This was the "switch trainers" week. I have to sigh when people get so wound up about being addicted to their trainers. They have to learn how to do their best in every situation, not just with their ideal trainer. I think this was a good exercise.

I loved how the two trainers dressed like each other for the weigh-in.

I liked that Cassandra chased her dreams - although I wish she'd been a bit more logical / prepared for actually doing that She came off as a bit flighty.

I agree about Cassandra. Was she even working out? Is this the right time to move to NYC and find a flat and get a job?

Oh well. I am happy for her if she is happy.

Also, I missed Anna. I loved how she told her new team to 'man up' after switching trainers last season, and then proceeded to tell the guys about Actual Deprivation in the food lines of Old Russia.

Jilly -

I'm a bit iffy about Anna's story. My background is Ukrainian with real poverty - my family there still lives in houses without indoor toilets and no cars, in extremely rural villages. So I understand about the hardships of life in that part of the country. But if you read Anna's Wikipedia page, she was hardly in that situation. Her father was a university professor, she was sent to a professional tennis camp at age 7, and at age 10 she was in Florida being trained at a tennis camp here. So her parents were far from poor.

I appreciate that many people in the Soviet Union had a challenging life - but I don't think she personally had that rough a life.