Wednesday's Oprah was all about losing weight in front of millions. Her guests included Valerie Bertinelli and Marie Osmond, who both lost around 50 pounds apiece on commercial weight loss programs. But the majority of the show focused on Star Jones, former co-host of The View.

Jones turned off a lot of viewers with her reticence on how she lost 160 pounds while on The View. But a couple years ago she came clean with the revelation that she had weight-loss surgery. She still hadn't really talked much about the process until she sat down with Oprah yesterday. And her conversation was riveting. I hadn't seen Jones speak so openly about her weight issues before. Gone is the brash caricature of "Star Jones," replaced with a more open and honest person. Even Oprah noticed the change in Jones.

"When you hear people say, oh, you took the easy way out, I would have longed for an easy way. It was not an easy way," Jones said on the show. "It was this -- the hardest struggle of my whole entire life and I still struggle."

If you didn't catch the show, find a friend who TiVoed it and watch it. You'll have a whole new appreciation for Star Jones. I know I did.

NBC photo

Thought I'd start cross-posting my Biggest Loser recaps from my spot on Examiner.com. So here it is:

Biggest Loser winner Ali Vincent greeted the gang at the gym with news that the other Ali gave birth to a baby girl. She also reminded the players that part of her journey of success was being sent home and coming back to win the whole shootin’ match. Then Estella, Nicole and David walked into the gym for their second shot. The person who lost the most weight would be able to come back. Estella lost an impressive 45 pounds. David lost 46 but he’s a big guy, so didn’t beat Estella. Nicole, who looks fabulous, lost 87 pounds and soared her way back into the game. Bob took one look at Nicole and just about busted a gut.

Quote of the week, from Jillian, talking to Tara: “Honey, you’re manic.”

Tara wanted to get to the bottom of why she had gained all her weight, and the thought of going home really scared her. And that’s really the most important part of the process.

While Jillian was extolling the virtues of Multigrain Cheerios, Ron started having chest pains during his walk. He saw the on-site doctor, who sent him to Dr. H downtown. Turns out he was having mysterious internal bleeding, which turned out to be bleeding ulcers. And we got to see them – yum!

The challenge: Michelle Aguilar, last season’s BL winner, talked the team through the challenge. They had to hang onto ropes standing on a little platform suspended by more ropes over a swimming pool. Then one by one, the platform ropes are removed. Sione and Kristin held on the longest but after more than an hour, Sione was victorious. He won a 1-pound advantage at the weigh-in.

Last chance workout: Bob took his crew to Muscle Beach while Jillian tussled with Mikey. After the workout, Ron arrived back at the ranch, pumped full of hospital fluids so he knew that he’d end up below the yellow line.

Weigh-in and elimination: Ali must have had a very easy childbirth because she was back for the weigh-in. Nicole gained 5 pounds! How’d that happen? Because of that, she lost her immunity. Tara lost 6 pounds and became the second woman in Biggest Loser history to lose more than 100 pounds on the ranch. As expected, Ron gained 3 pounds, which put him and Nicole up for elimination. The competition must have gotten to them and they voted Nicole off, again. Just recently, she tried on wedding dresses in half the size she originally did, and now she’s down 105 pounds.

And that really cool song played at the end is called Hope for the Hopeless by A Fine Frenzy.

Did they make the right choice? Should Nicole have been given a chance to really prove herself at the ranch? Should Ron have stayed at the ranch to help improve his health?