29.01-I feel like I'm on the Amazing Race

Welcome back to another season of the Smole! We are very happy to say that we have made it to the 29th season, and we couldn't have done it without you. As you all may know, in the Smole, contestants play for a chance at the grand prize. They partake in missions to try and earn points for the pot, with 1 point being worth 1000 Simoleons. However, there is a Mole hiding among them, sabotaging to try and earn points for himself or herself. The contestants have to take a quiz to show that they know who the Mole is. The one who knows least is executed...

Wait a minute. This season's a little different. This season, nobody is executed. All eight contestants will last to the finale, where their final placings will be announced. They are however still graded. Each execution episode will be turned into a "see your ranking" episode, whereby the contestants can vote for who they want to see their results, including themselves. The contestant with the most votes gets to see his or her ranking compared to everyone else for that quiz.

Also, with executions out of the way, so are exemptions. To replace them, corrections from Season 21 have returned. Contestants can earn them like exemptions and in case you didn't know, each correction played can turn a contestant's wrong answer into a right one, without their knowledge. Corrections can be played at any time.

Without further ado, let us see who are our lucky eight this season!

Is the Mole Milan Lombardy, 26, stylist? 

Or is it Edward Smith, 50, blacksmith?

Perhaps it is Paula Mosely, 29, unemployed?

Is it Cairo Kong, 30, unemployed?

Could it be Baek Jae-heun aka Fred Page, 23, pop star?

How about Brandon Alridge, 34, car mechanic?

Is the Mole Joe Abberg, 32, button engineer?

Or is the Mole Savannah Pittsburgh, 27, travel agent?

***

This season, these lucky 8 players get to go to Shang Simla, China.

Joe: "I can't believe I'm in China! It's one of the places I always wanted to visit. Most of the things around us are from China. I want to see what this great place has to offer."

Milan: "We were given a few days to settle in and I already dislike it. To dink dat dey could fob us off with a shoddy base camp! I was expecting de city lights. de city is better, no? de rural side is so boring. At least de air is clean. Also, I do not like dat crazy donna...Paula? Her hair is hideos."

Milan: "Why are you wearing your bra? Where are your clothes?"

Paula: "I sent them to be washed. Oh dear."

Savannah: "She's crazy."

Fred: "I decline to comment."

Savannah: "Are you from Korea? I recognise that accent."

Fred: "Incheon."

Savannah: "I've been there once. Nice place. And your Simlish is superb. Wait, I know you. You're with that boy band!"

Milan: "You disgusting maiale! Stop defiling the floor!"

Paula: "I can't help it. I get airsick easily."

Milan: "I do not want to be in your presence any more."

Paula: "Well, she's gone now. Didn't like her rat face. She thinks she's so great. Hey, you. What's your name?"

Cairo: "My name is Cairo Kong. I wish I can say where I was from but if you understood my family background you will know I can't. I'm half-Chinese, half-Egyptian. Since young, I have been shuttled back and forth, living for a few years with either parent either in Hong Kong or Cairo, separately. My parents have divorced. It was amicable as the love did not work out, even more so with the long distance. Both were born and still work in the above mentioned cities...why am I saying all this? Nobody needs to know so much."

***

Cairo: "Did I interrupt anything?"

Edward: "No."

Paula: "Yes!"

Edward: "Someone save me."

Paula: "What did you say? Save you from me?"

Edward: "Ow! No, I didn't say that. Please don't twist my hand."

***

Joe: "This could be fun. More fun than pushing buttons all day."

Fred: "What exactly do you do as a button engineer?"

Joe: "Hi, my name is Joe. I work in a button factory. I have a house, two kids and a spouse. One day my boss came up to me and said, 'Joe are you busy?' I said, 'no!' Then he asked me to push buttons with various body parts. Yeah, I'm in the testing department of it. Any kind of button, you name it, I've touched it. Except clothes buttons. Not that I've never touched those, but I don't work with that kind of buttons."

Milan: "Beautiful scenery. I feel so...inspired."

***

Paula: "There you are. I thought you said you need to use the toilet? What are you doing here?"

Edward: "I...I got lost."

Edward: "I think the toilet's over there."

***

For their very first mission, contestants will be visiting the Scholar's Garden.

They have to pick a book to read within one hour. However, they must ensure that they do not pick the book the Mole had previously chosen to earn 20 points. This is worth 160 points.

Off they go.

Paula: "Out of the way or I'll push you down."

Milan: "I will push you first."

Joe: "Wait, I think I forgot my wallet. I don't feel safe leaving it behind."

Savannah: "Rented bikes. Awesome."

Brandon: "I prefer cars."

Paula: "Outta my way, suckers!"

Joe: "Huff...haven't ridden a bike in years."

Edward: "Beautiful scenery."

Milan: "I am ahead."

Fred: "This isn't a race."

Cairo: "I feel like I'm on the Amazing Race."

***

Savannah: "I think some of those tree stuff got stuck on my turtleneck."

Milan: "Which book should I choose?"

They choose a book.

Brandon: "I don't know what book the Mole choose so I'll just take a random one."

Cairo: "There are so many here. There is no way I will collide with the Mole."

Paula: "I wanted that book!"

Edward: "Okay then. I'll give it to you."

Paula: "No, you go get me a new one, blackie."

Brandon: "Can you stop being so rude, Paula?"

Paula: "Don't like it? Drop out then."

Milan: "I do not dink anyone would choose such a book."

Savannah: "I'm not sure which I should pick."

Fred: "This is a short book. I should be able to read it in time."

Milan: "I cannot read in peace in here."

Savannah: "I must be on the lookout for any suspicious activity."

Savannah: "It's only the first mission and look what I noticed? Mole actions. Brandon grabbed a dictionary. A dictionary! Those are crazy thick. There are so many Simlish books to pick from here and he took a dictionary?"

Savannah: "This looks like the thinnest book. It sounds pretty interesting too."

***

Edward: "My book is a picture book. It's in Chinese, so I do not understand. I'm just looking at the pictures and the words, which look like pictures."

Brandon: "I took a dictionary. I didn't even realise it until I opened it up and saw a bunch of words and definitions. I didn't think you could change books once you started and time was of the essence, so I gritted my teeth and read as fast as I could. My head is in a mess now."

Cairo: "My book is entitled 'Oh, All the Places You Will Go'."

Cairo: "There was already a book on the table when I entered. I got bored with my own halfway and decided to pick it up. Turns out that it wasn't a book but a shell. There were 2 corrections inside. Score! I'm just that great."

Joe: "My book is 'Forrest Gump'. You can never go wrong with a classic."

Savannah: "My book is in Chinese. I know a bit of Chinese so I understand it."

Fred: "My book is called '50 Shades of Grey'. I don't know what it's about but it sounds interesting."

Paula: "You poor, poor soul. That book sucks like no tomorrow. Mine is 'Forrest Gump'. I love how the book starts out already, and I'm not a reader."

Milan: "Be quiet. I am trying to read my fashion book."

Fred: "I will never be pure again. I have disappointed my fans and ancestors. I need to cleanse myself."

***

"Time is up. Only five of you finished reading your respective books in time, which is Savannah, Cairo, Edward, Milan and Fred. Out of the three who failed, at least one of you read the same book as the Mole did prior to this mission. That book is 'Forrest Gump'. 100/160 points have been earned. Cairo gets 2 hidden corrections."

Milan: "If I was de Mole, I would not be so stupid and pick de same book as de Mole. Derefore I can eliminate Paula and Joe. Dat leaves Brandon. But he is also so stupid and obvious. I would dink de Mole is more quieter dan dat."