Women Today

Exuberance and sadness were both part of the latest episode of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” for Kristin Steede of Greenville and Cathy Skell of Shiocton.

Cathy was ecstatic to lose 14 pounds and was cheered on by her teammates when she did so. However, earlier on the show Kristin was sad to no longer be on the same team as cousins Sione and Filipe.

“Sione and Filipe were like her brothers,” Skell says. “They pushed her and they motivated her. She loved working with them because they kept her going.”

The contestants were divided into two new teams after a contest that involved doing up-downs in the mud. For the contestants that did not win, a coin flip determined which trainer they would work with.

Although they are now separated from some of their old teammates, Steede and Skell were able to stay together and continue working with Bob Harper. Skell is happy to keep working with her daughter, and has learned something about her fortitude.

“I did find out that Kristin never even needed me,” Skell says. “Something just clicked in her. She just blew me away. She was on her own and when she exercised she pushed herself to her limits.

“She didn’t even need my encouragement. It was awesome to see her blossom like that.”

This week’s challenge pitted the teams against each other on exercise bikes. It was Skell’s least favorite challenge so far.

“The 24 hours were horrible. You would try to take a cat nap, and you couldn’t sleep in the gym. It was miserable,” she says. “I enjoyed a lot of the challenges, but that was the one that was the toughest.”

After the weigh-in, Skell and Steede’s blue team had to send someone home. Dane, who had lost more than 100 pounds, was chosen.

“Was it a mistake? We’ll never know,” Skell says. “We all got along so well that’s what makes it even harder, but we all realized that each week someone does have to go home.”

Skell's impressive weight loss has generated some doubters on The Biggest Loser blog, who claim she was water-loading before losing so much weight. There were no gimmicks involved, Skell says.

“I had to fight for every pound,” she says. “It would get discouraging when I would get on the scale and have lost only one pound. But I would think, I’m here, I’m eating right so it’s got to come sooner or later.”

Watch the next episode at 7 p.m. Tuesday on NBC.