Whoo, this is like the millionth Mole post on this page! (There's only so much Office news right now - well, they start filming on Monday hallelujah spoilers!!!!! - and the summer movies either all look terrible, or I saw them already) I'll be playing Devil's advocate here, where I name ways the players were sabotaging/being helpful in missions, and then offer a way they could have been, in fact, doing the opposite. Please note that some of the explanations may be inconsistent or wildly hypothetical, but I was trying to think of any way to defend/attack a player's actions. A few counterpoints may even have counterpoints. I tried to stay away from the "he was trying to fake being suspicious/he was being merciful on the group" explanation, but sometimes it was too hard to do that. Here we goooo, first with our resident rotund Californian.
CRAIG
Over the Falls: missed his bag
But so did at least three other players who aren't the Mole.
Robinson Crusoe: a Scavenger. He was shown not really trying and bringing back items that were mostly useless, including the Mole sign. If he was going to bring back items that were blatantly not the right ones, surely there were items that were easier to carry. He was shown kicking sand onto something - maybe he was hiding a correct item?
But it's hard to tell from the editing who brought back what correct items (and the kicking sand could have totally be an editing thing), so he could have brought back something correct. Alex, Bobby, and Clay didn't seem too useful at being a Scavenger either, and they can actually run. Nicole was the one who assigned him to run around the beach, and he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition.
Race to the Summit: played soccer, and was terrible at it. There were several shots where you could see everyone gathered around the ball and he was off in the background, not even trying. The one thing I could see he actually did during the game was score a goal on Team Mole. He was incredibly slow in getting up the hill to the gondola.
But once again, he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition. In defense of him hanging back, he might have been playing defense and trying not to interfere with the other, better players. Scoring a goal might have been a genuine mistake.
When Pigs Fly: was, once again, awful at running, but most of the blame fell on Bobby (note that even when Kristen was pushing Bobby around in a wheelbarrow, Craig was still far behind them). He was the one that suggested Bobby get into the wheelbarrow. His team got to the town long after the other two teams and brought back no pigs. He seemed to be wandering around randomly while Kristen was genuinely looking for pigs.
But he fixed the slingshot when Alex was launching it incorrectly. Maybe he was wandering around looking for other places where pigs could be.
Fruit of the Luge: he correctly told the order of fruits to his partner, Victoria, who put down the correct 7/7, but they both talked repeatedly after crossing the finish line, causing their answers to be disqualified
Bobby and Clay also talked, and we know they're not the Mole. It may have been a genuine mistake.
But Clay, who was blindfolded, and who may have not felt the finish line, just asked a quick question and Bobby told him "stop!" Craig, who was not blindfolded, actively encouraged Victoria to chant the order of fruits after the finish line.
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and made it to the restaurant on time. He also found the laundromat where everyone's clothes were, and took them to the restaurant with him.
Was he told where the laundromat was ahead of time by the production crew? Also, if he was the Mole, he sabotaged even that part of the mission in a pretty subtle way: he took everyone's clothes, making it impossible for any groups that passed by to get their clothes from there.
But that seems like something I would have done automatically, too.
Midas Rush: He was on the Selfless team, carrying more bricks. His team made it to the top with 34 bricks and 30 seconds to go. If he was the Mole, he would have been able to waste those 30 seconds easily.
But he did stop a lot.
But he can't be blamed for stopping in his physical condition.
Who Said That: wasn't there due to his hypothermia, costing his team an automatic $2000.
Even if he is the Mole, I don't think his medical issue was faked.
But even though he wasn't there, we heard his laugh as the team headed off to the journal burn and over the image of the journals actually burning in the recap episode.
We heard a weird baby crying noise over Mark's face, too.
All for One: no suspicious behavior. Left first because of his medical condition.
If he's the Mole, by leaving early, was he counting on the other players mentally breaking down due to the high stress level of the challenge, causing them all to suspect each other?
Travelers: chosen to assign transportation because he said "exemption" first at breakfast, in a really strange, out-of-context way. He assigned completely impossible transportation, leaving the group's morale to break down and not even try the mission.
But who would have done anything different? At least he did it in a really, really funny way.
Grapes of Cache: Thinker. He was basically useless in solving the problems, including blindly agreeing with Nicole when she got questions wrong.
Maybe he genuinely didn't know. He did get one question.
Swing Out: jumped, missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: miscalculated numbers in a strange way (55+6=56?). When they had incorrectly entered the numbers into the computer and were given extra time, Clay came up with the correct way of figuring out the right number, but Craig calculated the wrong number (232 instead of 233). When he had to enter the new number, he hesitated as much as possible, asking "231? 232?" repeatedly.
All his calculating errors could have been genuine mistakes. If he was the Mole, he could have wasted those few seconds at the computer.
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior
He wasn't chosen as anyone's "most trusted player," not giving him an opportunity to sabotage there, and he wouldn't have given up a chance to see his loved one.
Looking over these, Craig looks awfully suspicious. I said a lot of this stuff in my post covering the widget/text clues, but it bears repeating. He's sabotaged missions in ways he can blame on his physicality, and ways he can't. Mark and Paul have suspected him since Episode 1, and they're both still in and seem confident in their games. His friendship with Bobby was featured in Episode 3, which was the episode Bobby went home (he probably trusted Craig, so he wouldn't answer him for any of the quizzes). In Episode 4, Victoria had an entire conversation about how she didn't think Craig was the Mole... and then she was executed (to be fair, the same thing happened to Alex). Craig hasn't been shown making any coalitions, and it's not due to people disliking him because of his personality like could be the case with Nicole and Paul... I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't be fair if the Mole was allowed to make coalitions (if they were asked, sure).
Still - is he too obvious? Bobby seemed to be sabotaging missions based on his physicality, and we know he wasn't. Maybe he's the only one that's really picked up on the fact that Nicole/Paul/Mark is the Mole, and he's been trying to throw the others off the real Mole's scent by being ultra suspicious? Or... maybe... not...
