In Hindsight – The Mole: Chile Argentina, Episode 5-04

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So it’s off to the Andes – and Argentina for the Mole team. You kinda had to figure that hiking uphill would play a part in a mission somewhere, and wouldn’t you know it, it did.

Game 1: Midas Rush
Clay did some suspicious stuff here, as he didn’t take as many gold bricks as he could have (costing the team money), AND he managed to get the Exemption. Definitely some sneaky work here if he’s the Mole – a Mole doesn’t have to outright sabotage, but they do need to reduce the amount of money earned AND gain an Exemption whenever possible. Had he deadlocked the Selfish team and forfeited all the money, it would’ve been better from a sabotage perspective but that would be incredibly blatant and not what the producers are looking for. Craig, if he’s the Mole, didn’t do a good enough job delaying his team and besides which you have to figure his hypothermia was legit. However this did play into the later part of this episode, so you don’t ever know for sure. But basically, these were the only two people who were really acting Mole-like. Well, except for Nicole, but she’s been blatant about it and I doubt that anyone actually thinks that she’s the Mole. The team ends up earning $14,250 out of a possible $50,000, so I’d consider this to be a successful mission for the Mole.

Jon, by the way, was brilliant in this game, adding a level of dickery that would make Anderson Cooper proud.

Game 2: No title, so I’m calling it “Who Wrote That?”
This was one of those games where the Mole can sit back and relax, because people will ultimately screw themselves over by thinking “hey, that’s kinda Moley” and it’s worth giving them the money over. Nicole, of course, did some blatant sabotage that cost the team $2000, and overall they gained $8000 out of a potential $14,000 ($16,000 if you consider that Craig was not around to play the game) for a total pot of $152,000.

All of this, of course, was a precursor to burning the journals (except for Alex and Craig). Alex, I’d assume, did not have anything valuable in his journal, but Mark was one of those paranoid types who kept meticulous notes and was devastated by the loss of his journal. But the randomness of it all (shooting fingers to burn/save a journal) makes me think that Alex is not the Mole. Nor Nicole or Paul – these two are just playing the game hard and with total disregard about consequences.

I do feel for Mark though – why give people journals at all if you’re going to make people rely on memory for this? Especially when you ask questions like “was the Mole wearing black or blue pants?” Are you kidding me? There’s no way you can expect people to remember all this. Don’t even get me started on how they’ll answer the 20 question final quiz based on the ENTIRE SEASON.

At this point, Craig and Clay are my two Mole suspects. Alex has been too nice over the last two epsiodes to make me think that he’s the Mole. Craig is starting to drop off my radar as well – if he’s been trying to sabotage, he hasn’t been doing a very good job of it. Clay, meanwhile, dropped out of a game last episode and dogged it in Midas Rush here. Nicole… whatever.

The end result is that we lose another hottie in Victoria. I guess Mark, in addition to writing in his journal like a madman, studied it to the point where he knew it cover to cover. But losing Victoria is probably not good if you want to keep those 18-34 males, no? Then again, if you’re running this after The Bachelorette, you’re not that worried about guys watching, are you?

That’s all for now.

Kevin has been an Insider since 2003, writing on a variety of topics ranging from The Amazing Race to Mixed Martial Arts. His current hobbies include Fantasy Football, Sporcle, travelling, making liberal use of his DVR and wondering what the heck he's gonna do when his two daughters are old enough to date. You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@starvenger).