In the opening series of interviews, Mark bemoans the loss of Clay from the game, Craig still suspects Paul and Nicole, Nicole can't help but do well on exams, and Paul is psyched to be in the final four.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jon informs the players that the pot currently stands at $331,000, and today's mission, called "How's the View?" is worth $64,000. Jon asks for two players who are young at heart, and everyone but Mark raises his or her hand, so Mark does too, just to join in. Paul and Craig end up being the chosen two, and Jon tells them to split up into pairs, with Paul and Craig on separate teams. Nicole and Craig team up, and Paul and Mark team up. Jon says that today's mission is an obstacle course for kids. The non-"young at heart" players take a camera and film the course, and then the "young at heart" players have to wear these goggles that only allow them to see what the camera is filming. And it's backwards, which makes it more confusing.
Paul and Mark go first. Mark has the camera and Paul has the goggles. First, Paul has to put shapes into a cube with holes in it. You all had this toy as a kid, I'm sure. I know I did. It's tougher because the camera shows everything backwards. Paul keeps blaming the equipment but manages to get everything done within the time limit.
Nicole and Craig go . Nicole claims that she's a laparoscopic surgeon so she's totally used to this sort of physical task. Craig asks Nicole a question, and she answers, but she's not supposed to talk. Craig finishes and Jon says that only the first two pieces count, since Nicole spoke.
, Paul has to kick a soccer ball in a net. Paul misses by a ton. Craig goes . He misses the first, and then whiffs on the second before kicking it way out of bounds.
In the third task, Paul has to pour tea into tiny teacups without spilling any. Paul suspects Mark of messing with the camera and not showing the views that he needed. Paul manages to fill three, but the third one doesn't count, because he spilled. Craig fills three cups but only one of them had no spills. He overfilled a few of the cups and then bumped the table, which made Nicole suspicious.
In the final task, the people with goggles have to walk across a plank suspended between some two-story buildings. Oh, hell no. If I couldn't even fill a teacup, I definitely wouldn't want to try to walk the plank. I know they wear harnesses and everything, but still. Paul has to walk the plank and then pick up a piece of chalk in the middle. After picking up the chalk, he'll have one minute to get to the other side and then write a message on the chalkboard. Paul wobbles his way to the chalk and then picks it up. He's still blaming the faulty equipment, but manages to make it across to the chalkboard and write the message. Mark doesn't show him the whole message at first ("The Mole was here"), so he misses the first word, but gets it in at the last second.
Now Craig has to walk the plank. Paul doubts Craig's ability to complete this task. Craig claims that he has vertigo. Would you still have vertigo if you can't look down? Craig manages to make it close to the chalk, but not nearly as close as he thinks he is. He takes a few more steps and reaches back for the chalk. Craig slows way down and doesn't make it across before time runs out. Nicole interviews that "even if [Craig] is The Mole, he didn't have to Mole it up that bad." Paul and Mark added $18,000 to the pot and Craig and Nicole added $4500. Wow, that stinks for Craig and Nicole. Mark agrees with me.
After the mission, the players have dinner and laugh. Craig and Mark go to the restroom and Nicole takes the opportunity to grill Paul about how the goggles worked for him. Paul claims that it was really difficult to overcome your natural instincts, and then says in an interview that Craig is his top Mole suspect, and he's trying to cast doubt for Nicole so that Craig won't be her top pick also.
Mark is sad that his buddy Clay is gone, because now he has no one to strategize with. Mark and Craig discuss how few exemptions there have been this season, so Mark thinks that there is going to be one in this round, which would put the winner into the finals. Craig wants to make the final three, but not with Paul and Nicole. That would kind of suck.
The players join Jon to find out about the mission. Jon tells them that the fun is over now, and Craig jokes that he wonders when the fun started. Tonight's mission is called "Cell Out." There are four jail cells, numbered one through four. They will each choose one and be shut inside. On the wall is written one of those puzzles where you have two words, like CELL and MOLE, and you have to get from one to the other by changing one letter at a time. The example they show is CELL to CULL to MULL to MULE to MOLE. When they player gets the puzzle correct, their cell door will open and they will head over to the paintball area. The first player to get there gets to be the sniper and has a chance at an exemption. The other three players have to get through the obstacle course without getting shot by the sniper, and they earn money for each one that gets through. One player will be carrying the exemption, and if that player is hit by the sniper, the sniper gets the exemption. No one knows in advance who's carrying the exemption. Well, the clear strategy is to finish the puzzle first, become the sniper, and hit everyone. At this point, an exemption is worth more than money in the pot.
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The players enter their cells. They all have the same puzzle, which I guess makes it fair, and it's the same one they showed in the example: CELL to MOLE. Mark figures it out first (in fifty-three seconds) and Jon points him to the sniper's nest. Nicole gets an answer but it's wrong. Craig gets out , and then Nicole. After seven minutes, Paul is still working on it, and doesn't even have any of the words. It seems that Paul doesn't even quite understand how the puzzle is supposed to work. Craig and Nicole decide to wait for Paul, hoping that he'll have some paintball strategies. Paul finally figures it out after almost fifteen minutes. They should all run through together if they can, right?
They decide that one of them needs to draw fire away from the other two, so they just have to hope that the person they choose doesn't have the exemption, right? The runners all work well together so that Mark can't hit any one of them. He manages to hit Paul, but the paint pellet doesn't break. But he does manage to hit Nicole, and while Mark is distracted by Nicole claiming that she's out, Paul takes off like a rabbit. Slow Craig gets hit too, immediately afterwards. I think Mark didn't shoot nearly enough pellets. I would have been firing them up all the time. Anyway, Paul earned $15,000 for the pot since he made it through, and now they have to find out who had the exemption. Mark is hoping it wasn't Paul. Each player reveals their card: Nicole's card is empty, but Craig's card says exemption, so Mark does get the exemption and a spot in the finals. Good. I was kind of worried that Mark would have a heart attack. Paul doesn't think it's fair that there was an exemption this late in the game, although he thinks if anyone should have it, it should be Mark.
The players gather for their pre-quiz dinner. Paul seems very nervous and antsy. Craig thinks that he and Mark are forces for good and Paul and Nicole are forces of evil. Paul admits to everyone that he doesn't think Nicole is The Mole. Mark says he doesn't feel guilty about getting the exemption.
The players take the quiz. Paul interviews that he thinks Craig is The Mole, and has thought so all along. Craig interviews that he's answering all of the questions towards one person, which is a huge risk. Nicole interviews that Craig tends to break rules, which seems like Mole activity, because Craig isn't dumb.
Jon welcomes everyone to the results, and remind them that Mark has an exemption, so he won't be going home tonight. Everyone seems very nervous. Paul is first, and he is... executed. Nicole is shocked, because she was sure she was going home. So if Paul thought Craig was The Mole, and he's going home, does that mean that Craig's not The Mole? Or did Nicole just answer the questions faster? I bet that's what happened because Nicole has said in the past that she answered the questions quickly. Nicole says she thought it would be sweet to beat Paul, but she's kind of sorry to see him go, because he was a great motivator.
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So I'm sticking with Craig as The Mole. But seriously, I have no clue.
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