I watched the little recap episode that aired just before this episode, and there really wasn't much new information. Jon did say "saboteur" which made me happy. Nicole admitted sabotaging the luge mission and then tried to convince Clay and Alex that she's not The Mole. After Bobby was executed, everyone spied on Kristen and Mark having a private conversation, which is when Clay started to rethink his coalition with Mark. After his fight with Clay, Paul continued the ridiculous drama by claiming he doesn't feel safe and he can't trust himself around Clay. Whatever, Paul. I hope we're Paul-free real soon now. And that's all the new information you got if you watched that hour-long episode. I do hope that maybe some people watched it and got sucked into continuing with the series, since the ratings are so horrid, but it wasn't very useful for the existing viewers, is what I'm saying.
In the opening series of interviews, Nicole is proud to be the last woman standing, and Paul just wants to outlast Nicole, because she's "everything this game is not supposed to be." Because she has a vagina? At least I assume she does. That might be awkward for her, in her profession as a gynecologist, if she didn't. How would you explain that to your patients? Anyway, Paul seems like a real he-man woman-hater.
As the group assembles for their mission, Jon asks them to separate into a group of runners and a group of thinkers. Mark, Clay, and Alex are the runners, and they designate Mark as the best athlete. Nicole, Craig, and Paul are the thinkers, and Paul nominates himself as the best communicator, because he's the loudest. Jon explains that the task is to find seven bottles of wine hidden within the vineyard, and each is worth $10,000. The thinkers have to solve brain teasers, which will give them coordinates to communicate to the runners, who will use a GPS device to find the bottles. While this is happening, Mark has to run on a treadmill, and if he stops running, the mission is over. Every time a bottle of wine is found, the speed on the treadmill increases. Paul can't help with the puzzles, but Mark can. Well, that's nice and convoluted. I'm going to reproduce the brain teasers here, and put the answers at the end of the weecap so you can have a little challenge for yourself. But I'm not going to give you the multiple choice responses -- you've got to figure it out on your own. You're welcome!
1. From the following list of words, choose the word that does not fit: ice, cheese, chocolate, plastic, wood.
2. Which number should replace the question mark?
22 5 9 ?
3. Some months have 30 days, others have 31 days. In a single year, how many months have 28 days?
4. How many ways can you read ABC off the diamond?
A
ABA
ABCBA
ABA
A
5. Which number should come in the following sequence: 2, 6, 3, 9, 6, 18, 15, 45, 42, ?
6. Jim is taller than Kevin, and Walter is shorter than Jim. Which of the following statements would be most accurate?
A. Walter is taller than Kevin.
B. Walter is shorter than Kevin.
C. Walter is as tall as Kevin.
D. None of the above.
7. Every morning at 9:00 AM, my wine cellar receives a delivery of 22 bottles of wine, all of which are stored in the cellar. Every afternoon at 5:00 PM, I remove 12 bottles from my wine cellar and give them away to friends. No other bottles enter or leave my wine cellar, except at these two times. On January 1st, at 8:00 AM, I had 400 bottles in my wine cellar. One what date in January did my wine cellar first contain more than 500 bottles of wine?
The thinkers come up with an answer to the first question and Paul calls Clay with the coordinates. Clay speaks them out loud and Alex plugs them into the GPS. The second question is math-related and Craig figures it out quickly. The third one is a trick question and Mark gets it quickly, which makes him suspicious of the others for not being as smart as him. Paul gets frustrated on the fourth questions because he thinks it's really easy but he's not allowed to help, but they finally come up with an answer.
The runners have now found the first bottle, so Mark's speed increases. The thinkers continue to answer questions as the runners find the second bottle. Paul gets suspicious because Nicole keeps talking about how smart she is, but Mark is the one who actually gets the answers for most of the questions. The runners find the third bottle. The thinkers are on their last question, and they quickly come up with a response. Paul gives the coordinates from the last question to the runners and they determine that the answer is wrong. Paul and Nicole start arguing about it, which means that the runners are left just wandering aimlessly while Paul is too busy insulting Nicole and her hairy ass. That's useful. Meanwhile, Mark is still running on the treadmill and looking like he wants to kill someone. Well, more than usual.
After commercials, Mark gives the thinkers the answer to the last question, the one that they originally got wrong. Also, he's been running for twenty-one minutes. Paul gives the coordinates and the runners find another bottle. Alex suggests that they start drinking the wine. For the one, Paul screws up the coordinates, but quickly corrects himself and the runners find the fifth bottle, and then shortly afterwards, the sixth. Paul gives the runners the last set of coordinates, and Mark is maxed out on the speed now. He urges the runners to hurry up. They find the seventh and final bottle and must now get back to the start before Mark runs out of gas. They make it! So that's $70,000 for the pot, making the total pot $247,000. Paul points out in an interview that Mark managed to run for fifty-three minutes and also answered most of the questions. That's some pretty non-Mole behavior.
Afterwards, Paul complains about Nicole to Alex, and relays that Nicole didn't really answer any questions. What about Craig? I didn't see him answering many. I guess since he didn't claim to be super-smart, he gets a pass. Clay and Mark are also suggesting whether or not Nicole is suspicious. Clay interviews that he knows that Mark is a potential Mole.
Craig also interviews about his suspicions that Nicole is the Mole, especially because she has managed to stick around so long even though she doesn't take any notes. Mark and Clay decide that they need to encourage Alex to drink as much as possible before the quiz so he'll at least be slower than them. Clay interviews that Alex hasn't had any exemptions and he's managed to stick around, which could mean that he's the Mole or it could mean that he knows who the Mole is. Or it could mean that everyone else is incompetent. Clay doesn't mention that possibility.
The players drive to their mission, which takes place at a bridge over a gorge. The music goes all A-Team as the players meet Jon on the bridge, which he tells them is 90 feet over the water below. They will be put into a bungee rig and have to walk a plank out over the gorge. Once out there, they'll have to jump off the plank and drop a bag of tea onto a bullseye for varying dollar amounts. I figured there was a twist, but apparently not.
Mark goes first. Before he jumps, Jon explains that they all have to guess the total amount the group will win, and the person who gets the closest will win an exemption. Mark guesses 10,000, and looks really scared, but finally jumps. While he's swinging around, he drops his bag and totally misses the target.
Paul is up . Jon teases him and then explains the exemption, but we don't get to hear what Paul guesses. Paul jumps and drops his bag really far from the target. Not even close. Clay is the to go. I just realized -- do they get to watch the others go? Because the last person to go has the best shot at the exemption, since they'll know whether or not the people hit the target. Clay jumps with his eyes closed and misses the target entirely as well.
Craig claims that he has vertigo, and gets the spins when he looks down. While Craig takes some deep breaths, Jon offers him the exemption. Craig makes a guess (which we again don't hear) and then jumps. When he rebounds, it seriously looks like he might hit the bridge, and he screams the entire time. He also misses the target with the bag. Alex goes . Jon explains the exemption and Alex makes a guess. Multiple people have mentioned that it was tough to come up with a guess while standing on the platform. Alex actually manages to hit the target and earns $4,000.
Finally, Nicole is up. Jon explains that she has to jump if she wants the exemption. The guys watch Nicole and mock her, but she actually does jump, although she misses the target like so many before her. Jon gathers everyone and explains that Alex was the only one who hit the target, so they only earned $4,000 for the pot. But who got the exemption? Mark guessed $10,000. Paul guessed $12,000. Clay guessed $14,000. Craig guessed $20,000. Alex guessed $15,000 and claims he would have given up the exemption if he got it, which Nicole doubts. Nicole guessed $28,000. All of the guesses were too high, so no one got an exemption, and no one is safe tonight.
Nicole decides that it's time to start writing in her journal. Clay gives her some information while Alex takes a slug from a bottle of wine. Nicole celebrates that she finally used her journal and then giggles in an interview that it would be ironic if she got eliminated tonight. At dinner, the focus is still on Nicole, so now I'm thinking that she's definitely going home tonight and I'm going to be pretty pissed at the editors if that's the case. Jon asks if anyone's conscience is bothering them and they all laugh. Nicole, Craig, and Paul all express that they have purposely set aside their scruples. While they eat, Clay tries to push more wine on Alex, who seems to be doing a fine job of drinking all by himself.
Time for the quiz! Paul says he's not going to change his game until it gets down to five people. Mark finds it weird that Craig barely tries in missions, and yet no one gets upset with him. Craig has noticed that he has more notes about Mark than anyone else, and he's kept a lot of money out of the pot. Nicole doesn't think everyone else knows who the Mole is, so she's going to continue trying to be the quickest on the quiz.
The players file in to find out who will be executed. Alex... is executed. Damn! I was really starting to like him. Plus, I think he's kind of cute. The other players are totally stunned. Like, they're all sitting there with their mouths open. I'm guessing he was a Mole pick for many of them. I'm glad Nicole didn't get executed, just because the editors seemed to be hinting at it so strongly.
My Mole pick is still Clay, but at this point that's mainly because he's still there, and not due to any hints or anything.
Answers to the brain teasers:
- Wood
- 3
- 12
- 12
- 126
- D. None of the above
- January 9th
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