As NBC's "The Biggest Loser" nears its conclusion, the departure of former Husker wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner still has me scratching my big, bald head.
Gardner, who was in a great position to win the $250,000, abruptly walked off the April 26 episode.
The move was unprecedented.
Gardner hasn't conducted any interviews, outside of a few quotes for an online wrestling magazine. He released a statement a day after the episode in which he thanked his trainers.
"Once I reached my goal and started feeling like my old self, I felt compelled to return home and support my wife, Kamie, in the ongoing management of our personal and professional affairs," he said. "The real prize for me in participating on the show was regaining my life back, and thanks to the show I have accomplished that. Another exciting outcome is that I am strongly considering a return to competitive wrestling."
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The 39-year-old Gardner began the show at 474 pounds. When he left, he had dropped nearly 200 of those pounds. Of course, he didn't win any friends along the way. He often alienated himself from the other contestants and was criticized for his binge-eating.
"I didn't come here to create a relationship with anybody," Gardner said on the show. "I came to learn about a lot of my issues ... I think, for the most part, I'm ready to go home."
Gardner's exit was strange but not surprising considering the wrestler's penchance for drama. His life is a movie waiting to be made, with four near-death experiences. He was impaled by an arrow as a kid. As an adult, he survived snowmobile and motorcycle accidents and a plane crash.
And let's not forget his improbable victory over Russian Alexander Karelin to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Here's hoping Gardner's life settles down, and that his recent weight loss puts him on track to better things personally and professionally.
Across the remote
* The wrestling team at the University of Nebraska at Omaha is the subject of a report on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" at 8 a.m. Sunday. In March, UNO eliminated the wrestling and football programs to participate in a Division I conference that does not field either sport.
In a press release, "Outside the Lines" said it "has uncovered discrepancies between the financial data received from UNO, from public records requests and official statements the school made to the public."
*One of my former classmates from Lincoln Southeast High School, Rick Cowling, was seen last week on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," singing and playing keyboards with the rock band Ambrosia, which produced a handful of radio hits in the 1970s.
The band was part of the host's "Yacht Rock 2k11" theme show on May 2, performing "Biggest Part of Me" and "How Much I Feel." You can see and hear Cowling, who was member of the popular Lincoln cover band The Finnsters in the 1980s, at .
* On the renewal front, the History Channel will bring back "Only in America With Larry the Cable Guy" for a second season. "Bones" will be back for a seventh season on Fox, "Army Wives" for a sixth season on Lifetime and "Fairly Legal" for a second season on USA. "Fairly Legal," however, will go through a series of "creative changes."
* It sounds like "Brothers & Sisters" will survive the cut at ABC later this month. Deadline, an online entertainment blog, reports the Sunday night drama most likely will be renewed for a shortened sixth and final season. Deadline also said star Calista Flockhart's role will be diminished, too. Flockhart's character, Kitty, was in 15 of this year's 18 episodes.
* ABC has yanked "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" from the lineup for the rest of this month, replacing it with "Dancing With the Stars" recaps. Oliver's show is scheduled to return June 10, airing at 8 p.m.
* "60 Minutes" (CBS) will feature President Obama discussing Osama bin Laden at 6 p.m. Sunday. CBS also officially announced Scott Pelley will replace Katie Couric as the "Evening News" anchor, beginning June 6.
* "Glee" plans to release a 3-D concert film, based on the cast's upcoming tour, on Aug. 12. It will be in theaters for only two weeks.
* Ed Asner, who was in Lincoln this spring performing as Franklin D. Roosevelt in a one-man show, has landed another TV role. He will play Hank and Evan's grandfather on the USA series "Royal Pains," which begins its third season June 29.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 402-473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com, or follow him on Twitter at .