A snazzy video package recaps the season and all that happened. Suspicious activity began from players from the very beginning, but little by little they began to leave, with Marcie, Liz, Ali, Bobby, and Victoria no wiser to the Mole's identity. The game took its toll as the players entered the Andes, with Craig suffering health problems, and Mark a mental breakdown when his lifeline, his journal, went up in smoke. Kristen's execution meant Nicole was the only woman left in the game, and Alex soon joined Kristen among the ranks of the eliminated. Clay quickly followed suit as well. After Mark secured the game's final exemption, the remaining players were left Paul-free for the final round.

Craig, Mark and Nicole pushed the pot over $400,000 in the Tick Tock Boom mission, but in Three to Tango, it was every man or woman for themselves, and Mark secured the potentially valuable Mole dossier, which may have given him an edge on the final quiz.

Jon Kelley welcomes us to the season finale of The Mole. It's been twelve weeks since Craig, Mark and Nicole took that final quiz in Buenos Aires. The results are in. They're in three sealed rooms opposite the nine eliminated players. Soon, we'll all find out who has won the game, and who is the Mole.

Each of the final three has had their suspicious moments. Here's a look at just some of them.

NICOLE

Nicole says "green apple" twice during Fruit of the Luge, leading Alex to place two of them and keep $12,000 from potentially being added to the pot.

Nicole goes back to the park in the Go Figure mission, only to return with an obviously incorrect replacement for their one wrong answer.

CRAIG

Craig conspicuously continues talking well after the finish line in Fruit of the Luge, despite being clearly told not to.

Craig gives his teammates an absolutely impossible task in the Travelers mission, keeping $30,000 from being added to the pot.

MARK

Mark selfishly goes for an exemption in the Race to the Summit, keeping $35,000 from being added to the pot.

Mark opts out of the Dress Code mission once outside, despite immediately dropping his robe inside the spa when the rules were revealed.

Before the winner and Mole are revealed, a video package is dedicated to one of the game's most outspoken players, Bobby.

Bobby says he's been a fan of the show ever since it started, and being a fan of the show gives him a leg up on other people. He even bragged about his physical prowess in his application video. He's shown running up the steps in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, just like in the movie Rocky.

But sadly, this was not to be, as he had extreme physical problems during his short stay in the game. Many of the other players noticed this and either found it suspicious or just plain annoying. Bobby believed shortly before his execution that there was nowhere to go but up. 'Fraid not.

Jon asks Bobby what the problem was. He gives the same sort of non-answer he gave during the game.

Okay, what the crap was the point of that? There's so much you can do on a finale show, and so little time in which to do it. This is probably one hundredth on a list of fifty things I'd want to see in the finale show. And right before the reveal? Are you kidding me? Bad, bad, bad decision.

It's now time to find out the winner of $420,000. Jon has three keys, key cards like in a hotel, and he'll give one to each player. Only the winner's key will actually open their door.

It's time to meet the winner. Jon places a key into a slot in each player's door. The players insert the cards.

One door opens.

It's...

MARK's door!!!

Mark has won $420,000!

He's understandably overcome with the emotion of the moment. He says he's shocked and humbled. He again mentions his motivation for playing, to let his wife be a stay-at-home mom. The nine eliminated players stand and cheer. Nicole and Craig don't look as happy behind their doors.

Now it's time to find out who is the Mole. Jon has the Mole key. Since Mark knows who the Mole is, he'll be the one to unleash the Mole. Mark inserts the key and the door opens.

It's Craig's door!

Craig is the Mole!!!

Thank you, thank you everyone, please, please, you're too kind, no applause...

The players applaud. Paul looks pissed. Craig complements Mark, saying he was built for the game and was very strong in all aspects of the game.

Nicole is at last released from her room.

Why???

A video package dedicated to Nicole is shown. From the very beginning, she had an up-front, in-your-face attitude that rubbed most people the wrong way. She absolutely refused to sleep outside the first night. Her strategy was clear - get people upset and draw suspicion to herself with odd behavior. Paul's confession mocking Nicole's "circumventing the rules" from episode one is played, and everyone but Nicole laughs. In her own words, her strategy was to be annoyed at everything and draw suspicion to herself while at the same time trying to discover who the Mole really was.

And by the start of the Crusoe mission, this seems to have worked. She was unanimously, and emphatically, voted the group's biggest whiner, and made to stay on the beach that night. But, of course, this ended up in working her favor.

Paul and Nicole seemed to be mortal enemies from the start, despite employing very similar strategies. Paul specifically noted that people seem to be afraid of loud, exuberant, Italian New Yorkers, so he played to that, and found it to be a strength. Paul suspected Craig immediately, and tried to divert attention from him. Alex is shown telling Paul he suspects Craig, and Paul tells him "there's no way."

But of course, Nicole took everything Paul threw at her and fired shots of her own. She seems embarrassed that the "I'ma kill you while you sleep" clip is replayed.

In the van, Paul plays to the death threat, trying to convince the others Nicole was certifiably crazy. Ali and Kristen both bought into the hype.

Meanwhile, Nicole thought Bobby was the Mole. She didn't want her When Pigs Fly group to hand over their pigs to Kristen, Bobby, and Craig, afraid that the Mole would accidentally-on purpose do something with them.

A true "blind squirrel" moment.

When Bobby was executed, thanks to Paul's trash-talking and misdirection, Nicole needed a new suspect. She settled on Victoria. Nicole's quiz-taking skills helped her pass the next few rounds, as she played the odds and targeted Kristen, Alex, and Craig. Once Kristen and Alex were executed, Nicole was confident she had found the Mole in Craig. She still wasn't positive, though, and honestly contemplated purposely failing the quiz after her mother suggested it to her. Her pride eventually won out, and she took the quiz to win, staying in the game.

When Mark won the game's final exemption, the last execution was a head-to-head battle between archrivals Nicole and Paul. They both knew Craig was the Mole and tied on that quiz, but since Nicole was four seconds faster in taking it, she made it to the final round and Paul had to go home.

When Mark won the Three to Tango mission and chose to view the Mole dossier, Nicole's confidence went through the floor.

Nicole's cunning and strategy got her through to the final round of the game, where she ultimately finished runner-up to Mark's meticulousness and passion.

Nicole says Paul's strategy of basically being a jackass almost worked, because she seriously considered throwing the quiz. Jon asks Paul what it feels like to know he was the only one on to the Mole from the outset and not win. He can't formulate a coherent sentence. He eventually says he knew it from the very beginning and never wavered. Craig tried to convince him at one point that the Mole was Mark, but Paul wouldn't buy it. He calls the four second time gap in the tie "a dagger to the heart."

Next is a video package dedicated to the game's winner, Mark, a very, very lucky man...

Mark had a strong motivation to win the game. He formed a coalition with Clay almost immediately. They targeted Victoria. At the fourth execution, there was a three-way tie among Alex, Mark, and Victoria. Craig was one of Victoria's suspects, but as she was rushing through the quiz, she mistakenly hit a wrong answer, and fell into the tie. As we already know, the time difference in that execution was only five seconds. If not for that simple mistake with the mouse, Victoria would have been safe and Mark would have been executed.

Are you kidding me?!?!?

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go away, I need a minute.

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Dammit, I said give me a minute!

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Son of a bitch!!!!!

The players are all shocked to hear this, but this isn't even the half of it.

When Mark's journal was burned, he broke down emotionally. Eventually, though, he did recover, and get back on track. An unaired confession has Mark telling us he's also been missing his family greatly, and he's been being a putz. This gets a big laugh from all the players.

Mark and Clay rolled on, and they targeted Kristen. At the next execution, Mark was again in a tie with the executed player. He and Clay, though they were somewhat beginning to suspect one another, needed a new suspect. Clay mentioned to Mark that Nicole had been acting suspiciously the entire game. Fortunately for the two of them, Alex was also suspecting Nicole, and he was executed next.

At the execution after that, Clay was executed, and MARK TIED WITH THE EXECUTED PLAYER FOR A THIRD TIME!!!

Left alone, Mark was confused. He entertained the notion that he, Clay, Craig, and Paul all knew that Nicole was the Mole and Clay simply was eliminated on time. After spending some quality time with his wife, Mark was renewed to win the game for his family. He knew he had to win the game's final exemption, and he did just that. When Paul was executed, there were only two suspects left, and Mark had a huge decision to make. After Alex was executed, Clay told Mark he had voted a straight ticket for Nicole in the last quiz. If this was the truth, it would explain Clay's execution in the following round, meaning Craig had to be the Mole. But could Mark trust Clay this one last time?

Mark ultimately chose to trust Clay's words, a decision that went on to make him a very rich man. The Mole himself calls Mark the perfect mix of athleticism, brains, and paranoia.

Mark's game was full of near misses, but his attention to detail and motivation to win for his family won him all the money.

The players applaud for their winner. Jon asks Mark how it feels to know he was so close to execution so many times. Mark says he knew he tied with Clay and with Kristen. He says Clay was his sanity in the game and talked him off the ledge several times. Alex joshingly tells Clay he should have pushed him.

Mark and Nicole both say they thought they lost on the final quiz. Jon reveals that the Mole dossier from the Three to Tango mission contained the answer to just one question on the final quiz, and it's a question that both of them got right anyway. Mark seems okay having sacrificed that $75,000 for no real gain. Jon reveals that Nicole got 13 questions right on the final quiz, and Mark got 17.

Craig says he kept Mark off his trail by being his friend, and leading him to believe that he was harmless and needing help. Jon asks Victoria about the one slip up that cost her. She's understandably upset, though her lovely smile hides it well. She says she had a gut feeling that she was going to be executed that night, especially knowing there was a tie. Jon reveals that on that quiz, four people selected her as the Mole.

Okay, I'm like, bawling here..... :'(

The Confession of the Mole

Craig: "My strategy was to be the fun, lovable guy. Everybody was completely underestimating me, not even thinking that I had the ability to be the Mole. I think I looked like I was trying, I just couldn't do it very well.

"I was told 'drop the bag,' and that was it. It really wasn't that hard.

FLASHBACK to the Over the Falls mission in episode one, where Craig intentionally misses his bag. The other players don't blame him for it at all, and actually praise him for simply trying.

FLASHBACK to the Crusoe mission later that same episode, where Craig kicked sand on the tobacco tin and told everyone there was nothing the rocks he searched, even though the copper tea kettle was there.

FLASHBACK to the Race to the Summit, where Craig displayed a little quick thinking, after he was unable to, as instructed, be an uphill battle player.

"My backup sabotage was to slow down the team as much as possible."

FLASHBACK to the When Pigs Fly mission later that same episode, where Craig tells Bobby to sit in the wheelbarrow.

"We wasted a lot of time looking for those pigs with Bobby in the wheelbarrow. We didn't even have a place to put 'em if we found 'em.

FLASHBACK to the Fruit of the Luge mission, where Craig continues talking well past the finish line, but all the suspicion for this seems to fall on Victoria.

"Everybody immediately started thinking, 'Who made us not want to do this?' And Mark was the most vocal.

FLASHBACK to the Travelers mission, where Craig makes his most blatant sabotage, but amazingly suspicion seems to fall on Mark for the group's failure.

"I was shocked that no one thought I was the Mole after Travelers. I thought my cover was blown, and that was probably the most stressful time for me.

Only Paul chose Craig as the Mole on that night's quiz.

FLASHBACK to the How's the View? mission, where Craig goads Nicole into breaking a rule, and performs poorly in the children's games.

"In Cell Out, I was actually given the answer to the doublet. But I didn't want to make it too obvious. Mark just got out faster than anyone could have imagined. It really just speaks to his ability as a player.

FLASHBACK to Cell Out, where Craig purposely gets shot.

"I had to take mercy on the players, because we had to get this pot up!

FLASHBACK to the Tick Tock Boom mission, which Craig not only did not sabotage, he actually guided Mark and Nicole to victory, since he was given the answers ahead of time.

"Everyone kind of suspects large guys to not be that smart, so I used that to my advantage. Letting everyone believe that I wasn't as smart as they were made them underestimate me more. I had 'em right where I wanted 'em."

Jon calls Craig shifty. Craig thanks the other eleven for being good sports. He says he had an amazing time, and they all added to it. Jon asks Mark what made Craig such a good Mole. Mark says it was his friendliness, and that made you think he couldn't be the Mole, and that his physical problems would explain any conceivable sabotage. Paul would have wanted to see Craig play the game as a player, and Craig says he wouldn't have done a thing differently. Victoria says that on a scale of 1 to 10, Craig as the Mole was a 100.

Jon brings up Craig's ambulance ride from the Midas Rush mission. Craig says it was 100% legit, and he really was quite sick for several days after that. Only a few people working on the show knew he was the Mole, and, looking back on it now, Craig finds it a little amusing how terrified they were for those few days. He was told to just be a player for that mission, and he's proud of himself for succeeding.

Jon asks Marcie, the first executed player, if she ever even considered that Craig could have been the Mole. Understandably, having been the first to go home, this thought never really entered Marcie's mind.

Jon leads the players in giving the Mole a big round of applause.

The Clues

There were some hidden clues to the Mole's identity this season. Some were deeply hidden for Mole fanatics; some were so obvious anyone at home should have noticed them. Here's the rundown of the game's hidden clues.

The episode one clue was the Mole himself bringing over the message from the Mole.

Weak.

In episode two, there was a one-frame clue in the outer space sequence that spelled out the words "NOT ALI," telling us that there would not be a third consecutive model to be the Mole.

In episode three, a nine digit number appeared in the opening titles that did not appear any other time. The number was 619262362. 619, 262, and 362, are, respectively, the area codes of San Diego, Mukwonago, and Chicago, the hometowns of the game's final three players.

In episode four, there were three out-of-place noises that pointed to the identity, again, of the final three players. As Craig is taken away in the ambulance, a school bell is heard, echoing Mark's profession as a teacher. Later, during Who Said That?, a baby's cry is heard, echoing Nicole's profession as an OBGYN doctor. Later still, as the players leave the Who Said That? dinner, Craig's distinctive laugh is heard, despite the fact that he wasn't present at that dinner.

In episode five, during the All for One mission, there is writing on the wall behind Mark. It's the letters "CRG."

CRG? Are you kidding me?

During the recap episode, each of the first five week's clues, were replayed, and there was an additional clue in the outer space sequence at the beginning. The latitude and longitude of San Diego, California, the Mole's hometown, were hidden in the lower-left corner of the screen.

In episode six, there were two sculptures of the letter "i" behind Clay in each of his confessions, except when he speculated about the identity of the Mole. In that confession, the image behind him was digitally manipulated to not be two "i"s, but four. "Four eyes" is a nickname for someone who wears glasses. Craig is the only bespectacled player.

All right, that's more like it.

In episode seven, after Paul's wife and daughter pull into the train station, the Mole thumbprint appears and contains the words "ROJA CORBATA" which means "RED TIE" in Spanish.

Okay, I've got to throw a fit here. With simple adjectives like colors, they come after the noun in Spanish, not before it like in English. Apparently there was no one on the production staff who had ever taken ninth grade Spanish. And they filmed in a Spanish-speaking country for how long? This is just ridiculous. "Roja" does mean "red" and "corbata" does mean "tie," so "roja corbata" word-for-word is "red tie," but that's not how that would be said in natural Spanish. Not at all. It's "corbata roja."

Craig wore a red tie to the train station for that mission. He also wore it at several executions, including the one from that episode.

In week eight, the clue comes in the form of the final execution. When Paul was executed as the first name called, it sealed the fact that Craig's name was never once called at the execution.

At first I thought this was a pretty lame clue, and I guess I still do, but there was really no other reason for them to never call Craig.

In episode nine, there was a hidden audio clue. The words "Craig buried Paul" were played backwards. Craig buried Paul the previous week, because he is the Mole.

There is one last surprise. Jon tells Mark there's someone to see him. Mark hopes it's not an IRS agent, and the players laugh at that.

It's actually his wife, Brenda. She gets the happy news that he won the game. He tells her that his motivation was to let her just be a mom.

He says he was very fortunate in the game and had to win at the expense of ten other people, but they applaud him and say he deserved it.

And with that, the summer's biggest whodunit has come to a close.