January 15, 2003
And we're back in beautiful Hawaii. Now there's six celebrities and five weeks, and only $50,000 in the pot. Kim Coles was sent packing last week We get a quick recap of the last show to remind us of who could be the mole.

Then we get celebrities mugging for the camera. Corbin Benson "is on the scent of the mole." Stephen Baldwin says "Erik can't be the mole. He's an idiot." Erik gets in real close to the camera and asks "why would I be able to play brilliant mind games with them? Why would I make them think I'm the mole." Kathy just says mother to someone on the other end of a phone line. Frederique speaks in German. Did she leave any clues? How would we know? She says something about Kathy and Erik. That's all I could make out.

This quickly points out to me that these are all performers. They are paid to lie. They love spending time in front of a camera. Also, you have to realize that there are two strategies to playing this game. One is to make everyone think you are the mole even though you're not so that others will flunk the mole quiz and be eliminated from the game. The other strategy is to sabotage the game so that money pot is low.

That said, we are shown the celebrities eating a huge breakfast and thinking about last night's execution. Kathy says she is executing people in her mind all the time. But mostly she is executing Baldwin. She's done it at least 14 times and "it's always bloody and gory." If he's the next to go, it would be good riddance as far as she's concerned.

I have to agree with Kathy. Baldwin is acting like a number one, grade A, teenage male jerk. And yes I know he's 36 but I don't think he knows. He says it's his game plan, "to keep his opponents confused and off-balanced."

Enter Ahmad Rashad. He notes the tension so he quickly introduces the new game. The premise of this game is to take them back to a time when they had less glamorous jobs. These jobs are lifeguards, cooks and flight attendants. The celebrities are told to pair up and choose which job they want.

Baldwin steps in right away and makes the choice first, saying "let's be smart this time." He says Erik should be a lifeguard because he's a good swimmer. Michael somehow is chosen for this job too. Kathy and Freddie choose cooks, I guess, because they're women. That leaves Baldwin and Corbin as flight attendants. Naturally.

First, the lifeguards are taken away. Next the flight attendants leave together. That leaves Kathy and Freddie. Kathy thinks they're going to have to cook grilled cheese sandwiches. Ahmad refutes that idea and tells them it means they're going to walk over a bed of hot lava and retrieve a chicken and bring it back to him. I'm not sure how that makes them a cook but these games don't make a whole lot of sense.

The lifeguards are told that they will have to jump off a 40 foot cliff into the bay below. And the flight attendants are attending a flight--they will be on a biplane while it's doing aerial stunts.

There are two parts to this game. One is completing the task. The other is predicting who will or will not complete the task. They can earn $24,000 total.

The first up is Baldwin. He's inside the plane cleaning off blackened instruments while the plane is doing aerial acrobats. I don't see the challenge in this. It seems very tame for reality TV even though Baldwin makes a lot of noise about praying to Jesus and blowing chunks. It just seemed too easy.

Next are the cliff divers. This is a much more dangerous stunt. Erik and Michael have five minutes to decide whether to jump into the bay. Three foot swells are dashing up against jagged rock and Erik mentions there are underwater caves down there, too. But it still takes him less than 20 seconds to decide to dive into the water.

Next we see the women feeling the heat. Fire is shooting out through the cracks in the lava but it still doesn't seem like that hard of a stunt. Kathy completes it amid several unconvincing ouches.

Back to the cliffs. There is flabby, out of shape, middle-age Michael standing on the cliff. You can tell he's not going to do it. He talks about how he and his wife made this decision beforehand about him not jumping off anything. Of course, this puts him into the mole spotlight.

It's Freddie's turn now to run over the lava. She jiggles her way quickly over the lava with the camera catching her every bounce. She made it look easy.

Back to poor Michael. He's "not feeling right in the head" so he let's the clock run out on his decision. Mission not accomplished. Or is it?

The gang is back together now. Ahmad explains to them the purpose of their taped predictions which they guessed anyway. Corbin wasn't able to do his stunt because of the weather. Ahmad just asks him would he have done it and of course, he says yes. Everyone predicted he would do the deed, so the pot is given $4,000.

They review the other predictions for the celebrities that were given a chance to complete their job. Everyone correctly predicts Freddie would do her job. That adds another $4,000 to the pot. When asked if Kathy accomplished her chore, Corbin and Stephen both predicted she wouldn't.

When it came to the cliff divers, everyone though Erik would do it. And they thought Michael would too. Up comes the mole music. Could he be the mole? This makes him look very suspicious. Corbin says he knew Erik would do it because "he's 20 and hasn't established the concept of death yet." He's surprised Michael didn't do it. Kathy says Michael looked very moley and scared.

But think about it. I think Erik is the only one who would jump off the cliff for the very reasons Corbin said. So this makes me think Michael isn't the mole. It's just too obvious. Regardless of all the finger pointing at Michael, the bottom line is that they only won $17,000 instead of the maximum.

We're quickly moved on to the next game. This one is on the ocean. A cute little submarine emerges out of the water complete with a green shark fin with the sub's moniker, "Das Mole." The players are told to pair up again. This time, two has to decide to do charades, two will go on the sub and two will be gravediggers. Gravediggers, charades and a sub go together like well, gravediggers, charades and subs.

Baldwin starts ordering people around again and picks Freddie as his partner to go on the sub. Sounds like a guy thing to me. Corbin and Michael agree to do charades and Kathy and Erik are left as the gravediggers.

To play the game, the ones doing the charade must act a movie or TV show title out underwater after midnight before Stephen and Freddie who are in the nice, dry sub. Once those two figure out the correct answer, they will telephone it Erik and Kathy who are waiting at a mock graveyard. In the graveyard are all these tombstones of actors. These two will have to figure out which actor died in the correct charade answer and dig up the coffin. Inside one of the coffin will be $25,000. If they guess all the charades correctly in the allotted time they are guaranteed to win.

Kathy acts "moley" at this point or just very prissy because she doesn't want to help Erik dig up the coffins. She just wants to stand out of the way and hold the telephone.

The first charade is performed by Michael. It's a four word movie title. Baldwin and Freddie waste time trying to figure it out and finally pass. The next charade is done by Corbin. It's a two word movie title. Freddie keeps guessing necklace but Stephen finally figures the word is pearl. "Pearl Harbor" is a natural and correct choice. They clue Kathy and Erik into the movie title. Kathy has never seen the movie (which is hard to believe) but Erik says he has and he thinks the character that died was played by Josh Harnett. He is right. As they dig up the coffin, Erik inadvertently lifts up the lid of the coffin. He tells Kathy there's no money in there.

Michael is up again trying to do another charade. Stephen quickly gets this one. It's "What Lies Beneath." I'm also beginning to notice that Freddie isn't guessing any at all. Erik and Kathy figure out correctly that they need to dig up Harrison Ford's coffin.

The fourth charade is done by Corbin. It's a two word television show title. With "South" as the first word, Stephen (yes, Stephen by himself) quickly guesses that it's South Park. And we all know that they killed Kenny. Erik does a pretty good impression of the South Park kids while he digs up Kenny's coffin.

With less than six minutes to go, they try to solve Michael's first charade again. They're still having trouble with the title. Stephen wants to pass but Freddie insists that they stick it out. My mole radar goes off again.

They use up a lot of time to finally figure out it's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Erik and Kathy dig up Chow Yun Fat's coffin. Unfortunately, there is less than two minutes to figure out the last title. They have figured out some of the other puzzles in that amount of time but they seem to be having trouble with "_____ Beauty." The time runs out before they can figure out the first word is "American." Corbin can't believe that Baldwin missed that one, especially since Baldwin acted in a film with Kevin Spacey, the star of American Beauty.

This is where the game becomes very bizarre. But I guess that's what can you expect with a full moon and a pretend graveyard and a bunch of celebrities. They are all standing around the four coffins. Ahmad opens the first one and it has no money. He opens the second coffin and there's only bones inside. Before opening the third, Ahmad offers them $5,000 for the pot to call the whole thing off. They decide unanimously to go on. There is no money in the third coffin. That leaves only one coffin--Josh Harnett's.

We all know there is no money in the coffin. Ahmad offers them $10,000 for the pot to call it off. Corbin says the money is in the coffin because it's from the movie Pearl Harbor and they're in Hawaii. Baldwins says it's in the Kevin Spacey's coffin but they don't hear him. Erik tells everybody that Harnett's coffin felt the heaviest. He convinces them the money is in there. Kathy can't believe what he is doing. Freddie tries to side with Kathy and take the $10,000 but then agrees with the majority to go for the $25,000. Of course, they lose.

Erik confesses on tape that he is working with Kathy . "It's a hidden coalition" he says mole-like.

The next bizarre incident is the dinner from hell, as Kathy dubbed it. During dinner, Ahmad offers to make up the money they lost in the last game. He will give them $25,000 plus an exemption to one of the contestants. All they have to do is unanimously decide who should get the exemption in 30 minutes. And if they can't decide who get it, he will take $25,000 from the existing pot.

They go around the table, with Baldwin in charge again, trying to decide who should get the exemption. They all pick themselves except for Erik who chooses Kathy and Corbin who chooses Erik and Stephen who is trying to figure out why Corbin picked Erik. Corbin explains it's because he wants someone that is harder to figure out to be possibly out tonight (which I think means he thinks Erik is not the mole so he wants to eliminate two possibilities). Baldwin thinks this is "calculating. Sick. Sinister." He picks Erik too. So everyone switches to Erik except Freddie who still wants the exemption and Erik who says nothing. Suddenly Corbin changes his mind. The only person he will vote for is himself. This throws everything into confusion. Baldwin decides to follow suit and vote only for himself.

Now this is the obvious difference between this version and the non-celebrity version. Baldwin even offers $25,000 out of his own bank account to wager he wouldn't change his mind again. See, if these were real people, only greed would be motivating them. I don't know what the heck was going through these celebrities' mind.

As the clock runs down, there is no unanimous decision and so now the pot is $3,000 less than when the game started out. After these peculiar events, it is now time to take the quiz and really put your mouth where your money is. (yes, I meant to say it that way)

Erik sticks out in Corbin's mind as the mole because of the graveyard incident. How did Corbin know about the bones in the coffin. Were they told about Erik and Harnett's coffin off scene? Or was this a slip on Corbin's part?

Freddie thinks Kathy could be the mole because she has the right amount of humor and pretending. I'm thinking Freddie is perfect because she seems to sabotage things without bringing attention to herself.

Erik thinks Baldwin looks guilty because he didn't guess "American Beauty."

Baldwin thinks Corbin played an excellent mind game and is probably the mole. More on that later.

As Ahmad select their names randomly to find out who was outsmarted by the mole, the celebrities sit and wait patiently. Kathy, Michael and Corbin are all given the green light but Holy Moley--Stephen, my first suspect, is booted off tonight. I'm kind of shocked.

But that makes me wonder. If Stephen took the quiz suspecting Corbin, then Corbin is not the mole. But if Stephen suspected Michael, like he said throughout the show, then Michael is not the mole.

After Baldwin leaves, everyone speaks insincerely about how much they will miss him. Kathy, however, tells the truths. She is bleeped out but we all know what she said. "He was an a$$hole. He's really, really funny, but what an a$$hole."

So now I'm left to wonder how could I have been so misled to believe Baldwin was the mole. I think I confused unsavory behavior with mole-like behavior. He was too obvious. I won't fall into that trap again. That eliminates Michael. And I think Erik is now trying to act like the mole. So he's not it. Kathy is too loud. She calls too much attention to herself. So she's not it. That leaves Corbin or Frederique for reasons stated earlier. I'll just have to watch and see if they fooled me again.

January 22, 2003
Two celebrities down, five to go. We start the show minus Stephen Baldwin and his juvenile antics. Erik says he's truly shocked that Baldwin was executed. Michael claims he doesn't know why he's still around. Kathy has to start from scrap now. Freddie, very mole-like, doesn't seem to be that surprised that Baldwin is gone. Corbin is just stressed out.

The players gather at the bay. Ahmad points out that even with all their teamwork, they only have $42,000 in the pot. He explains to them the next game so that they can add to the money. First the group must split up into two groups: a group of two and a group of three. Corbin and Erik make up the group of two with the other players in the larger group. Out of the group of two, one must be the leader and one must just look good on the beach. This is a no-brainer. Corbin is the leader and Erik is the good looker.

A few feet off of the beach, there is a buoy with a flag and $30,000. The players must get to the money within 30 minutes to claim it. The twist to the game is that they have to build a raft out of a pile of junk and reach the money on the raft. Corbin is the captain of the raft. Erik's job is just to make smoothie for the players. Or so we are told.

Kathy thinks Corbin is in "hog heaven because he used to be a carpenter." She quips that "he thinks he's Jesus." Of course, it's because he's Corbin and because Jesus was a carpenter. He's ordering everyone around trying to build the raft in time. "He's turned into super veiny hockey dad," Kathy says.

While the rest of the players are trying to piece this junky raft together, Erik is offered an exemption if he sabotages the game by getting to the flag before the rest of them. He can use a kayak to do it. The catch for him is that he has to rent the kayak for $15 from the cabana boy, cleaned shaven Stephen Baldwin. Yes, he's back for a little more face time. "They still need me."

The other catch for Erik is that he has to find the $15 in coins in the sand on the beach with a metal detector. If he can do this before the players reach the flag, not only will he be exempt but the pot won't get the $30,000.

Erik decides to go for the exemption and he's frantically searching for the coins. Meanwhile, Ahmad is telling the team that Erik is betraying them. Little by little, Erik finds the money while Corbin and the team struggle to get the raft together in time. As they put the raft in the water, Erik is racing in the kayak to capture the flag. He easily wins the exemption. Michael notes the only way they could have made it was if whoever was offered the exemption refused to sabotage them.

Ahmad now tempts Erik with a chance to double the $30,000 to $60,000 for the pot - but only if he gives up his exemption. Erik deliberates while Ahmad puffs away on a cigar. $60,000 is just too much to give up - and he also thinks that he knows who the Mole is. Erik goes for the money instead of the exemption.The pot is now $102,000.

If Erik thought he would be showered with gratitude for his unselfish act, he was very much mistaken. This only makes him look suspicious in the eyes of his fellow players.

Corbin now becomes the expert on "molish" activity. He explains it to Kathy and Erik. He takes Erik aside to favor him with his wisdom. He asks Erik who he thinks the mole is. Erik reluctantly says Michael. Corbin confirms Erik's suspicion by saying that Michael is the mole because of the money bag used in one of the first stunts. Corbin spied that there was just one line drawn through the dollar sign S on the bag instead of the usual two. This is the same way Arliss is spelled on HBO. Michael is a costar on Arliss.

The celebrities are relaxing at the lunch table. Well, maybe they're not that relaxed. Michael claims he's so nervous that if he could, he would turn white as a sheet. And Kathy says she is so nervous, she's sitting in her own diarrhea. This comment finally gets a laugh out of Erik who had so far never laughed at Kathy's jokes. This makes Corbin asks the question, "do you think the mole is still enjoying the game?"

Michael remarks that this was the reason he thought Corbin was the mole because he seemed to be having so much fun herding sheep. The logic escapes me.

At this point, Ahmad comes in with a plate of hot chili peppers. The next game will center around the pepper. Kathy's diarrhea comments now seem prophetic. Or did she have previous knowledge about the game?

The celebrities follow Ahmad into another room that features trained mice. Immediately Corbin and Kathy think they may have to choose between eating mice or peppers. This is not Fear Factor, people! The mice will determine which pepper each celebrity must eat to add to the pot. The peppers range from hot to really, really hot.

First, each player will be asked a pop culture question. If they answer correctly they can choose to eat a pepper or pass it on to another player. If they answer incorrectly, they have no choice but to eat the pepper. For each pepper eaten, they will add $10,000 to the pot. Mind you, the pepper must be chewed, not just swallowed whole. If they pepper gets too hot for them, they choose to drink a glass of milk at $1,000 less in the pot per glass.

The mice will choose which degree of hot pepper they will eat by running to a slot with the corresponding number from 1 to 6. The mice are named Stripe, Zero, Daphne, Grey Ghost, and Spooky. I think this is relevant and I'll explain in a minute.

The first "hot shot" up is Corbin. He misses a playmate question and has to eat a pepper. He selects Stripe and Stripe runs to the hottest pepper. Corbin eats the pepper with gusto.

Erik is next. He also misses his question but he eats his pepper without complaint. Corbin decides to eat another hot hot pepper for no reason at all. Michael is next. He is the third to miss a question. He eats his pepper under duress.

Freddie gets her question right. It's actually a hard question about who was the first choice to play Hans Solo in Star Wars. She is given a multiple choice and picks Burt Reynolds. I already suspect Freddie is the mole. This furthers my suspicions. The mouse she picks is Zero. Get it. Zero as in no money for the pot. Zero picks the third hottest pepper and Freddie passes the privilege of eating it to Corbin which he gladly does.

Last to get her pepper is Kathy. Kathy also gets her question right. Her mouse picks the second hottest pepper and again Corbin is given the chore to eat it. By this time, Corbin is in need of some milk. This is making Corbin look like the mole in one way because he is eating all these peppers. Therefore he needs to drink the milk and take away money from the pot.

But the most mole-like activity takes place when Ahmad offers them a bonus of $10,000 if all of them will each take one of the peppers from a special plate. They don't jump at the chance so Ahmad ups the money to $20,000 then $25,000. This is enough money for Kathy and Corbin. Erik and Michael chime in too. Only Freddie declines. Corbin accuses her of being the mole if she doesn't do it. He tells he the peppers are a piece of cake, so to speak. Freddie isn't buying it. The pot stands at $151,000. Erik and Michael note her mole-like behavior.

At dinner, there is a sense of paranoia. Corbin wants everyone to play musical chair so that no one is in a pre assigned seat.

Ahmad joins them at the table. He asks them to pick a number from 1 to 20. Erik chimes up 17. They agree with the number. Then Ahmad tells them to tear out page no. 17 from their journal. He is going to read the page aloud. They can stop his reading by claiming their page if they wish or they can remain silent and anonymous.

The first page read reveals nothing. It's just the word moonster and waving lines like a boat. Freddie claims this page.

"Jumping off a 35 foot cliffs," reads Ahmad. "I didn't do it but Erik wanted me to lie." Of course, this belongs to Michael. Ahmad keeps reading and reveals Michael's suspicions of Erik as the mole.

Next page - "I hate everybody. The game is driving me crazy. I hate Frederique."

Everyone thinks the page belongs to Kathy except Kathy who thinks it belongs to Erik. This is because Kathy's page 17 was blank. This immediately prompts Corbin to say that if Kathy is the mole, she's doing a very good job. But then, he says, you have to wonder if the network would make Kathy the mole because that would mean the audience would have to put up with her for the entire series. Good one, Corbin.

The next page read is nothing but a tally of numbers. It belongs to Erik. Michael thinks it's the moliest thing that he's heard in his life. And where else have you hear moley things, Michael, besides this show?

The last entry read is a description of what the players wore on day three of the game. The only entry not read is Corbin's but Corbin says it is not his. Now either Corbin's page gave away too much information so they decided not to read it or this page belongs to the mole. It may be both. And again, I suspect Freddie because she is listed first and the clothes she said to be wearing is to exact. It is something a woman would do. A woman like Freddie, not Kathy. Also - her claimed page revealed nothing unless it was a cryptic note that she was the mole. Even though the next shot we get is Freddie talking to the camera about she thinks Corbin is the mole, I am not buying it.

It's quiz time. Freddie again says Corbin is the mole because of his lousy job at building the raft. Kathy questions why Erik would not take an exemption. Erik suspects Freddie for turning down the $25,000 to bite a pepper. This is very suspicious to him since she turned around and bit a pepper after there was no money as stake. Didn't she say she hated peppers? Corbin thinks Michael could be the mole because he was so slow building the raft and acts so strange. I think that's just Michael's normal behavior, Corbin.

It's time to find out who stays and who will go. Erik name is called first. He passed the quiz. Kathy and Michael as well. That leaves Freddie or Corbin. Freddie's thumbprint is green. And just like that, Corbin is eliminated.

I am as surprised as the other players. I thought like Kathy that Corbin played the game very well. But if he really thought Michael was the mole and the actual mole is Freddie, then it makes sense. Also if Freddie took the quiz thinking Corbin was the mole, she should have been eliminated unless she's the mole.

Corbin is just relieved it's all over. He expects the rating to go down since he's off the show. I'm sure Kathy do her best to keep up the excitement level.

January 29, 2003
There are now just four celebrities left: Michael Boatman, Kathy Griffin, Frederique Van Der Wohl and Erik Von Detten. There is a nice sum of $151,000 in the pot and that can only get larger.

The show begins with what has now become the obligatory mourning for the latest victim of the mole. The said victim was Corbin Bensen. Michael, Erik and Kathy have parting words for Corbin. Freddie merely lists the players that are left in mole fashion.

Ahmad Rashad greets the celebrities amid Hawaiian music and hula dancing. He explains to them that this will be part of the first game of the day. It will be paired with surfing. Since Michael is a good swimmer and Erik's a surfer dude, they will, of course, be doing the dancing. Kathy and Freddie, being the girlie girls that they are, will have to surf.

The premise of the game is that Michael and Erik must dance continuously for 30 minutes in drag and in the hot sun for 30 minutes while Freddie and Kathy hang ten for at least five seconds. If they all complete their task, $20,000 will be added to the pot. If just one person doesn't finish, there will be no money added for this game.

Erik and Michael don their coconut shell bras and their grass skirts while they swallow their male pride and learn how to hula. During this humiliation, Kathy and Freddie get suited up and are given some quick surfing lessons. "I haven't used my quads that much since eighth grade gym class," complains Kathy.

Erik and Michael do a gallant job of trying to hula while Kathy whines. "I don't like the sun. I don't like wet suits. I don't like big long boards that can fall on your head."

She and Freddie swim out to wait for a wave. Kathy manages to fall off her surf board even while the water was calm.

Freddie quickly completes her challenge with surprising ease. She manages to stay up for nine seconds. Kathy, on the other hand, quits after 11 minutes of waiting for a wave. Kathy ends up losing the money for the pot and winds up looking very suspicious.

Ahmad decides to give them a second chance to earn money. He asks Eric how long he thinks that he could stay standing up on the surf board. Eric says one minute. The other players talk him out of this figure, thinking that's too long. He then owns up to being able to do 20 seconds.

Ahmad offers to add $10,000 to the pot if Erik can stay up for 20 seconds. The catch is he has to do it within 10 minutes instead of 30. Erik tries, but is not successful. Even though he is a veteran surfer, he keeps surfing into the rocks before the 20 seconds are up. The mole spotlight is turned on him because of his failure.

At lunch, Ahmad lets everyone know that during the last mole quiz, one person came very close to getting eliminated instead of Corbin. There was a tie. The only thing that saved this anonymous person was that Corbin took longer to finish the quiz.

After lunch, Kathy and Erik begin to strategize. They have this hidden coalition and their strategy has been to put all the suspicion on Erik as the mole. They want to make Freddie believe that Erik is the mole. This would mean either Kathy and Erik think Michael is the mole or one of them really is the mole because they have eliminated Freddie as a suspect.

For the second game, the players head across the island to a mystery restaurant. So that they will not know where they are going, they are blindfolded and driven in separate vehicles. The girls are in one, and the guys are in the other.

This game will be about adding money to the pot and getting the final exemption of the game. Whoever wins it will be assured to be in the final game.

They are told to pair up. Kathy and Eric pair up to further their strategy and alliance. That leaves Freddie and Michael as the other pair.

The game has three rounds. In the first round, each team will be given the same mathematical brain teaser. The team that solves it the fastest will go on to the second round.

Kathy and Erik is up first. Michael is dismayed because Erik is supposedly a math whiz. Erik proves that he is by answering the puzzles quickly with little help from Kathy in 2 minutes and 23 seconds.

Michael and Freddie struggle when it is their turn. Michael's excuse is that he never was good at math. Freddie's excuse is that she's Dutch. What? They take almost 10 minutes to solve the same puzzle, so Kathy and Erik go on to the next round.

In this round, Kathy and Erik will compete against each other. They will be asked 10 analogy questions. Whoever answers the quickest will go on to the final round. The questions have multiple choice answers. Erik narrowly beats Kathy with 3 seconds to spare. At least, that is what we are told. I rewound my VCR and I noticed the Kathy was further along than Erik at the 8th question. We are not shown Erik's time when he finishes.

Anyway, Erik goes to the third round. In this final round, Erik must play a memory game with a deck of huge cards to win the exemption. He can only turn over two cards at a time. While he is playing this game, the other players are trying to rush back and stop him from finishing. If they can do this, they will add $20,000 to the pot and stop Erik from getting an exemption. The three are taken away blindfolded again to an unknown location which is only a half a mile away.

The players head off in the right direction while trying to stop Erik. Freddie and Michael decide to do it on foot. Kathy has a different idea. First, she asks the locals if they recognize the restaurant from her description. After they give her the name of a restaurant, the wrong restaurant, Kathy hitches a ride with a "local yokel" who she claims had to be retarded.

Michael is also having a rough time. He's stopping at all of the wrong restaurants. He's sweating profusely. His pants are slipping down and he keeps stopping to pull them up. Freddie, meanwhile, is having no trouble figuring out where to go. She quickly makes her way to the restaurant. At the last minute, she has to fight off a security guard that mysteriously appears on the stairs to impede her way. Erik finishes the game before Freddie can stop him. He has the exemption and he also stopped them from making any money.

With the games over for the day, Michael has come to the realization that it is now every man (or woman) for him or herself. He is taking a step back from the group so he can be more observant of their behavior. Freddie comes to the opposite conclusion. She sees the group as a team--full of deceit. Erik was intimidated at the beginning of the game and didn't know what he was doing. "Now, not only am I enjoying the game, but I'm really into the game." We get no words from Kathy. This is not typical.

The moment of truth arrives. They have finished the quiz and shared their thoughts. Again, Kathy's thoughts are absent. There is no build up to who failed the quiz. Michael's name is pulled first and he gets the red thumbprint. He is the latest victim of the mole.

So who is the mole? With only three people left, it is harder, not easier to figure out the culprit. I still believe Freddie is the mole but there are arguments for Kathy or Erik being the mole too.

First, Kathy didn't even try to finish her task as surfer. She was no help in the math puzzles. She didn't even break a sweat trying to stop Erik from getting the exemption. Of course, that can be explained by Kathy not being very physical or brainy. And she wouldn't mind Erik getting the exemption if the two of them are in a coalition.

Erik was responsible for them not getting any money in both games. This wasn't the first time. In a cryptic talk with Michael before the quiz he said his strategy was easy. "If you're the mole, act like the mole. If you're not the mole, don't act like the mole." He said that would mess with the other players' head just as much as doing the reverse. He says he is convinced that Michael is the mole. He reacts the hardest when Michael is executed. Since we know Michael isn't, either Erik flunked the last test with Corbin and was saved by being faster or Erik is the mole.

Then, there's Freddie. On tonight's episode, she surfed easily. She could have stopped at five seconds but she stands up as long as she could. Did she know that Erik would be asked to surf longer? She was in the second group to solve the math puzzles. Was this so she would know how long to prolong answering the questions? She quickly made her way to the restaurant. Was this so she could make sure that Michael or Kathy didn't get there first? And then the security guard stopping her from entering the restaurant was very suspicious.

Whoever the mole is, he or she will be revealed next week. Michael thinks "she" got the better of him.

February 5, 2003
Who is the mole?

We won't find out for another week.

Tonight there are only three celebrities left. One is the mole. One is the winner of the money pot. And one is the loser because that person leaves with nothing but indignity.

As the show begins, there is a quick recap of the last show. Suspicion is cast on Kathy Griffin by Erik and Freddie because of her feeble attempts at surfing. Erik's actions are called into question because he blew a chance to add money to the pot when he didn't surf long enough.

Kathy explains how she and Erik had formed a coalition to fool the others into accepting Erik as the mole. Erik won the last exemption in the final game and Michael Boatman's boat was sunk.

We get the usual confessions that have become customary at the beginning of the show. The celebrities are lamenting the lately departed celebrity. At least Kathy and Erik are. Freddie talks about Erik not Michael. She says something incoherent about how Erik can't handle the pressure.

Then we see Erik. He realizes that if Kathy is the mole, she's been screwing with his head.

It's the last day of the game and the pot now stands at $151,000. The celebrities are being driven to the location of the first game of the day. Freddie finally talks about the execution of Michael, calling it a sad moment. Kathy and Erik recognizes that their coalition is now over. Now Erik plans to be very observant. So how did you make it this far without being observant, buddy boy?

In the vehicle, he asks Kathy why she wears her watch on the right arm. She answers because she's right handed. He writes it down in his journal which causes Freddie to announce she is going to write it down. Kathy pipes in "I'll write it down too.

Erik tells the cameras "it's every man for himself.

The first game of the day is the traditional Mole game of Three Questions. This game tests how well the players know each other, and more importantly, what the other players think of each other. To this purpose, the players filled out a questionnaire earlier. From each of the questions, Ahmad will read three of them. But first, one at a time, each player will run off and hide in an undisclosed location. It is the job of the other players to try and figure out how the hidden player answered the questionnaire. For each answer there is a direction that Ahmad will take them. If they answer get all the answers right, it will lead them down the correct path to find the hidden player. If they answer even one wrong, they will end up in the wrong location. For each player discovered, $10,000 is added to the pot.

Ahmad asks who would like to hide first. They all look at each other at first and then Kathy tells Freddie to hide. Erik agrees. For some reason, Freddie seems to take offense to Erik and curses him. It sort of looked like she was told not to be the first one to hide. After some discussion, she relents and leaves to hide.

Each player has to dress up in a camouflage suit complete with tree branches and leaves. They hide in plain sight at the end of a trail.

Ahmad ask the first question to Kathy and Erik. "Who would you have speak at your funeral? They both answer "Kathy." "Just because you don't talk," Kathy tells Erik.

Next question: "Who is more likely to pass gas?" After a slight disagreement they answer "Kathy" again especially since Kathy has openly discussed her gas.

Last question: "Who is the biggest flirt?" Once again they disagree. Once again Erik convinces her the answer is "Kathy." They don't notice that all the answers to the questions are "Kathy." And all the answers are right. They lead to Freddie and $10,000 is added to the pot.

The next to hide is Erik. The first question asked Kathy and Freddie is "If Martians come down and abducted one person, who would it be?" They both agree it would be Freddie.

Next question: "Who would you rather be stranded on a deserted island with?" Kathy thinks it's "Freddie because she's a hot model." Freddie says she doesn't want to be stranded on an island with Erik. She rather be stranded with Kathy. But that wasn't the question and they both agree the answer would be "Freddie."

Last question: "Who is more likely to wear dirty underwear?" Freddie reluctantly agree with Kathy that Kathy's the dirty one. Unfortunately, the answer to the question about the deserted island is wrong. Erik claims he would rather be stranded with Kathy. He admits to the camera that the logical choice would be Freddie for a 20 year old boy and that he threw Kathy off on that answer. The question is why. Was he trying to make her think he's the mole or is he the mole?

Kathy hides. Ahmad's first question is "Who is most likely to stiff the waitress?" Freddie says Kathy. Erik agrees even though he answered Kathy to the same question on his questionnaire.

Next question: "Who thinks they have better hair? They both agree after a brief discussion that Kathy would answer Erik.

Last question: "Who is more likely to gain weight when they get older?" Freddie thinks the answer should be Erik. Erik slowly agrees. But Kathy didn't. The last two answers to the questions were wrong.

It seemed suspicious to them, especially the hair question. It seems they all had been discussing hair that morning. Kathy complimented Erik on his hair and Freddie talked about how excited she was about her new hair cut. Ahmad reveals that Kathy answered Freddie for every question. Kathy said she tried to whisper this very fact to Erik while they were answering the test. Erik claimed he didn't pick up that hint. Freddie just think it was a "molish" trick.

Before the final game, they meet for their last supper. Ahmad thought it would help to relax them if they played a game of celebrity charades. He asked each one to pick a name of one of the seven celebrities out of hat and imitate that person. Kathy picks Kim Cole which every one guesses right away. Freddie does an over-the-top impression Stephen Baldwin. Erik tries to do one of Kathy but he is out of his depth. He fails miserably although they guess he's trying to act like a comedian. Kathy is offended. "What am I? Shecky Green!?"

At midnight, the players are taken to an exotic mansion for their last game. Each player is dressed in black jump suits with giant stickers all over them. This game is worth $75,000. To win the money, the players have to figure out a 5-digit combination to a safe. In order to do this, they will have to find the 3 numbers from clues that will be given them. To make things more difficult, the clues are written in invisible ink that is only visible with the help of a black light. Ahmad gives them their first hint.

"To read your clues you'll need a light. Discover the "switch" to make black bright. As Goldilocks know, once was too hard, one was too soft, one was just right."

When they figure out that hint, Ahmad will give them the first clue to the scavenger hunt. At that time the clock will start ticking down 60 minutes. Erik thinks the hint is talking about them "One of us is hard. One of us is soft and one of us is just right." I'm glad he didn't try to explain that. The answer was obviously talking about a bed which Kathy immediately surmised.

Freddie finds the bed with a clue written on the pillow. "It takes two to make black light bright. Lie back. Be still until the clue is in sight." Erik and Freddie lie back on the bed as Eric orders Kathy to run and get the clue from Ahmad.

The first clue reads "Thomas Crown's recent collection." Instead of trying to figure it out, Kathy lays down on the bed with Freddie while Erik goes and gets the next clue. This one reads "where Kasparov and Fischer faced off." Freddie's clue was "This sweet squash makes a scary jack." Freddie answers this one right away. "A pumpkin."

Since they couldn't figure out the first two clues, they decide to go for Freddie's. Freddie walks suspiciously right pass a pumpkin on the floor to an artificial one in the kitchen. Of course, this was the wrong pumpkin so no clue lit up under the black light. Kathy easily finds the pumpkin Freddie had by passed. Freddie then tells Erik that they found "the" pumpkin. It's the way she said it that made me think she knew it was the right one.

The pumpkin clue reads "the uniform of masons, welders and cook" which Freddie kept pronouncing the last word as "kook." Kathy knows the answer is "apron." She finds the apron right away. Its clue reads "the world's oldest grain." They find a giant bag of rice. Erik takes it to the black light and reads the clue "Gallagher has a smashing time with these." Kathy thinks the answer is watermelon but follows Freddie's lead when Freddie says its a pumpkin. This made little sense.

Ahmad offers to sell them hints for $1,000 a piece. They take him up on it. It's another clue about Gallagher which sends Freddie off looking for a sledgehammer. Kathy eventually finds the watermelon which has the clue "watch your back."

There are stickers on their jumpsuits' backs. They decide these must hold the answer. They help take each other clues off. Freddie's clue has the number one. Somehow, Kathy doesn't see the number and drops it to the floor. I swear I saw Freddie stick two of stickers together so that you couldn't see the one. Then Erik takes them to the black light. Of course, there is nothing to see because the number is in plain sight or would be if there wasn't this other sticker on top of it. They give up on this clue and go for the Thomas Crown one but quickly exchange this clue for the Fischer and Kasparov one.

Freddie announces that it's a chess board. The chess board reveals that the next clue is "workout with 4.5 kilo." They can't seem to fathom what this mean so they buy another hint.

"A kilo = 2.2," Ahmad reads. Kathy catches on that this means 10 pounds. Freddie finds a 10 pound weight. On it, the clue reads "there's a trick up your sleeve." They have a hard time to finding a clue on the sleeve and buy another hint. This one tells them "inside out." They start stripping so they can examine their jumpsuits inside out.

During this process, Kathy steps on the sticky stickers. As she is pulling it off the bottom of her shoe, she sees the number "1" and realizes this is one of the numbers.

While Erik and Freddie continue to look for the pictures from the Thomas Crown Clue, Kathy keeps looking for the answers on the jumpsuits' sleeves. She finds "60" with 20 minutes to go.

Erik picks up that the clues must all be on the jumpsuit. They discover the last number "58" without figuring out the other clues.

Now that they have all the numbers, they have to figure out the correct combination to the safe. Freddie tells them "let's think about it." There's only 12 minutes to go and this seems like a stall. Erik keeps trying different combinations. The first two fail. There is only three chances to get it right before they are locked out of solving it. Freddie offers one combination but Erik vetoes it in favor of another one. It turns out to be the right one. But instead of there being money in the safe, there is another clue.

"To score the loot all three must swim. One bag each in order to win." Immediately Freddie starts talking about going to the ocean. Kathy starts looking for a pool. There's only nine minutes left.

Erik and Freddie dive in the pool and get their money bags right away. Kathy is taking her time taking off her clothes. When she finally dives in, she says she can't see anything so she comes back up for air. She tries again. This time she pulls at the weight that had been keeping the money bags under water. It's too heavy and she comes back up, ready to quit. Time is running out. There is only 5 minutes to go. Erik is yelling at her, trying to convince her she can do it if she just pull on the line. After several seconds, Kathy finally dives again. This time she comes up with the loot with a little over 4 minutes to spare. The pot is now $233,000.

Erik thinks it was very suspicious that it took her so long to get the money. He voices concern that maybe Kathy is the mole.

Now they take the final mole quiz. We don't find out who it is but we get to hear some of their thought processes. Erik and Freddie think Kathy just didn't try hard enough in the challenges. Kathy remembers how Erik saw the bones in the coffin in the mock cemetery and still told everybody that he thought there was money in it instead. She also thinks Freddie was too slow in working with putting the raft together in the raft game. The most suspicious thing Erik saw Freddie do was not eat the chili pepper for $10,000.

Freddie talks about Erik's performance on the surf board again. She also note's Kathy's strategy during the three question game was very mole-like. Kathy said she didn't think Freddie was the mole until the last game. So did she think Erik was the mole? And is that why she formed a coalition with him? Erik notes that Kathy almost ruined it that night by taking so long to get the loot underwater. Next week the secret is finally revealed.