Rachel Frederickson

"The Biggest Loser" returns with 15 inspiring contestants - including the show's first celebrity player, Ruben Studdard, an uplifting "Second Chances" theme and powerful new roles for trainers Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels and Dolvett Quince. For the first time ever in the show's history, trainers sat in on casting sessions and helped select the new contestants, and also received a "trainer save," allowing each one to save one eliminated contestant from going home. Contestants eager for a second chance to reclaim their health and re-write their futures include "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard, this season's heaviest contestant at 462 pounds, David Brown, who lost his first wife to an almost decade-long battle with cancer and is now fighting for his life so he can be there for his daughters, and Tanya Winfield, a single mom addicted to food who grew up with a teenage mom addicted to drugs, who is eager to break the cycle of addiction in her family. Also competing this season will be Olympic weight lifter Holley Mangold, hoping to get in the best shape possible for a second chance at gold in the 2016 Olympics, and Matt Hooper, who postponed his wedding to be on the show so he could give his fiancé the best physical version of himself.

The contestants celebrate Thanksgiving week with a special challenge - racing to load boxes of Thanksgiving food into trucks headed to help tornado victims in Moore, Oklahoma, where one player has a special connection. Members of the winning team are very thankful for their prize - a holiday dinner shared at the ranch with loved ones flown in for the celebration. Emotional reunions follow, as the winning team, their trainer and their family members gather for a Thanksgiving feast and share what they are most grateful for. Also, one player gets encouragement from his trainer to talk to his family about a long-kept secret, and the show catches up with one of season 14's child ambassadors, Sunny, to see how she is doing today. Then it's time for weigh-in and another elimination, which leaves one trainer giving a very tearful and emotional farewell to one of their players.

The dreaded "week 2 curse" is on all the players' minds, especially when they learn that only one person's weight on each of the three teams will count at this week's weigh-in. And they won’t know who it is beforehand, only when a roll of the die at the scale determines who will represent the red, white and blue teams. One lucky group will get a weigh-in advantage if they win the first challenge of the season; a water-bucket race that ties each team’s fate together in more ways than one. Also this week, one player gets sobering health news from Dr. H, another contestant connects with a very special family member and the show catches up with one of last season's popular child ambassadors to see how they are doing now.

Host Alison Sweeney kicks off this week's episode with a shocker – one of the contestants is going home and taking their trainer with them, and their weight will be the only weight that counts for their team when they return in time for the weigh-in. A simple spin of the wheel determine who will be chosen among the players, who would love to reunite with loved ones but are understandably anxious about the intense pressure they’ll face trying to lose enough weight to keep their whole team safe another week. Meanwhile, one trainer brings their contestant back to a sport they once loved, and two players celebrate milestones at the weigh-in before another contestant is sent home.

The 10 remaining contestants reach a milestone this week, as the competition goes from teams to singles. Wearing their new individual color shirts, the players meet host Alison Sweeney for a night-time "ring of fire" endurance challenge that involves holding a percentage of their individual weights. Alison also shares exciting news about an upcoming event that will be a "Biggest Loser" first for contestants, and sobering news that this week's weigh-in will end with a double elimination. Now that the teams have been disbanded, trainers Bob, Jillian and Dolvett are eager to switch it up and work out with new contestants this week. One player struggles with self-sabotaging negative thoughts, and two contestants make it to the coveted "One-derland" at weigh-in and say goodbye to weighing over 200 pounds. Then it’s time for the dreaded red line, which will determine which two players will be going home.