'The Biggest Loser' recap: Miles to Go

The Marathon
Was anyone surprised by the marathon? When Ali announced that the prize would be the same for everyone ($10,000 to charity for finishing the race) any hint of competition left the room. But even though what followed wasn't surprising, it was pretty moving.

Rudy was predictably galactic in his expectations. ''I don't want to have to walk. I would like to finish jogging, and I would like to do it in under five and a half hours.'' He pulled away from the other contestants almost immediately. At Mile 13, his old Blue teammate Dina showed up to finish the second half with him. ''You're on the left, you're always on the left,'' said Rudy, like his old partner had never left. RuDina forever!

With a few miles left, the big man's spirits were flagging, but Dina wouldn't let him break his pledge: ''Rudy's not a walker,'' she said. ''Pretty soon I am,'' he argued. ''Oh no, you're not.'' And he wasn't. He reached the end at 5:12:41. Bob, summing up Rudy's marathon and his season: ''Dude. Unbelievable.''

Amanda continued her last-quarter surprise by posting a pretty, pretty good showing in the marathon. At one point, she seemed ready to quit: ''I can't even feel my legs. I can't even feel them.'' But waiting for her at mile 25 was Bob, ready to talk her through the last miles. She finished the marathon at 5:28:27, which is only sixteen minutes behind Rudy, which leads me to believe that most of Amanda's struggles were all in the editing.

Danny and Liz were with each other from the start. Liz explained that they had an understanding: ''If I'm holding you back, you go on.'' Yeah, right! On the long run from Marathon to Athens, these two old teammates spoke of old times: ''First two weeks on the ranch, you were so scared!'' Danny remembered. They complained about failing bones. Danny: ''My hip won't let me.'' Liz: ''My knee won't either.''

There was a lot of talk of quitting. They stopped off at the hydration station, iced their knees and tied their shins. They got back on the road, and the whole world shrank to two people and a few long miles. Danny: ''The day you picked me as your partner was the day we were gonna stick together through the end of this.''

Danny and Liz locked arms to cross the finish line. 6:55:22 for the both of them. Not too shabby, Brown team.

The Weigh-In
Liz and Amanda both lost 16 pounds, the definition of not bad. Danny lost a monstrous 59 pounds: I believe he screamed ''Killed it!'' That's about one pound per day. I think Danny's transformation is the most vivid of the remaining contestants. I mean, people! The man has grown a square jaw!

Rudy's showing was, by comparison, merely awesome: 43 pounds. ''I worked for every one of them,'' he said, though he admitted, ''I've got a lot of work to do before the finale.''

That left Amanda and Liz under the yellow line, begging America for clemency. What did you think of their speeches, viewers? Were you swayed by Liz, who showed quite a bit more energy than she usually has in her many, many Yellow Line speeches? Or, like me, did this episode go a long way toward humanizing Amanda for you? I still haven't decided who to vote for, and I don't quite care; I think this is a Rudy/Danny battle all the way, and I'm pretty excited to see it go down next week. How about you?

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