The Mole: Goals, Hills, and Pigs that Fly into Blankets

The bad news:  My ultimate Frisbee team lost big time tonight. 

The good news: We lost quickly enough that I could come home and watch The Mole tonight. 

We started tonight with the some confessionals.  Paul was upset that his alliance partner is gone.  But Liz really laid into Nicole, saying she was disappointed that her bad behavior was rewarded with the first exemption and wishing she had learned some manners in all her education.  Right on!  (Can you tell I don’t like Nicole?) 

Nicole, meanwhile, has decided to be quieter and stealthier.  We’ll see how she does. 

The first mission involved dividing into two groups, 9 people who goal oriented and 2 who look at life as an uphill battle.  And Nicole immediately started voicing opinions on who should be doing what.  Hmm.  So much for staying quiet.  That lasted what, 30 seconds? 

The team of 2, Mark and Kristin, had to ride a bicycle built for two to the top of a mountain.  The team of 9 got to ride a gondola, but they had to earn their tickets by scoring one goal (as a team) against a Chilean soccer team.  If the team of 9 got to the top first, the pot gets $35K.  If Mark and Kristin get there first, the pot gets nothing, but Mark and Kristin both get exemptions from the next execution. 

Turns out the opposing soccer team is a team of boys.  Alex is thrilled because he plays lots of soccer.  The players immediately assumed that they had it.  But the kids were much better than everyone expected.  I’m shocked.  Okay, not really.  I fully expected the kids’ team to be great. 

Mark and Kristin are having problems of their own.  The chain keeps coming off the bike, so they decide to walk it up the hill. 

Bobby runs out of energy playing soccer quickly.  Again.  I’m in bad shape, but he’s pathetic.  And he claims to have played soccer in school.  Honestly, watching how that guy doesn’t do anything athletic, I’m surprised he’s done anything physical before. 

After 20 minutes, the soccer players go to the penalty kick phase.  Alex is first, and kicks it right to the goalie (a little suspicious if you ask me).  But Ali was up next and it bounced off the goalie’s hands and into the corner of the net. 

Now, they have to get to the gondola station on foot.  The team splits up, when some people claim they’ve found a shortcut.  Meanwhile, Liz gets to tired she has to sit down. 

Part way up the hill, Mark and Kristin run into host Jon Kelley.  He has water and an offer for them.  If they forget the bike and take the waiting taxi, they can continue up the hill with ease, but it will cost them $5K from the pot.  Mark is having none of that, so they keep going.  Kristin doesn’t really argue. 

Meanwhile, the goal oriented team is beginning to arrive at the station.  Alex, Victoria, and Nicole arrive first.  But the last group is right behind them.  That last group arrived at the bottom as those first three arrived at the top, which means they were only 10 minutes behind. 

But it isn’t enough.  Mark and Kristin beat them to the top and won the exemptions. 

Lunch immediately followed, and the words flew.  Paul led the attacks on Bobby and Alex, placing the blame for loosing that challenge on them. 

I will say this, that challenge was designed to make everyone look suspicious.  I would have been tired and run down.  I would have been the last to the gondola station, too.  But that would have had nothing to do with being the Mole. 

The fighting continues that night as Paul stirs things up again, really getting into it with Victoria.  I’m a little suspicious of Paul.  First, his alliance partner is the first to go (a strategy past Moles have used.)  Then he seems to go around picking fights, destroying any semblance of team work.  If he isn’t the Mole, he’s sure doing a good job of covering for him/her. 

The next day finds the group traveling from Santiago to Pomaire, Chile.  It is a town famous for its pigs, pottery, and piggy banks.  In fact, the Mole has stolen 50 piggy banks and hidden them in the town.  The mission, find those banks.  They divide themselves up into 3 groups of 3 and one group of 2. 

The groups of 3 have to run into town and find as many pigs as they can.  When they bring them back, they will use a sling shot to shot them (pigs flying) to the team of two, Paul and Liz, who will catch them in a blanket (pigs in a blanket.)  Each pig caught is worth $1K.  They are told there is an exemption in play, but not what it is.  They have until a potter makes 12 more piggy banks, about an hour, to complete this task.

 Bobby starts cramping up right away, and with Craig in that threesome, they find nothing.  Another team, however, gets lost. 

As time elapses, the players begin to suspect that one of the coins in the piggy banks represents the exemption.  Paul is so convinced that he breaks the pig that John had given them to start, thereby losing the $1K they started with.  But it pays off for him because he gets the exemption.  Meaning all the coins in the banks in town are real. 

The first team gets back.  Alex insists on shooting the pigs, and they keep going all over the place, so Paul and Liz have no hope of catching them.  When Craig comes back, he actually knows what they should be doing, so they start to catch them. 

In the end, they got 28 pigs safely back to the arena.  Which means they earned $28K. 

That night, Alex left his journal in Bobby and Craig’s room.  But when they looked through it, they learned it was full of nothing useful.  But he did that on purpose to make people think he is the Mole.  Or so he says. 

And so we come to tonight’s quiz.  Mark, Kristin, and Paul are safe.  Which means those who are taking the quiz have a one in eight chance of leaving the game.  Or one in seven if the Mole is one of them.

 Tonight, it was Liz who was executed.  Why is it the nice players leave first?  Probably because they aren’t suspicious enough.  (Of course, I’m overly suspicious, which would work against me.)  Like the players, I liked her and am very sorry to see her go. 

And I do have to hand it to Nicole, she did tone it down this week.  Or the editing toned her down.  Paul, on the other hand, has taken over as most hated player.  And he’s not even in the love to hate category.  His “tell it like it is” attitude is uncalled for, especially singling Bobby and Nicole out there at the end.  Of course, Nicole coming back by threatening to kill Paul was uncalled for as well. 

Leaving that drama behind, let’s talk suspects.

 Last week, I was suspicious of Alex and Victoria.  I’m still suspicious of Alex, but Victoria didn’t seem nearly as suspicious to me this week.  I’m not sure if I should be adding Paul to my list of suspects or if he is just the biggest jerk I have ever seen on a reality show.  (Okay, so I don’t watch that many of them.)  And I’m a little curious about Bobby.  His lack of athletic ability is painful to watch.  Is it real or is it an act?  I mean, when Craig can last longer then he can, something’s up.

 So I think this week I’m going to name Alex and Bobby as my top suspects.  What are the other guesses?

Mark