Marcie Ciscel becomes the first 'The Mole' fifth-season player executed

Marcie was initially suspected of being The Mole's saboteur, until the 31-year-old stay-at-home mom from Corona, CA became the first player executed from the show's fifth season during last night's premiere broadcast on ABC.


"It was an amazing opportunity and it was challenging -- extremely challenging -- mentally and physically," said Marcie after her ouster.  "I'm okay... I mean it would be great to stay, but I'm ready to go home."

The Mole's fifth-season premiere began with the 12 players meeting host Jon Kelley at the Salto del Laja Waterfall in Los Angeles, Chile.  Before their first mission, Jon had each of the players select who they suspected was the mole via secret ballot after only meeting one another during initial introductions.  The majority of the players thought Marcie was the mole.

"When Jon said the players think I'm The Mole, I was happy," said Marcie.  "You want to try to make people think that you are The Mole."

Jon the revealed that for the next 24 hours, Marcie would be making all the decision for the entire group -- with her first coming during the mission.


For their first mission, each player would get on a raft one at a time, navigate it downstream and eventually over the edge of the waterfall.  Hanging off the edge of the fall was a burlap sack, which each player would have to attempt to grab before they went over.

Six of the sacks would contain $10,000, while the other six would contain nothing.  Marcie would decide which players' sacks contained money and which had nothing.

Alex, a 31-year-old musician from Haverford, PA, went first and had a hard time steering his raft and he couldn't grab his sack. Ali, a 24-year-old model from St. Louis, MO, faired slightly better as she had a grasp on her sack, but ultimately couldn't haul it in.  Clay, a 32-year-old criminal litigation attorney from Philadelphia, PA, said he was "disappointed" Ali couldn't grab it before he was the first player to succeed.

It started a string of success for the players, as Kristen, a 35-year-old neuroscientist from Santa Monica, CA; Bobby, a 25-year-old restaurant manager from Philadelphia, PA; and Liz, a retired 61-year-old from Whitefish, MT, were all able to grab their sacks before Paul, a 29-year-old machinist from Yonkers, NY; Victoria, a 26-year-old retail manager from Bishop, TX; and Craig, a 30-year-old graphic designer San Diego, CA, missed.

The players ended on a high note, as Mark, a 42-year-old high school history teacher and soccer coach from Mukwonago, WI, and Nicole, a 32-year-old OBGYN doctor from Chicago, IL, both successfully grabbed their sacks.


Jon then revealed which sacks Marcie had put money in and which contained nothing but worthless paper.  Nicole, Kristen, Bobby and Liz' sacks all contained paper and were worth nothing, while Clay and Mark's sack each contained money -- brining the pot to $20,000.  Since Nicole, Bobby and Kristen were a few of the more athletic players, suspicions continued to swirl that Marcie was The Mole.
 
After Jon provided each of the players with their journals -- which they would use to take notes and observations that could then be used for the quizzes -- he explained that eight of the players would be spending the night in a cabin, while the other four would sleep outside.  Marcie chose Nicole, Liz, Craig and Bobby to sleep outside.

Nicole was immediately "very annoyed" with Marcie decision.  Since the rules stated she had to sleep where she was assigned, Nicole thought she found a "circumvention" when she opted to buck the rules and just stay awake all night.  She stuck to her plan and didn't sleep all night.

The next morning, Paul approached Marcie with the hopes of forming a coalition.

"For some reason, I had a gut feeling that Marcie was the person I needed to have my coalition with," he said.  "Coalitions are important for sharing information and misleading people."

Marcie accepted Paul's offer with the stipulation that she'd kill him if he was player her.


"Being a mom and having kids has been helpful in this game because I can look into players' faces like I look into my kids' faces," said Marcie.  "When they're not telling you the truth, I can tell."

Once the players received the clue for their next mission, they were given two vans to travel to their next location -- with Paul wanting to drive one and Alex the other.

"Alex and Paul obviously have a coalition," said Bobby.  "It's the dumbest coalition ever I think.  Everybody knows about it.  They make it so obvious it's just ridiculous."

The 12 players then arrived for their second mission, and Jon openly asked which they thought was the "biggest whiner."  Not surprisingly, the majority answered Nicole "by a landslide vote."  Jon explained the players next mission would be based on explorer Alexander Selkirk -- who influenced the adventures of fictional character Robinson Crusoe.  Nicole would have to select six scavengers, three appraisers and two timekeepers for the mission. 

The scavengers would be responsible for collecting 45 items spread across a beach and brining them to the appraisers, who would have the task of determining which five were used by Selkirk when he was marooned in 1704. The appraisers would have three chances to guess the correct five items.  It would be the timekeepers responsibility to keep refilling a giant 10-minute hourglass -- with the mission ending after either three guess or when time expired,  Each correct item would net the players $5,000.


Since Nicole had been singled out by the group, it was her responsibility to assign the players' roles.  She chose Craig, Marcie, Alex, Bobby, Victoria and Clay as the scavengers;  Kristen, Liz and Mark as the appraisers; and Paul and Ali as the timekeepers.

The mission commenced and the scavengers scrambled to retrieve items spread across the beach and bring them to the appraisers.  Nicole's decision was immediately questioned by Craig -- who at over 300 pounds, felt he would have been better suited as an appraiser.  Bobby also raised suspicions that he could be The Mole when he was having a hard time physically getting up and down the beach.

The appraisers selected their first five items -- an antique battery, bowler hat, Bunsen burner, Victrola and goat -- but Jon informed them only one of the items was correct.  As sand drained from the hourglass and Paul and Ali had a hard time constantly refilling it, the appraisers gave it another guess with the camera, Bible, mason jar, musket and goat.  Jon informed them three of the items were correct.

With 28 of the 45 items collected and time quickly expiring, the appraisers gave it their final guess.  The musket, Bible and goat were all correct -- however the revolver and jeans were both incorrect.  The players collected $15,000 for the pot, which now contained a total of $35,000.

Jon then revealed that for the night, Nicole would be camping out on the beach while the other 11 players would be staying at a hotel.


That night, Victoria, Liz and Marcie bashed Bobby's lack of physicality during the previous mission and joked Paul and Alex were romantically involved with one another.  Meanwhile, Paul and Alex conversed -- with Paul purposely leading Alex to think that Marcie was The Mole.

"Right now Marcie is my major coalition partner," said Paul in a confessional.  "I don't believe she's The Mole.  At this point, I'm using Alex and I'm actually drawing him towards Marcie, which is a beautiful thing.  Right now, everyone sees me and Alex being buddy/buddy.  That's exactly what I want them to think."

The 11 players staying in the hotel then gathered with Jon for dinner, and Paul immediately singled out Mark as the "leading suspect" to be The Mole.

The Mole's first fifth-season quiz then took place, with each of the 11 players answering 10 questions about The Mole.  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 first quiz were is The Mole male or female; when did The Mole jump in the "Over the Falls" mission; which role did The Mole play during the Crusoe mission; where was The Mole assigned to sleep on the first night; does The Mole have an even or odd number of letters in his or her name; what is The Mole's age; what was the outcome of The Mole's jump in the "Over the Falls" mission; did The Mole drive a van to the second mission; was The Mole wearing a hat at the start of the Crusoe mission; and who is The Mole.

Once the quiz was complete, Jon revealed that since Nicole was not present she could not be executed.


"By spending the night out on the beach, you have earned the very first exemption," said Jon to Nicole via satellite before she was left alone on the beach.

Jon then revealed Ali, Victoria, Paul, Bobby and Mark were all safe before Marcie became the first player executed.

"Marcie's a good girl, and I think everyone's going to hate to see her go," said Paul.  "This is horrible.  This is what makes the game so hard."

The Mole's next fifth-season episode will air Monday, June 9 at 10PM ET/PT on ABC.






About The Author: Steven Rogers