This week the challenge we’re working on is head-to-head contests. And with the immunity that Dave won, he’s put everyone in couples. Now those couples are battling each other this week. That’s going to culminate at the weigh-in, so basically what’s going to happen is whoever out of each couple gets the highest percentage weigh loss, they sit above the yellow line and whoever gets the lowest sits below the yellow line.

That means there is going to be four people up for elimination and the really tough thing about that is that I’m up against my former partner Lisa. It’s extremely full on and it’s been highly emotional and very upsetting. It’s something I wish we didn’t have to do, so that’s been my personal challenge this week.

Chris took $15,000 and left the game. So we had a really tough elimination last week because both sisters, Caitlin and Daina went under the yellow line. It was a hung-vote at elimination and Daina left because she had the lowest percentage weight loss. It was a very emotion-charged elimination and there was a lot of stuff thrown around. The difficulty is that the fewer people in the house, the more the emotions come into it and we live with each other 24/7 so it can be really tough.

When you don’t have anything else to focus on other than your own weight loss and your health and nutrition, you get lost in the game. It’s a pressure cooker. Sometimes you can lose focus about why you’re really here. And then you have to take stock and remind yourself that this is about the weight loss and not about how other people are playing the game or not playing the game. You kind of lose perspective in the house.

On the day-to-day basis, it’s really great - we’re all here sharing the same journey and that is to get our health back. Most days it’s great. It’s jovial and supportive. And then there’ll be moments like the elimination and temptation and they’re the moments that just do your head in.

Today people are walking around saying how tired they feel, everyone is really exhausted and they don’t know why. But it’s the emotional drain, that’s the hard bit. You’re constantly having to be on your guard and thinking about the game, if you don’t play the game you’re not here on a week-by-week basis to lose weight. So it’s the nature of the beast, you have to play the game if you want to achieve your goal of weight loss. And that really takes it out of you.

Welcome to Biggest Loser. It’s not a holiday camp.

I underestimated how hard it was going to be. The challenges in terms of the physical challenges and the training, all of that stuff, that’s the easy bits. It’s the game that makes it really tough!

I just want to say hello to everyone at home. Also, hi to all my kids. I hope the kids are having a great start to the 2010 year and Miss Craig may or may not be back soon.

Jarna