MovieChat Forums > The Mole (2000) Discussion > SHAUN!!!!!!!!!!! (Spoilers)

SHAUN!!!!!!!!!!! (Spoilers)

posted 11 years ago by budarc
10 replies | jump to latest

I have a soft spot for Shaun. Maybe it's because he's the underdog and all the other, more attractive players have been conspiring against him from the beginning. I'm really sad to see him go. Even though I absolutely abhorred his behavior when he was introduced in the very first challenge, he earned my respect and became the player I wanted to win the game most. The problem is that he was eliminated from most players' minds as being the mole very early on. It was clear he was playing the game and trying his hardest to win. Unfortunately, this means that the four contestants that remain are Sam, Hillal, Aisha and Erin, and I don't care about any of them. Like episode #6.15, I find myself drawn away from the show once more.

The mole is definitely Erin. There's no doubt in my mind anymore. I was watching her closely this entire episode, and she's a terrible actor who acts phony throughout (just watch her feign excitement when she's not "eliminated"). Also, Shaun made it VERY clear that his number one suspect was Aisha, and now he's out of the game. My worst fear now is that Sam is going to clinch the game. He knows it's one of the girls, and by process of simple elimination, he's going to figure it out. Erin has done deliberate sabotage these last few games, beginning with the challenge where they had to spell "LIAR" in the sand (she clearly screwed that up on purpose). This latest, convoluted game with the winch was laughably manipulated by Erin. She claimed she couldn't hear Aisha shouting at her to tell Shaun to shut up, but she heard Aisha fine later on during the challenge. Also, Erin KNEW Shaun was breaking the rules, and she didn't do anything to stop him. In retrospect, it's so completely obvious. I'm disappointed it's Erin, it seems like a very unoriginal choice. I was hoping it would be Shaun or Hillal (the least likely choices), but now it's crystal clear that it's Erin. You were right, diejws. (Die Jews?)

By the way, Hillal's color commentary during Shaun's bowling was hilarious. Out of the players that remain, I hope it's either Hillal or Aisha who get the gold. I never forgave Sam for losing that $70,000 for the ultimate exemption, so I don't think it's fair if he wins the game because of it (then again, it would be appropriate, since he just ended up losing money for himself). Unfortunately, as of right now, it looks as though it's going to be Erin as the mole, and Sam as the winner. Only two more episodes remain and I'm losing interest fast.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

No, those are my initials along with a moniker I used to use. Maybe it wasn't well thought out.

Erin has been one of my prime suspects since the beginning. There may be obvious choices now, but the producers wouldn't have known that at the beginning. If Hillal or Shaun were the Mole, they would've done more things to lose money, making us view them as suspicious. Then we might be in the same situation, wondering why the producers didn't choose the less suspicious candidate (possibly being Erin in that case).

Sam took the ultimate exception for $70,000 AU, but if you remember, Shaun bid about $55,000 AU for it. Is that really any better? I don't hate Sam for doing that (as long as he's not the Mole); what I do hate is that the producers designed that challenge to lose tons of money. Sam has said multiple times that the money isn't important to him and that he just wants to stay in the game. He had an easy way to get him past the next few rounds, and he took it. It might be a little selfish if he doesn't win because he lost a lot of money for eventual winner, but that's not his priority.

I'm happy to be rid of Shaun's tantrums. There was an argument between him and Sam or Hillal almost every episode.

I'm fine with any of the three potential winners remaining, but I do hope a little more that Hillal wins.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

As soon as Sam lost his freebies, I knew he was out of the game. It was completely justified, so I wasn't surprised at all. I did notice that after he was terminated, he said to Erin, "Well played." I'm pretty sure he picked Erin, but as Shura mentioned, time was definitely a factor in this test, so Hillal clinched it with the Go Mole win.

The final three are all strong choices, and I'm still completely convinced Erin is the mole (just look at her fake tears during the termination). Figuring out the winner is a harder matter; for some reason, I think it's going to be Hillal, although I'd love to see Aisha win it. The girls looked especially beautiful in this episode.

Funniest Hillal line of the episode (after Sam wins the maze challenge): "You've got a straw in your mouth - unbelievable."

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I think the Mole is the most obvious this season than in any of the others I've watched (to me at least).

I think both Hillal and Aisha suspect Erin as the Mole. Hillal would have more reason to suspect Aisha than Aisha would have to suspect Hillal. Because of that, I'd say that Aisha would be less subject to wavering in her choice than Hillal, so she might have an advantage.

It might have been a bad idea for Sam to rush the final quiz when he had said on camera that he intended to take it slow and steady. Just getting one more question right can completely disregard any time consideration that would have arisen in case of a tie. The questions that we've been privy to seem pretty straightforward, though, so I don't know how much good taking his time would've done him.

Is there just one more episode left? In the previews, it showed everyone coming back to, presumably, somehow participate in a challenge. Are they not going to have a special episode to reveal the Mole, have interviews, and go over what the Mole had done to sabotage the challenges? The fact that everyone is coming back next episode makes me think not, but I hope they do that--or have an extra long episode.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Yeah, I'm hoping for a double episode, too. If it is the last episode, they're not making much of a hoopla about it, that's for sure. American TV would be selling the hell out of it. I'm not sure if the source is accurate, but Wikipedia lists the finale as being 10/16, so it sure doesn't look like we'll have much time for recap and resolution. Of course, like you said, this seems like the most obvious winner yet (and you called it way, way ahead of me), so they probably won't have to reveal much of the methods to the madness. Of course, if it actually turns out to be Aisha instead of Erin or something, my head will be spinning.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

If it does turn out to be Aisha, then I'll be shocked. I would like it to be her, though, simply because it would be surprising. However, I'm so certain it's Erin that I'd bet money on it.

I guess we'll find out shortly.

Edit: Looking through the comments on the latest post on the Facebook page, it seems a good number of people suspect both Aisha and Hillal as the mole. That seems SO strange to me, but I'm going to remain steadfast on Erin.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

You called it, buddy!

Either the Australians on the Facebook page are idiots, or they really wanted to believe it was the least obvious choice (there may be some "official" plants on there to throw people off as well). This finale episode was a joke (less than 10 minutes of recap!), because it was made perfectly clear that Hillal and Aisha suspected Erin, but they never say who Erin thought it was (during the final quiz, she's still flip-flopping between the two of them: THERE'S NO WAY SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT FAR IN THE GAME IF SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF IT WAS MALE OR FEMALE). That's the other dead giveaway; if Erin was a regular contestant, there's absolutely no chance she would have gotten to the final three with her ditzy and naive attitude.

That being said, you also guessed the winner correctly. As happy as I am for Hillal (I guess Allah was in his favor), I felt extremely bad for Aisha as she was holding back her tears at the end of the game. However, Hillal did something that I've never seen done before in any of these programs -- he offered to give some money to Aisha, which I think is a super-awesome and generous thing for the winner to do. So kudos on his win.

Despite my many problems with this version of the game (let's face it, the 21 episodes made it all the more easier to expose the weaknesses of the format and figure out the identity the mole), I'm really, really going to miss the show, man. What's more, I've developed an enormous crush on Aisha, and now I won't be able to get my Aisha-fix. At the very least, I've got the two seasons of The Mole UK and seasons 1-5 of The Mole Australia downloaded and at the ready. It's been fun speculating with you, pal! I'll see you on the next message board. ;)

P.S. I laughed so hard during Shaun's last-ditch effort to mole! It was a pretty petty move, but hilarious nonetheless.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

Yep, it was fun. I hope the show is renewed. Overall, the changes spiced things up a lot. I do think the season was too long, but the staggered quizzes kept things interesting. I also took issue with the number of exemptions/freebies, but I won't go into that again.

I liked the finale quite a lot actually. The area where they take the final sit down quiz was quite picturesque. It did everything I wanted except for one thing. I would've liked to have seen the whole cast together with them at the end. Their reactions would've been great. Since they were already there to begin with, they could have done talking heads for their reactions, at the very least.

If viewers didn't know who the Mole was going into the finale, they should've by the time it ended. Erin kept seeming more and more suspicious throughout the episode, especially in the quiz like you mentioned.

We never did find out who stole the $3,000 dollars and Hillal's last freebie, right? Was this the Mole, another contestant, or the producers?

I'm happy with the way it ended. Aisha would be a good winner, too, but I don't think she would've shared any money with the runner up as Hillal suggested he would.

It was good talking with you about the series! If it comes back, we'll have to pop back in here again. If any of those other seasons appear worthwhile, let me know. The quality can vary quite a bit.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

We never did find out who stole the $3,000 dollars and Hillal's last freebie, right? Was this the Mole, another contestant, or the producers?

That's an excellent question and something I was hoping the finale would address. They have cameras on the contestants the whole time, so why wouldn't they reveal what happened when all is said and done? I think the $3,000 was just a miscount and a possible mole attempt (Nick said when he went to count it back, the $3,000 was still there), but they never reveal what happened to Hillal's missing freebie (which he testified under the polygraph that he didn't know, yet we also never found out which answers were lies either)...

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I suppose I don't understand why Nick would tell the camera that it had gone missing without his knowledge if he were just moling. He told the camera that, when it mysteriously returned, he put it in Hillal's and Sam's bathroom to stir up a fuss. So it didn't seem like he was instructed to keep his Mole behavior secret to the viewers at home in order to drive up more suspicion on him. It just seems strange is all.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Yeah, but as I recall, when they were counting the money the first time, Shaun and Sam were also helping. It was only when Nick went back and counted it on his own that he realized that the money was all there. Then he snuck it into Sam/Hillal's medicine cabinet to arouse suspicion. It's possible it could have just been a horrible miscount the first time, or somebody stole/restored it, or possibly one of them were moling when they were totaling it up. The whole situation with Hillal's missing freebie is more suspect to me, because nobody could have benefited from it (unless it honestly got lost somewhere in transit).