Kristen Willeumier's gambling when it came to taking quizzes finally caught up with her.

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The 35-year-old neuroscientist from Santa Monica, CA became the sixth player executed from The Mole's fifth season during last night's broadcast of the ABC reality series.

"I'm disappointed," opined Kristen after her ouster.  "But I guess my strategy in taking the quiz was to focus on one player.  So if it wasn't this week, it probably would have been next.  I feel lucky to have made it this far, because on some level it really is just chance.  I'm a gambler -- I take risks -- and it caught up with me."

The Mole's fifth fifth-season episode began following the previous execution of Victoria Garza, with a total of $152,000 currently in the pot.  Victoria was a popular choice among the players as being The Mole's saboteur, and had several of the players rethinking their strategies.

"Why is it that everybody I pick to be the mole gets executed and I don't?" asked Nicole, a 32-year-old OBGYN doctor from Chicago, IL.

The seven remaining players met host Jon Kelley at an old Argentinean train station as night fell and the temperatures plummeted.  He explained the rules for their next mission -- "All for One" -- in which each of the players would be chained together by their ankles and attached to a single bar.  One at a time, they'd have to free themselves from the chains by reaching a key in a cage.

The only way the cage could be reached is if all of the players except for one put their backs against bars, allowing enough slack for the other player to reach the cage and retrieve the key.  The cage door would open every 10 minutes and stay open for exactly one minute.  Each player could only unlock his or her self, and once they were free they could return to the cabin for food and a warm place to sleep. 

If all seven players freed themselves $25,000 would be added to the pot.  However the catch was that in the cage there was also an exemption, which any of the players could grab instead of the key.  If the exemption was taken, no money would be added to the pot and all the players still attached to the chain would have to sleep outside that night.  The players had until sunrise to complete the mission.

The mission commenced and Craig, a 30-year-old graphic designer San Diego, CA, told the other players he needed to get out of the cold since only a few days earlier he received medical treatment for altitude sickness and hypothermia. 

He promised the other players he would take the key and not the exemption, and while most believed him, Mark, a 42-year-old high school history teacher and soccer coach from Mukwonago, WI, was having problems trusting anybody since he lost his all-important journal the previous day as part of a fifth-season twist.

"You can trust me Mark," pleaded Craig, and Mark subsequently relented.

"The man's sick," he explained.

The cage door opened and Craig grabbed the key, freeing himself from the chain.  The six remaining players decided who amongst them could be trusted enough to go next, however none of them initially budged.

"If it were totally up to me I wouldn't have released a single human soul," said Nicole.

However it wasn't entirely up to her and Kristen was the next to reach the cage and grab the key, freeing herself from the chain. 

Paul, a 29-year-old machinist from Yonkers, NY, then swore on the life of his daughter that he would grab the key and not exemption.  Despite being one of the more untrustworthy players, his promise was taken by the other players.  He grabbed the key and freed himself.

With only four players left on the chain, Clay, a 32-year-old criminal litigation attorney from Philadelphia, PA, expressed a desire to be freed next and let the others stay outside and freeze if they wanted to.  However Clay also realized that since Mark had been burned by having his journal burned the previous day, Mark was desperate for the exemption and might try to claim it at all costs. 

"I don't trust myself," said Mark, only further fueling Clay's speculations and causing him to question his coalition with Mark.

"That was a specific moment for me when the coalition began to unravel," he said.

Despite his lack of trust in Mark, Clay was the next to reach the cage, grab the key and free himself.  Alex, a 31-year-old musician from Haverford, PA, and Nicole pleaded with Mark to let them go from the chain, and he realized that his angry reaction to his journal being burnt gave him an advantage.

"I think I had the upper hand psychologically," said Mark, who also commented he thought he saw an "honest look" in Nicole's eyes.  He proved to be right as she reached the cage, grabbed the key and set herself free.

One hour into the mission and it was down to Alex and Mark, however Alex quickly decided he wanted out and Mark relented.  Alex grabbed the key and left Mark alone.

"I knew full well that this one move could be the complete turning point in the game for me," said Mark. "I'm running through every possible scenario of what could happen if I take the exemption or if I take the key."  
Mark joined the other six players and Jon for dinner and revealed he had decided to take the key instead of the exemption -- adding $25,000 to the pot and bringing its total to $177,000.  Jon offered the players brand new journals, however Mark wouldn't take his.

The next day the seven players embark for Mendoza, which Jon described as the "Napa Valley of Argentina."  On the way Clay and Paul bickered in the van they were traveling in, an argument that began when Clay asked Paul for his birthday so he could write it in his new journal.  Paul gave Clay a hard time about giving him the information for a second time before relenting.

Paul called Clay a "hypocrite" for being an attorney and playing a game like The Mole, causing Clay to go on the offensive.  He labeled Paul an "uneducated, incompetent moron."  Paul continued to curse and asked Clay if he wanted to step outside of the van.  Clay declined the offer but threw Paul's precious lemon at the back of his head.

"At that point all I wanted to do was tear his throat out," commented Paul.

Clay eventually switched vans with Kristen and the conflict was solved for the time being.

The next morning in Mendoza the players met Jon for their next mission -- "Travelers."  Split into teams of two and using a specific form of transportation, each team would have 45 minutes to travel five-and-a-half miles to a statute.  For each team that reached the statute, $10,000 would be added to the pot.

Since there are seven players remaining, Jon designated one of them as the "transportation captain."  He based the decision on the first player who used the word "exemption" that morning at breakfast, meaning the position fell to Craig. 

He would be responsible for choosing the teams and the mode of transportation each would use.  If none of the teams reached the statute, Craig would claim exemption and no money would be added to the pot.

"I was going for the exemption, so I wanted to make it very difficult on everybody," said Craig.  "I actually wanted to make it very humorous."

While he had such transportation options as mopeds and bikes, Craig followed through with his plan.  He made Alex dress like a conquistador who had to pull a donkey he could not ride -- and paired Alex with Mark, who would have to wear a scuba diver outfit complete with flippers.  Clay was given a unicycle and paired with Kristen, who was on stilts.  Nicole and Paul were paired and given a lama costume -- with Nicole acting as the head and Paul the ass.

Before the mission even began Mark immediately opted out and said he wouldn't do.

"That's suspicious," said Craig.

However he wasn't alone, as Kristen and Paul also decided against even trying the mission.

"As a group, we didn't really think ahead," opined Alex.  "Maybe there's another aspect to this mission.  Maybe there's something a mile down the road -- another form of transportation.  We didn't even think, 'Maybe there's a loophole?'"

Craig and Jon positioned themselves at the halfway point -- presumably indicating there was some sort of twist like Alex predicted.

"I figured there was some sort of twist," said Craig, who was pleased when the other players never arrived and he left for the statute with Jon. 

The six players subsequently arrived at the finish line in their van sans their modes of transportation, and Kristen informed Jon it was a "collective" decision to do so.  Craig got the exemption and no money went into the pot, which still stood at $177,000.

"When you really break it down, yeah there was mole activity," said Clay.  "I could be in a coalition with the mole right now."

That night at dinner Craig took the blame for playing more "cutthroat" then he normally would after everyone showed sympathy for him when he was sick and he replayed the favor by making the last mission seemingly impossible to complete without a twist.

The Mole's fifth fifth-season quiz then took place the next night -- with each of the seven remaining players answering 10 questions about the mole and six doing so sans their journal. The player who scored the lowest on the quiz would be executed and would be required to leave the game immediately.

The 10 questions on the fifth quiz were is the mole male or female; from Jon's perspective, where was the mole chained from left to right in the "All for One" mission; when did the mole grab the key in "All for One;" did the mole get inside of a sleeping bag during the "All for One" mission; what was the mole wearing during the "Travelers" mission;  what form of transportation was originally assigned to the mole during "Travelers;" who was the mole paired with during "Travelers;" where was the mole sitting at breakfast before the "Travelers" mission clockwise from Jon; has the mole had an exemption to date; and who is the mole.

For the second quiz in a row, Jon informed the players that two players had tied -- meaning the player with the slowest time on the quiz would be executed.  The difference this time was a mere one second.

Jon then revealed Alex and Paul were safe before giving Kristen the boot.

Due to The Bachelorette's fourth-season finale next week, The Mole's next fifth-season episode will air on Monday, July 14 at 10PM ET/PT on ABC.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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