🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

It would be difficult to name a player in The Mole more prepared for the physical challenges of the spy game than Nevada native William Richardson, a 6'5" gym aficionado who towered over his competitors and dominated every athletic task. But it’s the Thor look-alike’s mental game that brought him to the finale and, ultimately, made him the first winner of Netflix’s reboot of the reality franchise (and, oh yeah, the sole recipient of the $101,500 prize pot). Will was so good at mind games that, for awhile, fans thought he was the second-most likely Mole, according to Tudum's Mole poll. Below, the 29-year-old brand manager explains the strategy that brought him to the finish line, when he first identified the Mole and how he sabotaged his competitors by letting them think it was him.

When did you know it was Kesi?
I had my suspicions very early. I remember one of the first questions I answered on the quiz was [the Mole’s birthday], and [I picked her]. It always stuck with me in a weird way. But when I knew-knew [it was her was during] the mountain elimination where Casey went home. That’s when I was 100% positive. The giveaway to me was that [I thought] they were going to pick somebody smart, who can have a wealth of knowledge in all aspects. Kesi can try [to hide her intelligence] all she wants, but have a conversation with her and you’re like, “Oh my God, she’s brilliant. You’re so the Mole.”

Julian Panetta/Netflix

Who did you suspect before you landed on Kesi? 
Casey. I always felt like there was a possibility. Obviously, she’s very smart. She was always around failure, but in the background. It’s a really sneaky place to not be recognized by anybody. That’s so dangerous in this game.

You were obviously prepared for the physical challenges, but do you think people underestimated your mental game?
I was hoping [they would]! Conveniently, that’s [happened] my whole life — it’s very easy for people to make a preconceived notion about [me] because of the way [I] look. When I stopped playing sports, I still had all this energy, so I put it in the gym and I got a lot bigger. I wasn’t always a big guy. But I was always passionate about learning. I love the way the brain works, and I love mysteries and I love puzzles. Those are the things people never stopped to ask me. Why? Because if you put a fake tan on and you wear short shorts, everyone’s like, “Meathead.” And that was so easy for me because it allowed me to play the game I really wanted to play, which was a lot sneakier.

Is some part of you mad that they didn’t ask you to be the Mole?
Yes, absolutely. I am a competitive person, and I would’ve been equally as competitive as the Mole. And I think it would’ve been a blast because I would’ve played the game completely differently, and I would’ve been just as competitive at not being caught and throwing as much money down the drain as possible.

What would you have done as the Mole?
Everybody always saw me trying so hard, and I can imagine overexerting myself and just dropping a backpack down the mountain. Trying to do too much. It’s really easy. It’s like, “Oh, well, there he goes again trying to take over a situation” and then just throwing it all away because nobody wanted to believe it was me because “he tries too hard.”

How would you critique Kesi’s gameplay?
I would critique it personally — it’s a blatant disrespect for my money. At the end of the season where she’s throwing blocks of cash down a mountain, I’m like, that’s not even Mole-like. That’s rude! [Laughs.]

What was your best strategic move?
I hate to do it to her, but I knew very early on and in the most polite, respectful way possible that I had Joi in my back pocket. She believed it was me. A lot of moves I made were specifically targeted because, even if it wasn’t an instant gratification, it was, “Well, I know I’m beating Joi in my quiz.” I realized she would pick up on things that were very important to her, and she wouldn’t let them go. So, for example, I did a little study on her one day. I wanted her to notice that I’d left my Mole journal behind when everybody else had them. And she came to me and said, “You’re so obvious. You don’t even have a journal.” I was literally just drawing pictures in it. And the greatest part was she kept getting through quizzes, and I’m like, “My biggest shield is voting for me!”

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

How hard were the quizzes?
Unbelievably hard. “How many brothers does the Mole have? When’s the Mole’s birthday?” I don’t know! I love my family to death but I don’t know any of their birthdays, but now I’ve got 11 strangers’ birthdays banked. “Shoes: What color were they? Were they open-toed? When they got out of the van, did they come out of the left side or the right side of the door?” You’re like, “What? Who’s making these?” I’m almost positive there’s a question that said, “What was the Mole’s mother’s maiden name?”

Are you allowed to have your Mole journal with you during the quiz?
No. Absolutely not. But mine wouldn’t have been much use because I was drawing pictures for Joi.

Is there anything you regret about how you played?
I said it then, and I’ll say it here: I fully believe I have the ability to have done the whole reef mission by myself and banked all that money.

How did you prepare for the show?
There was a lot of studying [of] previous seasons. No winner was the same. I took some strategies — they would use a shield situation where they were positive somebody was voting for them and [keep them in the game]. The worst one I did was [when] Sandy thought it was Kesi. I had alone time with Sandy, and I said, “If you vote for Kesi, you’re going home.” You feel horrible as a person after. Everyone’s so hard on Kesi being the Mole, and a lot of people have problems forgiving her, like, “How did you lie to us?” And they don’t realize I lied to every single one of you and tried to get you eliminated from the show. It was never personal! But I tried to stab you all in the back. I did.

How hard has it been to keep this from your friends and family?
Extremely hard in random conversations. There were specific people who had signed NDAs: my best friend, only one of my sisters, my mom and my dad. The rest of my family still doesn’t know. And I didn’t tell anybody who the Mole was. Even my family, they know the outcome: I win. But they don’t know who the Mole is.

Which elimination surprised you the most?
So there’s two. The Casey elimination, because that was my first time ever going 50-50 on a quiz. At this point, it was almost like death by a thousand cuts with every quiz where you’re like, “How many proportions can I cut it into?” And I’m like, “I’m going to trust my gut here, and I’m going to go 50 on Casey and 50 on Kesi.” And when Casey’s screen went red, it was instant gratification. I was like, “I did it. I know who the Mole is.” The shock that went through me wasn’t the shock that Casey was going home. The shock that everybody saw was purely, “I am almost positive I can win this game.”

And you did.
And I did!