Vanessa Hayden

Twenty former athletes, including NFL players and Olympic gold medalists, try to change their lives and get healthy on the new season that also features new trainers Jessie Pavelka and Jennifer Widerstrom joining veteran trainers Dolvett Quince and Bob Harper. The contestants are led by former NFL players Scott Mitchell (12 seasons in the NFL) and Damien Woody (two-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots), as well as Olympic gold medalist and former professional tennis star Zina Garrison. Other contestants striving for weight loss include former WNBA standout Vanessa Hayden, three-time Olympic gold medal softball player Lori Harrigan-Mack, and a mix of former college and high school sports standouts. Season 16 also features trainer Bob Harper in an exciting new role, giving contestants a second chance at life on the show. Just when the eliminated contestant each week thinks they are headed home, they will actually be whisked away to a secret location called “Comeback Canyon.” There they will be trained by Harper, competing at a separate secret weekly weigh-in for the chance to return to the competition and a shot at “The Biggest Loser” title and $250,000 grand prize.

This week kicks off with a “Lottery Challenge,” where one contestant is randomly chosen to go home with their trainer for the week. But the pressure is on when they find out their weight will be the only weight that counts for their team this week on the scale. While the chosen contestant deals with the emotional issues at home that caused them to gain weight, the remaining team members try to stay on track at the ranch without their trainer. Later, the two eliminated contestants at “Comeback Canyon” compete to stay there one more week, while the ranch weigh-in finds one player making the ultimate sacrifice for their team.

The contestants compete in two challenges this week to gain pound advantages at the weigh-in. The first challenge tests their nutrition knowledge, with their trainers consuming food for each incorrect answer. The “Wall of Glory” is revealed in the gym, showing contestants when they were top athletes, inspiring them to work ever harder in the gym. Then trainers Dolvett Quince, Jessie Pavelka and Jennifer Widerstrom help out at an endurance challenge before a weigh-in determines who will be headed to the surprise “Comeback Canyon” location with trainer Bob Harper and which of Bob’s two eliminated contestants will be headed home.

Week two begins with the trainers and contestants getting to know each other and reveal more about themselves, with the exception of one player who refuses to talk about what led to her weight gain. This week’s challenge has contestants busting through "walls of excuses" and racing through an obstacle course while carrying a punching bag, with the winning team getting a prize that none of the players want to be without. Then Dr. Huizenga meets one-on-one with contestants to reveal the results of their medical exams and what the future holds if they don’t lose weight, leading one contestant to storm out of the room when the truth is too hard to hear. Later, the weigh-in at the ranch reveals which contestant will be headed to trainer Bob’s Harper’s "Comeback Canyon," while the weigh-in at "Comeback Canyon" ends with one contestant leaving the competition for good.

The contestants return to the Los Angeles Coliseum this week, where their journey began, to face their first temptation – a tailgating challenge. Each player enters a tent filled with stadium food favorites, and has to decide whether to consume the high-calorie food and possibly win the coveted prize of immunity, or walk away from the temptation eating nothing. Later, one player opens up to his trainer about issues from childhood that have continue to take an emotional toll, while one of Bob’s ‘Comeback Canyon’ contestants gives him a very special gift. Then a red line at the weigh-in sends one contestant from the ranch to a surprise second chance at Comeback Canyon, while one of Bob’s two eliminated contestants there heads home for good.

In this must-see, exciting live finale, the 20 contestants from this season return for a special reunion and a chance to weigh in one last time – and show America how much weight they’ve all lost since beginning their weight-loss journeys. Those who have been eliminated will compete for the $100,000 “at home” prize. Then it’s the moment viewers have been waiting for, when one of the three finalists will be named this season’s “Biggest Loser” and win the coveted grand prize of $250,000.