What have I done today to make me feel proud? Why are you always questioning me this way? I can't take the pressure!

We enter with the contestants telling us that they can't believe it's week nine. Me either, suckers. They all redouble their commitment to being finalists, sometimes in terrifying close-up.

And then it's a new day, and the contestants meet Sami back on the ranch, having obviously returned from their trip to D.C. She tells them that every week on the ranch involves encountering more obstacles, and different results. Sometimes the contestants beat the scale. Sometimes the scale beats them. And this week, the scale will beat two of them. Yes, you heard it right. Two contestants will be eliminated. There are eight contestants currently and after this week's weigh-in only six contestants will remain. And get this. There will be a red line in addition to the usual yellow line. The contestant who loses the least amount of weight will drop below the red line and automatically be axed. Well, that's totally fair. The second elimination will be the usual process of voting off one of two contestants who fall below the yellow line.

And, of course, there's a pop challenge. The winner will get a one pound advantage, which could be crucial. Each contestant has a board with 50 tennis balls attached. The first person to jump up and get all 50 tennis balls in their container wins. Shay points out that she is 60-200 pounds heavier than all of the other contestants, and so is basically screwed. Amanda and Liz can't compete for medical reasons that we are not privy to, so they sit out. The other contestants begin the running and the jumping. This one looks fairly exhausting. Allen takes an early lead with Rebecca and Daniel following close behind. It's close at the finish, but Allen wins. He enjoys winning, as you do, but realizes that he's won an advantage and not a guarantee.

Rebecca and Amanda walk and strategize, and hope that Liz falls below the red line. They'd also like Allen to fall below the yellow line so they can boot him. Amanda explains that there's a bit of a separation between the youngsters and the old folks: it's Rebecca, Amanda, Daniel and Shay against Liz, Allen, Rudy, and Danny. Danny and Liz walk and agree about the age separation. The red line is critical this week, because it will make the voting four to three. Liz is the oldest person in the house, and has a knee problem, so thinks she's the easy one to pick off this week. Danny is going to stay on her butt and ensure that she stays above the red line. Who knew it would come down to a battle of the ages?