Friday, June 27, 2008

You're mean in Argentina

A quick note about the brick mission - I'm going to dispute that the total prize was $50,000. If each player carried 50 pounds succesfully, then that's $2,500 * 8 players for a total of $20,000. There's no way 8 people were getting 200 bricks up that mountain. While we're on the topic of math, Nicole takes 4 five pound bricks and says "...I didn't do it with 35 pounds on my back" that's 20 pounds Doctor dear.

Apparently Victoria is very catty in her journal since she felt the need to apoligize up front.
So let's play who said that and see if we can fill in the blanks.
Victoria - At dinner Victoria drank alot. Mark
Clay - Very quiet. Cool guy. I like his vibes. Kristen
Paul- Hoping this time it will work out right.
Kristen- Mission 1 was the stupidest thing anyone ever did for money. Nicole
Alex- Taking control.
Mark- This is to easy. Paul
Nicole- Nicole is here for fame. Victoria

So that leaves Clay and Alex. I'm guessing Alex wasn't given his own quote, so that's easy to figure out. Of course the players didn't know there were only 7 questions or they might have been able to use the process of elimination.

For me this week didn't have a lot of "plot progression" for most players, but here's my impressions. (Please note that due to the nature of the end of FY this is the time of year when I reach my maximum intolerance for stupidity and whining.)

Alex - Other than giving up his journal, Alex didn't get a lot of screen time.

Clay - As usual, quiet and observant, EXCEPT for pushing for the exemption. This man is focused on his game. I think he will be final 3 with Nicole and Kristen.

Craig - What a trooper on that challenge. I mean climbing up a mountain while hypothermia sets in is quite something. Slipping in and out of consciousness, now that's seriously scary.

Kristen - Carried as many bricks as Mark AND the scale and didn't complain once. Hear that Mark, she didn't complain once Whiner. When Victoria was eliminated, was the look on Kristen's face saddness because Victoria was leaving, or because she now has to room with Nicole for the rest of the game? If she's not The Mole then she might just win this.

Mark - He was whiny and negative even BEFORE they took his journal. I don't think he'll last past next week. The stress is getting to him and without his journal he's going to implode quickly.

Nicole -OK, the cheating at dinner was just over-the-top. She's doing a great job of looking Moleish. I still think she'll be in the final 3. But I think Clay might win this.

Paul - Seriously you're going to eat cow dung? I have to say that Paul seemed like a completely different person this week. He was supportive and encouraging during the brick challenge.

Victoria - I LOVED it when she yelled out "there's an exemption in mine!" That was awesome. I really like Victoria. If I was in the game this season she and Craig would be the two people I'd want to hang out with.

Friday, June 20, 2008

I call them hooker boots

I'll try and be coherent, but I've already put in 50 hours this week and still have a day to go. OK enough whining from me onto The Mole!

A few quick notes about this season. This is the first time I've known every one's names after the first episode and I can recall them in alpahbetical order for the blog. This speaks to them casting a great bunch of personalities, although I'm still bitter Clint and I weren't cast! I'm secretly(until now) happy that Wendy wasn't there though. This season either has a lot of shrewd players or a bunch of bungling idiots. By that I mean a lot of players are giving up money in the pot. Are they trying to look Moleish or are they just not good in the challenges? The key is to look like you're trying to throw the challenge and then failing to do so. Then you might have some money left over after taxes.

On a side note, I do know that The Mole shouldn't be capitalized unless refering to the title of the show, but I'm having fun with it. Yes that's right I'm a syntactical rebel!

Alex - I like Alex alot and he's playing as good of a game as anyone. Leaving his journal in Craig and Bobby's room was an interesting move. I'm not really sure what he gained from it, except that they discounted him as a shrewd player. Was this an attempt to throw suspicion off of him as The Mole?

Ali - I can't believe she took the cash. It was probably a wise decision though. I have to say it's hard for me to tell who's pretending to be The Mole and who's The Real Mole.

Bobby - I think Bobby's eviction was a prime example of letting your game interfere with your game. He was so busy trying to think and rethink and outhink that he ended up running around in circles. After reading the interrview on realitytv I'm glad to learn that his athletic nonperformance was not a strategy.

Clay - If I didn't suspect Kristen, I would suspect Clay. He's keeping quiet and observing. He did draw attention to himself by refusing to even try to find clothes, but I think that was a matter of anxiety winning over strategy. The Mole wouldn't have been so overt as to throw challenge so obviously. But then again isn't that a great way to throw off suspicion?

Craig - Craig's strategy is to hide how smart he is. I think he has some good insights but wants to play the jovial goofy guy to win other players trust. It seemed like Bobby certainly opened up to him, even though Craig wasn't in his coalition.

Kristen - I still think she's The Mole. I know she hasn't cost the pot as much money as most players, but then again they've been doing her job for her. So many players seem to be sabotage the challenges this season I'm just sticking with my gut.

Mark - I really don't get why Mark didn't participate in the Dress Code challenge. I mean he didn't hesitate to drop his robe. Was he staying behind to support Clay? If so then I'll try and back off of my dislike of his intense competitiveness. Although he's not coaching my son!

Nicole - She really seemed tempted to take the cash. That was odd to me, because she seems so sure of herself in everything else she does. I don't think that $20,000 or $30,000 would make that drastic of a difference to her. I mean how much is she losing to be away from her practice to film The Mole? She's in my top three list of who's The Mole. I can definitely see the final three being Clay, Kristen and Nicole.

Paul - I think Paul is a great player. He is definitely disrupting people's concentration. I also think he's rather cruel. You can't make yourself be that abusive just for a game. I think Paul might go soon, he's expending too much energy on disruption and not enough on deduction. Of course he might just have a good gut feeling and have deduced it right off the bat.

Victoria - Hopefully Victoria won't be too distracted by Paul to take good notes. She's one of my favorites this season. She clearly has a great heart and a good sense of humor. She performs well in challenges and stays below most people's radar. I can't rule her out as The Mole and it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up winning.

Friday, June 13, 2008

When the kids ran out, I was really wishing I was wearing a cup

Sorry for the lateness of my post this week, I've been on the road.

I wonder if Paul and Liz were prevented from distracting the potters. Because I'd totally have been interupting them to stretch the time.

Alex - Definitely seems like he wants money in the pot. Either he's an awesome mole or an awesome competitor.

Ali - Mostly low key. I have to call her out for her statement that Bobby needs to man up if he wants to stay in this game. Seriously folks, you don't stay in the game based on your performance in the challenges.

Bobby - I can't do this runnung stuff. I need water.

Clay - A great physical competitor. He stays in the background at decision time though.

Craig - His three goals cracked me up! Not to soil himslef. not to embarrass his family and not to be the first one out. And props to Craig for being more athletic than Bobby.

Kristen - Keeping it low key. I still think she's The Mole.

Liz - Well she lasted a week longer than I expected. The shot of her looking like a jester with her soccer socks on her head cracked me up! Farewell Liz you were just too nice for this game.

Mark - Still Mr. Intensity. I don't like to be bothered. I don't like to be provoked. Please let him make it to this season's version of Anderson's funhouse! And please let that be soon so he can go away!

Nicole - Successfully toned it down. She said was a change of strategy so let's hope that her actual personality isn't what we saw the first week. Let's talk about the death threat. If your trying to throw someone off their game, Paul should not be your target. Although it does stir up everyone else. Oh BTW Nicole, a person can't wake up dead.

Paul - Still a loudmouth. Still laying down (literally) at challenges. He definitely distracts people from their game. I'm pretty sure that Paul is not the mole. It would have been very easy to miss catching the pigs with Liz and make it look like her fault.

Victoria - Defintiely an external processor. She says everything she sees. She does well at the challenges. And kudos to the girl for standing up to Paul.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

ABC website

The quiz is STILL down. Now they have Ali's pic greyed out instead of Marcie. What's up with that?

I have a photogenic memory

Paul provided my favorite quote of the episode. Much like The Amazing Race, I will name my posts by my favorite quote from each episode.

Ok, some general impressions from the ep:
The producers are trying to make it look like Paul is the mole. Everytime they do a who is the mole montage they focus on Paul. When showing us the quiz questions they showed us A LOT of Paul. Specifically during the question 7 and 8. And what is up with the death threats? This week Marcie threatened to hunt Paul down and kill him and next week Nicole threatens to kill someone in their sleep. Now to Marcie's credit she was trying to verify Paul's allegiance, which is something she should question. If I were married to a police officer, I would have mentioned that in my hunt you down and kill you threat. I mean Marcie hunting me down is not so plausible, her hubby the cop... now it seems likely he COULD hunt me down!



Player Impressions:
Let's start with Marcie. She made the first impression on me. She's not as bad at making choices as the players think she is. They were viewing her picks from the wrong angle. She picked The Young Guns minus the gay guy. If you factor in her predjudice then that makes sense. I feel confident in labelling her as her sleeping choices make it perfectly clear. She picked Ali to be successful, this is a clear choice since Ali is the person most like her. Clay is a black guy so clearly he's an athlete. Next she chose Victoria, again on the likeness factor. Then she chose Mr Competetive Mark. So all in all not bad choices. And using stereotypes in the first challenge does make sense since you have no info about the players yet.

That being said, her next decision was to punish the people least like her. When choosing people to sleep outside, I think 80% of us would choose the guys. Liz is outdoorsy, so I MIGHT see choosing her, but SHE'S 60! So instead of choosing the guys she thought would get the money she chose the old lady, the gay guy, the black girl, and the fat guy. OK moving on now.

Next we have Nicole. I get being angry about being picked to sleep outside, but with the likelyhood that there was going to be a mission she needed to buck up and do it. Not only could there have been a mission, there was also the probability that it would cause them to lose money from the pot for breaking the rules. I understand that SHE thought she found a loophole by not sleeping, but that's only her interpretation. It could have easily cost them prize money.
Her choices were much better. She chose the Scientist, the History Teacher and the Experienced woman to be the appraisers. Good call. Although I picked her as the winner, I'm hoping Nicole goes next week. The entitlement and egomania is over the top!

Paul is playing a good game. He's definitely garnering attention if not outright suspicion. He let Ali do the lion's share during the Crusoe mission. He's making false alliances to draw attention away from his real alliance. I think he'll go far in the game. Much like Boston Rob, I am both cheering for him and despising him simultaneously.

Alex is Paul's pawn. I'm afraid I didn't get much impression of him this episode. I'll wait and see how he deals with Paul's attempts to manipulate him.

I'm afraid Ali and Clay fell into the invisible category for me as well. I suspect they will both emerge next week as strong players.

I don't know if it's stubborness or a good gut feeling, but I'm sticking with under the radar Kristen as the mole.

Moving down the list, we get to Bobby. He seems like a shrewd analyst of the other players, but the boy is in worse shape than I am! I'm guessing he's asthmatic and I realize that at any moment a strong breeze might come along and snap him like a twig, but come on! Surely he knew there was going to be running! There were at least 2 guys in Austin who should have his spot. But then again I'm biased.

Liz held her own quite well. Although I have to say she looked like a dwarf running from the van before the first mission. I think Liz will hang in there for quite some time. Hopefully she'll forgive me for picking her as first out. She just seemed so nice in her preview video I expected her not have her head in the game.

Victoria seems to be a strong player. You go girl!

Craig was fairly invisible as well. I think he's likely to awarded a few exemptions because the other players are going to see him as nonthreatening.

Mark needs to chill out. Since that's not going to happen then I suppose I'll just have to hope he's going home soon. I was on the fence as I'm trying to be more tolerant of competetive people, ironically his tearful diary about his hard life pushed me over the edge into dislike.

I haven't been able to take the quiz yet, as ABC didn't anticipate the traffic it would generate. Even at 5AM it was still down.