Joelle’s Failure: A Lesson In Partnerships
Last night a good thing and a bad thing happened on the Biggest Loser.
For those that haven’t or aren’t watching this season, here’s a quick refresher: the first week they were there they competed to see which two teams would remain fully intact for the next four weeks and which nine teams would be sending a partner home. After that, the teams who sent a partner home, as well as the two intact teams, competed to keep their partners in the game by not falling below the yellow line. The first team sent home were grandparents whom the grandfather couldn’t keep up; the next team was the engaged couple, when the husband-to-be couldn’t compete; and last week the orange team, one set of best friends who were both in their teens, were sent packing when the one who stayed behind couldn’t lose enough. What’s been interesting is one team, who was up for elimination at the same time as the red team (the engaged couple), and to whom I got to finally cheer when they got eliminated last night.
Last week, the first of the two best friends were sent home when the one friend who went home and came back for that weigh-in commented that they didn’t necessarily need to be at the ranch – to which, unsurprisingly, pissed everyone off at the ranch, considering how much work his best friend was putting in to get him back. Unfortunately, in spite of being defended by the very team who they were up for elimination against the first time he faced elimination (with the old couple that was sent home), he managed to lose 60 of his 457 pounds while on the ranch – I say unfortunate because it wasn’t enough to keep him in the game.
So who was this team that I cheered when they were eliminated last night, and what was so offending that a person who would not normally laugh in a losers face clap out loud while he is working out? That honor goes to the Silver team, the other pair of best friends who decided to keep the worst person who I have seen in any reality TV show in the game.
How offending was she? In her first last-chance workout on her own without her partner, she really set Bob flying off the handle and argued that she was doing her best. She managed to squeak by that week, but barely.
The following week she won a challenge that allowed her to train with her partner and her trainer privately for a couple of days, and during which time these two got into each other’s faces during the middle of their workout. She fell below the yellow line, but was kept alive by all of Jillian’s teams, in what I feel was a combination of gameplay and pity. (I was shocked and pissed off by this stunt.) Last week, she managed to lose a whopping 6 lbs. – and barely stayed in the game again, knocking the brown and orange teams below the yellow line.
This person – Joelle – in the weeks she was alone – has shown her true colors, and did so very early in the game. The first week that their partners were home the temptation was a portion of the $250,000 prize, and she was the only one showing any temptation towards going over the line and going home. Everyone else stayed far away from this line. Everytime she worked out, she whined and made excuses, or just did things her own way.
Carla, her partner, was the one who went home, and unfortunately, this was probably the dumbest thing she did besides choosing Joelle for her partner: Carla had the work ethic, had they tenacity, and probably would never have allowed the silver team to fall below the yellow line. She has always worked as hard as everyone else on the ranch in the measly 3 episodes she was in.
If they were in Individual competition, there would be no reason to feel bad about last night.
Last week, I felt bad for Dan, the Orange team member who stayed at the ranch but whose best friend ultimately screwed things over for him. Dan actually worked his ass off, in spite of his limitations, and did his best to get his best friend back on the campus, so I really wish they had been in individual competition, because his friend did not care.
Joelle had an opportunity to do something for herself and for friend that millions of people, sucked into the show as I am, only wish and desire to do. She unfortunately still has that opportunity, due to the fact that she, like everyone else on the show, is also eligible for the $100k at-home prize. She is, by far, the biggest, most selfish dumbass I have ever seen, and she makes the person I hated and rooted against last season seem like the best person that’s ever played. I’ve seen other people on other shows like Survivor and The Apprentice, whom I hated, but have more respect for than her, and the reason for that is the nature of this show as compared to every other reality show out there: I can only think of two reality competition shows that are as good or serve as good of a purpose as this one does, and those two do the same thing this one does: promote good health and weight loss.
At the end, when they showed what they did off the campus, they showed the two teammates meeting for the first time since being eliminated. That’s right: the non-apologetic, excuse-throwing Joelle and her former best friend Carla have not worked or seen each other until a meeting that was shown last night, and they left fighting to boot! She didn’t offer an apology for the 0 pounds she lost at that weigh-in, and she kept throwing up the same old excuses!
So, apart from feeling bad that, at this point, everyone who is eliminated will be someone I am rooting for, I should get to my points, and I think Bob said it best last night after the Silver Team’s weigh-in: “Look, here’s the bottom line: when it comes to this house, especially when it comes to working with teams, you guys have to be in such sync at all times. One person does not make a team, and it’s obvious right here.”
The first point is that, if you’re going to try out or go one a TV show that is, by its nature, designed to help you with your life, realize that everyone will be watching everything – yes, the show’s only going to highlight your best and worst moments, but these are the moments we see who you are, because these are the moments, when you’re challenged, stressed, and put to the test, that you show yourself in handling situations, that show how you treat others, that show more of you than full-on butt-nakedness will. Don’t put up excuses, don’t BS yourself or others, and if you’re going on these shows, don’t waste your opportunity.
The second, and it’s partly why I prefer going it alone, is that if you’re doing something with a partner – be it working out, fixing or making something, or even just talking and walking together, no amount of excuses, no amount of BS is acceptable. Pull the weight your partner is pulling, do as much as you can or as much as your partner is doing, and don’t argue or fight about it. Not only is it counterproductive, it’s also it introduces resentment, it introduces anger, and in the case highlighted here, it breaks that partnership. In something as vital, as significant as improving your health and losing weight, the effect can very well be fatal, especially in morbidly obese people, which both women are.
Third, If you do mess up, if you do fail to complete or let your team mate down. At least have the dignity to acknowledge and apologize for the mistakes made. Failure is always a possibility, and for most of us, will happen at some point. The nice thing about weight loss is that if you mess up one week, you can pick yourself up, learn from the mistakes of the previous week(s), and unless you’re on a show like The Biggest Loser or you die, the mistake won’t be a big deal until you make it a big deal.
Finally, if it’s your partner who messed up, do like Carla did: Be humble, be as accepting as you can be, but rip them a new asshole if they fail to do whatever they can to fix it. Your partner needs you as much as you need them, and while you shouldn’t be ready to ditch them when they don’t pull their weight, you shouldn’t have to work with someone that doesn’t want to be there or doesn’t want what you want. Be as supportive as you can, but if it isn’t working, ditch them and move on.
Joelle and Carla probably won’t be friends again, or it’s going to take a lot (I hope on Joelle’s end) to patch this friendship. Hopefully everyone else can learn from Joelle’s mistakes – even those who are not competing.
