The Mole: 7/28/08

This show is getting down to the wire, and I still am unsure who The Mole is. My best guess is still Nicole, but that just seems too obvious.

In the beginning confessionals, Mark is down in the dumps about Clay leaving, Craig is kind of ambivalent, Nicole said that she couldn't help but kick ass on the quiz out of pure instinct, and Paul is happy to be in the final four.

They head to their first Mission, How's the View. It is worth $64,000. Mr. Host Man asks for two players who are Young At Heart. Paul and Craig volunteer. Each Young at Heart person gets one of the other two, so the teams are Paul and Mark, and Craig and Nicole. They will be completing an obstacle course for kids. The Young at Heart people will be wearing a camera that is controlled by the other person on the team, and the camera is a visor that is the only thing the Young at Heart person can see. The trick is, the vision is mirror imaged. Wow. Right. And they cannot talk to each other. The Young at Heart person can speak, but not the other person. Confused yet?

Paul goes first, his vision controlled by Mark. Mr. Host Man put on a creepy "I'm a pre-school teacher" voice to explain the first obstacle, which is putting shapes in a shape sorter. For each shape in the box, there is $1000 added to the pot, up to $3000. They have one minute. Paul completes it after he gets used to it. Mark wished that he was the one doing the job. Nicole also wished that she could be the one doing the job, because she is a laproscopic surgeon and is used to working backwards with cameras. Of course, she also couldn't keep her mouth shut, and when Craig asked for help once, she answered, so they only got $2000, because he asked after the second shape was in.

The second task is to kick a soccer ball into a net. They have two soccer balls, one kick at each ball, and every goal is $4500. The first ball for Paul is just off, and the second also missed, even though Mark is sure he lined the vision up perfectly. Craig also missed the first goal, and then messed up the second one, too. Both Nicole and Mark claim it was very suspicious that the kickers were so far off. I think they think it is easier than it is. (Sorry, my grammar is off tonight.)

The third task, worth $10,000, is to fill a teacup up to a line without spilling any, one minute. $2500 per cup. Paul does a good job and fills 3 cups, but spilled a bit on the last one, so he gets $5000. Paul was suspicious of Mark's camera work. Craig also hated Nicole's camera work and overfilled his cups, only getting one, because he bumped the table and spilled the first one. That's $2500.

In the insane fourth task, the Young at Heart people have to walk across a plank connecting two buildings, high in the air. Not only that, they have to pick up a piece of chalk in the middle, and within a minute, cross to the other side, and copy a phrase on the chalkboard on the other side. Paul did some screaming like a girl, and claimed he had interference on his goggles. Just in time, he scribbled down the phrase (The Mole Was Here, he almost missed the "The"), and adds $10,000 to the pot. Craig's turn is not looking as good, since he has vertigo and a fear of heights. Mr. Host Man says that he doesn't have to do it, but Craig insists on trying. He had a bit of a depth perception problem to find the chalk, and then when he finally found it, he had a really hard time moving. He could not make it across in time and added no money to the pot.

The total for the challenge is $22,500, only $4500 from Craig and Nicole. The pot is now at $353,500.

At dinner, Craig caught some slack for reaching for the chalk that was not there, and then mysteriously, he and Mark went to the restroom together. Hmm. This gave Nicole a chance to mention to Paul how poor she thought Craig was at working in mirror image. Though Paul thinks that Craig is the Mole, he told Nicole that it wasn't as easy as it looked, so she shouldn't suspect Craig for that.

Mark is feeling lost without his Clay alliance. Mark tells Craig that he is sure there is an exception coming in the next Mission.

The Mission is called Cell Out, and Mark was right about an exception being up for grabs.

Each person is going to be locked in a cell, and there will be a word puzzle called a doublet that they can solve, changing one letter at a time from Cell to Mole, in five changes. The door of their cell will be unlocked when they solve the puzzle, and they will run into a paintball obstacle course. The first person is the sniper, and is the only person who can win exception. Each other player that makes it through the course will add $15,000 to the pot. However, one of the three non-snipers will carry the exception. If the sniper hits them, they get the exemption. It is completely random who will have it.

Mark said that he does doublets all the time, but when he is doing them at his desk, he is not playing for huge amounts of money. Still, he got it first, with Cell-Call-Mall-Male-Mole. He is the sniper, getting out in less than a minute. Nicole's first try had an error, but Craig got out. Paul was stymied by the puzzle. Craig and Nicole decided to wait for Paul, and he took over 15 minutes in there before getting the same answer as Mark, and they all headed out into the paint ball arena together. (They waited for him because he has played Paint ball before) They decided that Craig should go first to draw fire. They were leapfrogging between covers, and it worked well. Mark got really agitated when he hit Paul but the pellet did not break. Shortly after his hissy fit from that, he hit Nicole, and then Paul managed to escape, then Mark hit Craig.

So, who had the exemption? It was pre-determined, depending on the cell they chose.

It was not Nicole, but Craig held the card, so Mark's dreams came true and he is in the final 3. It was then Paul's turn to throw a fit about how unfair an exemption at this point in the game is. Mr. Host Man ignored him.

At their pre-quiz dinner, Paul flat out says that he doesn't think Nicole is the Mole, and she says it's funny how they have played the game similarly, even though they don't like each other so much. Craig says that he feels like he and Mark are the forces of good in the game, and Nicole and Mark are the forces of evil. That's a bit melodramatic, if you ask me.

Quiz time!

1. Is the Mole Male or Female? (Wonder what Nicole's answer is, if she is not the Mole, that's an easy answer)
2. During the How's the View Mission, where was the Mole standing, from Mr. Host Man's perspective, from left to right?
3. What was the Mole wearing during How's the View (a t-shirt or a sweatshirt)?
4. Was the Mole a Young at Heart player during How's the View?
5. In what order did the Mole's team participate in the How's Your View Mission?
6. In the intro to Cell Out, where was the Mole standing from Mr. Host Man's perspective, from left to right?
7. In what cell number was The Mole locked?
8. What role did the Mole play during Cell Out?
9. Where was the Mole successfully hit during Cell Out?
10. Who is the Mole?

Time to find out who's heading home. Paul is up first, and he is swiftly eliminated. I didn't think he was the Mole, but he was a good, if annoying, player. Nicole and Craig put it well. "In some ways, Paul will be missed. In other ways.... not." Nicole called Paul a great motivator because she wanted to kick his butt.

Mr. Host Man finished the show up by asking the final three if they are the mole. Of course each of them denies it, though Craig said "No, Mark is the Mole," instead of "No, I am not the Mole." Interesting.

We'll see what next week brings. Who do you suspect? I'm still thinking Nicole.