User blog comment:TDFanatic52/Character Analysis- Mal/@comment-24152851-20170222034856/@comment-24152851-20170222040402

But unlike Scott or Russell Hantz, Mal never explicitly stated he was doing it to demoralize people. Early in the season we didn't even know if he cared about winning the money at all. Honestly he just felt like a sociopath who broke things for s**ts and giggles.

Oh if you compare them to previous seasons, several of them are significantly less intelligent. Alejandro was the only exception, being the only one to figure out Mal on his own. Heather was much dumber in that she left her idol where someone could find it. Courtney was dumber in creating a chart when she didn't want to be exposed. Especially Cameron, who spent a whole season researching Mike and didn't realize something was wrong with him until much too late.