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Stage 3 of the Fat March journey to Washington, DC started in Connecticut. This leg of the journey would take them to New York City, and end in Time Square.

At the beginning of a 12.7 mile walk, the marchers had to deal with intense heat, which, when added to the myriad of injuries and discomforts already plagueing them, makes for a pretty miserable walk. Wendy complained about wanting to go home from the get go, just stating that she was done. Dealing with acute knee pain, Matt keeps on plugging, even walking behind with Will to make sure Will didn’t reach the end last.

For the team, the grueling heat and long walks take their toll. On the second day of this leg, a 13 mile walk to be completed in 5 hours, Wendy is rushed to the hospital suffering from dehydration. She admitted to not drinking enough water for the walk, and after being hydrated is released from the hospital, leaving her with six extra miles to make up before the end of Stage 3.

On day 19, the marchers walked another 11.5 miles, and were waiting for Wendy when she caught up to them, cheering her on for her efforts. Waiting for the group back at camp was their usual fare, a diet of lean protein, complex carbs, and leafy green vegetables. Also looming in front of them on the table was a huge platter of donuts, which proved to be a little too much temptation for Jami Lyn, who ate one with relish, asking “If I eat one donut, is it really going to kill me?”

Challenge Day for Stage 3 of Fat March was a clam dig, which began with a little information on the benefits of adding shellfish to your diet for healthy fatty acids. Broken into teams of two again, the pairs set off with a rake and bag to see who could collect the most clams.

The teams were:

• Mike & Jami Lyn
• Shea & Matt
• Anthony & Wendy
• Loralie & Sam
• Chantal & Will

As the marchers scrambled to find a clam here and a clam there, Loralie figured out that the clams nestled into little holes, which you could find by looking for bubbles on the surface. She and Sam were finding tons of clams, and while the other teams tried to keep up after they saw what she was doing, in the end the Orange team won. For their efforts, they were rewarded with a massage, a gourmet healthy dinner, and a night in a luxurious suite.

While Loralie and Sam were enjoying the fruits of their labor, back at camp, Anthony decided that it was time for he and Will to have a conversation. Anthony brought up Matt’s knees, and Will stated that Matt was a grown man, and he knew he would take care of himself. Anthony took this little nugget and couldn’t race back to Matt fast enough, starting a rift between Matt and Will, with his version of the story, which was that Will didn’t care about anyone but himself.

My take on this? I interpreted what Will said as a compliment to Matt. That he was an adult, that he would take care not to hurt himself, and that he wasn’t going to need someone holding his hand, asking him every 20 minutes if his knees hurt. Yes, his knees hurt, but Matt strikes me as someone who’s going to give what he can, and if he gets to a point where he has to stop, or take a break, he’s going to do it. I was not impressed with Anthony’s need to try and stir the pot when it was absolutely unnecessary to do so.

Creating drama for drama’s sake is petty, and brings nothing of value to the table.

And speaking of drama, at the 200 mile mark, Wendy just detours right, saying “I’m going home!” With Lorrie walking with her, literally holding her hand at times, Wendy has a meltdown. She is crying about how horrible the food is, how much she misses her husband, and how she just wants to go home. At one point, she goes to a church and prays for a reason why she should have to stay there any longer.

It was obvious to me at home that her heart was not in this any more, and she was just done. No matter what anyone said to her, they wouldn’t be able to convince her to stay. So she quit. No regrets, no remorse over costing the rest of the team ten thousand dollars EACH, just quit with a smile on her face.

When one member of a unit falters, inevitably the negative energy filters back to everyone. While the rest of the Fat March cast didn’t know Wendy had quit, something was just off that day. Each person was struggling, with the heat, with exhaustion, with pain. As Matt passed by a New York state line, he said “Welcome to New York. Kiss my ass.” I wanted to give him a hug, there is just something about Matt that makes me like him.

At the end of the day, four marchers didn’t make it to the end of the line in the time allowed. Chantal, Anthony, Will and Matt all would have to add those extra steps to their journey the next day.

Back at camp, Lorrie announced that Wendy quit, which pissed off a lot of the marchers. Because they did not quit, they kept going through all of the issues they had, and for someone to be so blase about walking away and taking $10,000 out of each of their pockets, it really struck a nerve. With all of this anger and frustration, Matt told Will off, letting him know that he’s not going to look out for anyone but himself from here on out, thanks to Anthony doing everything he could to create tense situations that didn’t ever need to happen.

Thank goodness the end of Stage 3 brings some cheer to the team! Reaching New York City seems to revive the marchers, but maybe that was just the wonderful smells from the street vendors and restaurants as the trudged through the city. Upon reaching Time Square, the 9 remaining cast mates were greeted with cheers and well wishes from a huge crowd. (author’s note: I sat up on my couch and yelled at my husband, “Hey, that’s Bonnie, Steve’s wife!” when I recognized her long blonde hair and Mrs. Pfiester shirt)

Seeing themselves on the Jumbotron in the heart of NYC, the marchers were excited, hooting and hollering. You could hear exclamations of “Wow, I’ve lost weight”, or “Look, there’s me!” from each of them.

With the end of each stage comes a weigh in and voting session. This week, the weight loss results were just as dramatic as the last, with everyone losing over 20 lbs so far, in just over 3 weeks. The results are as follows:

• Anthony - lost 18, 55 total
• Shea - lost 7 lbs, 24 total
• Chantal - lost 8 lbs, 22 total
• Matt - lost 1 lb, 35 total
• Jami Lyn - lost 9 lbs, 27 total
• Will - lost 17 lbs, 48 total
• Loralie - lost 9 lbs, 28 total
• Sam - lost 15 lbs, 46 total
• Mike - lost 13 lbs, 46 total

Everyone seemed pleased with their weight loss so far, except Jami Lyn who is desperate to get out of those 200’s, and Matt who lost just a pound. I am certain that both will see incredible results this coming week, especially Matt who had an amazing loss the week before.

No one else was voted off this episode, which I am thankful for. I do, however sense something coming to a head. We’ve got quite the loose cannon in the group now in Anthony, who has stated repeatedly how he doesn’t care about the money, and loves to start drama when he can. So I’m sure more of his meddling will show up in episodes to come, and hopefully it won’t have the desired effect.

All in all, this week I was thrilled with Fat March. It seems as the episodes progress, the show is hitting its stride, the cast has started to mesh more, and the show itself is flowing more smoothly. I can’t wait to see the continued transformations of the Fat Marchers, as I have been lucky enough to get to know many of them, and have a personal desire to see them succeed.

Fat March can be seen on ABC, Monday nights at 9/8c.

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Last 5 posts by Carrie Falquist

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