Looking for a Biggest Loser season 9 villain? We may have one in red team member Melissa, who appears to have thrown the past two weigh-ins.

Last week Melissa and her husband, Lance, won immunity so she promptly gained a pound. This week, only her husband's weight counted at the weigh-in and -- surprise! -- Melissa only lost 1 pound. And from the preview of next week's show, her weigh-in results will cause more eyeballs to bulge.

But did she legitimately throw the weigh-in? Recently eliminated contestant Maria Ventrella of the white team says yes.

"I think she knew she wasn't the one that was weighing in," Maria told reporters in a conference call Wednesday afternoon. "And I think her thoughts were that as long as her weight is not counting she's going to try to keep the big number for the week that her weight will count. She's a very smart lady ... and you know she's playing the game."

OK, enough cattiness and game playing. Here are some highlights from Maria's life on and off the ranch:

On losing weight at home: "Once I got home from the ranch I understood that, you know, this is making me feel good," she said. "Originally I went to the ranch thinking about saving my son's life because of his big amount of weight. And it was a matter of waking up and saying 'Hey, you know, this is for you too; you're feeling great, you're feeling good, continue.' And that's what I've been doing. And I do -- I feel so much better."

On emotional eating: "I never thought about myself. I would just eat when I was upset and I've learned not to do that anymore," she said. "Emotional eating is the worst type of eating that you can do because you don't have control of it, you just go at it and then after you've eaten it you feel even worse than you started with."

On learning to put herself first: "I have set aside time for me," she said. "I have to understand my life is here, I only have one life and I have to start living it."

On her son Michael's progress: "Michael's doing great at the ranch. He's continuing. He's changed a lot," she said. "He's just determined to get to his goal. He really understands now what this opportunity has brought to him. And you'll see -- you'll see in the show he's doing very, very good."