🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

The dreaded red screen of elimination comes for nearly everyone on The Mole, as the 12 players — or, rather, 11 players and one saboteur —  compete to win a collective prize pot that increases with every challenge they successfully complete. Along the way, players pause to take a quiz to see how well they know the Mole. The player who answers the fewest number of questions correctly goes home.

It may seem straightforward enough, but surviving elimination is incredibly complicated. Some players attempt to appear truthful and consistently ethical to attempt to prove that they’re not the Mole, while others act suspiciously in order to throw off people’s guesses and eliminate others first. Even how you take the test — some go all in on one person, and others spread their answers over a number of target Moles just in case they’re wrong — can be risky.

With each eliminated player, the possibilities for who the Mole is shrinks, but — luckily for us at home — we also get to learn about whose strategies actually worked, and who was dead wrong. Here, Tudum updates you on the eliminated players’ thought processes, regrets, strategies and more.

First Eliminated: Osei

Osei In The Jungle | The Mole S1E1This is a real Jurassic Park situation.

The first elimination is always the most random, as players’ strategies haven’t yet had time to work themselves out. As the first to go home, Osei might’ve been on the wrong track, and his gameplay — “My strategy was to be myself, which tends to confuse people anyway” — didn’t protect him in the end.  But the 32-year-old New York realtor had a blast in his brief experience on the show. “When I was laying down for bed in one of the oldest jungles in the world while I looked up at all the beautiful stars, I have never seen so many stars so vividly,” he tells Tudum.

His goal in joining The Mole was “to challenge and push myself while experiencing an adventure at the same time,” and he felt “a mix of super excitement and massive anxiety” on his first day. “It was more than what I expected for sure,” he says. His only regret? “Not being able to spend the night in that fireee mansion.”

Second Eliminated: Samara

Samara Doesn't See The Key | The Mole S1E1

Samara and her teammates might’ve successfully escaped from Brisbane’s abandoned Boggo Road Gaol, but that wasn’t enough to keep her in the game. The 25-year-old Atlanta-based mental health counselor, who has a master’s degree in clinical psychology, hoped that background and her “strong communication skills” would help her suss out the Mole.

Her initial strategy was to forge relationships with her fellow players in order to gain trust, but she quickly shifted course: “I realized the best way to play this game was to throw suspicion on myself as the Mole, and if I couldn’t do that, then I would try to make people second-guess and manipulate who their own options were as the Mole to throw them off during the quizzes.”

Unfortunately, that realization came too late to be effective. “I regret playing with my heart on my sleeve and being so vulnerable with other castmates when it came to them getting to know me. In doing so, [I believe] it made me look like I wasn’t the Mole, and from there, I wasn’t able to throw suspicion on myself,” she says. “I wish I would have gone into the game being more knowledgeable about how The Mole should be played because I believe I would have been WAY more successful.”

Despite not being able to complete the first mission (“because [I’m not] good at directions!”), Samara has fond memories of that first night — including what happened off-camera: “A memory I will never forget was when we all played Never Have I Ever while in our sleeping bags in the jungle. This allowed us to have time to get to know one another on a more personal level, so it was very interesting to say the least.”

Third Eliminated: Dom

Dom's Rap | The Mole S1E1He's got flow.

Fun Fact: 29-year-old Toronto heavy machine operator Dom spends his days bundled up in winter clothes and hauling heavy loads of ice cream. He warmed up in his travels on the Great Barrier Reef, though: “It just seemed like an adventure, a great opportunity to win some money for the people in my life,” he says. “And honestly… Australia is a lot warmer than Canada.”

The country made such an impression on him that he applied for a visa to return. “It got approved! So I’ll see you soon, Australia.”

Dom prepared for the show in an unconventional way: “I ate a lot of Tim Tams…” But his gameplay was straightforward. “I’m athletic and competitive. I have good intuition,” says Dom. “But I can also be pretty emotional and I have a soft spot which can cloud that intuition and judgment at times.”

That competitive nature ended up taking the focus away from his gameplay. “I was so focused on competitions and putting money in the pot that I lost focus of my surroundings and the little details at times. Those details maybe would’ve helped me get out of that car,” he jokes.

Dom’s most special memories were getting to know the crew. “You don’t realize how many hard-working people are behind shows like these, who put in so many hours making sure everything goes right and care so much. They are all just the best, sweetest people — from lighting to camera to producers and the wranglers that put up with talent. Love them all.” This won't be the last you see of Dom, though — he stars in dating competition show Perfect Match (along with a certain Mole bff), where Netflix reality singles try to find The One among each other.

Fourth Eliminated: Sandy

Don't Underestimate Sandy | The Mole S1E4More than a girl from Texas.

The 26-year-old Texan has a black belt in tae kwon do, though she didn’t get a chance to use those skills in the competition. “I wanted to be on The Mole because I have always been a spontaneous person. The thought of the unknown excites me and I knew, being on The Mole, we were bound to do some crazy things.”

One of the craziest tasks included carrying out a (faux) heist in one of Australia’s oldest banks, which ended up being her last in the competition. Although her original plan was to stay “very vague and suspicious,” she caught herself revealing a bit more than she would’ve liked. “I had to mentally tell myself to shut up.”

“If I could go back and do something differently I wouldn’t have been so vulnerable with certain individuals,” she continues. In fact, not focusing on her own game is what she thinks led to her downfall. “The one regret I have is not playing a more cutthroat game. I was worried about the team as a whole and not so much myself.”

Fifth Eliminated: Pranav

Pranav's Intro | The Mole S1E1A little hard to read.

New Jersey–born lawyer Pranav loves playing strategy games, but he wasn’t familiar with The Mole before he was cast on the show. Pranav realized, upon arriving in Australia, that he needed to link up. “Developing alliances was key to making sure I had access to the information I needed to succeed.”

“Walking on set was a surreal moment and one that I will never forget. The adrenaline was pumping, my heart was pounding,” Pranav says of his first day on set. “It was far bigger of a production than I expected it to be, and seeing the amount of people working made me appreciate the gravity of the moment and the production as a whole.”

Like several of his competitors, he didn’t want to put all his eggs in one basket during the first quiz and made sure he distributed his votes among all the players. And those competitors eventually became friends. “I continue to stay in contact and maintain friendships with most of the players to this day, and I’m truly grateful for the experiences I had.”

If he had a second shot, he’d go deeper with his new relationships. “Because of the sheer amount of sabotage, whether purposeful or inadvertent, I would go back to make sure I got to know every player even more than I did. Knowledge is power, and the quiz questions often had nothing to do with the observable and more to do about personal details about players’ lives outside of the game. There’s always room for improvement!”

Sixth Eliminated: Casey

Casey Takes In The Sights | The Mole S1E6Just taking her time.

COVID ICU nurse Casey had a busy few years, so her trip to Australia was a welcome change of pace. A lover of adventure — she’s hitchhiked across Japan, driven an auto rickshaw across India and been to Burning Man three times — Casey was made for The Mole. “The premise of the show was right up my alley.”

Casey stuck with her strategy to “lay low and let others make mistakes and show their emotions,” though she did at one point contemplate alliances. “Could these people benefit me, or was I better off proceeding on my own? Ultimately, I felt like I worked better alone.”

While she didn’t need to prepare for the physical challenges, she “read about the psychology of lying and body language of liars” and “learned common identifiers like birthstones and zodiac signs.”

Although she decided to operate solo, spending time with her fellow players and developing friendships made that strategy a bit harder than she thought it would be. “As I got further into the game, I became dead set on winning,” she tells Tudum. “I found myself lying, manipulating and learning I can’t trust the people around me. At the same time, the other players became my friends, confidants and team members. The further we got into the game, the more attached and invested I got into my relationships. It was very hard to form these bonds and at the same time know that we were all against each other.”

In hindsight, Casey would’ve “given out more hugs — people got way too tense!” and changed some of her sartorial choices. (Jeans in the jungle?!) “In all seriousness, I wanted to start an alliance with someone, but the right person and opportunity wasn’t there,” she says. But at the end of the day, “I was true to myself, I was an honest player and a fierce competitor. Do I wish I won? Of course! But the other players played a better game than I did.”

Seventh Eliminated: Greg

Greg, The Group Guru | The Mole S1E1

Experienced backpacker Greg runs focus groups for a living, which means he spends his days reading people. Those skills helped him get far in the competition, but his long-standing love for reality TV helped too. “My bar mitzvah theme was Survivor, so you could say I’ve been manifesting this for a long time,” he tells Tudum. 

The Seattle-based market research consultant changed up his original strategy of not discussing his suspicions with his competitors once he became friends with them. His daily meditation practice helped keep him sane. “I knew that I’d face uninterrupted solitude during our downtime,” he says. “Meditating strengthened my intuition, which is crucial for this game.”

While he wasn’t fully prepared for the intense gameplay right off the bat — “I regret how naive I was to the ruthless tactics that emerge when people are desperate to win at all costs,” he says — he wouldn’t change a thing about how he played the game. “I wouldn’t do anything differently because my strategy was about being honest, which ended up being a really fun challenge.”

Eighth eliminated: Jacob

Joi Confronts Jacob | The Mole S1E7She lays it all out on the table.

Ohio firefighter paramedic Jacob wanted to try something new and see the world, so it makes sense that his initial strategy was to “sit back and observe.” He knew his competitors would fight for leadership, so he let them. But that didn’t last for long. “I did have to tweak my strategy quite a lot,” he says. “I had to be vocal and tough sometimes. Also the extent of manipulation that had to be done was insane! The manipulation and lies grew bigger and deeper.”

His favorite part of the experience was bonding with the other players. “It makes a man realize how small we are and how big the world is,” he says. “We had 12 people who were obviously so different from one another, yet we all connected and at the end still had a great relationship with one another even after playing this game. I came out with some pretty strong bonds and some great friends.”

Jacob has no regrets about how he played the game. “I did exactly what I said I would do in the competition,” he says. “I came in calm, cool and collected, which caused a lot of others to believe I was the Mole. I had the most votes out of everybody to be the Mole, and that’s the main reason why I was in the game so long. If I had to pick something I regret, it would be writing off Kesi so quickly on my main suspect list!”

Ninth eliminated: Avori

Avori In The Hot Seat | The Mole S1E7Is she lying?

Professional gamer Avori is used to competition, so she was confident as she headed into the jungle during the first mission — despite the fact that she didn’t actually have a clue what was going on until she landed in Australia. “I had no idea what I got myself into, how the game worked, how to win or what to expect until I found the original Mole and binge-watched all the seasons [while quarantining].”

In the first week of filming, Avori cemented her alliance with Pranav as they worked hard to finish their missions. “I could tell he would be a great ally at that time,” she says. 

Her original strategy was to watch every detail of every player and spot inconsistencies. Still, she was surprised by the way the game immediately turned the players against each other. “I definitely expected the lies, but I didn’t expect the extent of them.”

In fact, those lies ultimately led to her downfall. “I was led to believe that Sandy went home due to her voting for Kesi, when in reality she went for me! Because of that information, I ruled Kesi out, so I wish I would’ve been more open-minded that sabotages were actually legit!”

“I was shocked at who the Mole was. I was also shocked at the amount of time I spent alone in my room, but [they were] all positive experiences!”

Last eliminated: Joi

Joi Has Suspicions | The Mole S1E10Don't do anything fishy.

Atlanta-based commercial airline pilot Joi cast suspicion on herself almost immediately during the first few challenges, navigating her team off course in the plane challenge and taking a whopping $25,000 from the pot in exchange for an exemption. But that wound up working in her favor as she made it all the way to the finale before betting on the wrong person in her last quiz. In fact, she suspected Will in both her first and last quizzes. 

“I knew I had to be a part of the new series because I was a huge fan of the original,” she says. That allowed her to pull more strings than her competitors might have realized. “My strength was my ability to control other players without them realizing they were being manipulated. Overthinking the game was my weakness.”

Her preparation for the game included physical, mental and spiritual exercises that included “intense gym training, prayer meditations, working puzzles and playing mind games to boost my brain’s performance.”

Joi made it all the way to the final three, so she has no regrets about how she played. But she would obviously do one thing differently: “If given the chance to do it again, I’d definitely choose Kesi as the Mole.”