grand prize.