Reporting on a guy like Jean-Robert Bellande never gets old. The “Survivor: China” castaway is nearing the end of a weight loss bet to get down to 254 pounds by the end of October. According to F5 Poker, he has $70,000 in bets riding on it. However, with a week to go in October, can Bellande pull it off?

On Wednesday, Bellande Tweeted the following, providing an update on how much weight he needs to lose before the clock strikes Midnight on Halloween:

As Sam Phillips responded on Twitter, dropping a pound a day for the rest of October could prove to be too difficult: “A pound a day? You’re doomed!” One other follower of Bellande advised that the high-stakes pro get out from behind the computer and start moving: “You should stop Tweeting and start burning the calories. $70K isn’t chump change for nine days of work.”

On Thursday morning, Bellande updated the community by saying he weighed in at 252.2 pounds, meaning he still had 7.2 pounds to go. Input from Twitter followers ranged from flooding his body with sodium to exercising by “walking 4-6 hours per day plus planks and wall sits for 60 minutes.” Sounds like the worst day ever.

According to CalvinAyre, Bobby Baldwin has $50,000 of the $70,000 in bets. Baldwin won the 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event and made his name in the casino world at the Golden Nugget, Mirage, Bellagio, CityCenter, and MGM Resorts.

Back in 2010, Ted Forrestwon a dramatic weight loss bet against Mike Matusow after dropping 50 pounds (end result pictured). ESPN quoted Forrest as saying about how he did it, “I exercised more, cut out sugar, went to raw and organic vegetables, cut down meat. I was running and walking a lot, lifting, and circuit training four days a week. I didn’t want to build too much muscle, but I needed to build a little keep my metabolism up.”

Over the last 10 days of the bet, Forrest virtually fasted. Matusow has reportedly failed to pay Forrest back the nearly $2 million he owes, leading to a considerable amount of tension between the two former Full Tilt pros.

In 2007, Bellande told RealityTVWorld that he shed 30 pounds during the filming of “Survivor,” where contestants are largely relegated to scant portions of rice and whatever the land provides. He told the site at the time that the experience made him stronger overall: “I lost 30 pounds, but I don’t think it affected my strength at all. When I went out there, I wasn’t particularly fit, but I got more and more used to the elements as the days went by. I really think I left there just as strong as when I got there, maybe stronger.”

What do you think? Can Bellande do it?

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.