Episode 6

Alright Mole-a-holics... you can breathe a little easier now.  I know that our off week left you guys seriously jonesing.  I understand.  I feel your pain.  But the world is right again.  By now you've had a chance to inhale Monday's double dip treat: back-to-back Mole rolls... 2 consecutive hours to get your fix on ABC.  How'd you dig that recap? Of course, I was in South America every step of the way but I have to admit, the first 5 "flashback" was killer and got me seriously juiced up for our final 5.

You may have noticed my beverage of choice has slightly shifted.  Gone are the delicious and habit forming pisco sours. It's now all about the grapes. Finely harvested Malbec grapes -- aka the "rock star grapes" of S. America.  What do you expect?  Our Grapes of Cache mission had me knee deep in 'em.  My mother is probably wondering how I functioned w/ a wine glass in my hand 70-percent of the time on the show.  But she's happy I'm at least getting my daily fruit intake. Right, mom? 

Nothing short of a banner day for our 6-pack:  Their brains were crankin' full steam ahead... Mark perfectly cast as "running man"... Craig proving he's no scarecrow nailing brain-teasers... Nicole and Paul managed to keep their sniping at a minimum and Alex and Clay got in a decent cardio workout as well.  No runs... no errors... completely neutralizing The Mole and running the table for a perfect score of $70K in the pot.  In one sunny afternoon at the vineyard, all was right in their world.  I can tell you I do appreciate a good cerebral workout.  Did the players rise so high that our resident saboteur couldn’t keep pace?  Or did The Mole consciously lay low to throw everybody off his or her trail? 

Next up... "Swing Out."  A tailor made mission for me to unleash my inner masochist.  Did I like messing with their minds -- and bodies? Absolutely not.  Like is a bold understatement... doesn't begin to describe how much of a blast it was.  One by one I got to leave them hanging about 100 feet above ground, wishing I would stuff a sock in my mouth and shut the hell up.  Instead, it was my duty to torture them.  What I savored the most was how they were trying to simultaneously avoid fainting while ignoring the words coming out of my mouth.  That is until I said the magic one: exemption.  Watching that moment of clarity snap into their consciousness -- like a bolt of lightning tossed by Zeus from Mt. Olympus -- as I uttered, "Eeeee-xeeeeempt-iooooon" was, in a twisted way, pure pleasure.  Aside from sheer terror -- the biggest mind blow was realizing that jumping was the easy part.

I should know.  I took the plunge exactly as the players did... except my knees weren't shaking like my Grandma's or Alex's.  Actually I believe my grandmother would've been more stable.  Alex didn't really jump, he sort of "collapsed" off the plank. 

My quick take on the other 5 jumpers:

-Craig. Big time proud of him. Vertigo, hyperventilating and questions about whether the plank could actually hold him? So what. Craig manned up and rocked it.

-Paul.  Let's just say his NY swagger had less bounce and bravado than normal.  But no way he lets his little daughter down at home.  He wanted to make up for coming up empty in "Over the Falls."

-Mark.  He'd been begging for a thrill ride. Knew he was up for it.

-Clay.  Let’s just say our resident counselor didn’t appreciate my "cross examination."

-Nicole.  The way she was holding the bridge rail, gingerly walking over, I couldn't tell if she was putting on a show or scared.  She may have had the most style points of all the free fallers.

In the end, Alex was literally the one falling from grace as our illusive saboteur wrecked his quest for the Moley Grail.

Large credit to The Mole this week.  Gotta give it to you... you're a very shady and shifty one.  I can see you ain't gonna make this easy.