Excess Baggage – Mon-Thu 6:30pm, GO!.
http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/excessbaggage/

It’s time for three teams to run away to the circus… welcome to Breakthrough Challenge day. “Our contestants have been having a great time, on the land and in the sea,” say Kate. Clearly she didn’t watch yesterday’s iron man challenge.

Today the Pink, Blue and Red teams get to take part in a trapeze training session at a circus school. Everyone’s amazed and a little excited to be involved, though Sarah is concerned about her heart “bashing against my rib cage… or whatever it bashes against”. She’s such a little trooper. No time to muck around as after a demo by the professionals, it’s the contestants turn to try to emulate some of the basic trapeze moves.

Lisa notes Darryn isn’t the most co-ordinated of humans. “He’s trying to do the easy way, and look like some kind of Circus Orlay, and he’s still getting it wrong,” she says. Lisa has a go and Darryn is his usual supportive self. “If Lisa hits one of those walls, it’s all over for us,” he says. What a guy. Maybe his tough love is working?

Sarah has a chat with Dr Tim because she’s a little anxious about the activity. “What’s the worse case scenario?” he asks her. Well Dr Tim… SHE COULD DIE!!! But let’s ignore that for the moment. Sarah’s willing to give it a go but can’t make any promises as to how far she’ll go, which Dr Tim explains is all that anyone can expect. Lisa’s not backwards in coming forward so she gets straight into the trapeze challenge. Meanwhile everyone else is off to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to get involved in the high ropes course with Dr Jo & Christian.

Lana (Orange) is finding it tough, and Dipper’s attempts at yelling support at her isn’t helping. Ajay (Purple) is doing OK but being shorter than everyone else finds it tough. “This is like a jungle gym set for adults,” says Brant (Grey), before shaking the wire as John tries to get across. Everyone else is zipping through the easy level; it’s still a complete struggle for Lana. Dipper gets across the hanging rope stage and is there to help encourage Lana across.

Lisa gets swinging and has to be convinced to let go and fall into the net. K-Fed (Blue) does pretty good, as does Kate (Pink). Sarah steps up and with a scream is off and swinging and falls into the net with ease. She’s very happy with herself, understandably. The girls are very taken with the French trapeze trainer.

Back at the high ropes course, Nathan flies down the flying fox and manages to lose his glove and nearly hurt his hand on the wire. With everyone completing the easy green course, they step up to the harder red course… except for Lana, she’s done. The new course brings new challenges for everyone, including Christine wanting to kick the @%$#^ out of Brant for shaking the wire as she crossed. Not a jury in the country would convict her. Gabby & Ben (Green) are getting right into it which is a massive move for Ben having overcome his fear of heights.

Back at Circus Olay(!), the contestants are give the chance to be caught by a professional catcher mid-air. Lisa challenges Darryn that if she gets caught will he take her shopping at Cartier – he offers to buy her a keyring from Cartier – and… SHE DOES IT! Celebrations all round. Darryn can’t believe it, and it’s great for him to see her enjoying herself. However Darryn just can’t get into position for the catch – K-Fed reckons he’s tried at least 20 times with no luck.

Whiz back to the High Ropes teams again, and there’s all sorts of success being had. Brant’s having a great time, and John recognises that the weight he’s had on has stopped him doing so much. It’s not stopping him now. That’s awesome. “It makes me feel excellent that I had a go,” he said. Meanwhile Nathan’s crossing the log bridge and gets distracted by the “music of the bush” and falls off. There’s screams heard around the world at this as he hangs from the guide wire by his safety ropes. Just as the assistant gets there to help him he manages to get himself up without issue – a personal victory for him.

We see a piece from Nathan’s dad (who is a biker!) about how he wants to see his son achieve and succeed – “Isn’t that what everyone wants for their kids” he says. With the course complete, Christian & Dr Joanna are very complimentary to everyone for their efforts in having a go.

There’s surprise family visits for Matt and they’re all really surprised to see him and his progress. He’s stoked they notice, though he offers somewhat awkwardly that by having lost weight it’ll make “being intimate with his wife” a lot easier. Yeah, thanks Dad. Darryn’s girlfriend has popped over too and got bitten by a blue bottle the second she stepped in. “Of course,” groans Darryn.

Dr Joanna is having a confessional with Dipper. He was feeling frustrated after the Spirit Challenge because of their poor result. Even after going for a run to help bust out some of that stress, he admits that he still fell back into his old patterns of hitting the mini-bar and knocking back food he didn’t need. “Have a strategy in future,” says Dr Joanna, “so that you won’t do that again. Acknowledge the event and get straight back into the positive events that help.”

At lunch Dr Joanna is talking about the benefits of fish oil and iron in your diet, and everyone is transfixed at the session. There’s benefit in taking vitamin supplements to ensure your body gets everything it needs. After lunch people are all concerned about the elimination this week, especially Kate (Pink) who admits to not having a great week herself food-wise. She feels sorry for Sarah who’s been holding up the team and doesn’t want them to go home yet.

Before the elimination though, it’s tomorrow night’s Endurance Challenge – the last for one team. “Don’t let it be you,” says Christian. Who wants to walk up the 72 flights of stairs that is Q1 on the Gold Coast? All the Excess Baggage teams, it would seem…