'The Mole': Clay eliminated!
This episode of The Mole was ripe with opportunities for the Mole to strike.
The first challenge, "Go Figure," involved math and trivia. The contestants had to go out into the town of Mendoza to search for clues that revealed numbers. They then had to remember the numbers revealed during trivia questions. Those numbers were entered into a computer to complete a code. Basically, there were so many instances of sabotage or shear stupidity that it was almost impossible to home in on one competitor.
Folks were displaying Mole behavior from the beginning. It seemed that Nicole was deliberately getting math equations wrong. Paul got his team lost. And Clay's last minute heroics -- I'll get to that in a moment -- were very suspicious.
Craig and Nicole completed the mission first. Clay, Paul and Mark had fewer numbers to enter but managed to lag behind.
The "dumb" team -- Nicole and Craig -- messed up the challenge. So the entire group agreed to let Nicole go back into the town so that she could retrieve the proper numbers. (All the contestants were extremely cautious ... )
Meanwhile, Clay started looking at the puzzle and running the equation through his head. He suspiciously was able to figure out the number at the last second. The group won $30,000, which resulted in the overall pot increasing to $281,000.
After the challenge, the contestants headed back to the hotel. Once there, Mark and Clay discussed the previous elimination. Both agreed that Nicole and Craig were the leading Mole candidates. In a confessional, Clay admitted to not trusting Mark.
Later in the night, Clay went to Nicole to knock around strategy. (Double crossing?)
The next day, the group left Mendoza and went to Buenos Aires. Host Jon Kelley asked the contestants to pick the contestant they trust the most for the challenge, "Ticket To Ride." Each contestant was paired with their trusted partner. They exchanged facts about a loved one. Jon then asked each contestant five questions about their partner's loved one. If they answered three of the five questions correct, then the other contestant would be allowed to meet their loved one. If not, they were teased with getting a glimpse of their loved one, who was led away on a train.
Clay and Craig were first. Clay was charged with remembered facts about Craig's girlfriend. Clay came through, and Craig was allowed to reunite with his girlfriend.
Nicole and Clay were next. Nicole correctly answered the questions, and Clay was reunited with his wife.
Mark and Nicole were next. Mark passed the test and Nicole was reunited with her mother.
Clay and Mark were next. Clay succeeded and Mark was able to reunite with his wife.
Paul and Mark were next. Paul skipped so many questions that he virtually ruined any chance of being able to meet his family. As a result of the number of questions Paul skipped, it appeared that Mark would not able to complete the quiz. Guess what? Mark was able to pull it out. (Odd?)
Overall, the group increased the pot by another $50,000 with their perfect performance.
Nicole was crying to her mother about being the only "black female" left in the game. Her mother told her to come home. During a confessional, Nicole said she was going to throw the quiz so that she could return to the United States with her mom. (She couldn't possibly be serious ... right?)
Nicole's mother is a trip. She called Nicole "Omarosa" from The Apprentice during the execution. Could the show's producers have had the famous reality television alumna in mind when they cast Nicole as the Mole? Only time will tell.
Anyway, the quiz. Jon announced that there was another tie for the lowest-scoring quiz results. That means the contestant who finished the quiz in the least amount of time will stay. The slower contestant is going home. It's Clay! He says he's glad to be going home with his wife. (Yawn, yawn, yawn.)
