2.11 - The Eleventh Betrayal

Once again we are on the trail of The Mole. The four remaining players are in confessional and discussing their position in the game. Bill says that the name of the game is to get into the final three and that if he has to get there with an Exemption, he will. For her part, Heather is worried about her Coalition with Dorothy, saying that she could have gotten to where she is by herself.

Al talks about how, except for his family, he has never really been lucky at anything and says that this may be his chance. For her part, all Dorothy says is "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm still here!"

The players are still in the town of L'Aquila and are given the chance to interview each other. Dorothy and Heather are together and Dorothy says that it feels good to be in the final four and that she is surprised to be there. Heather says that she is an excellent liar but both she and Dorothy deny being the Mole.

Al and Bill are interviewing each other and Al asks Bill what his strategy is. Bill laughs and says "I prefer not to answer that question." Al tells him that he plans to put all of his answers on one player but later, in an interview, tells us that he told Heather that he would split his answers between two players. "Never show your whole hand." he says.

We now leave L'Aquila for the town of Calascio. Arriving for lunch, the players find Anderson waiting for them. Anderson tells them that the game will only get harder and that there will only be one Exemption this round; the last one offered.

Dorothy immediately comments that an Exemption would be very important at this point and Al says he would even drink an entire bottle of his foot wine for an Exemption. As they talk, Anderson comments in a voice-over that "the game is about to take a strange and unexpected twist".

Anderson leaves and Kathryn Price, who was the Mole in the first Mole, appears with a package. She gives it to them, saying "Special delivery from the Mole; a preview of the treats to come."

Al starts opening the package and suddenly jumps up from his seat with a cry. The others ask what is wrong and he tells them that the package contains maggots, some of which have spilled out into his lap. Dorothy lets out an "Eeewwww" and starts to hop about nervously.

"We're going to have to eat bugs..." says Heather in horror.
"...for an Exemption." finishes Bill.

Kathryn smiles at them and leaves with the comment "Soon there will only be three. A winner, a loser... and a Mole."
"Once a Mole, always a Mole." says Bill.

Dorothy and Heather both move away from the table while Bill digs around in the package to see if there is a message inside. Dorothy is further grossed out when she sees one of the maggots swimming in her water glass. Bill asks Al if he would eat a bug to add 100 thousand to the pot. Al says no but Bill claims that he would.

When we next see our players, it is 2:00 am. Flashes of lightning illuminate strange objects; boats, dolls, a stuffed turkey, a clock, saxaphone and a toy dancer. These objects are shown to be in a room where Anderson sits waiting for the players at a table.

"Welcome to Anderson's Funhouse." he says in a strange, creepy voice as the players seat themselves around the table. "I hope you have as much fun here as I do. My mother built this house for me when I was very small."

"Do you like my dolls?" he asks, turning to Heather.
"Don't look at me like that!" she says uncomfortably. She adds that the dolls make her uncomfortable because she is afraid they will be used in "some weird game".

(Side note: Anderson is really creepy in these scenes; both his voice and his facial expressions. I would love to see him shift into that character on his CNN newscast! Also, for you trivia minded, Anderson Cooper's mother is Gloria Vanderbilt.)

Anderson then announces that they are about to play a game and that the winner will get to go back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. For the rest, "Well," he says, "we have other accomodations for you here... in Anderson's Fun House."

Anderson then starts talking to the dolls in the room in a really strange voice and Heather looks completely weirded out. Anderson suddenly stops and rubs his forehead with one hand. "I digress." he says, still in his creepy voice. "I've been under a lot of stress lately. I'm sorry."

He then shifts back to normal and explains the next game. Each player is given a chip worth 25 thousand dollars. He also has a deck of cards. He will deal each player one card. The player with the highest card will have a choice of either putting their chip into the pot or of kicking another player out of the game. The last player remaining at the table wins and gets to go back to the hotel for the night. The others get to spend the night in the Funhouse.

Dorothy comments that she isn't looking forward to this game because she knows something else will happen. Anderson deals the cards and Heather wins the first round. She tosses her chip into the pot, as does Al in the second round and Bill in the third.

Dorothy wins the fourth round but hesitates, thinking about what to do. Al asks why she is even thinking about it and, when she doesn't answer, tells her to put her chip in. She thinks a second more then adds her chip to the pot.

With $100,000 now added to the pot, the game continues. Al wins the next round and kicks Dorothy out of the game. "He who hesitates is lost." he says as he does so. Dorothy goes and sits in a chair behind the dolls, since "they like to watch". Heather wins the next round and kicks Al out to join Dorothy.

The cards are dealt one last time and Bill wins. He leaves to go back to the hotel.

Anderson tells the others that they will have to spend the night in the funhouse and that each of them will have to stay in a particular room for a while. If any one of them fails to stay in their room for the entire time, the 100 thosand they just won will be lost from the pot. He then says he will take them to their rooms for the night and leads Dorothy away. Al and Heather discuss what might happen.
"It's going to be some creepy-ass room." says Al.
"Yeah," agrees Heather, "this is not going to be fun."

While they wait, Al tries to get information out of Heather by asking her a series of rapid fire questions.
"Vanilla or chocolate?" he asks her.
"Chocolate." she replies.
"Hot or cold?"
"Hot"
"Dry or wet?"
"Dry"
"Are you the Mole?"
"That's not going to work." she says with a smile. Al looks frustrated.

Later, Al admits that he was trying to get information out of Heather thinking she might be more vunerable to questioning under the circumstances but that he didn't really find out anything.

Meanwhile, Anderson has led Dorothy to a small, brightly lit room with a very small wire cage in the middle. The cage is barely big enough to hold a person sitting on a stool in the middle of the cage. An odd funnel-like contraption sits on top of the cage.

Anderson opens the back of the cage and tells Dorothy she will have to stay in the cage for a while.
"You're sadistic!" she tells him, but steps inside.
Anderson fastens the cage shut behind her and tells her she will have to stay in the cage for a half-hour. She sets the alarm on her watch as he leaves the room.

The next player to be led to their room is Al. He finds himself in a more-or-less normal looking room containing a metal cot. The cot has no mattress; only a wire mesh bottom. Anderson explains that Al will have to spend the night in the room and remain on the cot the whole time. Al asks exactly what "on the cot" means and Anderson lies on the cot in various odd positions (feet over his head and the like) and explains that all of them are "on the cot". He then stands up and points out that this is not "on the cot". Al is convinced that there must be more to it than that and says so but Anderson repeats that all he has to do is stay on the cot all night.

The room also contains a bubble machine which is blowing bubbles onto the cot.
"What's with the bubbles?" asks Al as he sits on the cot.
"They're just tiny bubbles." replies Anderson as he leaves. "It's no big deal."

It is now 3:15 am and Heather is led to her room; a bare concrete room containing a large snake.
"She's a python." says Anderson, suddenly back in his creepy voice. "A rather large one."

Heather is obviously afraid of snakes. She is literally whimpering in fear and standing on one foot. Anderson has to ask her several times to move so he can close the door.
"She's been very lonely, and she's so happy to see you." he tells her.

He tells Heather that she must remain there until he returns and leaves. Heather, obviously uncomfortable, stands against the wall as far from the python as possible.

Back in the first room, Dorothy is sitting uncomfortably on her stool when large roaches suddenly start dropping from the roof of the cage. She pulls her jacket tighter around her and shifts uncomfortably about, trying to avoid them. We get several closeups of the roaches (and at one point we see the cameraman filming them through the cage).
"I don't like bugs." says Dorothy, "They definitely gross me out."

In Al's room, Al is lying on the cot when music suddenly starts playing. Al lets out a laugh and we hear Don Ho singing Tiny Bubbles.

Meanwhile, Dorothy has been in her cage for 15 minutes. "I'm trying to concentrate on not throwing up and not thinking about the little cockroaches that are crawling everywhere." she tells us, then adds "I knew the most difficult part of the game would be not losing my cool in a small space."

Back with Al, Tiny Bubbles finishes playing then starts up again. "This is unreal." says Al. He explains that during the night the song played normally, fast, slow, forward and reversed. It would stutter and stop and play both loud and soft. At one point, we see Al as the song is playing backwards and Al is intoning "Paul is dead. Paul is dead."

Switching back to Heather, she is still in the room with the python. It moves around the room and she is moving to stay as far away from it as possible when, suddenly, the lights go out.
"Oh my god!" she exclaims. "You have got to be kidding me! Oh jeez!"

The camera switches to night vision mode and we see Heather pressed against the wall as the snake moves around near her feet. "I can't do this." she says suddenly. "I'm not doing this. Get me out of here!" She feels around for the door and exits the room.

Anderson meets her outside and asks if she is giving up and she tells him there is no way she is staying in the room. He then tells her that since she left the room the 100 thousand they added to the pot will be sacrificed and it will remain at $486,000.

Not knowing that Heather has just given up, Al and Dorothy continue at their games. Dorothy is still in the cage with roaches occasionally dropping on her when, like Heather, her room is suddenly plunged into darkness. She lets out a slight cry as the camera switches to night vision mode and we see her pulling her collar up around her neck and brushing imaginary roaches off of her sleeve. "I hate them." she says. Then, slightly later, the alarm on her watch goes off.
"OK," she yells. "Thirty minutes. Get me out of here right now!"

The lights come back on and Anderson opens the back of the cage, letting her out. She quickly exits the cage and briefly freaks out, hopping from one foot to the other while letting out an "eeeewwww" (and nearly hopping into one of the cameramen).

Anderson is innocently examining the contents of the cage. "Oh God," he says in mock surprise. "They're so big!"
"Don't remind me!" says Dorothy, still recovering her composure.
"That's disgusting." says Anderson.
"You're sick." she tells him.

Dorothy returns to the main room where she finds Heather getting ready to lie down in a sleeping bag on the floor.
"You didn't do it either?" asks Heather.
"Do what?" asks Dorothy.

Heather explains about the python and how she couldn't stay in the room with it.
"What luxurious quarters compared to me!" says Dorothy, who then describes her experience.

Heather asks Dorothy if she was offered a deal of any kind and Dorothy denies it.
"I hate this freakin' game!" says Heather, lying down in her sleeping bag.

Dorothy starts setting up her sleeping bag and Heather suddenly asks her if she heard Tiny Bubbles playing somewhere. Dorothy says she did and suggests that it may have something to do with whatever Al is having to do. Heather wonders if he will go through with whatever he is doing and Dorothy comments that he seems to be pretty gung-ho on the game.

Dorothy and Heather go to sleep, Tiny Bubbles playing in the distance. We also see Al, shifting around on the cot and never seeming to get any sleep. At 7:00 am the sun rises and at 8:00 am we see Al as the song finally ends. Al looks at his watch, gets up and leaves the room.

He finds his way back to the main room where Dorothy and Heather are still asleep in their sleeping bags. He wakes them up and asks, with some annoyance, if this is where they spent the night. Heather sleepily asks him if he got an Exemption.
"No!" he says in annoyance. "I didn't get a wink of sleep is what I got."

Al describes his experience to a mostly unimpressed audience. "I feel so bad for you." says Dorothy in a mixture of sarcasam and symphathy. "That was horrible."

Heather and Dorothy then describe their experiences to Al. Al is annoyed when he learns that the game had ended hours earlier when Heather abandoned her room. Since none of them received an Exemption offer they wonder if it was offered to Bill.
"I hate to think he got an Exemption by going to the hotel and getting a good night's sleep." says Al.
"I'll be so pissed off." agrees Heather.

The three return to the courtyard of the hotel, still talking about the game. Al is frustrated about losing the 100 thousand and says that he thinks the game would have been more fair if it had been 25 thousand per person. Heather agrees.

At this point, Anderson arrives, singing Tiny Bubbles as he does so. He stops then asks Al if he knows the next line. Al says he does but that he won't tell him because he never wants to hear that song again. Anderson seems upset.
"None of you liked my Funhouse." he says sadly.

He then describes the next game to them. "The ability to lie and to detect lies in others is essential for success." he tells them. He then says that for today's game, Bill will have to be a human lie detector.

The three of them will have to tell Bill about their experiences in the Funhouse the night before. But, one of them will tell the truth while the other two lie. If Bill is able to tell who is lying and who is telling the truth then he will win an Exemption for himself. On the other hand, if they are able to fool Bill then 50 thousand dollars will be added to the pot.

Al suggests that since the two of them had spent the most time together that he tell the truth about his room and that Dorothy and Heather claim to have spent the night in the other person's room. All of them agree that this is a good idea. Dorothy says she wants the 50 thousand for the pot.
"I definitely have a knack for lying." Heather tells us. "I can pull it off."

To be continued...

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