The Mole (starts June 2nd)

[Thomkal]

well just when I was certain the Mole was Mark he goes and basically wins a challenge all by himself. I guess I go bacl to Craig. I'd like to consider Nicole, but that's who Alex said was the Mole right up to the quiz and he's gone. Unless they all know its Nicole now and he just messed up the most questions.

I used to be good at figuring out who the Mole is. Feh.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

well just when I was certain the Mole was Mark he goes and basically wins a challenge all by himself. I guess I go bacl to Craig. I'd like to consider Nicole, but that's who Alex said was the Mole right up to the quiz and he's gone. Unless they all know its Nicole now and he just messed up the most questions.

I used to be good at figuring out who the Mole is. Feh.

This is the major reason I took Nicole almost completely off of my list. It is worth noting, though, that 2 of the last 3 quizzes involve ties (mentioned by the host). Last night's didn't have a tie at the bottom (or at least wasn't mentioned) but the previous 2 did. I actually mentioned to my wife it could be that Nicole is the mole and is so bad at it everyone knows and it's just a speed/detail test at this point or all of them--that's why there was a tie twice in a row. Just a remote possibility. Still is, I guess.

I don't think so, though. Pretty sure it is Craig at this point. The only other person that makes sense to me at all, really, is Clay. If it is Paul, he fooled me big time.

[jonesz]

I'm still going with Craig. Two things where just too "coincidental" for me to believe they where random. One being that he just happened to stumble by the correct laundry mat and just happen to see their names on their clothes on the counter. The other being that he just happened to say the "magic word" in "normal conversation" to earn the right to choose teams in a challenge that could made extremely difficult by that person. Those two things are a little too "dumb luck" for me to believe they weren't setups. That plus the out of shape thing is obvious, beyond his control and always makes a great "excuse".

[MJ4H]

I definitely thought the magic word thing was suspicious.

[jonesz]

Yeah, it just seemed so out of left field to me when he used the word in the conversation. It didn't really fit and seemed weird.

[MJ4H]

I have been watching season 2 of the mole on youtube. Someone recently uploaded episodes 1-7 and I stumbled across it. I watched it in its original run of course, but it's been years. The Mole is without a doubt my favorite show on television. I'd rather watch it than anything else.

I got to the end of episode 7 and there was no episode 8 online, though. I sent the user that uploaded these a message and then this morning, no reply, but episode 8 was up. Hopefully they keep putting the rest of the series up, because I am hooked solid even though I know who the mole is and who wins. Doesn't matter. It's a fantastic show. I had forgotten 99% of it.

I still have season 1 on DVR from when I caught a marathon of it on fox reality channel. I'm seriously thinking about buying these on DVD (I know season 1 exists on DVD but I think 2 would have to be a bootleg copy).

Whew. MORE MOLE. God I might track down and watch the UK versions after this.

[gstelmack]

Craig did not stumble across the laundromat. It was the skinny soccer player who couldn't run that found the laundromat and sent him in there.

My money's on Mark. I'm 95% convinced that his tantrum after the diary was taken away was a great excuse for him to get away from the group and get additional instructions from the crew. He did a good job of just declining to participate in earlier missions. I think the two he's done since have been to get the money in the pot up to some reasonable level for the winner; with everyone else sabotaging anything, they didn't have squat in there, and he doesn't have to work hard to keep other money away. I think it's a brilliant move to win a pair here (this one, plus the $25K in the prison mission) and keep the others guessing among themselves.

Then again, I was convinced it was skinny soccer player who can't run right up until he was chopped.

[MJ4H]

Stumbling across the landromaut doesn't really synch with his job as mole like the magic word thing either. The magic word bit just leaps out at me, though. The landromaut thing does nothing for me.

[BrianD]

I'm currently putting my money on Nicole. She can't be a dumb as she has looked recently, and I'm still suspicious of the way she called out the fruit wrong in the luge challenge.

If Mark is the mole, I'll be impressed with his acting. He really seems genuinely frustrated with poor athleticism and stupid people.

[gstelmack]

I think Nicole tries too hard to be the Mole.

[MJ4H]

Alex and Nicole admitted on camera they intentionally sabotaged the fruit of the luge mission. This was shown in the recap show this past Monday. Nicole's admitted strategy has been to make people think she is the mole. In my experience with the show, the mole will never say this. That's just anecdotal, obviously, but it has been pretty consistent. I think Nicole is just acting like the mole.

Incidentally, the only one that I haven't seen say they could be the mole or they have tried to make others think they are the mole is Craig. This is another mark in his column for me. (Mark, too, though he has at least brought it up).

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Alex and Nicole admitted on camera they intentionally sabotaged the fruit of the luge mission. This was shown in the recap show this past Monday. Nicole's admitted strategy has been to make people think she is the mole. In my experience with the show, the mole will never say this. That's just anecdotal, obviously, but it has been pretty consistent. I think Nicole is just acting like the mole.

I would say that I think she is overdoing it, but she hasn't been executed yet so maybe this is the proper strategy. This is also my first time watching the show, so I'm not familiar with different strategies.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

I might track down and watch the UK versions after this.

Just watched the first UK season. Not as good as the US seasons 1 and 2, but still very enjoyable. Some of the same challenges as US season 1. I never figured out who the mole was until the reveal. I suck at this game.

[Thomkal]

where did you find the UK version?

[MJ4H]

youtube. Start here for season 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnWOq7p3E4

and here for season 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0sv_7FAbb8

They are pretty good, but not on par with the US first 2 seasons.'

edit to add: finished watching UK season 2 a few hours ago. good stuff.

[MJ4H]

I wonder if there would be a way to play a Mole like game on FOFC.

[Thomkal]

I'm about to begin the third episode of UK season 1. Hard to pull myself away from it. I believe I know who the Mole is, but we shall see.

thanks for the links

[MJ4H]

Who do you think it is? I won't give it away.

[Thomkal]

well after her comments and attitude last night, I'm really hoping Nicole is not the Mole and goes soon. Loved that her mother called her Omarosa. So if the editing they did is true to the fact, its likely Clay tied with either Mark or Nicole last night given their "coalitions"

As much as I'd like to see Nicole go, glad Clay is gone too. Liked him, but I was beginning to think he was the Mole after his performance in the numbers password game and conversations with Mark and Nicole.

[MJ4H]

It almost has to be Craig at this point. Who do you think Clay voted for? He told Mark he had been voting for Nicole, but he told Nicole he had been voting for Craig. He was obviously lying to one of them. It makes a little bit of sense to lie to Nicole if he had been voting for her, but then, if he continued to, boom he's now out. Couple that with the fact that there was a tie, which could've easily been Mark.

So, if you we assume all that is true, we can probably eliminate Nicole. Further along those lines, why would Nicole go through all that last night about wanting to go home and then deciding not to. It is an extra act she really doesn't need.

Mark has always been interesing, and some of his good performances have that taste of "making it look good." Clay repeatedly mentions how much money Mark has cost the team and people don't even realize it. I admit, I don't. Does anyone have some concrete examples of this? I know he cost the team money when he and Kristen won the exemption in the bicycle/soccer race to the summit. But other than that, when?

Paul? The problems I have with Paul being the mole are 1) he is way too visible. I don't think the mole wants to be that high profile. Could be a "double-bluff" sure, but I think I would have to couple it with something else, and I just don't have anything else on him. That might be suspicious in itself, though. Other than just being loud and obnoxious, he is pretty under-the-radar. I guess if Paul is the mole, he is the best one so far. And, 2) Paul was pretty aggressive in trying to team up with others in the beginning. This just doesn't seem like something the mole would do, and historically, the mole hasn't. The mole has no reason to seek others out for coalitions and probably has plenty of reasons not to. I just don't buy that it's Paul.

I'm sticking with Craig. He's still the only one that makes sense to me.

God, I love this show.

[MJ4H]

More that supports Craig as the mole:

Beginning of this last episode they had to divide into smart and dumb people. Craig immediately raises his hand for the dumb group. As it turns out, the dumb group's task is harder--calculating and memorizing 5 numbers instead of 3, with lots of easy ways to sabotage the counting. Nicole says "as soon as Craig picked the dumb group, I did, too, because I wanted to keep an eye on Craig." Of course, because Craig is the mole, and Nicole knows it. There are then a couple of pretty clear attempts by Craig to mangle the math and the counting of all the little squares was probably so difficult/screwed up by Craig, Nicole couldn't get it in 2 tries, and Clay comes through by figuring out the pattern in the cumulative series of numbers to get it right.

This challenege points to it being either Nicole or Craig, but it seemed obvious watching that Craig was the one sabotaging (or I'm predisposed to that).

[MJ4H]

Also, has Craig ever even had his name entered into the computer at an execution?

[MJ4H]

13-21-89
144-233-610
2584-4181

1=A
3=C
18=R
9=I

I'll bet there is some way to turn this into CRAIG IS THE MOLE or something

the sum of 1+3+2+1 is 7 which is a G? I dunno.

[MJ4H]

These are ALL Fibonaci numbers. I'm going to do some work on this. I think I'm on to something.

[MJ4H]

The numbers are the 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 18th, and 19th numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence. If I take the 7th, 8th, etc. letters of the alphabet, I get:
G, F, K, L, M, O, R, S

Not very promising, but there is something here somewhere, I can feel it.

[kingnebwsu]

Originally Posted by kingnebwsu

My order before tonight was:

Craig
Paul
Nicole
Mark
Clay
(Alex)

2 of the last 3 weeks the player last on my list has been eliminated. Grrr...

And I'm a winner again! This is really pissing me off. Ever since I got to the point where there were few enough people for me to rank them from first to last, the player LAST on my list has been eliminated for 3 of the last 4 weeks. The only player who wasn't last on my list was Kristen, and she was ranked in my bottom half.

I seriously hope this show has decent enough ratings to do another season. But indications are that it's not doing so hot...so we'll see.

My current list:

Craig
Paul
Nicole
Mark
(Clay)

I guess that means Mark will be out next week. He's definitely the most likeable person on the show. Craig's not so bad either...but many people (myself included) think he's the mole. I would love for Paul & Nicole to be the only other two people eliminated from the game, and neither of them would get a cent. Paul is a cleche NY jerkoff and Nicole is a snooty snobbish arrogant princess-like bitch. Too mean?

I guess after MJ4H's insightful posts, I had to balance it out with straight-up reality TV trash commentary. I would have enjoyed the show a lot more without Nicole & Paul in the game. Seriously, if they were the last two players eliminated...I'd crap my pants

[gstelmack]

Anyone notice they had a cursor on screen for the question about "what order did the Mole get to see their family" and it moved towards "Third"? That was Mark, right?

I get all the push for Craig, but I still think it's Mark. Craig has not really been successful at keeping money out, has he? As for the other time (aside from the bicycle) that Mark kept money out, remember he did not finish the "naked" challenge because he essentially opted out, and he initiated the revolution in the "parade" challenge where they all decided not to compete (and got it pinned on Craig since he picked ridiculous transport means for everyone). As Clay said, he has subtly kept more money out than anyone else. I think Clay was using Mark but working with Nicole, the two of them went for Craig, tied, and Clay went.

Still think it's Mark. Still think odds are 2/3 I'm going to turn out wrong. Oh well.

Also, significance of the "23", room number when they zeroed in on Nicole and her mom?

[MJ4H]

Season 2 is on youtube now (complete). Fascinating to watch. I made a playlist for all of the episodes to make it easy to watch. Here it is:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Here is an embedded player, not sure how that works but here:

[MJ4H]

This seems like a fairly significant clue as to who the mole is. If you don't want to see clues that people have found in the episodes themselves, don't click this spoiler!

Spoiler

It seems that the scenery was digitally altered during one scene of an interview with Clay to show 4 "i" statuettes instead of the 2 that were present in every other scene. This might be a reference to Craig having glasses (four eyes). Here is a collection of pictures and an animated gif to show what I mean.

qoheleth52/clue - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[MJ4H]

Well, now there are three. I thought Craig blinked a few too many times when Jon made him say he wasn't the mole at the end.

[Thomkal]

Of course the person to go was the only one I was certain was not the Mole.

[kingnebwsu]

Originally Posted by kingnebwsu

My current list:

Craig
(Paul)
Nicole
Mark

Seriously, if they (Paul & Nicole) were the last two players eliminated...I'd crap my pants

Finally! The last person on my list wasn't eliminated! But sadly, it wasn't the first. I was ready to be totally shocked if Craig was eliminated. Craig is still definitely far & away my #1 suspect. I seriously hope that I'm wrong. If I'm wrong about this, then I will be very very happy with how the game turned out.

As the quiz results were revealed tonight, I was really into the show. Probably the most intent I've been since it started. Can't wait til next week's finale, when it's confirmed that Craig is the mole

I'll keep the same order for next week:

Craig
Nicole
Mark

I cannot emphasize the huge gap between Craig & the other players. Nicole & Mark are almost a 2a and 2b as far as who I think is the Mole.

[Racer]

I think the following person is going to win based on editing (have thought so since the episode that followed the extra clips show)

Spoiler

Mark. He has been portrayed in a mixed sort of way that the winner of Survivor would. Nicole and Paul (who has now been eliminated) have been portrayed to negatively to be the winner and I've thought Craig has been the mole since the 2nd or 3rd episode. We never got to see Clay and Kristen (now both eliminated) enough for them to be the winners. Alex is the only other person that I have thought has had a shot to win for awhile.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by kingnebwsu

Finally! The last person on my list wasn't eliminated! But sadly, it wasn't the first. I was ready to be totally shocked if Craig was eliminated. Craig is still definitely far & away my #1 suspect. I seriously hope that I'm wrong. If I'm wrong about this, then I will be very very happy with how the game turned out.

As the quiz results were revealed tonight, I was really into the show. Probably the most intent I've been since it started. Can't wait til next week's finale, when it's confirmed that Craig is the mole

I'll keep the same order for next week:

Craig
Nicole
Mark

I cannot emphasize the huge gap between Craig & the other players. Nicole & Mark are almost a 2a and 2b as far as who I think is the Mole.

Yeah I agree. I really, really hope Craig is not the mole. It would be a nice surprise since I've thought he has been the mole for awhile.

[kingnebwsu]

I'm changing my order slightly. The more I go back and watch certain parts of episodes, the more I suspect Mark. I'm gonna go:

Craig
Mark
Nicole

Craig is still far & away my #1...but I'm starting to have the slightest bit of doubt. Something I haven't had in 4-6 weeks of the show.

For the hardcore nerds out there, I went back and watched the episode. At the 28:30, they really edit a scene and it's weird. It felt weird on the first watch, but even stranger on the second time through. The scene:

Craig & Mark are talking. They are laughing & joking about something. They zoom in on Mark's hand on a lamp, and it seriously sounds like they dubbed in Mark saying, "But what if you're the Mole?" and Craig responding with "Then you're all screwed" and they both laugh. For both of their phrases, the camera is not on either of their faces and it just feels weird. Like something you'd make for a high-school A/V class. Definitely felt edited the whole way. I'm fairly certain that neither of them said it in that particular sitting.

I was trying to think back if Craig or Mark had said that same phrase previously in the show, but I cannot remember.

Don't know if that means anything, but we'll see. I'm still voting for Craig hardcore as #1. If it's Mark or Nicole, then I will be very happy with their shenanigans

[kingnebwsu]

Dola. It's going to be a real bummer that this is most likely the show's final season. The whole "whodunit?" aspect of the show has saved my summer from TV hell. None of my favorite first-run episodes and no good sports make KingNebWSU something something...

[Maple Leafs]

I've only seen the recap episode, but I'm pretty sure Mark is the mole.

That is all.

[TazFTW]

The only reason why I didn't think Craig was the mole was that the mole would have stopped walking up that mountain. Now Craig is shown running through a city and is having no problems doing it.

[jonesz]

I'm sticking with my original guess that Craig is the Mole based on 4 reasons:

- The episode where he found the laundry mat and recovered everyone's clothes was just too coincidental.

- The episode where he "randomly" said the magic word "elimination" and got control of a task that was all about picking who would do what, thus blowing up the mission before it even got started.

- Being overweight and out of shape is the perfect cover for the Mole. Yes, he did "run" through the streets in the last episode.

- He knew exactly where the bridge was in the last episode and set the whole thing up by apparently talking about it for the last few weeks? Why would you talk about a bridge of all things in normal conversation. And then he didn't reach it first, which I thought made sense for the Mole. It would be too obvious and controlling for them to set it up for the Mole to instantly and easily withhold $75K from the game.

That point eliminated Mark for me, even though he would be my second choice. Nicole is just too obvious in her ways.

[kingnebwsu]

Originally Posted by me 3 weeks ago

I would love for Paul & Nicole to be the only other two people eliminated from the game, and neither of them would get a cent. Paul is a cleche NY jerkoff and Nicole is a snooty snobbish arrogant princess-like bitch. Too mean?

I guess after MJ4H's insightful posts, I had to balance it out with straight-up reality TV trash commentary. I would have enjoyed the show a lot more without Nicole & Paul in the game. Seriously, if they were the last two players eliminated...I'd crap my pants

Great ending tonight. I can't believe how many of us had this pegged from so early on and how far off so many of the players were. It's seriously blowing my mind. I thought they all had it pegged by the halfway point. But now we're seeing that this wasn't the case.

Did a lot of our suspicions have to do with the editing or with the confessional things?

Hopefully this show gets renewed for at least one more season. But my magic 8-ball says "outlook not so good."

[Racer]

Originally Posted by kingnebwsu

Great ending tonight. I can't believe how many of us had this pegged from so early on and how far off so many of the players were. It's seriously blowing my mind. I thought they all had it pegged by the halfway point. But now we're seeing that this wasn't the case.

Did a lot of our suspicions have to do with the editing or with the confessional things?

Hopefully this show gets renewed for at least one more season. But my magic 8-ball says "outlook not so good."

I can say the reason why I pegged him so early was largely due to editing and only slightly due to his behavior.

[Racer]

I also thought you could tell from editing that Mark was going to win this thing although I don't think I pegged him until the episode immediately following the recap show (or maybe even the episode after that).

[Pumpy Tudors]

You could see up Victoria's skirt in the last episode there. They actually put a blur there at one point, and then they moved the camera so Paul was blocking the shot.

Yep, that's why I watch television, I guess.

[Thomkal]

well glad Mark won over Nicole, even if I thought it was 50/50 between he and Craig that they were the Mole. I hung on to Mark's early mishaps/sabotage-not being on the soccer challenge when he was a soccer coach, problems with the bicycle, not participating in the clothes challenge, etc. About halfway through the game though he was really playing to win.

Can't believe so many of them didn't believe Craig was the Mole or even to accept the fact that he could be because he was such a nice funny guy. Felt bad for Paul not making the finals after being the only one to peg Craig from the beginning.

That was pretty wild that Mark nearly got eliminated a few times and that four of them picked Victoria the night she got eliminated. The only thing she did was talk to Craig in the luge challenge-and none of them thought it was a problem when Craig did the same with her.

Some of those "clues" were pretty darn ridiculous-I mean a clue written in the fingerprint of the Mole? I missed the "four-eyes" clue, so good catch there.

Now to hope there's going to be a new season next summer. There only so many series from other countries I can watch

[MJ4H]

Australian season 5 sucks btw

[gstelmack]

Congrats to all who pegged Craig, I was convinced it was Mark until he won (although the 4-I's thing had me thinking). Glad Mark won, and yes I find it funny that he escaped quizzes all along and didn't peg Craig until the final quiz.

[MJ4H]

It was definitely a pretty brutal way for Paul to lose, being the only one to peg Craig until very late and then losing to Nicole by 4 seconds on a quiz. I was pleased to see Paul tell Mark he deserved to win. He was pretty clearly frustrated by how things were shown to have gone, but it was nice to see him come out on the positive side of sportsmanship at the end.

It's also interesting to me that I thought I would probably like Nicole and not like Paul after the reunion show because the last few episodes were tending that way, but I actually came out leaning the other way for both of them. They were both playing their game strategy during the game and it came off as annoying, but Paul seemed to be the one that was an actual normal person after you strip that off. Nicole still seems to be pretty batshi- insane.

[gstelmack]

I got tired of Nicole saying things like "I hate being around all these poisonous people" when her whole strategy was to tick people off. And being annoyed at the other players calling her "insane" when another key part of her strategy was to make people think she was insane.

The hypocrites on these reality shows drive me nuts. At least Paul was a straight shooter about what he was doing and how people were reacting to him the whole time.

[MJ4H]

I think that sums it up for me pretty well.

[thealmighty]

We know what Mark won but how much is the mole paid? Also, do the other contestants get paid for being there like on Big Brother?