The Mole 6/23/08

[unicorngoddess]

Well, there goes my #1 suspect. I'm sorry to see Victoria go. Now I'm going with Paul. I still don't think Nicole could be the Mole. In fact, I think if Nicole WERE the Mole the producers would've had some words with her by now seeing as how EVERYTHING she does is so blatantly obvious! What was with the *cough, cough...bat eyes* thing? Wow...could you BE anymore obvious? Part of me wants to suspect Craig though...mostly because I think he's the sweet lovable character that nobody would suspect.

[Donbadabon]

Ugh. I would've bet money on Victoria.

Someone needs to tell Nicole that no one thinks she is the mole, so she needs to stop the annoyances.

I HATE when they take away the players journals. That should be off limits.

I am hoping the producers made a copy of the information when the robot host took the journals out of the room.

Craig (he's the big guy right?) could be the mole, I guess. Taking him to the hospital would be a perfect way to meet with the producers and talk freely.

[jpwoof]

Ugh. I would've bet money on Victoria.

Someone needs to tell Nicole that no one thinks she is the mole, so she needs to stop the annoyances.

maybe that's what she wants you to think? she may be the mole.

Victoria was also my first suspect, but now that she's gone. I'm leaning toward either Nicole or Alex. (or the lawyer perhaps)

[appleye1]

Dang, I was sure it was Victoria too.

Craig would be too obvious a choice. The big, nice guy who would stand out like a sore thumb if he were caught doing something mole-like. I'd hope the producers would be a little more subtle than that.

Now I'm leaning towards Clay being the mole. First there was him refusing to compete in the clothes off your back competition last week. And then this week the way he insisted on getting the exemption was suspect to me. It seemed like something a mole would do to make himself look like he wasn't the mole.

The host is doing a pretty good job now. He's loosened up a bit and is even reminding me a little of Cooper. I'm pretty pleased with the guy.
.

[amnewco]

Now I'm leaning towards Clay being the mole. First there was him refusing to compete in the clothes off your back competition last week. And then this week the way he insisted on getting the exemption was suspect to me. It seemed like something a mole would do to make himself look like he wasn't the mole.



I agree. Clay is looking more and more suspicious. I'll be watching him closely in upcoming episodes.

[unicorngoddess]

Craig would be too obvious a choice. The big, nice guy who would stand out like a sore thumb if he were caught doing something mole-like. I'd hope the producers would be a little more subtle than that.


And the producers would count on people thinking that! And think about the type of sabbotage he could do that would just be brushed off as, "Oh he couldn't complete the task because he's not so physically fit." He could sabotage almost any physical type challanges and people would just write it off due to his weight. All he has to do is sound out of breath and say, "I tried my best guys..." and people will go, "ahhhh....it's okay."

How perfect of a cover is that???

[Ment]

I'll say it. I have NO IDEA who the mole is anymore. Everyone has done thing that are suspicous.

[pinkhighlighters]

Maybe it's too obvious, but all of the contestants have an M, O, L or E in their name except Craig....clue?

aLEx
aLi
bObby
cLay
kristEn
Liz
MarciE
Mark
nicOLE
pauL
victOria

craig...nothing.

[Byteofram]

I've been going with Paul. Craig might be a good choice, but I'm sticking to my original guess until he's knocked out.

[getreal]

I'm thinking it's Craig. He's flying under the radar, and he had a great excuse to keep his journal. I would've expected him to need medical attention DURING the half-mile trek up the Alps. He seemed pretty good when they were discussing who got an exemption, and it just seemed odd to me that he would collapse some time after all of that. Hmmmm ....

[MasterOfPuppets]

Ali last week
Victoria this week.

I'm not happy with that hottie killing path they're on. :p

[unicorngoddess]

Ali last week
Victoria this week.

I'm not happy with that hottie killing path they're on. :p

To be fair, Ali took herself out.

[MarkofT]

I'm thinking it's Craig. He's flying under the radar, and he had a great excuse to keep his journal. I would've expected him to need medical attention DURING the half-mile trek up the Alps. He seemed pretty good when they were discussing who got an exemption, and it just seemed odd to me that he would collapse some time after all of that. Hmmmm ....His health issue was hypothermia caused by oxygen starvation. At that altitude, there wasn't enough air to keep his body running. So his body started to restrict blood flow which then caused hypothermia to start. Since the issue was a chain reaction, it took it a while to come to a head and cause the loss of consciousness.

The producers do not need excuses to get the contestants alone. They have ample opportunity to talk to the Mole when the do the confessional bits.

[bicker]

And Craig has five letters.

[loubob57]

Do they use the same editors as Survivor? I'm convinced that they edit the show in such a way to make whoever's gonna get executed look like they are the mole.

[pmyers]

I believe its Craig!

[myyours]

I'm thinking it's Craig. He's flying under the radar, and he had a great excuse to keep his journal. I would've expected him to need medical attention DURING the half-mile trek up the Alps. He seemed pretty good when they were discussing who got an exemption, and it just seemed odd to me that he would collapse some time after all of that. Hmmmm ....

But why would the mole need his/her journal? I doubt they even actually take the quiz.

Alex = Mole.

[appleye1]

Actually the mole does take the quiz. But I'm sure if they flunked it (how would they do that!) then they would definitely NOT get executed!

[jlb]

.....I HATE when they take away the players journals. That should be off limits.

I am hoping the producers made a copy of the information when the robot host took the journals out of the room......

I am thinking they are going to do a switcheroo and hand copies of the journals out, but switch who gets which information. But they'll just have printed text so they can't figure out by handwriting who belongs to each set of info.

[EMoMoney]

Wow, all girls eliminated so far. I picked Clay last week to be the Mole and I'm sticking to it.

[DancnDude]

Wow, all girls eliminated so far.

Bobby was executed. I'm not sure if you meant that as a joke though :p

[EMoMoney]

Bobby was executed. I'm not sure if you meant that as a joke though :p

;)

[Fl_Gulfer]

I'm sticking with Blondeeee...

[Skittles]

I still think it's either Alex or Mark, in that order.

[danterner]

Is it within the realm of possibility that Victoria really is the mole, and that she (in other words, the producers) rigged the elimination so that she gets eliminated but then continues to muck things up from the sidelines? At the end, it would be down to two players, neither of whom is the mole. The winner has to figure out that it really HAS been Victoria, all along.

I guess I'm just having a hard time accepting that it wasn't her...

[DancnDude]

Is it within the realm of possibility that Victoria really is the mole, and that she (in other words, the producers) rigged the elimination so that she gets eliminated but then continues to muck things up from the sidelines? At the end, it would be down to two players, neither of whom is the mole. The winner has to figure out that it really HAS been Victoria, all along.

I guess I'm just having a hard time accepting that it wasn't her...

No it couldn't be since all the questions on the quiz relate to just the players. There's no way that would work.

[TiVoter123]

Thought this was a great episode. It reminded me of why I love the Mole so much, though I still can't verbalize what it is that makes it so great.

Anyway, my friend pointed it out (I didn't notice), but right before one of the commercial breaks that they had during the dinner where Jon was reading all the journal quotes, there was a weird sound of what sounded like a baby crying. Anyone else notice it? My friend thinks this is a clue pointing to the OBGYN, but like others, I think Nicole is too obvious to be the Mole.

[mattack]

Anyway, my friend pointed it out (I didn't notice), but right before one of the commercial breaks that they had during the dinner where Jon was reading all the journal quotes, there was a weird sound of what sounded like a baby crying.

Yes, and it was even closed captioned (said something like "sound of baby crying").

I HATE when they take away the players journals.

Could have been faked? Didn't they 'ruin' the journals on one of the previous seasons, but it was a fake-out?

His health issue was hypothermia caused by oxygen starvation. At that altitude, there wasn't enough air to keep his body running.

This reminded me a lot of one of the Real World/Road Rules competition shows.. I think the most recent one. Basically, one of the guys was a "big guy", and IIRC, they all were tied together, and the team that got to the finish line first won. They practically dragged the guy, until he collapsed. (I THINK they then went to the finish line and "won" but were disqualified because the collapsed guy had been taken to the hospital.. so they didn't have all of the players.)

[JLucPicard]

I'm of the opinion that when the host took the journals to cull through them for questions, they also made photocopies of them and those copied will be returned to the players later (probably next episode).

I've been thinking, too, that with - I'm not even sure how to say this - the "reality show gameplay" infusion into how the players act (it was mentioned in prior threads about Survivor and other shows giving the players kind of a basis/foundation for playing the game; getting into coallitions, being suspect of someone trying TOO hard to portray themselves as The Mole, etc.) - would it almost make sense for The Mole to play it that way to throw suspicion off of them, as in the way Nicole is playing it? I mean, people are looking at her over-the-top Molish behavior and they just KNOW it's a ruse because it's so over-the-top.

This is one of the things I do like about this show, it's just so hard to tell. When you look through your Mole-Detecting magnifying glass, you can almost make a case for each of them being The Mole; making almost anything that anyone does seem like Molish behavior. For instance looking strictly at Craig finding the laundromat where they just happen to discover all of the players clothes, or being treated for his day on the mountain and as a result conveniently NOT losing his journal. Or Clay opting out of the 'find some dinner clothes' game all together or insisting on getting the exemption in the brick carry game.

[Mike Wells]

Could have been faked? Didn't they 'ruin' the journals on one of the previous seasons, but it was a fake-out?

One of the seasons they burned fakes of their "mole" luggage bags in a challenge.

From wikipedia:
Burn Bags Burn: In the hours before the challenge, the players were given journals and an opportunity to interview their fellow players to gain personal information on each other. Afterwards, they were taken to a bonfire, where they discovered that their knapsacks - containing all of their belongings - was dangling over the fire. Four players were nominated, and asked questions taken from their fellow players' contestant applications. If the team could get all eight questions right, they won the challenge; if the team missed four questions, however, not only did they lose the challenge, but their bags were lowered into the fire. It was later revealed in the next episode that the bags were fakes, and their belongings had not been destroyed.

I'd bet journal copies show back up next week, or some game to win back your journal copies.

[Jebberwocky!]

what happens if the Mole has to leave the game?

Say the mole is Craig and he has a heart attack - what do they do then? Penny and I discussed this and could not come up with an answer.

[JLucPicard]

I would imagine it would put a pre-mature end to the game, with some kind of "consolation" prizes to those remaining. Without ending the game, they would have to pull one of them aside and reassign them the Mole role, and I would imagine tell all the others there is another Mole - otherwise you've got people homing in on someone for whom the previous quiz questions fit, but they would not necessarily fit the new Mole. Can't really completely change the Mole track without letting people know it changed.

I'm guessing it would have just ended the show. Of course, the show is in the can now, so that scenario would not play out WHILE the show is airing on TV. Had something like that have happened, they would likely have just dumped the show or re-cast it and start shooting over again.

[danterner]

I can sort of see a way for it to continue on, even if the Mole leaves. That's what I was getting at in my post #25, above. It could go like this:

1. The Mole leaves.
2. The contest continues on. When it comes time for the quiz at the end of each episode, each answer includes a "none of the above" choice. "None of the above" winds up being the right answer every time, because the mole is no longer actively participating in the competition.
3. When it gets down to the final two players, neither one is the Mole but each one thinks the other is the Mole. The winner figures it out.

The problem would be: how can the eliminated Mole muck up competitions that they are not even participating in? The way the competitions are structured would have to change - something like this might work as an example: "There are 30 ceramic pigs hidden throughout the village for you to collect. You have an hour. But the Mole will have one pig destroyed every 5 minutes. Go!" The producers destroy the pigs in areas where the players are not around, and meanwhile the player teams continue to suspect each other when a player is moving too slowly, etc.

It's a stretch, based on the fact that I was really convinced that Victoria was the Mole based on the various clues reported in this thread.

[DancnDude]

If that happened, either they would scrap the show or they would tell the players and pick a new mole. The new mole would continue and the players would have to re-evaluate who they think the new mole is.

[unicorngoddess]

The thing is, The Mole isn't anywhere near live or realtime. So if something happened in the competition, I think they would just cancle the game and never air the episodes.

[pmyers]

The thing is, The Mole isn't anywhere near live or realtime. So if something happened in the competition, I think they would just cancle the game and never air the episodes.

I agree.

[NYHeel]

I've now watched about 4 episodes of this show and I just don't get it. The first 50 minutes are fine, way too overdramatic but not horrible. The whole quiz thing is the dumbest thing ever. They come up with 10 ways of asking the same question yet nobody knows who the mole is. How could they? This thread alone clearly describes how it could be anyone. I have a guess (Paul) but it's just a guess.

I realize that you can play the odds on the questions (for example say that the mole is male since there are more males left than females). You can also hedge by saying that the mole was at dinner but then saying that it was Craig (that way you're guranteed to get 1 right). But this seems like a really bad way to eliminate people. It has no bearing on the concept of the game. If you asked all of the non-mole remaining players who the mole was I would guess that not more than 2 would get it right. So what does the quiz prove? Who guessed better? Who got luckier when playing the majority game? Why not ask more general observation questions that have nothing to do with the mole. That way you require people to pay attention. Can anyone who understands this show better please explain the quiz?

[sieglinde]

I actually liked this way of eliminating people. They are guessing who the mole is and you will find out that most of them had pegged the mole early on. You are playing the odds. If you suspect that the mole could be one of three people for example, you have to hope that they share three characteristics. Remember only one is eliminated so you could get a pretty poor grade on the quiz and still remain in the game. That elimination also tells you who not to suspect as the mole. Each week, you have less and less choices.

The concept of the game is that the mole is sabotaging the game but also casting suspicion on other players. So the mole fooling players into thinking it is someone else eliminates the player. This is not a Survival style vote someone off of the island which but the mole vs everyone else.

I like this concept better because Survivor, for example, does not find the best survivalist but the most canny player at manipulating social situations.

[DevdogAZ]

I agree. You completely control your fate in this game. It's not easy, as the identity of the Mole is tough to figure out and the questions are often about minutia, but ultimately, all you have to do is not miss the most questions, or at least be faster than others that missed the same number as you.