Photos
Video
RSS'The Mole' slips on its birthday suit
Here we are, another week, another chance for us to figure out exactly who is the mole. I'm not entirely sure we can work it out at this point, but we can certainly guess. And, as we all know, playing that guessing game, looking for hidden clues, and watching people's actions is the biggest draw The Mole has, so let's get down to business.
Things this week picked up with Paul continuing to go spout off his upset at Nicole's death threat and Nicole explaining to other people how it's all a game and she wanted to throw Paul off his. Yeah, death threats, that's a classy way to psych people out. Maybe next week she'll break some limbs, you know, to get an advantage in the physical aspects of the game.
Really, it's all about trust, and Jon said as much the next morning. For the first challenge this week he had everyone divide into two groups, those who don't trust others and those who do. From there, they paired up, one from each group, and the pairs had to go down a two-person luge.
I've always wanted to luge. I wouldn't want to luge the way the non-trusters had to luge, they were going down the hill blindfolded, but in general I've always wanted to do it. Non-trusters sat in front with the brake, and trusters, who could see, without the brake in back. As if that wasn't complicated enough, there were also pictures of fruits and vegetables along the way that the people in back had to call out to those in front and the people in front had to line up the veggies in order (and not select the extraneous ones) at the bottom of the track.
While luging is totally on my list of things to do, I know that the whole blindfolded aspect would really sort of temper my enthusiasm. My enthusiasm would also be tempered if I had someone like Nicole behind me calling out various types of produce and trying to remind me to hit the brake so that I didn't kill the two of us. Not very surprisingly, it was Nicole's pairing that did the worst with lining up the produce (I still vote mean-spiritedness, not that she's the mole). Alex argued that he was told "green apple" twice by Nicole, and she was completely non-committal about what she said (she later said she thought she said it twice, but not in front of everyone and not when it mattered). Bigger problem - two of the teams cheated, Craig-Victoria & Bobby-Clay both talked after they were at the bottom, a big no-no. Neither of those teams added any money to the pot.
The cheating incident left Clay and Mark distrustful of their coalition with Bobby. Now, if you ask me, continuing to talk at the bottom of the hill and thereby violating the rules, is much more mole-like than just saying "green apple" twice, so I kind of agreed with them and their stand.
The next morning, allegedly just to relax, everyone was sent to a spa. Not only did they ruin the trip by stressing themselves talking about the game with each other at the spa, they lost the shirts. Literally. Jon took everyone's clothes out of their lockers in order to "get them cleaned and pressed," but sadly, the clothes hadn't made it back in time.
The game? The contestants had to divide into teams and make it to a restaurant, appropriately dressed, in two and a half hours. Not only would five grand be put in the pot for everyone who made it, those who didn't wouldn't eat that night.
After quickly dropping his bathrobe, Mark just as speedily opted out of the mission once Clay announced that he wasn't going to participate. You know Mark's getting my vote again for being the mole this week, right? Clay argued that the entire thing was completely degrading, and that was why he was opting out. Mole-like? Maybe. But Mark's quick turn around seemed worse. He jumped on the bandwagon as soon as there was one to jump on.
Ali, Victoria, and Kristen made up one of the groups, and they almost certainly got the most stares in their Mole-provided underwear. Oddly, very oddly, the girls ran into two busloads of Catholic schoolboys, and yet didn't grab any shirts or pants from them. From what I saw, more than one of those lads would have happily stripped to their skivvies (or past them) for the women.
In the end, Paul and Alex made it to the restaurant fully dressed without any sort of problem. Ali wanted to bail, but Victoria and Kristen stuck with it and all three women got clothes and fed on time. Bobby, Craig, and Nicole had more trouble than the others, mostly Craig due to his size, but they worked it all out. They found -- by happenstance or was the mole at work? -- the drycleaner that had everyone's clothes. As it turned out, the address for the drycleaner was also on the card for the restaurant Jon gave them at the beginning of the mission, but no one figured that out.
The show then fast-forwarded to the next night, the next dinner, and the elimination quiz. The dinner itself did not go smoothly, with Paul yelling at everyone he could possibly find who would dare open their mouth while he was talking. Paul explained in a one-on-one that he was just doing it to throw people before their quiz, but I like to think of him as just being a New Yorker (which, as a fellow New Yorker, I say with love).
Meal finished, quiz taken, Jon offered 20,000 dollars to the first person who would accept on the condition that they leave the game immediately. No one took the cash. After Mark, Victoria, and Kristen were all cleared, Jon upped the offer to 30,000 dollars and Ali jumped at the cash, taking herself out of the game.
Whether or not that was a bad choice, I can't say. Jon informed us she wouldn't have been eliminated, but that doesn't mean that she would have gotten money down the line. Bobby, on the other hand, will get absolutely nothing. Bobby scored the lowest on the quiz and was sent packing. See, I knew he wasn't the mole.
Other odds and ends and questions (mostly questions as I'm filled with them this week):
- Is there some hidden clue in the credits? Those of you with DVRs, check it out and report back.
- Paul - is he trying to throw people off their game or is he just getting a little annoying?
- Who is your choice for the mole this week? I'm sticking with my guy from the past two weeks. It'll make it all the more embarrassing when Mark gets eliminated next week, but I just have to do it.
I also have to tell you just how big a fan I am of The TV and Film Guy's Reviews. Seriously, me, huge fan.
Post a comment
Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Well, there goes my guess. And Ali was quickly becoming my 2nd choice.
I'm looking at Mark and to a lesser extent Clay as the most mole-y now, too.
One thing: Weren't those who "blindly trusted" the ones who were blindfolded?
I am convinced that everyone on this show is an actor and not very good ones at that. Their dinner table "conversations" seem way too staged and poorly improvised. That's just my guess.
Why Ali, why? Your incredible hotness will be missed.
As for Bobby, well, he's been marked for death for weeks and everyone suspected him of being the Mole, which of course took all the su****ion off the real Mole and got Bobby executed.
But it also bumped Craig up as my biggest (no pun intended) suspect. Did he stumble onto that laundromat, or did he know all along? Did he let Bobby think it was his idea, just to get him into place to be executed? Did he sabotage his own luge mission by purposely breaking the rules?
Some thoughts:
1) During the bump into commercial immediately after it was revealed that the address to the laundromat was on the cards in Roman numerals, a freeze frame on my VCR (yes, I am a bit of a dinosaur, sorry) showed the letters XLI--39 in Roman numerals. I'm not sure if this is mere coincidence or a hint--the only possibility I've eliminated is that of a player's age, as none of the contestants are 39 years old. Of course, if there was an extra "X" that showed up between frames that my VCR missed, that would be 29 and I believe Paul is 29, which leads me to....
2) I noticed something su****ious during the execution. If you observe the screen on the monitor with the name and picture of each player on it, you'll notice a green box appears around each player once they've been checked and confirmed safe from execution. Such a green box appeared around Paul's name and face from the second or third player cleared on until Bobby was sent packing, yet there were no exemptions and Paul was never cleared as safe. Could he be the mole, or was this just some kind of production/editing error?
I hate to think that Paul is the mole, as his behavior (if he is, indeed, the mole) seems contrary to the spirit of the game in it's previous four seasons (i.e. the obnoxious loudmouths are never the mole), but if my observations hold any credence, it's certainly a possibility.
BTW, why the heck did they keep referring to the first "event" as a luge? It was actually an alpine slide from the looks of things (though those alpine slides found in the U.S. typically have a concrete trough rather than an aluminum one, but otherwise, same thing). Alas, I'm into amusement rides and the like, so this point is likely only of interest to me.
I really detected a lot of "acting" from the group tonight. I think everyone wants themselves to be thought of as the mole. I also get the impression that outside of Paul, everyone else thinks this is Survivor and you need to play a social game to be voted to stay. Which leads me to believe that Paul is the perfect mole so far. Everyone is quick to write off his bravado and say he is egotistical and the typical New Yorker. So far he has subtly done things the past few weeks to quit on the team but find a way to blame someone else. Also, the producers could easily use him to steer the attitude of the group and no one would think twice since the New York attitude is stereotyped.
This week I noticed that Paul messed up the final two fruits/vegetables. This would be a more subtle approach to not give 100% but not draw attention rather than repeating the fruit or saying wrong ones. That is too easily found out -- see Nicole and her antics. Also he was the first team to arrive at the restaurant. I thought about it and why would the mole want to sit out the task or not be in the restaurant at the end? It would be an obvious clue just like talking at the end of the luge (which by the way I did the Alpine Slide in the Poconos, fun times!). Instead, Paul always seems to be where the most people are taking in all of their reactions and theories and provoking them enough but not going over the top. Again his NY stereotype plays into this very well. It is funny how the one guy who mentions Paul may be the mole is gone quickly. How serious Bobby was we'll never know. The producers know it would not be good TV if they all knew the mole right away. No one else saw the apple eating as a clue in that group and I'm surprised. I thought it was so contrived that Jon just happen to be caught off guard eating an apple when he would know they are coming for the task. You and I both know that nothing is "by chance" in this game and the clue on the business card proves that. I also noticed last week no one questioned Paul about breaking one of their "free" piggy banks and guaranteed money to get the exemption. That still irks me also.
Finally, my one big theory is the mole doesn't need to openly sabotage anything right now or even try to every task. There are enough fools who will bumble through or try to "outsmart" everyone that the mole can cruise right now. I think it is an odd strategy to want to make people think you are the mole. Why are these people not trying to build the pot up? They don't seem too concerned right now.
I think Victoria is the Mole. She blew the luge challenge by continuing to talk, she didn't use her Spanish skills to get clothes (the other women were responsible for getting the clothes), and no one seems to suspect her.
The scenes with her, Ali, and Kristen walking around town in their mole-wear were HOT! And the boots they were wearing? yowzah!
Jason - are you the mole? XLI is 41.
I'm not sure who the mole is, but I've been really good at picking who will be eliminated every week. Maybe there is something my subconscious is picking up...
As for Paul, I don't think he is the mole, but as a New Yorker (and Paul being from Yonkers, doesn't qualify as being someone from the city) he's annoying me. I don't want to kill him like Nicole does, but I think the man could use a swift kick.
Right now I think Kristin is slightly edging out Victoria in my mind.
My choice for Nicole as the mole still seems good. Her subtle actions and failure to get lots of money during the luge mission was sufficient this week.
I don't think Paul is the mole. He is the ****y reality contestant who will probably end up winning - ala Richard Hatch.
The truly sad thing regarding Bobby though....he really needed a woman to push him around with a wheelbarrow. Yeesh.
where did the two of them get the boots from and why didnt all three of them have a pair.
couldnt the crew find more skimpy tops for the girls to wear if they wanted ratings that way.