The Biggest Loser Families - "Family Teams Face Toughest Challenge Yet" (Episode 604-A)

Thanks to the presidential debate, tonight's episode is only an hour. Ed and Brady think it's been great to be on campus losing weight with their wives (even though they may squabble.) Renee says she's happy to be with her estranged daughter Michelle (hope you're not getting sick of this story, because I think NBC's going to milk it for at least a more weeks) 24/7. She's glad they're losing weight and rebuilding their relationship. Shellay says it was great for a while until last week, where Allison introduced the twist - that the one team that went below the yellow line would have to decide which family member would be eliminated. Poor Coleen is the first lone team member on campus and she says being alone "stinks."

Jillian is left with a pack of girls, since Jerry left. She sent everyone but Coleen out of the room, so she could have a little one-on-one time with her. Jillian wanted to make sure she felt no guilt about her father's elimination and wanted her to now focus on herself. Coleen said her dad gave her the golden opportunity to stay on campus and ensure that she didn't walk the same life path as dear old dad. Phil said that no one knew what was going to happen at this week's elimination and that all they could do was make sure their team didn't fall below the yellow line. Bob was more than happy to oblige and run his teams ragged. He said week four was exciting because it was time for him to discover the "fire" burning in the hearts of the competitors. Ed says it keeps getting harder each day to workout. Vicky notices everyone around her getting stronger, while she's getting more and more injured, so she pulls Bob aside for a little chat. She wants to run for the calorie burn, but knows her limitations. Bob says she can walk at a higher incline andn burn the same amount of calories as the runners. Bob says it can be done. Vicky says Ed is getting frustrated because he can burn the same amount of calories in half the time and implied that weight loss was just one of the many problems in their marriage. Bob says married couples are often enablers and told Vicky to be strong - physically and emotionally.

Jillian got Coleen a little help for her workouts, since she was the only one without a partner. She recorded a workout for her and downloaded it to her mp3 player, so Coleen will never be without her. Vicky decided it was time to talk to Brady. She thinks he's holding her back. Brady says she needs to do what she needs to do and they kissed and made up. Back in Greenville, SC, Phil and Amy redeemed the visit home they woin during the first challenge. The kids were genuinely surprised and pleased to see their parents. Phil says he's not sure if his autistic son Rhett was aware of what they were doing, but Rhett said he missed his parents "so much" and predicts that mama Amy will be the biggest loser in their family. The boys are then shocked to be invited to join mom and dad on a hike. That's the first time they've ever been issued that invitation. Meanwhile, the other Amy and Shellay decided to spend the 24 hours with Jillian that they won during the first challenge. Jillian took the pair to a gym - not to the mani/pedi spa day they were hoping for. She took them on the stairmill and told them not to hold on to the handlebars. Shellay said that she couldn't and "I can't" seems to be her mantra - Shellay is working Jillian's last nerve. She said if she didn;t let go of the machine, that she was going to rip out her daughter Amy's arms and beat her with them. Someone's definitely got some anger issues!

Back in Greenville, Amy and Phil took their kids on a hike down "Turtle Trail." Phil said he wanted his kids to know that they weren't the parents who left them just a few weeks earlier and wanted to start a new life with them. Amy's looking forward to experiencing life with her kids. Back in LA, Jillian is still losing patience with Shellay. Jillian wants to hear no lip from him. Back on campus, Michelle hates the fact that she and her mom were once again forced to workout without Jillian. Shellay is being a big puss and is driving Jillian absolutely batty. Shellay's not giving her trainer anything "real" and Jillian tells her, "Nothing gets through your facade of, like, oblivion." Whatever that means. Just work on the physique Jillian, leave the heavy philosophy to someone else. Whatever she said made sense to Shellay, who started to cry. She told Jillian she always had to be the strong person. Jillian told her that if she wanted more, she had to give more. Shellay said it was "amazing" to have a "lightbulb moment" with her trainer. back in South Carolina, Amy and Phil had to again say goodbye to the kids and head back to campus. Amy was glad to see her kids and said the experience gave her a "boost."

It's time for the challenge - this time on the Universal Studios backlot. The teams were standing over a tank of water with chain contraptions and handlebars all around. Purple Amy said it looked like a "torture chamber." Apparently, she's not seen the show before. Allison welcomed everyone and said that the show's theme was all about "rising up against adversity and achieving goals. Even when you feel you're in over your head, you have to rise up to perservere." And this, of course, is the theme for tonight's challenge. Each player has to stand on a bar in the tank and hold onto a handlebar. The challenge gets harder as the water is drained out of the tank. The player who holds on the longest wins for their team (well, except for Coleen.) The reward for the winner is packages from home and a three day VIP pass to Universal including airfare and a "VIP experience" at the park (speaking as a former Universal tour guide, it's quite a prize.) Everyone gets in the tank and into position. The water starts draining from the tank, and no one looks too distressed...yet. Five minutes elapses and people are starting to have trouble keeping their balance. At fifteen minutes, it's getting even tougher - Heba can't even talk to Allison. Time keeps ticking away and everyone is still in the game. It isn't until 45 minutes in that we get our first casualty, Renee from the pink team. After that, Coleen, Heba and Michelle dropped out quickly. Around the 83 minute mark, we lost Ed. At 90 minutes, Allison said everyone could only hold on with one arm and Shellay, Red Amy and Phil are out. It's down to Purple Amy, Brady and Vicky. Brady doesn't last much longer. Will Vicky get a package from the kids or will Amy bring home the big prize for she and Shellay? At 107 minutes, Amy finally loses her grip, giving Vicky a hard-fought victory. Amy was just happy that discover that she was stronger than she thought she was. Allison tells Vicky that she can award a care package to another team and she decides to share her prize with purple Amy and Shellay.

Everyone heads home and, the next morning, Vicky and Brady are greeted with their care package from home, filled with pictures and school projects. Of course, there are lots of tears. Vicky says her kids motivate her. Brady even shed some tears when he heard a recording of his son. Vicky feels that this week's experiences made them closer as a couple. Brady was glad to have the peace of mind. Later, Amy and Shellay got their care package, with pillowcases made by Amy's dad/Shellay's hubby. Amy said the package was "amazing" and felt rejuvenated.

Jillian comes nto the gym and gets on Shellay's case for again hanging on to the equipment. Shellay's also been slacking and not doing her cardio "homework" that Jillian assigned them. Neither did Amy. Jillian, not surprisingly, is pissed. She says the gang this season is positively lame compared to the teams she had last season. Jillina said these ladies need a "complete overhaul." She sends a smirming Amy out of the gym and tells the rest of the ladies to get their act together. Tomorrow night, we find out the results of the week four weigh-in.