Chelsea Arthurs

"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.

It's Halloween at the ranch, and that means a pumpkin challenge and the contestants' first temptation of the season. Off the players go into a field of 100 pumpkins filled with candy treats, cash prizes and a winning ticket giving one lucky player one of the biggest prizes ever awarded in a challenge - immunity for their whole team. Later, one trainer brings a special group of people to work out with his team, while another trainer has a heart-to-heart talk with a contestant about their challenging childhood. "The Biggest Loser" catches up with last season's child ambassador, Biingo, to see how his life - and the lives of his family members - have changed since he was on the show. And later, the players get a motivational boost with coveted letters from home before heading to the weigh-in, where another player is eliminated.

This week, the contestants take a pop quiz about obesity in the workplace after meeting host Alison Sweeney in a diner. The location proves significant since that's where the losing team will be working all week while still trying to eat healthy and exercise with much busier schedules. While the losing team stays busy waitressing, cleaning up, doing dishes and squeezing in workouts, they still find time to bring "treats" from their day job back to the ranch to tempt other players. Meanwhile, one trainer works closely with his contestant to determine what has been holding him back from bigger weight loss numbers, and another tries to help one player's family member get started on the path to a healthier lifestyle. Then it's time for another contestant to head home after a weigh-in that yields surprising results.

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.

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.