Alex was the Mole’s latest victim in The Mole 5 Episode 7, leaving the pot stirrers (and Craig) to themselves.

Mark says that he thought Alex was the mole.

Players must split into teams: dumb players and smart players. Nicole wants to keep an eye in Craig.

Dumb: Craig and Nicole
Smart: Paul, Clay, and Mark

They will follow clues to various landmarks in the city, where they will do math to get numbers that they must remember in their heads. Dumb players must remember 5 numbers, whereas smart players must remember 3 numbers. This is Mole 101. If you pick the one that sounds easy, you’re going to get screwed.

Clay tries to convince himself and Mark that he’s a math genius. It doesn’t look like either of them end up buying it. They debate over a number until Mark gets his way. Then they get lost because Paul’s got the map and leads them 8 blocks in the wrong direction.

Craig messes up a number, presumably intentionally, then needs to ask how many months are in the Argentinian calendar. Like it’s not 12. After a series of fairly easy counting tasks, though, they then run into a nightmare of a task involving counting tiles and street lights.

The dumb team is back first. The smart team is last back, leaving 7 minutes on the clock to enter their numbers. They have two incorrect numbers. It’s the dumb team from the lamp/tile task. One of them is given the opportunity to go back and count again, with 20 minutes to do so. They send Nicole. She’s got an answer that’s one off what the original answer was (but since the 28 in 228 was wrong, her revised answer of 227 is obviously wrong as well). The guys believe they’ve cracked a code, so they ignore her. And they’re right. Now Clay thinks he’s a math genius again since he pulled the answer out of… he’s not sure where.

Pot total: $281,000 out of $569,000

Mark knows that the mole was at work. Whoever that is. The mole was definitely at work.

Clay and Mark still have a coalition, and both of them are going for Nicole. Mark fully trusts Clay, but Clay takes it with a grain of salt.

Then Clay goes to talk to Nicole. He tells her he mainly answered Craig on the quiz.

The players are asked who they trust the most.

Mark: Clay
Paul: Mark
Craig: Clay
Clay: Nicole
Nicole: Mark (to make it a tie)

Everybody is informed that their loved ones are on their way there by train. Whether they’ll see those people depends on the people they trust most.

Craig must run through 30 questions with Clay about his girlfriend. They have three minutes to go over them, then Jon will ask them to Clay and see what he’s remembered. Craig stumbles through the answers. Then Clay stumbles as well, but he manages to answer 3 out of 5 right, which is enough to add $10,000 to the pot and for Craig to be able to see her.

Nicole then goes over questions about Clay’s wife, and she’s like a machine, remembering them without any trouble. She gets her answers right, putting money into the pot and reuniting Clay with his wife.

Mark asks Nicole questions about her mother. Slowly, but he gets enough from it to get at least 3 out of 5 right.

Clay asks Mark questions about his wife. He, too, is able to spend some time with his wife.

Last up is Paul, who works with Mark. He skips the first three questions, one of which shows up in Jon’s questions. Like Craig, he struggles to give most of his answers. Like the others, though, it’s enough to be able to see his wife and daughter.

Pot total: $331,000 out of $619,000

Nicole says she’s tired of being an outsider in this game. Her plan is to throw the quiz (not sure how that’s possible unless you’re completely sure who the mole is, which people typically aren’t even at this stage) and get herself executed.

Craig suspects Nicole. Mark suspects Craig and Nicole. Clay has voted only for people who went home so far.

There’s a tie again tonight. The person with the slowest time is going home.

Paul is safe.
Nicole is safe despite her earlier melodrama.
Clay has been executed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 9, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

The Mole 5 Episode 6 was a recap episode and hopefully did its part to help Save The Mole. Last week on The Mole 5 Episode 5, Kristen became the mole’s next victim and the sixth person to leave the game.

With Kristen now out of the game, Nicole is the last woman standing.

The next challenge starts at a vineyard. They must divide into teams of three.

Thinkers: Craig, Nicole, Paul
Runners: Mark, Alex, Clay

Paul is selected as best communicator. As the communicator, he can’t help solve the puzzles. Mark is the timekeeper, who will be running on a treadmill, which increases in speed each time a bottle’s found. He can still help with the puzzles while he’s running. The thinkers must solve brainteasers, then the communicator must communicate corresponding coordinates from the board to the runners, who will hunt down wine bottles with those coordinates. Paul is communicating with Clay, which is bad news since they got into a fruit fight last week. Despite not being on the thinker team, Mark ends up answering most of the questions and is doing a pretty good job of it. Paul and Nicole waste time arguing for no reason. Mark’s been running for 53 minutes, and they finally have all 7 bottles, returning in time to earn $70,000 for the pot.

Pot total: $247,000 out of $479,000

Mark performs impressively, both staying on the treadmill and answering most of the questions. Nicole, however, performs poorly, which draws a lot of suspicion toward her. Mark doesn’t believe she’s the mole, but Alex and Paul especially do.

Mark and Clay hope to get Alex drunk before the quiz.

The players drive to a gorge with a bridge across it. That’s probably not a good thing. The bridge is about 90 feet above the Mendoza River. They’ll be attached to a bungee cord, walk out on a plank, jump off, and toss a bag of mate tea at a target. Nicole wants to go last to have time to think about backing out.

Each player is offered an exemption when they go. They must guess how much money the group will earn (a maximum of $10,000 per person), and the player who comes closest will receive an exemption. If they want a chance at the exemption, they have to jump.

Mark goes first and misses.
Paul is second and misses.
Clay is third and misses.
Craig goes fourth and misses.
Alex is fifth and hits the $4,000 mark.
Nicole is last and misses.

Clay is suspicious that Nicole missed despite having the best form. Whatever that means.

Pot total: $251,000 out of $539,000

After the challenge is over, we get to find out who gets the exemption.

Mark: $10,000
Paul: $12,000
Clay: $14,000
Craig: $20,000
Alex: $15,000
Nicole: $28,000

With everybody’s guess too high, nobody gets the exemption.

Nicole is finally starting to write in her journal, as she says she’s concerned that the quizzes are becoming more specific.

At dinner prior to the execution, the players discuss how their conscience isn’t bothering them and that lies are just part of the game. At least there’s nobody standing up and pretending they’re too good to lie. As planned, Mark and Clay work on getting Alex drunk.

Mark suspects Craig may be the mole because he overthought the brainteasers. Clay says Paul could be the mole since he gave an incorrect coordinate. Craig says that Mark’s kept the most money out of the pot. Alex found Nicole’s bridge performance suspicious. Nicole mostly just wants to be faster than everybody else on the quiz.

Alex has been executed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 8, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

The Mole has always been one of the better reality shows out there, and season 5 has been no exception. Unfortunately, the ratings have not gone along with that quality this time. The show is currently running in the 4 million viewer range, which even for a summer show is not enough (they’ll probably finish airing, but a season 6 is not in the cards as things stand now). The producers have come up with a Save the Mole website pleading for help.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MOLE FANS
Will The Mole Face Its Own Execution?

July 10, 2008

Since our first season debuted in 2001 with Anderson Cooper, The Mole has been described as one of the smartest reality shows on television. Beloved by critics and fans alike, we’ve enjoyed four amazing seasons on ABC. Among all the TV shows we’ve had the privilege of creating and/or producing, The Mole is still our favorite by far.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The very future of The Mole hangs in the balance. While our core fans have been turning out in droves, the show has been underperforming in the key 18-49 demo. Yes, we know, Monday at 10:00 p.m. (9:00 central) sucks for a lot of people. But that’s what we’ve got and we aren’t moving. The good news is we still have a chance to show ABC how much people love this show by getting our ratings up for the last five episodes. We did it the first four times we were on the air and we can do it again. If we don’t, the show itself could be facing execution at the end of this season, and this time it might really be fatal.

HOW CAN YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Get 10 of your friends to watch the show. And have them get ten of their friends to watch…

Organize Mole screening parties every week to get people hooked.

Join The Mole’s fan club on Facebook and invite your friends. Every little bit helps.

Post on the ABC message boards.

What about your friends who say, “I’d love to get involved, but it’s already halfway through the season and I can never catch up?” Now, they can:

1) Fox Reality Channel is airing a marathon of the first five episodes this Sunday, July 13th (11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST), the day before our next ALL NEW episode.

2) ABC is airing a recap special on JULY 14th at 9:00 p.m. that covers the first five episodes. It airs just before our next new episode at 10:00 and has a whole slew of “never before seen” material.

Two great ways for new viewers to get caught up and fall in love with our show, the one that Variety said demonstrates “considerably more smarts than your run-of-the-mill reality fare.” (Variety, 6/1/2008).

STILL NOT MOTIVATED?

ENTER OUR “SAVE THE MOLE” CHALLENGE!

Here’s a video from executive producer Scott Stone explaining the challenge.

Victoria became the fifth person to exit the game in The Mole 5 Episode 4.

Nicole is wondering why everybody she picks to be the mole gets executed, but she doesn’t.

A still sick Craig is ready for some more outdoor fun in the mountains.

Tonight’s first mission is all about trust. Everybody is chained by their ankles to steel bars. They must free themselves. Only one person at a time can have enough slack in the chain to get free, if the others all cooperate with them. Every 10 minutes, a window will open for 1 minute. The person who reaches it can either free themselves or grab the exemption right next to the key. If someone takes the exemption, no money goes in the pot, and everybody must sleep out in the cold.

The rest of the players reluctantly agree to allow a sick Craig to go first. He gets free and leaves the exemption. They argue for a bit, then vote to allow Kristen to go next. She frees herself and goes inside. Paul swears on his daughter. Famous last words in reality TV, but despite his fake out, this time it proves to be true. Clay, Alex, and Nicole agree they won’t take the exemption. Mark refuses to agree. He says he doesn’t even trust himself, which for Clay is a problem because they’re in a coalition. Clay agrees to go next and frees himself. Believing that Nicole is telling the truth, Mark lets her go, and she frees herself. Alex is next, and he frees himself. That leaves Mark all by himself. As valuable as exemptions can be, this one’s probably not worth it since it will create isolation. Mark has decided to not take the exemption, adding $25,000 to the pot.

Pot total: $177,000 out of $379,000

Everybody gets fresh new journals. I was hoping Mark was done whining, but he doesn’t like the new journal because he still wants his old burned journal back instead.

That night, they travel to Mendoza, which is known as the Napa Valley of Argentina. On the way there, Clay hopes to refill his journal, but Paul isn’t interested in cooperating. In an attempt to use Paul’s own game against him, Clay calls him an uneducated incompetent moron with a Napoleon complex. Craig jumps out so he can be in the sane van. Then Clay also leaves the van, after throwing a lemon at Paul’s head. Paul complains about being assaulted by fruit (it was a run by fruiting).

Players will be split into teams of two and will use various forms of transportation to travel 5.5 miles in 45 minutes. Since there are 7 people, the first person who said exemption at breakfast (Craig) will be in charge of who is on what team and what form of transportation they will use. If nobody reaches the end, he will get an exemption. His goal is to get this exemption, and he admits it openly.

Alex is a conquistador who must bring his donkey with him. His partner Mark will wear a scuba outfit.

Clay will ride a unicycle, while his teammate Kristen will be on stilts.

Nicole is the head of a llama, and Paul is the llama’s ass.

Mark throws a hissy fit, and with Kristen backing him, they cause a mutiny. Nobody wants to even try. Alex puts on his conquistador outfit, but without his partner, he’s got no choice but to fall in line.

Craig wins the exemption.

Pot total: $177,000 out of $409,000

Nicole calls $25,000 a paultry sum, though Alex wouldn’t mind it.

Alex believes Mark’s playing the game too hard now. Kristen says she has just one target, whereas most people are playing the odds. Paul suspects Craig. Clay thinks Nicole’s a wildcard whose real name may or may not be Nicole.

Like last week, there’s a tie. The difference in time is one second.

Alex is safe.
Paul is safe.
Kristen is eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 6, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Ali took $30,000 in exchange for quitting the game in The Mole 5 Episode 3. It wasn’t over there, though, and Bobby, who appeared to be overplaying the game, was also sent home.

Victoria says she can’t trust anyone now that Bobby’s gone.

The players are going to the Andes in Argentina. They divide into two teams of four.

Selfish: Victoria, Nicole, Clay, Kristen
Selfless: Paul, Alex, Craig, Mark

They’ll be dealing with 200 gold bricks, weighing in at 5 pounds each. They’re reliving the trek of carrying gold back to Spain and will have to carry the bars up the mountain, from 7200 feet altitude they’re currently at to 10000 feet at the summit. There is an exemption in play for the winning team. Teams are only as fast as their slowest players. The selfish team takes far fewer bricks than the selfless team, 23 as compared with 39.

Clay takes fewer bricks than his teammate Kristen. Nicole, who takes the fewest bricks, is the first to stop. She says this is gameplay. They’re greeted by Jon on a bench. They’ve gotta carry scales to the top. 10 pounds or 20 pounds. Since the selfish team is first, they get to pick first, but they must choose without lifting them. They happen to choose the 10 pound scale. They arrive at the top first, earning $5,750 for the pot.

Craig believes he’s the weakest player. His team seems to agree. This team is 300 yards behind at the scales. Mark picks up the 20 pound scale they’re forced to take. He decides to leave bricks behind for some reason, bringing them down to 34 bricks. They’re afraid as they approach the top that Craig won’t be able to make it. They arrive with 30 seconds to spare, though. Their 34 bricks are worth $8,500.

Pot total: $143,250 out of $340,000

The selfish team has earned the exemption for being the first team to the top. But there’s only one exemption. They must unanimously decide who is exempt. If they can’t decide, nobody gets the exemption, and they will forfeit all the money that both teams have earned. Kristen and Clay get votes. It becomes apparent Clay won’t back down, so they agree to give him the exemption.

Craig gets hypothermia and needs medical attention when they get back down the mountain. He slips in and out of consciousness. They haul him off in an ambulance.

Craig returns on the condition that he stays warm. He does not join them for dinner.

Alex and Victoria are apparently forming a coalition.

Mark reiterates that he doesn’t have OCD with his journal. With that said, Jon confiscates their journals. Some are more concerned than others. He brings the journals back. What’s the catch? He’s written down a few of his favorite comments. The mission is called “Who said that?” He bumps the pot total up to $144,000. If they guess who said it, they’ll get an additional $2,000. Victoria promises up front. Nothing particularly useful is revealed, and they manage to get 5 out of 7 correct, including one that Victoria’s allowed to confess saying after Nicole gets it wrong. Nicole’s blinking and coughing and hand waving causes them to lose one answer, leaving them with $8,000 for the task.

Pot total: $152,000 out of $354,000

After dinner, they’re going out to the river in the middle of the night. Jon wants to know who’s willing to sacrifice their journal. Alex and Paul say they’re willing. It’s floating through people’s heads that there may be an exemption on the line. Alex and Paul decide between them that it’ll be Alex. He’s not alone, though. Everybody’s journals are burned. Rather, everybody else’s journals are burned. Because Alex was willing to sacrifice his journal, his journal is the only one that’s safe. Mark’s pissed off, then disappears.

Having stayed home, Craig gets to keep his journal. Mark gets more upset still.

Nicole suspects Victoria but mostly just wants to get through the quiz as quickly as possible. Victoria found Clay wanting an exemption suspicious.

There’s a tie. The player with the slowest time will be executed. That’s a difference of only 5 seconds.

Paul is safe.
Alex is safe.
Mark is safe.
Victoria is executed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 5, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Liz was the mole’s next victim in The Mole 5 Episode 2. Bobby proved to be either really good or really bad, while Paul proved to just be obnoxious, giving Nicole a run for her money in that respect.

Following the death threat, there may be some lack of trust amongst the group, so this task is all about trust. Players must split into 5 players who trust blindly and 5 who can’t trust anybody. From those groups, players will form teams of two with someone from the opposite group. They’ll go on a bobsled with one blindfolded person receiving descriptions of some pictures from the non-blindfolded person behind them. When they get to the bottom, they must then identify the objects correctly.

Clay & Bobby: 5 out of 7 correct for $10,000
Paul & Ali: 5 out of 7 correct for $10,000
Craig & Victoria: 7 out of 7 correct for $14,000
Kristen & Mark: 7 out of 7 correct for $14,000
Alex & Nicole: 1 out of 7 correct for $2,000

Alex & Nicole are a little bit too suspicious. It’s not over yet, though. Clay & Bobby and Craig & Victoria broke the rules, talking after crossing the finish line, so their money doesn’t count.

Pot total: $89,000 out of $240,000

Clay is waivering in his trust of Bobby. Mark is also getting suspicious. Mark now trusts Clay and wants to use him to figure out Bobby. Clay, however, only trusts himself.

The players go to a spa. So where is the catch? They’ll find out when they’re done with their massages. Their clothes are missing. Now they’re left with just shoes and underpants. They must make it to a restaurant for dinner by 6:30 (just over 2 hours), but they’ll need to pass the dress code, which they can do by convincing people to give them the clothes off their backs. In addition to money being at stake, if they don’t make it to dinner, they don’t eat.

Clay and Mark decide to quit right away before the mission even starts.

Bobby, Nicole, and Craig are one of the teams of three, perhaps the oddest looking team of three ever. Nicole is first to be clothed. After some time, a theater group helps clothe them. They even get a shirt big enough for Craig. Now they need to find pants for Craig. At Bobby’s suggestion, they decide to head to the laundromat, which happens to be the same laundromat where everybody’s clothing is being dry cleaned. They arrive with moments to spare, and they’ve got everybody else’s clothes with them. So this time Bobby and Craig are the heroes.

Kristen, Ali, and Victoria look like Charlie’s Angels. They very quickly get a lot of attention. Whoever tries to clothe them is going to get beaten up. But that’s not a problem since everybody who sees them is drooling. To make matters worse, they have on what they refer to as hooker boots, which means their feet are killing them. Ali says she wants to give up. They eventually run into some American’s who give them shirts. After that, they meet up with a woman on her smoke break, and she’s got three bottoms for them. They are able to arrive on time.

Alex and Paul get some shirts from cab drivers and then some pants for Alex. Paul runs into a New Yorker who happens to have a spare pair of pants, which completes their wardrobe. They arrive at the restaurant first.

Aside from Clay and Mark, everybody completed the task, earning $40,000 for the group.

Pot total: $129,000 out of $290,000

At dinner, it’s time for Paul to fight with Mark. And Bobby. And Craig. And Nicole. Any more takers?

Nicole suspects Bobby. Victoria suspects Ali. Clay suspects everybody. Paul thinks the last group arriving with everybody’s clothes is way too fishy.

Unlike last week, nobody is exempt, but an offer is on the table. If somebody leaves the game now, they get $20,000. Nobody is interested.

Kristen is safe.
Mark is safe.
Victoria is safe.

After telling Victoria it’s too late to take the money, Jon raises the offer to $30,000. Ali takes it and is out of the game. She would have been safe. There’s still an execution to get through.

Alex is safe.
Bobby is eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 4, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

The Mole returned after a 4 year hiatus with 11 new contestants trying to figure out who the mole is. At the top of The Mole 5 Episode 1, the majority of the people believed that Marcie was the mole, but in the end, she was the first person sent home. Meanwhile, Nicole turned out to be the whiner who is far too full of herself.

Paul’s coalition partner is already gone. Might need to come up with a new strategy here.

The first stop is a park in Santiago, Chile. The mission will be a race to the summit.

Mark and Kristen will be riding a bicycle built for two. The other 9 will be taking a 10 minute gondola ride up to the top, but they’ll need to earn their ticket to ride by playing football against one of the city’s “toughest and fiercest teams.” If the bikers win, they get an exemption. As they’re leaving, before they even start going, the chain comes off the bicycle. This keeps happening again and again, so they just decide to run for it.

Alex and Bobby had been in a soccer league, so the team is feeling good. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the tough, fierce team may have to stop for nap time part of the way through. The kids pretty quickly humiliate them. Nicole’s the goalie, but she doesn’t want to jump in the dirt to stop a ball. Bobby is once again dying from the exercise. Paul joins him and coughs up a lung. After 20 minutes with no goal, they’re given one more chance to score with penalty kicks. Ali manages to score a point. The players get gondola tickets and a map to the station, where they’ll need to go by foot. This proves difficult. First, they can’t decide where to go. Then Liz has to go to the bathroom, so she sits down and rests for a while.

Kristen and Mark see Jon, who offers them a taxi ride in exchange for $5,000 from the pot. Mark quickly rejects this and opts to continue biking.

The soccer players have made it to the summit, but the team’s pretty split despite the fact that they don’t see Kristen or Mark. To make matters worse, Kristen and Mark are hiding and jump out. Both of them have earned exemptions, and no money goes into the pot.

Pot total: $35,000 out of $120,000

Paul takes the opportunity at lunch to tear into Bobby. Nicole’s happy to not be the victim of the attacks for a change.

The players have received a ransom note for 50 ceramic pigs that have been spread throughout the town. They have approximately one hour (until 12 souvenir pigs can be made). The three groups of three will search for pigs. The group of two will be responsible for delivering them safely after the others use a slingshot to get them there.

Group of two: Liz and Paul
Group of three: Bobby, Kristen, and Craig
Group of three: Alex, Nicole, and Victoria
Group of three: Ali, Clay, and Mark

Alex speaks some Spanish because he took it in high school (so pretty much he probably knows colors, numbers, and where the library is). This is enough to get some help from the locals.

Bobby hops in a wheelbarrow and lets Kristen push him. One way or another, this guy is overacting. Either nobody will suspect him because he’s just too blatant, or everybody will suspect him because he’s just too blatant.

Paul hears something rattling in one of the pigs. He keeps shaking it and gets curious, knowing there’s an exemption. With that, he smashes it, and he’s right. He’s got this round’s third exemption.

Alex insists on using the slingshot for his group. He quickly proves disastrous. Craig wants a turn to help, which turns out to be a good idea, as they go from just one rescued pig to a respectable number.

Alex, Nicole, and Victoria: 26 pigs returned
Ali, Clay, and Mark: 18 pigs returned
Bobby, Kristen, and Craig: 0 pigs returned

Of the total 44 returned pigs, they managed to save 28 of them, for a total of $28,000 earned from this task.

Pot total: $63,000 out of $170,000

Alex left his journal in Bobby’s room. Whether he left it on purpose or not, Bobby is quick to take a lengthy look.

Ali suspects Alex. Craig suspects Mark. Alex suspects Nicole. Nicole suspects that Bobby’s either the mole or just sucks.

Clay is safe.
Alex is safe.
Victoria is safe.
Bobby is safe.
Liz is eliminated.

A few people have classy comments to say after Liz departs. Paul mostly just wants everybody to know that he hates Nicole and Bobby.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 3, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

In 2001, ABC brought us one of the better reality shows in which a bunch of contestants got together and tried to figure out who among them was trying to sabotage their efforts. This was followed by a season two and then two very entertaining celebrity seasons. I often wondered what happened to the show, but wonder no more. It’s back. I’m not really sure what to call it, so I’m going to stick with The Mole 5.

Check out the full The Mole 5 cast.

The new host is Jon Kelley. It’ll be interesting to see whether he can live up to Anderson Cooper.

Not wasting any time, based on first impressions, they take a secret ballot who they think the mole is. Most people suspect that Marcie is the mole. This will allow Marcie to make all the decisions for the group for the next 24 hours.

The first mission is based on a bunch of German tourists who died on a waterfall. 6 people will jump for cash, while 5 will jump for a bag full of paper. Marcie will decide who jumps for what. They’re all attached and ready to jump off a raft toward a bag above the waterfall. Alex fails quite convincingly. Ali comes close but no cigar. Clay grabs the bag. Kristen, the neuroscientist who looks better than the model (just don’t tell the model that), also grabs her bag. Bobby, despite the slim chance he could hang himself doing this, is the third to grab a bag. Retiree Liz is happy to prove she can do it, and she gets another bag. Paul gets beat by a 60-year-old lady and just barely misses his bag. Victoria gives a humiliating performance. Craig, the heaviest contestant by a good margin, doesn’t get the bag, but he doesn’t die either, although he did apparently get choked. Nicole through some dumb luck grabs a bag. Mark is last to go and gets his bag.

This brings them to a total of 6 bags:

Nicole: paper
Kristen: paper
Bobby: paper
Mark: money
Liz: paper
Clay: money

Pot total: $20,000 out of $60,000

A couple of suspicious choices here, notably Kristen and Bobby.

Marcie’s got one more decision to make. Only 8 people can fit in the cabin. 4 must sleep outside: Nicole, Liz, Craig, and Bobby. Nicole lets us know she doesn’t have to do anything but stay black and die. She believes she’s clever. She goes inside but just won’t sleep, which she thinks is staying within the rules. She’s quite pleased with herself, despite the fact that she kept people up all night and also risked a fine.

Paul wants to form a coalition. He chooses Marcie. He also apparently has one with Alex.

The group unanimously chooses Nicole as the group’s biggest whiner. They’re right. Her first duty is to pick 6 scavengers, 3 appraisers, and 2 timekeepers.

Scavengers: Craig, Marcie, Alex, Bobby, Victoria, Clay
Appraisers: Kristen, Liz, Mark
Timekeepers: Paul, Ali

Timekeepers must refill an hourglass, which will only last 10 minutes if not refilled. The scavengers must run all over the beach and find things, which clearly out of shape Craig finds ridiculous. The appraisers must determine what the castaway Selkirk had with him, which thus would have been around in the 1700s (obvious hint: there was no electricity then). On the first try, they get one item correct. On the second guess, they get three correct items. Their third guess is the same.

Revolver: wrong (invented in 1835)
Musket: correct
Bible: correct
Jeans: wrong (invented in 1873)
Goat: correct

Pot total: $35,000 out of $85,000

The other correct items were tobacco and a teakettle.

Someone’s going to be left on the beach by themselves. It’s Nicole. Time to celebrate. Let’s see her try to find a way to circumvent this.

The women are all suspicious that Bobby was quite quickly out of breath on the beach. They also notice that Paul and Alex are in it together, but Paul says this is just his tactic.

Paul suspects Craig the most because he’s a nice guy, as does Mark. Bobby suspects Kristen. Marcie suspects Nicole. Victoria suspects Bobby.

The contestants will now take a quiz that contains 10 questions about the contestants and the past few days. There’s good news for Nicole. Because she’s stranded on the beach, she has an exemption.

Ali is safe.
Victoria is safe.
Paul is safe.
Bobby is safe.
Mark is safe.
Marcie is eliminated.

Strange to see the person everybody originally suspected the most is headed home, although her choices in the first challenge were a little bit too suspicious. Marcie is not the mole. Who is the mole?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Mole 5 episode 2, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Alex
31
Musician
Haverford, PA

Ali
24
Model
St Louis, MO

Bobby
25
Restaurant Manager
Philadelphia, PA

Clay
32
Criminal Litigation Attorney
Philadelphia, PA

Craig
30
Graphic Designer
San Diego, CA

Kristen
35
Neuroscientist
Santa Monica, CA

Liz
60
Retired
Whitefish, MT

Marcie
31
Stay-at-home mom
Corona, CA

Mark
42
High School History Teacher/Soccer Coach
Mukwonago, WI

Nicole
33
OBGYN Doctor
Chicago, IL

Paul
29
Utility Worker
Yonkers, NY

Victoria
26
Retail Manager
Bishop, TX

ABC plans to revive The Mole for the summer, and Variety reports that a replacement host for Anderson Cooper has been chosen. Jon Kelley, former weekend anchor for Extra, will be the host for The Mole when it returns after a four year hiatus.

It is believed that the show will premiere on Monday May 26 at 10PM, possibly being paired with The Bachelorette 4.