Yuku free message boards

Well, I have to say I enjoyed this last episode and the season in general has been pretty good since the lackluster first episode. With Alex gone, my two intial guts as to who the Mole is are gone (Victoria being the other) and I'm pretty mad at myself for not knowing. I know the show does the whole misdirection thing, but I really feel like I'm smart enough to figure this out and it's killing me. So, here we go with the Mole rankings.

5. Mark- I could be dead wrong, but Mark just seems like he's playing way too hard and intensely to possibly be the Mole. He had no need to run the entire 50+ minutes if he were the Mole- he wouldn't have been given any criticism had he stopped 10-15 minutes sooner. There do appear to be a lot of clues pointing towards him, but I'm not sure he's that good an actor. If he's the Mole, kudos to him. I wouldn't have lasted in this competition.
4. Nicole- She sabotages so much that it seems like she wants it to be her which would be a great cover if it were actually her. I was on the fence about Nicole and the only reason I think it could be her at all is that I would assume the rest of the players would have a good idea of who the Mole is now and the "take the quiz fast" strategy wouldn't be likely to work. That said, we know Alex suspected Nicole and I doubt he'd have changed his mind. Now Alex is gone and Nicole is off my suspect list.
3. Craig- It shouldn't be Craig- he seems like way too nice a guy and after watching the recap, he was so un-Mole-like in previous episodes that I can't believe he's not dead last on this list as he has been most other weeks. However, Mark since the start has said he's suspected Craig and Paul has thrown suspicions out there, too. Assuming Mark and Clay are still working together, that could be three of the four remaining players thinking it's Craig. If Nicole is executed next, that would pretty much cement it as being him. However, it just doesn't seem right- Craig seems way too genuine, kind of like Al in Mole 2, to ever possibly be the Mole. Logic points to him, but his personality and behavior don't.
2. Clay- Clay at this point seems so obvious. He's done a lot of sabotage and is very smart. Clay has ranged from #1 to #3 on my suspect list for weeks and weeks now. However, for whatever reason my gut is telling me it's not him. First of all he's the most UTR of the remaining 5, something the Mole never has been before and just from his confessionals and behavior in the game, he seems like he's playing it very shrewdly. I get the sense like he has a dead set strategy to win and though I probably shouldn't be discounting Clay, I can't bring myself to think it's him.
1. Paul- I have no clue how we've gotten to this point, but I've been suspecting Paul more and more the last two or three episodes. His strategy to cause chaos and conflict is one that would work well for both a player looking to do well and for the Mole which makes it even more confusing. Much like Nicole, I think he's too over the top for a lot of people to think it's him, but the difference is that his sabotaging is much more subtle. What gets me in particular is that he can't be nearly as unathletic as he appears. He's done a lot of things like hanging in the back of the pack, trying to convince the group to waste time, etc. Plus if Paul weren't the Mole, I really think he'd have taken the exemption in the cage challenge- that seems just like something a player like Paul would do- unless he's the Mole and was trying to earn trust. In other words, I've done a complete 360 on Paul and I'm probably wrong as usual.

Me (Post Episode 3): "I definitely don't think it's Paul, Craig, Nicole or Mark."

Ummmm, yeah....

Well, this was a weird episode in that they didn't lose a penny for the pot and nobody was even that suspicious at least as far as this show goes. While at one point I would've thought that Clay was the Mole, he had kind of dropped on my suspect list and I was pretty sure that either he or Mark would be executed this episode based on the early editing in the episode. Nicole is definitely a drama queen and I don't think that she's the Mole, but evidently she's done just enough to convince people otherwise.

Mole Rankings:

4. Mark- I've never understood why there are so many people on the Mark for Mole bandwagon simply because he's earned so much money and is clearly playing the game very hard. As I mentioned last week, people have found a lot of clues that seemingly point to him and his journal is really interesting, but I don't buy it. If Mark is the Mole, he has me fooled and I think he'd have at least Paul fooled if not Craig as well. If I'm wrong, I'll be very surprised.

3. Nicole- She's sabotaging a lot and getting away with it and I have a hard time believing she's gotten through this game by taking the quiz quickly and not really knowing who it was. It freaks me out that the first time she makes a coalition, with Clay, he gets executed. Did she throw him off her scent? Or did she get lucky that 1/5 of the quiz gave her free answers? It's hard to take anything she says seriously, but I doubt she'd act like she's about to quit around her mom if she's actually the Mole.

2. Craig- Craig just doesn't seem like the Mole and that's the only reason I don't have him at #1 right now. He's barely done any sabotage the entire time and has basically been the nice guy. I really think if he were the Mole, he'd play up his patheticness at challenges more. However, there's a lot of logic screaming that it's him. Mark mentioned Craig as a suspect for a while and I think Paul has, too. Last episode we heard Nicole say that she thinks it's Mark or Craig (if she's to be taken seriously) so that would make it 3/3 suspecting Craig. It's also telling that despite being the nice guy whom everyone was supposed to trust, nobody picked him for the second challenge. On a lot of levels it has to be Craig and on others it just can't be. Hopefully he'll be executed next.

1. Paul- For someone who's stirred up so much trouble he seems so calm when it comes to the game and the quizzes. Either he is the Mole or he's had this figured out for a while and one thing I can guarantee is that he's not going anywhere this week. His misguiding people with the map (especially coming from NYC) stuck out to me as the #1 most suspicious thing to happen last episode. The one thing that makes me think it may not be him is that nobody's mentioned that Paul could really be the Mole for a couple weeks now and you think someone would at least mention it. Why is he Mark's third suspect? On the other hand, making it seem as if nobody suspects Paul would be typical ABC strategy to hide their Mole. As usual, I'm confused.

My brain says it's Craig. My heart and gut say it's Paul. I hate this show.

Mole Speculation Chart (Backup in parenthesis):

Pre Show- Alex (Victoria)

Post Episode 1- Alex (Victoria)

Post Episode 2- Alex (Victoria)

Post Episode 3- Victoria (Alex)

Post Episode 4- Alex (Clay)

Post Episode 5- Alex (Clay)
Post Episode 6- Paul (Clay)

Post Episode 7- Paul (Craig)