The Mole 5: Episode 5

Okay, guys. Here's this week's recap. I'm exhausted from having to wake up at 6:00A for student teaching and then not getting to relax and spend some me time until after 5:00P. That's pretty intense and it'll take some getting used to. At least I was able to get in my TV time tonight. I took notes tonight so I'll try to go off of those and hopefully not miss much because I probably won't have time to review the episode and edit this post.

All for one task-
I want to briefly talk about this because it's fascinating to me. Any situation that can result in everybody doing what was expected of them is fascinating. I don't find it interesting that Mark didn't go for the exemption. He wanted to be the hero. I am, however, very surprised that so many people were willing to leave him with the choice. I do think it's pretty apparent that Mark would not be able to completely alienate himself from the group, but it's still a pretty big step to take to leave the entire game in the hands of a lunatic.

Kristen: I give her credit for having the balls to be voting completely for one person. Obviously she was going for someone who had enough answers similar to the Mole for her to still be here, especially with strategic voting being a common strategy in the early rounds. I am very curious of who she tied with. When Katie left in season 2, I knew then that she had tied with Heather and that Heather now had a huge advantage in the game.. one which she screwed up, of course. This however, seems to me like Kristen's Mole pick suddenly ran out of common answers with the actual Mole. This quiz was very specific. I wonder if Alex actually still thinks it's Nicole. If he does, I would not be surprised if he tied with Victoria last time and now with Kristen. I don't see Kristen revealing her strategy to people, so I don't see this tie as anything particularly meaningful. It's too bad.. Kristen was a decent player. She just didn't stick her neck out enough.

Nicole: I find it fascinating that she suggests that she had voted for Victoria the last round. This makes me wonder how she's been getting through because the Mole has clearly probably been a male for many episodes already. I think she's funny and I think her interactions with the other players are very fascinating. Alex was right when he talked about how she varies her behavior. It's odd, and very clever. I hope she gets her shit together or else she's going to be in danger soon. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that she didn't get into the llama.

Paul: Speaking of llamas. Paul is interesting in this game. I think he tries to rile people up hoping that maybe they'll wonder why he keeps irritating people and whether it's a Mole tactic. However, I don't see anything he does as suspicious. I'm sticking myself out there this season. I hope readers appreciate the fact that I'm willing to state who I think is the Mole and who I've completely eliminated. I hope it makes it more interesting to read, in the case that I am wrong. Paul is not the Mole, guys. He's never been the Mole. Not even in theory. I'm not surprised he wouldn't get into the llama costume. I appreciate Craig trying to make the episode more entertaining, but I would never expect Nicole or Paul to become a llama. I liked how he called Clay's whole life a hypocrite. That was a nice touch to the episode. It's like when he said he had a photogenic memory in the first episode.

Alex: Alex is also not the Mole. I think he might still suspect Nicole and that will get him executed soon. The only thing is that I don't see how he would be getting through other than by tying with slower players. However, I have a bit of a hard time seeing Kristen voting Nicole the whole game. I can see her thinking it's Clay more than Nicole. This all makes me wonder about Alex's suspicions and whether he's lying in confessionals (or the editors aren't putting in his main suspicions). I predicted his elimination much earlier, so I am surprised that he's still here. If he actually is on the right track, I can see him lasting until final 5 or 4, but I don't see him making the finale.

Mark: I just want to say that I am worried about how much I dislike Mark because I have tended to dislike previous Moles, with maybe Frederique being the exemption.. not that I particularly liked her either. However, I could not stand Al, and Mark is more of an Al to me than anything else. I wrote down that Mark v. Alex v. Nicole for the exemption would be hilarious, but it ended up being not that interesting. It must have been really cold. I would have liked to see this task in a room with decent conditions. This is kind of like the jail cell task in season 2 when Myra let everyone out, but I much preferred that one because they weren't told of the exemption until a certain point in the task. Anyway, I wrote in my notes that Mark is a loser. I hate that he's moping and generally being Al-ish. I don't really have much to say about him this week except that he annoys me.

Clay: Clay has become more suspicious lately. There was so much God talk this episode, most of it surrounding Clay. I find his move in the first challenge a little suspicious, because I see him leaving as a sign that he was anticipating Mark possibly taking the exemption, so he wasn't going to bother with making himself look suspicious when he could just leave it to Mark to make himself look like a jackass. However, kind of like last week, if this was attempted sabotage, it was very unsuccessful. The thing with Clay is his fight with Paul was a little ego-driven and not what I would have expected from the Mole. I see the Mole more as someone who encourages fighting without actually being directly involved most of the time ::coughCraigcough::

Craig: Oh Craig, you Mole. I found it interesting that he referred to the pot as "my pot" in the first game. If I was the Mole, I would totally expect someone to take the exemption and wouldn't have even tried to look suspicious. In the second challenge, Craig does come out looking slightly suspicious, but I think it actually makes him look like he's looking out for himself rather than actually behaving suspiciously. I do find it interesting that he said "exemption" first. I don't know, I'm tired. I still think it's Craig. Has his name been entered during execution yet?

Mole suspects: Craig, Clay
Not the Mole: Paul, Alex, Mark, Nicole

The Mole 5: Clues (Updated Episode 5)

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 2: I'm still working on this one. It could be one of those arbitrary ones and not like a secret message or code or anything.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 2: NIC@IT = NICATIT. Unscramble it. TITANIC. In episode 1, Craig stands on the boat just like DiCaprio did in Titanic.
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 2: Yes, it does conveniently spell out ELEVEN, but the clue is Hangman. This is a game of hangman. After Craig jumps off the waterfall in the first challenge, he says he feels like a hanged man.
-ABC clue: A B C B B
A C C B C A
Week 2: The way the clue was given was with the two lines center-aligned. So I immediately thought it was related to their seating arrangement in the execution, but I don't know what to make of the letters. Apparently people think it relates to grades people received on the quiz, which would make sense given that Liz was executed. However, this means Craig got a 'B' and then I'd be suspecting Clay as the Mole, who was one of the 'A' people. However, this also means Nicole got a 'C' and I'd have a hard time believing she's doing poorly on the quizzes.
-Text clue: Heart
Week 2: I don't know what this means. I tend to not prefer the clues where it's unclear whether or not there's a hidden meaning. Like the hangman one is one that interests me because it's clear there's something to figure out. Here, I don't know if it's literally referring to a heart or if I have to decode it or whatever. Liz had heart earrings. Bobby wrote that he <3's>-Text clue: Grapes
Week 3: Someone had a grape treatment at the spa. Really that obvious though? OH, it was Bobby. People have been suspecting the text clues refer to eliminated players. Liz with the heart earrings and now Bobby with the grape treatment. However, NIC@IT still points to Craig for me, so I don't know about that idea.
-Website clue: s666 - LIAr
Week 3: Fascinating. I'll work on this one.
-Text clue: cf(11)8
Week 4: See if '11' ate? Yeah, Craig wasn't at dinner when they did that challenge, thus costing the team a possible two thousand dollars and giving him the right to piss Mark off by continuing to be able to write meaningless things in his journal (assuming he's the Mole, of course).
-Website clue: EFG PQR ZOO
Week 4: It's actually written with the sets of letters stacked on top of each other. So I get these clues off of forums, by the way, and the ones I have looked to for reference are all in my links in the right column. If you write out the alphabet so that EFG is above PQR, and you decipher what ZOO refers to, you get ODD, which is interesting. There was an even/odd question this week, but I also remember the question of how many letters are in the Mole's name, and ODD would also apply there.
-Website clue: 234 715
Week 5: Where is number 6. Who is number 6? When? Paul was 6 in the first task, from left to right, but it's not him.
-Text clue: CHNO 111738
Week 5: Somebody pulled C11H17N3O8 out as some sort of chemical, which would go with neuroscientist, which would go with the theme of clues for eliminations.

Possible Clues:

Week 2:
-Journal #11: At this point, I think it refers to person #11 in the intro: Craig. It's not a very meaningful clue. Take it as you'd like.
-Green thumbprint helmet: I kept this one around because I could've sworn I saw that helmet again in some preview.
-Last Supper: Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. LEONARDO. DiCaprio. It connects to the NIC@IT clue.
-Alexander Selkirk: He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. I think this is exactly the type of clue we should be expecting. It's easy to figure out if you think to google it. However, it's conveniently placed in the episode so that most people will overlook it. It's amazing to me that people completely disregard this. Everything is put in the show for a reason. They could've left the name out of the story, but they didn't. You could argue that it's a red herring, but I will not believe it was just a coincidence.
-Italia: Jon, the host, is wearing a shirt that says Italia on it. I tried to take notes this episode and that was the only halfway decent thing I wrote down. Like for example, I wrote down Liz = bunny when she tied that green bandanna around her head. Italia sticks out to me. It's odd that he was wearing it. It seemed out of place.
-Pisco Sours: Their second appearance. I don't know what I make of this clue, though. There is such a thing as a Pisco Italia, which would connect to the other arbitrary clue.
-Ransom Note: There are three missing letters on the random note: Y in 'your' U in 'throughout' and E in 'the.' Don't know what it means. (Note: I had it down as 'random' note but I mean 'ransom' and clearly the note was both.)
-All the religious references: People seem to think this refers to Victoria being from Bishop, Texas, but do you not all realize that Craig went to PLNU, a Christian school? While I tend to think blatant repeated symbolism is too excessive to be considered a reliable clue, if you do consider it a clue, then it points to Craig just as much as it points to Victoria, or a male with a Bible-name.
-JAIME on the side of a building: I don't know what it means. I'm tired. Post your thoughts if you want. I'll think about it when I'm less tired. So, like Friday, when I can finally sleep in.

The Mole 5: Episode 4

I finally have a car on campus, which means if I want to make puppy chow because I saw it on Jon & Kate Plus 8, then I can drive to Safeway at 11pm and buy the ingredients to make it. Yeah, this has nothing to do with the episode. Also, today was my first day of classes as a grad student. I don't have anything interesting or relevant to say about that, just felt like sharing. I got a new purse today. A friend thinks I should do a podcast, but apparently she doesn't realize this is what I'd end up talking about.

Mark: I apologize if anyone who knows Mark is reading this, but I cannot stand his character on the show. What a baby. Let me just say that if you are a true fan of this show, if you really know how this game is played, you know that you cannot rely on your journal. You know they will do something with the journals at some point. They always do. Victoria is right. Certain people need their journals to feel secure. He is Patrick exactly. It's kind of ridiculous how this is exactly what happened in season 2. Except Mark didn't get executed yet. Is he going to be Al and stick around way too long to annoy the hell out of me? It really pisses me off that he got that visibly angry about his journal. Also that nobody told him to grow up. This is both on a personal and game level. I'm pissed personally because I hate when people throw childish hissy-fits and I'm annoyed game-wise because any good player would not let that affect them that much. By the way, the puppy chow is delicious. Kate calls it monkey munch. It's chex mix with chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar on top.

Alex: Is he gone yet? He didn't do anything obnoxious this episode, but really, if he had or if anyone else had, I wouldn't have remembered it thanks to Mr. Hissy-fit. I do approve of him and Paul discussing how stupid it is to rely on a journal. He's too team-minded. Or at least Paul-minded, pretty much going along with Paul generally.

Victoria: See guys, VJG means nothing. I'm telling you, with the increased technology capabilities, if there is a hidden clue in the intro, it won't be so blatant. It'll be something that you have to figure out after you see it. When she agreed to give Clay the exemption, I immediately said she is not the Mole. I know I questioned it last week because she did say some questionable things, but the way she was acting this episode and especially how she was edited, I knew she'd probably be leaving. Now, she is the 5th to leave and we apparently the slowest by 5 seconds, so I will hold out on the fact that Australian Mole 4 did execute and bring back that season's Mole. Although I think if they did that it would be a mockery of the show. Please don't do that, producers. It was so obvious on Australian Mole. No, I really think Victoria was just a genuine player who had random red herrings tacked onto her character that made people think she was suspicious. See, even with my earlier insistence that she wasn't the Mole, I started wondering last episode and saw small things in her behavior that were meaningless.

Paul: Paul was less annoying this episode, but once again, what do we know, they all could've been raging lunatics but we would've never known. I find it interesting that he didn't think the giving up the journal thing was exemption-related and Nicole did. I pretty much saw that it wouldn't be exemption-related since there wasn't really an official task announced. I think Paul has a really good grip on this game. I can't say much more.

Nicole: She is not the Mole. I am so sure of this, it's like with Dorothy. A lot of people were telling me that she was the Mole, but I knew there was no way. She was so obviously playing the game. I will say it right now and if I'm wrong I guess I'll have to eat my hat or whatever, but I don't ever wear hats because of my huge head. She is not the Mole. I don't know what the audience consensus is on her, but I like her. It seems they've put her up against Paul, this bully-type character. I'm thinking the viewers will tend to dislike Paul and therefore will like Nicole, or at least not dislike her that much. I don't know though. All I know is a show returning after such a long hiatus will not edit their winner as an ass. Most likely they will make the winner likable, so I am not yet going to predict Nicole to win, but she's feeling like a Dorothy to me right now. Don't quote me on it, but I am thinking a Craig-Nicole-Paul finale with Nicole winning and Craig the Mole. I'm not going to say that for certain quite yet because I can see Clay sneaking in there, but I do want to put it in writing because that's how I feel right now. I was not surprised that Nicole tried to look suspicious during the climb and then at dinner. I'm afraid she'll become too blatant, but apparently not because a lot of people still suspect her.

Clay: Clay is interesting to me because he's very apparently last night's dinner. That sounds horrible. I actually mean he's like the type of character I would see as the Mole of a previous season. This is why I'm keeping him in there. And I was right about his character developing. It is inconsistent with what I would've expected, though, which is even more the reason why I'm keeping him out there. Lately, he's cost the team money by choosing not to do the public humiliation task and he tried to cost the team money by insisting on the exemption. This is interesting because it could easily be explained both ways. He could've insisted on the exemption because he knew he could get the other three to agree with him eventually if he was insistent. On the other hand, he could've insisted on the exemption thinking that Nicole would also insist on it. Knowing Nicole, I wouldn't be surprised if she had refused to give it to him. In fact, I think if the teams were any different, she might have. So this makes me wonder about Clay.

Kristen: She is probably not the Mole because who goes along with a decision so quickly when you have a valid point that could slow down the decision and potentially cause money to be taken out of the pot? Both she and Victoria had very valid points as to why they should get the exemption but they just went along with the group. It is not uncommon for players to be incapable of making a decision on this type of task, so the fact that it went so smoothly makes me pretty aware that those girls are not the Mole. Plus, haven't we established it's probably definitely a guy? The only one who came out even slightly suspicious in the exemption part of the task was Clay. I was surprised Nicole didn't say anything, but at the same time I wasn't. She likes to vary her game randomly to throw people off and if I was playing, I'd be very curious as to why she didn't even try to get that exemption. I'd like to think she thought of the entire scenario as an opportunity to screw with people's minds that was perhaps even more valuable than an exemption. Maybe she confused Victoria and Victoria voted for her. Maybe Alex still thinks it's Nicole and he and Victoria tied for last. I like how I'm talking about everyone except for Kristen in her section.

Craig: Do I even need to? Yet again his himself-ness held him back in a challenge and gave him an excuse to be completely missing for like half the episode. I'm never going to question something like altitude sickness or hypothermia because who would be able to or ever want to fake going in and out of consciousness? I will question small injuries til the sun goes down though. So I bet he tried so hard to get up that hill slowly so their money wouldn't count and what better way to conceal his suspicious behavior than to have his team holding a shitload of gold. Then, I wonder if it was the plan for him to act like he was sick, but then he actually got sick. I'm sure they had medics all over the place so that they wouldn't risk losing their Mole to illness, but I'm sure the producers were concerned when it got pretty serious. Then he got to miss a challenge and therefore the team had to forfeit what money he could've won automatically. And the stuff he missed conveniently was journal-related, which brings us back to the original 11 clue. Oh, and did you all see how his SLIKE shirt shows up so much in the previews for next week? That shirt is really suspicious to me. I feel like it wants to be a clue but I haven't actually found anything concrete. I'm waiting for SILKE to appear somewhere or to find out that his actual last name is spelled differently. Then that would be I lie with my eyes (I's).

Mole suspects: CRAIG, Clay
Not the Mole: Everyone else.. especially Mark

The Mole 5: Clues (Updated Episode 4)

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 2: I'm still working on this one. It could be one of those arbitrary ones and not like a secret message or code or anything.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 2: NIC@IT = NICATIT. Unscramble it. TITANIC. In episode 1, Craig stands on the boat just like DiCaprio did in Titanic.
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 2: Yes, it does conveniently spell out ELEVEN, but the clue is Hangman. This is a game of hangman. After Craig jumps off the waterfall in the first challenge, he says he feels like a hanged man.
-ABC clue: A B C B B
A C C B C A
Week 2: The way the clue was given was with the two lines center-aligned. So I immediately thought it was related to their seating arrangement in the execution, but I don't know what to make of the letters. Apparently people think it relates to grades people received on the quiz, which would make sense given that Liz was executed. However, this means Craig got a 'B' and then I'd be suspecting Clay as the Mole, who was one of the 'A' people. However, this also means Nicole got a 'C' and I'd have a hard time believing she's doing poorly on the quizzes.
-Text clue: Heart
Week 2: I don't know what this means. I tend to not prefer the clues where it's unclear whether or not there's a hidden meaning. Like the hangman one is one that interests me because it's clear there's something to figure out. Here, I don't know if it's literally referring to a heart or if I have to decode it or whatever. Liz had heart earrings. Bobby wrote that he <3's>-Text clue: Grapes
Week 3: Someone had a grape treatment at the spa. Really that obvious though? OH, it was Bobby. People have been suspecting the text clues refer to eliminated players. Liz with the heart earrings and now Bobby with the grape treatment. However, NIC@IT still points to Craig for me, so I don't know about that idea.
-Website clue: s666 - LIAr
Week 3: Fascinating. I'll work on this one.
-Text clue: cf(11)8
Week 4: See if '11' ate? Yeah, Craig wasn't at dinner when they did that challenge, thus costing the team a possible two thousand dollars and giving him the right to piss Mark off by continuing to be able to write meaningless things in his journal (assuming he's the Mole, of course).
-Website clue: EFG PQR ZOO
Week 4: It's actually written with the sets of letters stacked on top of each other. So I get these clues off of forums, by the way, and the ones I have looked to for reference are all in my links in the right column. If you write out the alphabet so that EFG is above PQR, and you decipher what ZOO refers to, you get ODD, which is interesting. There was an even/odd question this week, but I also remember the question of how many letters are in the Mole's name, and ODD would also apply there.

Possible Clues:

Week 2:
-Journal #11: At this point, I think it refers to person #11 in the intro: Craig. It's not a very meaningful clue. Take it as you'd like.
-Green thumbprint helmet: I kept this one around because I could've sworn I saw that helmet again in some preview.
-Last Supper: Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. LEONARDO. DiCaprio. It connects to the NIC@IT clue.
-Alexander Selkirk: He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. I think this is exactly the type of clue we should be expecting. It's easy to figure out if you think to google it. However, it's conveniently placed in the episode so that most people will overlook it. It's amazing to me that people completely disregard this. Everything is put in the show for a reason. They could've left the name out of the story, but they didn't. You could argue that it's a red herring, but I will not believe it was just a coincidence.
-Italia: Jon, the host, is wearing a shirt that says Italia on it. I tried to take notes this episode and that was the only halfway decent thing I wrote down. Like for example, I wrote down Liz = bunny when she tied that green bandanna around her head. Italia sticks out to me. It's odd that he was wearing it. It seemed out of place.
-Pisco Sours: Their second appearance. I don't know what I make of this clue, though. There is such a thing as a Pisco Italia, which would connect to the other arbitrary clue.
-Ransom Note: There are three missing letters on the random note: Y in 'your' U in 'throughout' and E in 'the.' Don't know what it means. (Note: I had it down as 'random' note but I mean 'ransom' and clearly the note was both.)
-All the religious references: People seem to think this refers to Victoria being from Bishop, Texas, but do you not all realize that Craig went to PLNU, a Christian school? While I tend to think blatant repeated symbolism is too excessive to be considered a reliable clue, if you do consider it a clue, then it points to Craig just as much as it points to Victoria, or a male with a Bible-name.

The Mole 5: Episode 3

We'll go by people again. I like that. Except, this time I'm typing as I watch. It think it'll be interesting to see my first reactions as I'm watching it.

Nicole: Can I just say one thing. I know some people don't like her. I do. She's playing the game much like Paul is, trying to get under people's skin, trying to throw them off. I do think it's funny that Paul feels threatened by her, and I do think a lot of it is because she's very head-strong and is playing the game aggressively. I think it would be way too obvious for her to be the Mole, the way she screwed up the fruit task. "You're so cool" (to Paul). She's right. That is what he wants to be and that is what to say to piss him off. I love that they're both trying to push each other's buttons and sometimes one does it better than the other and sometimes it's the other way around. I'm fascinated that they've been showing quite a lot of people's suspicions. I had a 5 theory too, although I really don't think it means anything in the game. If her suspicions are true to how she voted, it is very interesting that we now know Bobby isn't the Mole. It points to Craig once again. I know sometimes I'll do what people tend to do and assume things point to certain people when they don't actually just because I'm suspicious of them. There's an image somewhere of Nicole standing in front of the bribe money and contemplating taking it. That's interesting. I don't know how I feel about that and whether it was staged or not. I'm feeling more like Nicole is not the Mole but instead a strong contender.

Clay: Good job on the avocado-pear thing, however the screw-up with the rules is interesting to me because the episode focused on Craig and Victoria messing up and not Clay and Bobby. This has traditionally been a way the editors try to mask the Mole's suspicious behavior. Finding out that he's been working with Bobby and Mark is fascinating to me. I don't know how I feel about him opting out of the public humiliation challenge. Bill opted out of a similar clothing-type challenge and it wasn't given much thought.

Victoria: "I was engulfed by Craig. It was like body armor." The green thumbprint helmets are back and in full force. Mark said Victoria kept the talking going, but I have to disagree on that. From what I saw, very early on, Craig was encouraging her to repeat the list. He repeated it a couple times at the beginning, which I think prompted her to repeat it. This is also what I would call editor-miscuing where the editors will show a player talking about one player's sabotage to move the focus off of another player's similar (or in this case same) sabotage. "Is it still too late to take the money." I won't go along with the VJG clue that people apparently think is a giveaway, but this line would be extremely clever for the Mole to say. Hmmm. I don't know what I make of it yet.

Craig: I give him the credit for breaking the rules and talking at the finish line. To me, it looked like he was the one getting her to repeat the fruit. "There's not a single person in Santiago that's my size." "Bobby and I looked like a walking impersonation of the number 10." HAHAHA I love Craig. Whether or not I'm right about him being the Mole, I'd love to see him stick around. What is the easiest way to sabotage the clothing challenge? Be too large for most people's clothes. This is the perfect type of challenge for the producers to set up to make it easy for Craig to "sabotage."

Paul: Once again, Paul was paying attention with the rule thing. I do hate how he gets so upset when people screw up though. He is good at playing the game, but he's not so good at playing the players. I have to stress that it is so important in this game to not focus on winning money, but to focus on winning the game.

Mark: He wasn't suspicious in the fruit task. His coalition with Clay and Bobby clearly shows he is not the Mole in the way he talks to and about them. Clay I'm still not sure about, but I think it's been clear that Mark is not the Mole. He opts out of the public humiliation challenge.. interesting. Eh. Mark gets offended when Paul says he's obsessive. I would have taken it as a compliment. I do think Paul is too harsh when he just attacks people, but he's doing it with the purpose of playing the game. I (begrudgingly) side with Paul on this.

Kristen: Wasn't suspicious in the fruit task. I like how when she was questioning Nicole about the game, she made it clear that she thought Nicole was a liar for trying to look suspicious, yet Alex, who went along with it, was stealthy, or whatever she said. I would hope from one well-educated strong woman to the next there would be more camaraderie.

Ali: Eh. I don't like that she's siding with Paul and yelling at Nicole for playing the game. Do I think it's hilarious that the girls couldn't get clothes? Yes. They were not trying hard enough or doing the right things. She wanted to give up because she was frustrated, not because she wanted to sabotage. The whole time the bribe thing was going on, I was thinking, don't do it Nicole, don't do it, because she was looking around a lot. Then I realized she was trying to get people's reactions and expressions. I'm not surprised that Ali took the bribe. She knew she wasn't going to win. She knew her place in this game, and I do give her some respect for knowing she'd be better off taking the money. If a stronger player had gone for it, I'd be upset. I was upset when Elavia took the bribe, but in the long run, it did save Dorothy.

Alex: Go away, Alex, this show is about sleuthing, not checking out the ladies. Alex's Spanish skills make him clearly not the Mole to me. What the hell was that question about the two apples on the quiz? Hello, way too specific. There's been a couple of those on these past three quizzes and it makes me wonder. Why would they do that. There's an obvious majority answer that any smart person would go for in the earlier rounds.

Bobby: They also screwed up the rules in the fruit game. He's not the Mole, though, so I won't dwell on it. Bobby, the apple probably isn't a clue for New York. I won't toss it away as a possible clue, but I think it's actually somewhat of an homage to Anderson's tendency to eat things while contestants were doing grueling tasks next to him. I love the lady who told him he didn't need clothes, he needed food. Holy shit I did not see that double execution coming. Not even with the larger cast. Wow. That was strangely cruel for this show. Well, he wasn't the Mole. He also didn't make it as far as I thought he would. Can't say I'm entirely surprised.. well, I'm pretty shocked.

This episode did raise some more suspicions in my mind. I might even take Victoria off my "not the Mole" list, but I'm not sure. I'll sleep on it. I predicted Alex gone and he's still not gone with his theory of Nicole being the Mole. I considered Bobby a pretty decent player, so I'm wondering how he screwed it up. From what he said, it seemed he focused too much on one player who perhaps wasn't in the majority on some of the questions. I'll post about new clues tomorrow. I need to watch it again.

Mole: Craig, maybe Clay
Definitely not: Paul, Alex, Mark, Kristen. I'm not so positive about Victoria anymore, but I hope it's not her. I'm close to adding Nicole to the 'not' list, too. I think she goes far as a contestant.

The Mole 5: Pre-Episode 3

I probably won't watch until tomorrow, which is when I'll post. While I'm here though, I might as well make some predictions. It looks like some sort of bribe is happening tonight. I think if it is an up-for-grabs bribe, Ali or Kristen would be most likely to take it. However, if it's an Elavia-type bribe, with the least-liked player getting the offer, Nicole will get the offer and I don't think she'll take it. And if it's not a bribe, I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it's just a challenge.

I still think it'll be Alex going home. Maybe Ali.

The Mole 5: Clues (Updated Episode 2)

I know for the people who have been consistently reading my entries, you're all waiting for Craig to be executed to see how I deal with all my theories being wrong. I have to admit that I kind of hope it happens too. I'd have to look at everything all over again and in a new perspective. It happened in Season 2 when I thought it was Bribs.

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 2: I'm still working on this one. It could be one of those arbitrary ones and not like a secret message or code or anything.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 2: NIC@IT = NICATIT. Unscramble it. TITANIC. In episode 1, Craig stands on the boat just like DiCaprio did in Titanic.
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 2: Yes, it does conveniently spell out ELEVEN, but the clue is Hangman. This is a game of hangman. After Craig jumps off the waterfall in the first challenge, he says he feels like a hanged man.
-ABC clue: A B C B B
A C C B C A
Week 2: The way the clue was given was with the two lines center-aligned. So I immediately thought it was related to their seating arrangement in the execution, but I don't know what to make of the letters. Apparently people think it relates to grades people received on the quiz, which would make sense given that Liz was executed. However, this means Craig got a 'B' and then I'd be suspecting Clay as the Mole, who was one of the 'A' people. However, this also means Nicole got a 'C' and I'd have a hard time believing she's doing poorly on the quizzes.
-Text clue: Heart
Week 2: I don't know what this means. I tend to not prefer the clues where it's unclear whether or not there's a hidden meaning. Like the hangman one is one that interests me because it's clear there's something to figure out. Here, I don't know if it's literally referring to a heart or if I have to decode it or whatever. Liz had heart earrings. Bobby wrote that he <3's Alex.

Possible Clues:

Week 2:
-Journal #11: At this point, I think it refers to person #11 in the intro: Craig. It's not a very meaningful clue. Take it as you'd like.
-Green thumbprint helmet: I kept this one around because I could've sworn I saw that helmet again in some preview.
-Last Supper: Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. LEONARDO. DiCaprio. It connects to the NIC@IT clue.
-Alexander Selkirk: He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. I think this is exactly the type of clue we should be expecting. It's easy to figure out if you think to google it. However, it's conveniently placed in the episode so that most people will overlook it. It's amazing to me that people completely disregard this. Everything is put in the show for a reason. They could've left the name out of the story, but they didn't. You could argue that it's a red herring, but I will not believe it was just a coincidence.
-Italia: Jon, the host, is wearing a shirt that says Italia on it. I tried to take notes this episode and that was the only halfway decent thing I wrote down. Like for example, I wrote down Liz = bunny when she tied that green bandanna around her head. Italia sticks out to me. It's odd that he was wearing it. It seemed out of place.
-Pisco Sours: Their second appearance. I don't know what I make of this clue, though. There is such a thing as a Pisco Italia, which would connect to the other arbitrary clue.
-Ransom Note: There are three missing letters on the random note: Y in 'your' U in 'throughout' and E in 'the.' Don't know what it means. (Note: I had it down as 'random' note but I mean 'ransom' and clearly the note was both.)
-All the religious references: People seem to think this refers to Victoria being from Bishop, Texas, but do you not all realize that Craig went to PLNU, a Christian school? While I tend to think blatant repeated symbolism is too excessive to be considered a reliable clue, if you do consider it a clue, then it points to Craig just as much as it points to Victoria, or a male with a Bible-name.

I do realize a lot of my clues could apply to multiple people as well, however, it's Selcraig that really sticks out to me. Anytime Jon tells a story, the details are important to pay attention to. There was no need for him to even mention Alexander Selkirk. He could've just talked about a man stranded on an island. The fact that that piece of information was included in the story really sticks out to me. If it is a red herring put there on purpose, that's pretty clever. I have a hard time believing it's a coincidence though.

The Mole 5: Episode 2

I want to start off by saying I really appreciate everyone reading what I have to say, and I encourage anyone with disagreeing opinions to post responses. I think the beauty of this show is that it gets everyone to question everything, and everyone sees things differently. So I think the most effective way to go about figuring this out is with a lot of input from a lot of people. I know a lot of people are reading these Mole entries, so if you'd like to, I'd be really interested to know who everyone thinks is the Mole each week.

So here is my week 2 analysis. I'm still going to go person by person because we still haven't been given a particularly mentally-driven task yet. I'm going to use these episode summaries as a chance to analyze how each player is as a character on the show, and I'm going to focus less on the clues since I have a whole other post dedicated to that. I'm going to look at contestant behavior and interaction and try to develop a Mole profile. A big part of this game for me is trying to understand what the producers are thinking, what the editors are thinking, and how the production process might give us insight on who is the Mole.

Can I also stress that the key to doing well in this game is to focus on winning the game, not the money. The game in it's nature is a well-paying game. The winner will win a lot of money. That's guaranteed. If you focus on winning every single game, though, you're focusing on the wrong thing. Contestants make this mistake too often. That's one of the things I love about this game. If you're winning a lot of money for the team, you're not necessarily doing the best job at playing the game. In fact, most of the time, it would mean you're too obviously not the Mole, which, if the other contestants realize, will hurt your game in the long run.

Onto contestant discussion..

Liz: It became blatantly obvious this episode not only that Liz was not the Mole, but also that she had NO idea at all how to play this game, so much so that it really began to irritate me. I even thought she was going to stick around for a little longer just to irritate me with how clueless she is, but the friend that I was watching with saw past that and correctly predicted Liz's execution. What irritated me the most was the fact that this show finally returned after a long time of true fans thinking we'd never get it back. When it was announced that it was making a comeback, fans from all over applied to be on the show. So for all of us fans watching from home, I would appreciate it if all of the contestants would have prepared for the show by watching the previous seasons and making an effort to really understand this game. It is clear that Liz did not understand how this game is played. When Jon says to pick two people who are in for an uphill battle, with no knowledge of this being purely an exemption task, any person who understood this game would know immediately that the two people picked would have to either run or bike uphill. If you are Liz, you would not volunteer for this task, based simply on the physicality that is implied. It also really frustrated me when Liz had no idea what Paul was doing when he was shaking the pig and then ultimately when he broke it. Not only did she not figure out that there was an exemption inside, she still had no idea what was going on when Paul actually went through with his hunch and broke the thing. I call that complete cluelessness, and it was not something I wanted to see any longer on the show, so I'm glad she's gone. I don't mean to be harsh, but she had the opportunity to prepare for this show in order to increase her odds of doing well and she didn't make the effort to do so.

Paul: I give Paul a lot of credit for being a good contestant. However, I do have to say one thing about his obnoxious behavior towards other contestants. Any man who repeatedly questions another person's "manhood" or repeatedly tries to put down a strong and confident woman is a man who is self-conscious himself. I think the only problem with Paul's strategy is he's making it apparent that he's not the Mole. I think his personality just can't contain itself and he has to be loud and obnoxious. If he could hold back some, he's probably be an ideal player. Doing things with the sole purpose of throwing people off is actually pretty clever. I think Paul will make it pretty far. He thinks quickly on his feet. I definitely think he's an obnoxious person who I wouldn't want to spend time around ever, but I have to give him the credit he deserves for playing well so far.

Ali: She's not the Mole. I'd put money on it. She scored the winning goal. Also, she's just not doing much as far as the game goes, from what I see at least. I do think it's interesting that she stayed with Paul when he was fanning Liz during the race task. Well, not particularly interesting, but I had to find something to say.

Alex: I do give him credit for knowing that there was an exemption in one of the pigs. It just happened to be one that Paul was hanging out with. I think it's funny he left his notebook in the other room to go and serenade Paul with that strange instrument. What was that? It was kind of interesting. Where did it come from? If he actually purposely left it there with misleading information, then that could be pretty clever. However, nobody besides the Mole knows what type of information is actually misleading. He's sort of a wannabe Paul. He's everything Paul is, as far as being a player in this game, but to a lesser extent. He's obnoxious, but not as vocal as Paul. He's a decent player, as far catching onto how this game truly works, but he's not as strong as Paul. I still think he leaves fairly soon.

Bobby: He's either trying really hard to look suspicious or he thinks he's on Survivor and is only eating coconut and ants. I don't know.. he makes the show interesting. "We already know you think it's Nicole. We already know you're a moron." I loved that. I think Bobby's technically a strong strategic player, but I still think he'll get tripped up in the end. I have a hard time not comparing current contestants with past contestants because there's clearly a trend in how the players are cast.. he's Bribs to me. I don't think he's the Mole.

Victoria: Okay, she's not the Mole. You all can try to say VJG in the credits means she's the Mole, but until someone tells me what her middle name is, I won't consider that anywhere close to a valid clue. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I just can't see how any of her actions would make her the Mole. However, I do think she's hilarious on the show. Not particularly for anything she does, but my friend and I think she gets haircuts between the episode because she looks different in different shots. I was going to take a bunch of screen shots and put up a post about how I found a bunch of clues and had pictures to prove it and then just post a bunch of images of Victoria's hair looking different. I do like her for standing up for Bobby, though. I like her as a person.

Mark: Al, anyone? I want to say that his behavior this episode shows that he's not the Mole. He seemed too desperate. He's the player who tries to control a lot of the decisions, wants to be a leader, and gets frustrated when people don't follow his lead. Like in the pig challenge when he kept being useless and restating the obvious every five seconds. I think it's pretty apparent that if the pigs stay on the wrong side of the pen, they won't count. It's also apparent that if your group had gotten back more quickly, some of those pigs on the outside might already be inside. I don't like how he talked back to Jon. Whatever, Mark. Maybe he'll be gone soon.

Kristen: "I've got a wheelbarrow full of Bobby." HAHA I liked that. I think the exemption task showed that she's probably not the Mole because she kind of just went along with Mark. I don't know, she just seems very straightforward. Can I just say this game needs to pick the hell up? I'm tired of exemptions being given away. I liked the pig one, but I want some surprise exemptions. And I want more intellectual games, or strategic games. Not just athletic ones. As far as Kristen goes, I don't really have anything to say. She's not that interesting as a player. She was doing great at running up that hill, though, and I do believe if Mark had stopped being an ass and let her push the bike, she'd still have stuck it out like a champ. If you whine about the task, she says she's doing fine, you whine about it being harder to push the bike, she offers to push it, and you say no because you want to be in charge.. then stop whining.

Clay: Clay is one big mystery to me. He's hasn't stood for any good or bad reason ever. If this was an earlier season of the Mole, I'd be extremely suspicious of him. I don't think we've been told anything about him, though. I wonder why he's hidden. Is he leaving soon, or will his character develop all of a sudden later? I would still leave him on the suspect list because his character is such a mystery, but I haven't seen anything supporting the theory of him being the Mole.

Nicole: I think Nicole is hilarious and I think she's either really clever or she's still possibly the Mole. I love that she threatened to kill Paul and nobody did anything about it. I love that she said she wouldn't leave any forensic evidence. For her to switch her demeanor around so suddenly shows that she's either trying to confuse people, which is smart, or she's just a little crazy, which makes her funny. I think that like Paul, but to a lesser extent, she's sticking herself out there a little too much at this point. But she's still a possibility. If she's not the Mole, I can see her battling it out with Paul in the end.

Craig: Let's start with what ridiculous things he did this episode. He volunteered to be in the uphill battle group. I am willing to believe Liz had no idea what the task would actually be, but I would have expected Craig to know. This is interesting, though, because the task ended up being one that would lose money. Had Craig been riding the bike, I don't think he would've made it to the top first. I don't know if this means he's not the Mole, or if the producers didn't fully tell him what the tasks were. I will say I questioned this a little. Then he kicks the ball into their own goal, which nobody makes a big deal about. He does kind of save the day with the pig launcher, although I feel like they would've figured it out with more people there. And taking charge of the launcher takes some suspicion off of him, while it actually lets him control the success of the challenge. They did add money to the pot, but who knows if he purposely miscued some of them.

Mole: Craig, Nicole, maybe Clay
Not the Mole: Paul, Ali, Alex, Bobby, Victoria, Kristen, Mark

I do honestly feel like I can completely eliminate Paul, Ali, Alex, and Bobby. And I want to say Kristen completely, but she's been extremely neutral as far as players go, kind of like Clay, and I still question Clay, so I should probably still question Kristen.

The Mole 5: Clues

**UPDATED TO ADD CLUE**Scroll down..

Let's keep a list of clues from the show. I'll include ABC-given clues and anything else suspicious that appears in the show. I do have Episode 1 on my computer and will continue having access to the episodes, so depending on how much time/interest I have, I might be able to go through and comb for clues. Although I'd like to think they will give us enough clues that we can see from just watching the episodes.

Official Clues:

-The EW clue: I LIE WITH MY EYES
Week 1: Interesting. Is this supposed to be a clue when you read it or when you hear it. There might be a code involved. It might be a fairly literal suggestion. It might mean I lie with my "I"s if you read it out loud. It might refer to Craig's glasses. I don't think any of these clues can be figured out without the addition of some other clues, so we'll keep this an ongoing list.
-ABC clue: NIC@IT
Week 1: This might be a series of first letters of words from a statement. I don't think it refers to Nicole simply by the "NIC."
-ABC clue: E_E_E_
Week 1: To me, this hints at the #11 clue. If we are meant to fill in letters to make a word, and the word is "ELEVEN," then the missing letters are L, V, N. It's possible that the clue is only hinting at the #11 clue, but I think there's a reason only the E's are shown and a reason why there are blanks in the word. Do we focus on the missing letters or the ones that are shown.

Possible Clues:

Week 1:
-Journal #11: Host holds up journal #11. Craig is the 11th in the intro sequence. Mark is the 11th to jump. I have heard that Craig got journal #11, but this is not at all confirmed.
-Green thumbprint helmet: Victoria has a green thumbprint on her helmet. I don't think this at all means she's the Mole. I hope the clues aren't dumbed down this much. It would make a mockery of the show that we as fans love so much. Because I trust the producers, I'm going to say it's either a red herring or it eliminates her as a suspect, or it is a clue pointing to something else. She jumped 8th. Victoria Falls is an actual location.
-Last Supper: Host mentions Last Supper. If I am remembering correctly from what I read about it, there were 12 people besides Jesus and it had just been announced that one was a traitor. Nicole wasn't there at the time. Also, if we're insinuating here that the new host is Jesus, I think that's pretty absurd. Maybe if Anderson Cooper had come back to host..
-Chicago: I have heard that "Chicago" flashes quickly at some point in the episode. Nicole is from Chicago. This would be an absurdly obvious clue, though, so I think it's either a red herring or it refers to something else.
-California: The city they are in is Los Angeles. The boat that was shown said "Jose" on it. Los Angeles, San Jose, both cities in California. I don't find this to be strong evidence though.
-8: Apparently the number 8 appeared a lot in the opening. Victoria jumped 8th with her green thumbprint helmet. Maybe 8 is also an important number. Liz is 8th in the opening.
-5: While we're at it, I'll throw in 5. This is season 5. Nicole is the 5th introduced. Mark was the fifth called at execution. Craig is the 5th alphabetically. Oh, and by the way, the producers made the mistake of putting Ali ahead of Alex on the quiz. I don't think it's a clue, it's just easy to make the mistake of thinking a shorter name comes before a longer one. Who was the 5th to jump? Bobby..
-Alexander Selkirk: Holy shit, guys. So I've been reading all about the Last Supper trying to find a clue and all along, it was Alexander Selkirk, the Robinson Crusoe guy. Wikipedia him, do it now. He was born Alexander SelCRAIG. Are you kidding me? This is more like it.. not an obvious clue, but one that viewers can figure out. Easier than spotting random numbers or letters shown during the show for only a few second. This is something the host actually says. So it's easy to overlook. It was all the strange stories that got me thinking to look them up. I could find nothing at all on the waterfall incident, which is kind of suspicious too. This has got to be some clue..

BTW thank you for reading and thanks to Erin for the comment on the previous post!

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 20

I love this show. And I love Vegas week just like I love Hollywood week on Idol. And I hate that it was just an episode this year. Didn't they at least do the Top 20 announcement in one episode last year? Although I do feel like they showed a lot somehow. It felt more like Vegas week of two seasons ago, when they had to go through many different choreographers and were voted on each round. I have to say, Mary's less annoying this year, and seems like she's just being herself instead of a caricature or Paula Abdul wannabe. Actually, all the judges have been pleasant this year. And the show is still wonderful. My biggest complaint with Idol is that it's become such a production.. It's like blown out of proportion, whereas SYTYCD has stayed true to its initial concept and has kept it simple yet fascinating. Also, I do enjoy Cat as the host, and I see other shows are convinced a British host will make the show better ::coughLastComicStandingcough:: No, a great concept, great characters, and great editing make a show great.

Anyway, our Top 20. What do we think? My first impression throughout the episode was that they cut A LOT of ballroom and kept A LOT of hip-hop and contemporary. Do I sense some pressure for more hip-hop influence on this show?

Twitch: I love Twitch. He's such a nice guy, very humble, very genuine. I have a feeling people will love voting for him. He's really good too.

Kherington: I'm surprised she's here, actually. I thought that choreographer's daughter would make it over her. Maybe they're going for interesting names this year. Not saying she's bad, just not particularly memorable.

William: I don't really remember Will. He's a contemporary dancer. I don't know, he seems nice.

Jessica: I don't really know who she is either, but under the choreographers she'd like to work with, she included Kabba Modern and Geo Hubela, which I find interesting. Is this from watching Dance Crew or from before that?

Kourtni L: She's the one whose mom looks the same age as her. I don't like how she spells her name, but I don't know otherwise. She's pretty good. I just wonder how certain people end up getting through over others. There are so many contemporary dancers to start with, I find it to be a little arbitrary sometimes, but I'm assuming she was consistently very good throughout Vegas week.

Rayven: Says she does contemporary and ballet. Have we seen her? I think this season has been pretty decent about showing a majority of the dancers, but for some reason I feel like not many of them stick out. Maybe it's because not everybody is someone's sibling from a previous season.

Matt: His profile is kind of odd. He says his age is 22 (double-digits) and I'm guessing he means two of the same number/palindrome, but really, the only people excited to be double digits is 10-year-olds. Also, it says he wants three boys when they asked him if he has kids.

Chelsea T: Her hometown is Flower Mound. I really like all these contestants flipping out about the question about if they have any kids. It's nice compared to the family ordeal we have going on with Idol, where everyone is married and/or has children.

Chris: I like that it seems like they gave them these profile questions, let them fill them out, and then just posted whatever they typed down. As you can see, I have nothing to say about a lot of these people.. I just don't remember them. Hopefully they'll become more memorable soon.

Katee: This is the girl whose roommate pretty much gave up her spot for her, right? She is the better dancer, but I think it was kind of cruel that the judges made them come up together and then made them answer questions and then made them leave the stage for awhile. Like that was a little unnecessarily cruel to basically have them fighting over the last spot. I don't know if they were trying to get drama out of it.. see if they'd turn on each other, or see if they'd get a big emotional scene. Questionable..

Joshua: Is he the one that's friends with Comfort? He's the one that really started crying when they told him, right? He seems nice. They have a lot of nice people on this year.. no assholes really. Not many huge personalities either, which is what I'm worried about.

Thayne: Oh interesting.. he started when he was 21 and he's 27 now. The grandpa of the show. He doesn't really look any older, but I find it interesting that he started at an age that's older than a lot of the contestants are now. Sabra started later, too, though, I remember.

Gev: He's a breaker. I vaguely remember him. He's Armenian.

Comfort: I think I like Comfort. If I had to choose one that stood out so far, I'd pick her. They really want a hip-hop winner this year.

Jamie: Eh. His favorite dancer is Benji. That's kind of a lame answer, sorry. He's ballroom.. the only guy, huh.

Susie: I'm surprised she's here. Apparently she's got some technique. I know she's marketable, but I'm surprised after seeing her first audition. She's a "Latin/hip-hop" dancer.

Marquis: Oh my god he's so young.. I've started getting scared lately that so many reality contestants are now younger than me.

Courtney G: Hip-hop/contemporary. So if they claim part-hip-hop in their title I just assume it means they're trained in it but consider themselves the other style of dancer mostly. I don't know about her..

Chelsie H: Is she the one who wore a really short dress in her audition? With the really strong legs? She's a ballroom dancer, which is nice, because it's rare this season. I think because of her strong legs (if indeed that's her) and her strong looks, she'll probably make it to the Top 10 easily, particularly because ballroom is so low on numbers this year.

Mark: Contemporary. He's Hawaiian. I don't really have much to say.

This season is kind of astonishing. I'm surprised that ballroom dancer with the short hair didn't make it.. the girl with the long face? Isn't this cast kind of bizarre? I'm guessing Twitch is a fan favorite so far, but I really don't see those huge personalities that make this show so lively. I guess we'll see once they get their partners next week.

The Mole 5: Episode 1

Time for Mole thoughts. We'll see what format works best for these recaps. I'm going to start with separate sections for each player so I can make sure I cover all of them.

Marcie: It was clear she was not the Mole when she said she was happy that all the other players thought she was the Mole. Did she fall into an alliance with the wrong person.. perhaps. If Paul's strategy was to use Marcie to test out the waters, he was very successful in picking his alliance-mate.

Alex: I don't have a good feel for him yet. He didn't get a bag in the first challenge. He's also in an alliance with Paul, or a pretend-alliance or whatever.

Ali: She wasn't really focused on this episode except to when she told us about how she prayed she wouldn't die in the raft challenge. Under-developed character meant to me she's either extremely boring and will be executed quickly or they're waiting to develop her character.

Bobby: His lack of athleticism in the beach challenge reminded me to Rob from Season 2 when he couldn't get up the hill. Interesting. Bobby is a huge fan of the show, which makes me think he's a contestant and not the Mole. He's a good pick to be a suspicious contestant who plays pretty well and gets more than halfway through but ends up making a costly mistake before the final weeks. I'd say like Bribs. Bobby did get the bag in the first challenge, which he could have easily missed and blamed on his lack of athleticism and it wouldn't have been more suspicious than most of the others who missed. He couldn't be sure Marcie would pick him to jump for the fake money, so if he was the Mole, I don't think he would've gotten the bag after seeing surprising failures before him.

Clay: He's laying a bit low. Unlike with Ali where I'm unsure if her character will develop, I'm pretty certain Clay will be around long enough for us to get a feel of who he is. He didn't do anything stupid or outwardly suspicious, which means I still consider him as a possibility. He got the money, which he should have if he was the Mole, even though he would've guessed Marcie would choose him to get the money. Missing would've been too suspicious so early.

Craig: At first, I thought there is no way he can be the Mole.. he stands out too much. However, there are a number of things in this episode that may or may not be clues pointing to him. The host holds up journal 11 when he talks about the journals. Craig is the eleventh person in the intro sequence. I have also heard that he got the eleventh journal, which makes it seem too obvious to me, but hey, we weren't shown he got that journal. Maybe he didn't actually get it or maybe he did and we'll see it in a later episode when the clue isn't so fresh in our minds. Also, apparently he had a different helmet from everyone else in the first challenge. It wasn't as obvious as Victoria's green thumbprint red herring helmet.. some of the detailing on the front and sides were different. This might just be because he has a bigger head than everyone else. And I'm not making fun of him.. I have a huge head. Mine is filled with useless knowledge.. mostly about reality shows. Maybe his is filled with useful information. Also, choosing him as the Mole means he always has a good excuse for screwing up an extremely athletic challenge. More importantly, it means he'll be able to claim leadership roles when the challenges are obviously athletic and the leader or decision-maker doesn't have to do the task. Also, Craig's name and information is the only one not to flicker in the opening sequence.

Kristen: I don't think it's her. As a friend pointed out, two celebrity Moles were models. Would they really do another model. Not that I think many people really think back to the celebrity editions when looking at trends over the seasons. I just don't get the feel that she is the Mole. If I were her, I would have thought Marcie would pick me as someone to jump for cash and I would've messed up, especially after seeing Alex and Ali miss. Wait. That makes me wonder.. were the jumps in alphabetical order for the most part. Craig did not jump in the correct place if it was alphabetical. No never mind, I don't think it was. Just the first two.

Liz: I didn't think it would be Liz at first, but I'm more open to the possibility now. Especially when she got the bag. Oh look, the sweet old lady is a team player and she kicked ass. Excellent way to start off the show, with no one suspecting you. She knew there was no way Marcie would pick her to jump for the cash. A move like that would mean Marcie was too obviously sabotaging, which would make it obvious to everyone she was not the Mole. I think Liz knew Marcie wouldn't take that risk.

Mark: He was called fifth in execution. This is season 5. Something about him strikes me as a possible candidate for someone the producers would choose. Also, I'm leaning towards a guy just because 3 of 4 seasons have had female Moles. That's hardly anything to go on, though. Being a history teacher, he and the producers would have thought the selector, Nicole, would pick him to be an appraiser, or whatever the role was called. I need to get my terminology down before I write next time. Or as Bribs' mom Teri would say, "Get with the lingo." Mark stands out to me but I can't exactly say why. Maybe he's supposed to be edited to look suspicious.

Nicole: After her hissy fit, I thought no way would the Mole stick out so much in the first episode. Then, I thought, hmmm but that's what we've been conditioned to expect. We expect an UTR Mole, someone who hides behind other contestants' mistakes and quietly sabotages. Angie Everhart, although I dislike her, was brilliant in breaking the mold. She did what I thought no Mole would ever dare to do. She told Corbin, "I hope you vote for me, I really do." It's actually brilliant to blatantly sabotage and be annoying because everyone will just write it off as someone trying too hard to look like the Mole. Also, her fit was so completely unnecessary and played into the next day's game sooo much. I initially thought no Mole would isolate themselves on the second day, but more and more it convinces me that my beliefs on what a Mole would or would not do mean everything she's doing--if she is the Mole--brilliantly defies my brand of logic, and I'm assuming many other fans' logic as well. It could actually be brilliant. I'm interested in seeing how she behaves in the future. Being disliked will also put you in interesting positions for the challenges because people will often single you out. It could be the most bold strategy ever.

Paul: Paul is not the Mole. Paul just wants to set himself up to win the game. Which is smart until your actions are known by too many people. Then you seem too ruthless to be trusted, and also obviously not the Mole.. like Patrick from season 2. We'll see how far he takes it. His brand of strategy could technically be brilliant.. aligning with weaker players who will help you eliminate suspects as they themselves are executed. However, it's too bold if it's apparent to others what he's doing that it might actually come back and bite him in the end. There are different strategic facets of this game. One involves how you choose to play the challenges. Another involves how you choose to play the other contestants. Too bold of a play on the other contestants can often be a contestant's downfall. Although you never want to be too aggressive in acting like the Mole in the challenges, you also never want to be too aggressive as a quiz-strategy game-player. I think Paul will either tone it down and last long or go ballistic and get eliminated third or fourth.

Victoria: Victoria is not the Mole. Huge ass green thumbprint on her helmet. Way to go on the subtlety. I'm unsure about how far she will go though. She could be an interesting one. A lot of people have mentioned the fingerprint, which is what makes me so sure she's not the Mole. Too obvious. What position did she jump in, though? 8th. Yeah, means nothing to me. Mark jumped last and was the fifth called in execution. I do think the 11 means something more obscure though. Victoria is a tricky one to figure out. I can't say she'll definitely leave early, I can't say she'll definitely stay long. Tricky.

Who is most likely the Mole to me at this point: Craig, Nicole, Mark, Clay
Who is not the Mole: Paul, Victoria, Ali, Bobby, maybe Alex
Who does that leave me with: Kristen and Liz. Interesting.
Next to leave: Alex?

Yoanna House

So back when I set this blog up, I put a statcounter up to see if anyone was visiting. Since then, I've obviously lost interest for quite some time and I recently just remembered I had the counter up. So I checked it and apparently a lot of people have been led to my blog through searching for the terms "Yolanda" and "Top Model" and the reason they've been directed towards my blog by google is because I once had a post about Top Model that also included several small updates on other reality shows/events. I mentioned the Women of Reality awards or whatever that was, and Yolanda from The Amazing Race was on that.

So to all the people who will continue to stumble onto this blog in search of "Yolanda" from Top Model, I would like you to know that you are probably looking for Yoanna House, the winner from Cycle 2. Unless there's a Yolanda from another country's Top Model. Anyway, hopefully those searching for information on Yoanna will now know her full name and be able to re-google her correctly.

I am so not done with this blog, by the way. The Mole was revived, so I have likewise decided to revive this blog. Hopefully after I get through finals and graduation, I will still remember and continue to post. Mole thoughts to come soon. A friend suggested I do a Molecast, which would be fun and exciting for me, but I figure there's nothing especially interesting about my voice or manner of speaking that a podcast would be more effective than a simple blog. Plus, I'm sure I'd rather look back on my thoughts in the future by reading than by listening. Anyway, I think I should probably end this post with these thoughts.. Dreams can come true :) Welcome back, The Mole.