We are only into the second week of the 8th season of The Biggest Loser, and already I have a favorite: my man, Dan.
Dan Wright, 20, competed on the show last season, but was sent home to continue his weight loss journey on his own after he was voted off the show by his fellow cast mates after losing the least amount of weight. The decision was a hard one for the other contestants to make as Dan was both the youngest and heaviest on the ranch. Thus, many thought, he was the least likely to be able to make changes without the show’s help.
Fortunately, Dan proved them wrong and lost a whopping 142 pounds total.
However, with his original weight of 454 pounds, that weight loss was not enough to get him out of the woods. Dan returned for the 8th season, deemed the “season of second chances,” to continue on his weight loss journey.
Dan won the first challenge of the season, jogging a mile in a race with his new ranch mates, and won the opportunity to pick his partner for the remainder of the season.
Dan, always the sweetheart, chose Shay, the heaviest girl on the ranch, and in The Biggest Loser history, to be his partner. Dan explained his choice by stating he felt he could motivate her to succeed because he knew what it was like to be the heaviest contestant, and that his progress would hopefully be enough to show her she, too, can lose the weight. Right off the bat, Dan was concerned with others’ weight loss just as much as his own.
The contestants were then given a chance to win immunity for the entire cast if they lost a total of 150 pounds in week 2’s weigh in- a week that is notorious for having low numbers due the stress the body is trying to deal with. Purple team’s Coach Mo, who is the kind of guy that when he talks, everyone listens, and when he’s done, you just want to pinch his cheeks, asked Dan if he would be the shining example for the week, because he was the only one who has ever gone through Week 2 before. Dan happily accepted the responsibility, and the team lost the 150 pounds they needed- an unheard of amount of weight for week 2.
I posed the question on Twirlit.com as to whether Dan should be able to return for a second chance or if his come back is robbing someone else of their own chance to finally get healthy. I am now convinced that Dan being on the ranch isn’t robbing one person of their shot. Rather, Dan, at the young age of 19 years old, needs to be there to motivate his other 15 ranch mates to make the most of theirs.
