ABC.com: Live From L.A.

THE MOLE - A very clever fake out?

And now only four remain.

Another one bit the dust this week on The Mole, and now there are only three players left… and one traitor.

The missions this week tested the players’ mathematical skills, memory, and emotional fortitude.  The first mission, “Go Figure” sent two teams of players on a hunt around Mendoza, Argentina to gather numbers that would be entered into a computer before the clock ran out.  They had to say, count the number of green lamps in a public square and add the number of tiles in a mural to that sum – something like that.  The catch was, they couldn’t write anything down and had to remember the numbers.  I would utterly fail at this mission; I can barely remember my social security number.

The second mission was even more difficult, in its own way.  Each player has been separated from their family and loved ones for about a month, with absolutely no contact.  That seems a little mean, doesn’t it?  They can’t even call home?  The Mole producers flew the five players’ loved ones down to Buenos Aires and had them wait on subway trains.  The players could reunite with their significant others, but only if they succeeded at the mission.

The five players picked Clay and Mark as the most trustworthy among the group, even though Mark is totally The Mole… I think.  The two guys gave the others a 30 question quiz about their loved ones – stuff like, “What’s her astrological sign?”  Clay and Mark had to remember the answers and then in turn had to answer three out of five questions posed by host Jon Kelley.  If they failed, no reunion.

I was praying that The Mole had a heart and wouldn’t sabotage this mission.  Sure, 50K was on the line, and it’s The Mole’s job to keep the total prize pot as small as possible, but surely The Mole wouldn’t keep the families apart?  That would be just plain mean.

Fortunately, The Mole had mercy and everyone was happy.  It would have been pretty cold to keep Paul away from his wife and two-year old daughter or Mark away from his soul mate. 

Anyway, things worked out for everyone, but after the mission Nicole was talking to her mom in the hotel room and decided that she would “self-execute” and remove herself from the game.  She was just worn down by the “toxic” environment and wanted to leave on her own terms. 

But when the time came and Nicole took the test, she couldn’t do it – she had to stay in the game.  Clay ended up going home with his wife, the latest victim of The Mole.

So what do you think?  Was Nicole’s decision to self-execute just a ruse to throw off everyone at home?  Was she such a good Mole that she would deceive her own mother?  Or did the events of this week’s show prove that she is really not The Mole?

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - Bridges, treadmills, and wine

I just don't know.

Previously I thought - no, I was sure - that Mark, the competetive teacher and soccer coach, was The Mole.  Then I thought it was Craig, and then Nicole, and then Mark again.  Now I have no idea whatsoever who The Mole is.  I might as well stick with Mark because I'll look like I had it figured out all along if he really is the secret reality show saboteur.

I can take some comfort in knowing that so far, none of the three contestants that I suspected of being The Mole have been eliminated - that's something at least.  However, this week my favorite guy on the show, Alex the musician, got sent home, which bummed me out.  He had the best attitude of anybody on the show and seemed to be having the most fun, despite all the paranoia and intrigue.

As usual, there were two challenges this week.  One of them was a fairly straightforward and terrifying 90 foot backwards bungee jump off a bridge in Argentina.  While in mid-air, the players had to drop a packet of matcha tea into a target at the bottom of the ravine.  Only Alex even came close to the bull's eye; everyone else totally missed.

Since The Mole works against the interests of the team and tries to keep the amount of money in the prize pot low, this was a perfect mission to sabotage.  All The Mole had to do was jump... and miss the target.  Which everyone did, except Alex - and we know what happened to Alex.   This challenge didn't seem to offer any clues as to who The Mole really was.

The "Grapes of Cash" challenge was another story.   The six contestants broke up into two teams, the runners and the thinkers.  Hidden in a HUGE vineyard were seven bottles of wine, each worth ten grand.  The only reliable way of finding them was by performing the challenge.  The thinkers - Craig and Nicole - had to solve a series of mind-bending puzzles with multiple choice answers.  Each answer had a corresponding GPS coordinate, which Paul had to communicate to the runners, Clay and Alex via walkie talkie.  The catch:  during the challenge, Mark had to run on a treadmill nearby, and for every bottle of wine the runners found, the speed of the treadmill increased.  Mark could help out with the puzzles if he was physically able to do so.  If Mark stopped running before Clay and Alex returned with the bottles, they would win nothing.

The thing is, Mark did an awesome job on this challenge.  He answered most of the questions for the team - Craig wasn't a ton of help and Nicole the doctor was useless.  Plus, he stayed on the treadmill for nearly an hour, and at the end of the challenge the guy was running pretty darn fast.  If he really was The Mole, he could have easily a) not helped with the questions and b) suffered a leg cramp or something to sabotage the game.  But he didn't.

On the other hand, Craig and Nicole seemed to be playing a little dumb with the puzzles, some of which weren't all that hard.  As the communicator, on one occasion Paul gave the runners the wrong coordinates.  All of these things seem pretty Moley to me.  But one of the strategies of the game is to make the other players think that you're The Mole even if you're not, so who can say whether one of the three of them is really the traitor or not?

Like I said, I'm sticking with Mark as my pick of the week.  If I keep changing who I think The Mole is every week, I lose credibility, so I'm going to stay the course despite evidence to the contrary.

I am going to be so wrong on this, I can just tell...

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - I am almost totally sure I know who The Mole is, probably

The thing that’s so great about The Mole is the element of psychological torture that is present in every challenge the contestants face.  The show is carefully designed to mess with their heads.

Things are starting to get a little tense between the remaining players.  Clay and Paul almost came to blows this week, Mark is starting to give off this Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now vibe, and the entire team angrily boycotted a task they thought was impossible.  In the end, The Mole claimed another victim.  This week Kristen and another unidentified player had the lowest quiz score, but Kristen completed her test one second – one tiny second – slower than the other person.  She took that walk to the dark SUV and left the game.

Last week I thought Nicole might be The Mole, but I’m flip-flopping and think that, based on previous events and his behavior during the challenges this week that Mark is The Mole.  He didn’t take an exemption in the first challenge – possibly because, as The Mole, he doesn’t need an exemption.  Plus, it was basically Mark who encouraged the player boycott of the impossible overland hike, with Paul’s strong encouragement.  It all seems very Moley to me.

Please forgive my lack of consistency, but Mark is once again my pick of the week for The Mole.  He is so totally The Mole.

I’m pretty sure, anyway…

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - Second-guessing

Every week I am sure I have figured out who The Mole is, only to change my mind the very next week. 

I was sure that Mark the hyper-competitive history teacher was The Mole last week, but now I’m not so sure.  Either he is a great actor and has an elaborate strategy of subterfuge, or he just isn’t The Mole at all. 

When Mark realized that everyone’s journal was going to be burned (not including Alex and Craig) he went nuclear.  We’re talking DefCon 4 here.  Of all the contestants, Mark is the one who seemed to rely on his notebook the most.  It was stuffed with meticulous notes that helped him answer the quiz questions each week.  Without it, his main advantage over the other players was gone, and seeing it burn just set him off.  He described it as “sadistic.”

I was so convinced by Mark’s outrage this week that I’m starting to doubt if he really is The Mole, the traitor within the group that works to sabotage the competition and keep the amount of money in the prize pot relatively low. 

Now I’m thinking it might be Nicole, the spoiled and self-interested medical professional.  She’s constantly doing Moley things that undermine the group’s ability to rake in the most money possible.  Previously she deliberately mislead Alex on the toboggan challenge, and this week she cheated during the “Who Said That?” challenge at dinner.  Nicole says that her strategy is to make the others think she is The Mole so that they guess incorrectly on the quizzes and are eliminated.

This is just a hunch, but what if Nicole is The Mole and is practicing a sort of hide-in-plain-sight strategy?  She’s using reverse psychology, hoping that the other players will think that she is trying to make them think that she’s The Mole.  She’s counting on the others being smart enough that they would dismiss her Mole-like behavior as so over the top that she couldn’t possibly be The Mole.  But in reality, she is The Mole and is going about her business in the most blatant way in order to make the others think that somebody more subtle must be the traitor.

Does that make any sense whatsoever?

The other possibility is Mark, my original choice.  If he is The Mole and he is really, really good then all of his obsessive journal writing and his overly developed sense of competition is a smoke screen.  Remember, this week during the gold carrying challenge in the Andes he willingly threw away several gold bricks so that he could carry the heavy scale.  That behavior fits with his impatient, competitive nature, but his entire persona could be fabricated or exaggerated for strategic effect.

This week I’m going to change my mind once again.  My pick of the week is Nicole, who is very likely The Mole.  I’ve still got my eye on Mark, but right now my suspicion towards Nicole is stronger.

OK, how wildly incorrect am I?  Wait until next week, when I’ll probably have a whole new choice for The Mole.  At this rate I’m going to pick every player and I will be right at least once.  Man, I would make a lousy detective. 

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - Attrition

One of the best parts about The Mole, aside from the acrimony and paranoia, is how host Jon Kelley seems to enjoy screwing with the contestants.  Each week he seems to quietly delight in torturing the players with some cruel new twist or dilemna.  Jon just sits back and smiles while they totally FREAK OUT.  The great thing is that nobody can get mad at the guy, even when he's pulling another sadistic trick on them.  He's the host; they just have to sit back and take whatever he dishes out if they want to stay on the show.

This week in lovely Chile the players competed in two different challenges:  a downhill louge that involved a blindfold and a lot of fruit, and a quest to find apparel after Jon steals all their clothes.  Both activities featured some suspicious and Moley behavior, but once again, I think I have it figured out.  I know who The Mole is.

Possibly.  OK, I should say I think I know who The Mole is.  Maybe.

During the louge activity, the players competed in two-person teams.  One of them was blindfolded, operating the brakes on the dangerous looking sled as it raced down a concrete track, while the other player called out the order in which signs of fruit appeared on the course.  When the louge part was over, the team had to come back and the blindfolded player had to place fruit on a table in the order that the signs appeared on the course.  Simple enough.

But there were complications.  Two of the teams were disqualified because the players spoke to each other after the louge course was done.  Nicole deliberately misled her partner Alex by calling out fruit in the wrong order, so they only got one out of seven possible points.

Wait a minute:  does that mean that Nicole is The Mole?  No.  Her sabotage was so transparent that it was obvious that she wanted people to think she was The Mole - that way when it came to the quiz, they'd select the wrong person and get eliminated.  Everyone but Bobby saw right through Nicole's ruse.

The next challenge began as a relaxing day at a luxury spa, where the contestants were pampered with Swedish massage and hot rock rubdowns.  Unfortunately, Jon stole all of their clothing while they were relaxing, setting up the next task:  wandering the streets of Santiago in their underwear, the players had to convince the residents to give them clothing - in some cases literally the shirts off their back.  They had to put together an outfit that would pass the dress code at a chi-chi restaurant where Jon was waiting.  If they didn't get in the restaurant?  They went hungry.

This was an amusing event, although the girls didn't seem to enjoy walking the streets of the city in their hot pants getting whistled at or followed by two busloads of drooling Catholic school boys.  One team lucked out (or did they...?)  and found the laundromat where Jon had sent their clothes to be cleaned and pressed, and they arrived at the restaurant wearing huge grins and their own clothing. 

The suspicious activity on this challenge came from Clay and Mark, who both opted out of the event.  Clay said he wasn't going to do it in order to retain some sense of dignity.  Mark the teacher/soccer coach joined Clay in bowing out of the challenge, but didn't say why.  Yet inside the spa, when Jon was explaining the rules Mark disrobed and seemed ready to go.  Modesty and dignity weren't an issue for Mark, but he suddenly developed cold feet.  Strange behavior for somebody who is supposedly so competetive.

In the end, two players were executed from the competiton.  Bobby was eliminated the old fashioned way, by failing the quiz.  I bet he selected Nicole as The Mole on his quiz and that's why he was cut.  Ali voluntarily left the show when Jon Kelley offered $30,000 to anyone who wanted to drop out.  She wasn't feeling strong about her place in the contest and she decided to cut her losses and take the easy money.

Who is The Mole?  My pick of the week is Mark, again.  The guy's just too suspicious, and sometimes his actions don't synch up with his alleged motivations.  I'm thinking he's The Mole - until I change my mind next week, that is.

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - Mystery solved!

OK, this week I definitely have figured out who The Mole is.

The thing is, I'm probably wrong and will probably choose somebody different next week, but what the heck.  I'm following my instincts on this one.

This week's Mole featured two challenges in Chile that tested the contestants' endurance, teamwork, soccer skills, and giant catapult operating ability.  Tempers flared and egos were bruised as the contestants picked and sniped at one another, culminating in a death threat at the end of the episode.

Yes, a death threat.  Well, sort of.  East Coast Paul had pushed OBGYN Nicole too far with his loudmouth name-calling, so she quietly threatened to kill him in his sleep without leaving any evidence.  This came across as more amusing than sinister, and it didn't seem to faze Paul in the least.

Last week I thought that history teacher and soccer coach Mark was The Mole, but now I'm not so sure.  He pushed pretty hard on the first challenge and he seems to have a very competetive personality, so now I'm not so sure.  It would be difficult to sabotage the efforts of the other players if you establish yourself early on as a hard-charger. 

So who is The Mole?  Well, this week Bobby was particularly lame, both in terms of personality and physicality.  He talked up his soccer skills, but when it came to an actual game (against six year olds, no less) he was worthless and whining.  On the next challenge he literally has to be carried around in a wheelbarrow because... I don't know, because he couldn't physically walk?  I'm sure the contestants have to pass some basic physical exams before they sign up for the show, so I think the guy is likely capable of exerting himself and for whatever reason he's playing up his physical inability to do anything.  This doesn't stop Bobby from trash-talking other players like Alex, who he apparently hates. 

But does that make Bobby The Mole, or just incredibly lame?  If he is The Mole, he's certainly picked an unorthodox strategy.  I think Bobby is more likely just utterly, totally lame.

That leaves Craig, the heavy-set guy from San Diego for my Pick of the Week.  Last week he was on the beach scavenging crew that failed to turn up all of the relics they were hunting for - Craig could have easily hidden or neglected to find certain key items.  This week during the pig search contest, his team didn't bring back a single pig.  Granted, Craig was saddled with wheelbarrow-bound Bobby the whole time, but they did get lost and wasted valuable time.  Yes, I think Craig is The Mole.

Next week I will probably have a completely different person selected as The Mole because I am fickle and not known for my deductive powers.  Am I right?  Is Craig really The Mole or am I way off base?  Who ya got?

--Dave Campbell

THE MOLE - It begins...

After a four year hiatus, The Mole returns to TV this week, and paranoia and second-guessing return with it.

Remember this show?  The original version was hosted by none other than Anderson Cooper himself.  There was a celebrity version of The Mole as well, where Victoria's Secret model Frederique van der Wal schooled all of her fellow celebrities week after week while they were too busy fighting amongst themselves.  Now, The Mole returns with twelve new contestants...  actually, strike that.  Eleven new contestants and one traitor.

OK, in case you didn't watch, here's the lowdown:  twelve people compete in a series of challenges in exotic locations.  Each challenge has the potential for earning a lot of money that goes into the ever-growing prize pot.  But there's a catch:  one of the contestants is The Mole, a double agent who will try to sabotage the competition and keep the contestants from earning the maximum possible money.  Each week the contestants form their own theories as to who among them is The Mole, and then fill out a quiz based on the week's competition and who they believe The Mole is.  The player with the fewest correct answers on the quiz gets "executed" while The Mole snickers and schemes.  Got it?

This week we met all twelve contestants - head on over to The Mole page on ABC.com to familiarize yourself with the players.  The first challenge tested the players' resolve and their fear of heights as they had to ride a wooden raft over the edge of a waterfall, grabbing a dangling sack of money as they did so.  Unfortunately, three of them fell to their deaths on the rocks below.  No, I'm kidding.  They had safety ropes.

One of the contestants, Marcie, picked whether or not the bags her fellow players were jumping for had real money or fake money inside.  This cast a great deal of suspicion on poor Marcie right off the bat.  Why did she choose fake money for several of the more athletic players?  Was she sabotaging the competition from the very start?  But there were several players who did not succeed in grabbing any money at all.  Alex, Ali, Paul, Victoria, and Craig all failed to grab their bags before sliding over the edge.  Could one of them be The Mole?  Or would The Mole deliberately fail at a task so early in the competition?

The next challenge was a beach scavenger hunt searching for the five items that famed castaway Alexander Selkirk had with him at the beginning of his four year stay on an uninhabited island in 1704.  Racing an hourglass, one team had to comb the beach, and bring back the items they found to the appraising team, which consisted of retiree Liz, history teacher Mark, and neuroscientist Kristen.  The appraisers would decide whether the items the scavengers brought them were stuff the marooned Selkirk had with him, and the group would get money for each correct item.

This is where I got suspicious.  The appraisers got three items correct - a goat, a Bible, and a musket.  I had a hard time believing that Mark, a history teacher, would think that a man at the dawn of the eighteenth century had a pair of blue jeans and a revolver with him.  I mean, come on.  You could make the arguement that Mark might have thought that the jeans represented generic pants, but there is no way any history teacher worth his salt would think that a revolver pistol belonged in 1704.  I don't know, maybe he's the worst history teacher in the world?

Marcie was eliminated from the competition this week, so the one player that the other contestants seemed most suspicious of is now no longer a factor.  Eleven remain.  Which one of them is The Mole?

My Mole Pick of the Week: definitely Mark, the history teacher (pictured).  He succeeded at the waterfall challenge because it was too early in the game to deliberately fail, but I think he undermined the scavenger hunt.  Am I wrong?  We'll see. 

What about you?  Who do you think The Mole is?

--Dave Campbell