The Mole

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For the South Park character, see The Mole (South Park)
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The Mole is generally thought to be one of the most complex and intelligent of the reality television game shows produced following the success of Survivor. Mensa hailed it as "the smartest show on television". The show was originally created in 1999 by Woestijnvis and broadcasted on VRT in Flanders, Belgium, and won the Golden Rose of Montreux in 2000. It was invented by Michiel de Vlieger, Bart de Pauw, Tom Lenaerts and others. Later it was licensed in 40 different countries.
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Players in The Mole must to work together to complete various physical and mental challenges and build up a significant cash prize for the winner. One of them, however, is actually a double-agent (the mole) hired by the producers to sabotage the efforts of the group. The mole must be careful to avoid drawing suspicion. Using journals, players must track vast amounts of minutiae about the person(s) they suspect of being the mole, such as seating positions, clothing colors, minor discussion topics, and so on. The quiz at the end of each episode tests players' knowledge of the mole, and determines by lowest score (or slowest time, in the event of a tie) who is eliminated from the game.

Contents

Strategy

While succeeding in challenges is important in order to build up potential winnings, it is also critical to stay in the game by scoring better than opponents on the quiz, usually by attempting to draw their suspicions of the mole's identity toward oneself. Since the mole must use subterfuge to misdirect attention from his/her attempts to derail the team, disingenuous attempts to emulate the mole must be subtle, while still noticeable and suspicious. It's worth noting that often the players would sabotage themselves so much that the mole rarely had to tilt the table.

There were also a number of obscure and subtle clues planted by the producers (For example, in one challenge on the second US series, host Anderson Cooper was eating an apple. The apple was the official fruit of Washington, Bill (The Mole)'s home state. Rumor has it that not even Bill himself got this clue until it was revealed to him.) Some players in later series chose to look for these clues, most often in vain. (Allegedly, this ruined the chances of Corbin Bernsen, from Celebrity Mole Hawaii, as he was too distracted by searching for clues that he didn't focus enough attention on the game.) These clues were generally intended for the viewers to catch, rather than the players themselves, although often their cryptic meaning remains hidden to everyone until revealed at the end of the show.

Challenges

Like other reality shows, The Mole featured challenges in which the players received money that was added to a group pot only one would win. But unlike the other challenges in other reality shows, The Mole's challenges offered ways to disrupt the game, and ways of hiding it. Here are some examples of Mole challenges over the seasons.

  • Hostage Rescue- The producers would abduct a player at night, then hold them hostage. The remaining players must free the hostage in a certain amount of time. The hostages whereabouts were generally unknown, and they were usually located in another city a few minutes away in a castle or prison. The remaining players would have been split up and each group would have a key to unlock the door to get to the hostage.
  • Plane Jump- As it sounds, each player must jump from an airplane to win the money.
  • The Library Game- Players must find books that hold tickets to get onto a slow moving horse drawn carriage that is moving through town. Each player must find a ticket and get on the carriage before it stops off at its final location, the library.
  • Ethics Test- The players would be confronted during a rest stop to help an old lady with a chore. If they helped the old lady, they would get money. Then, two hot women would ask for the same favor a little later. If they helped both the old lady and the hot women, they would gain money. Conversely, if they only helped the attractive women, they would lose money. If they helped neither the old woman nor the hot women, no money would be lost or gained.
  • GPS Game- the players are given a location to go to find a GPS unit, then they must find the location the GPS is pointed to. Once they get there, they have two choices, add money to the pot, or find out about the mole.
  • Three Questions- practically required to be used in the finale episode before the reunion because only three people are left, the exact number of people required for this challenge. Before the challenge begins, players fill out identical surveys where each question has two different answers in which one has to be circled based on personal opinion. Later, the host leads one person to hide somewhere and the other two have to find them based on the answers of three random questions from the survey. Because no routes overlap each other, each of the three questions have to be answered correctly in order to win money. This repeats with the other participants. This was considered to be one of the most notorious games on the show.

The Mole in different countries

Australia

The Australian version of the show began in 2000, followed by four more seasons. The 2003 season was set on the Pacific island nation of New Caledonia and entitled The Mole: in Paradise. Former Blue Heelers star Grant Bowler was the host. Bowler was the greatest success of the show, his mixture of charm and mystery was a hit with audiences.

Like the British version, the first Australian season included a 'special episode' which revealed all the clues about the mole, and how close each player had been to finding them. However, it wasn't particularly successful so, in subsequent seasons, it was replaced by a five-minute segment at the end which revealed the clues.

In the second season, they decided to bring in a large amount of contestants for the first episode, with an early challenge deciding which 10 of them got to continue playing. This was dropped in later seasons.

In the fourth season, the mole, Petrina was eliminated to try and steer suspicions off her, with her returning 2 weeks later with another contestant, whilst this worked for a while it was not as successful with the other contestants even more convinced that she was the mole.

The producers offered to tell Grant Bowler who the mole was, but he declined the invitation, believing that he could better host the show, and play around with the contestants, if he didn't know. Some reports, however, claimed that he was told the identity of the mole in the fourth season.

In July 2005, the Australian edition of The Mole returned for its fifth season, this year subtitled as The Amazing Game. Tom Williams (winner of the Australian edition of Dancing with the Stars) has taken over as host from Grant Bowler, as Grant was not available for the project due to family commitments. This season also introduced a new concept to the show - live eliminations. The contestants spent the weekend in New Zealand working on various challenges, and then their actions are broadcast on TV the following Thursday night, with a live elimination following directly after.

  • 2000 (in Tasmania) Mole: Alan. Winner: Jan. Losing finalist: Abby.
  • 2001 (in Victoria) Mole: Michael. Winner: Brooke. Losing finalist: Hal.
  • 2002 (in Queenstown) Mole: Alaina. Winner: Crystal-Rose. Losing finalist: Marc.
  • 2003 (in New Caledonia) Mole: Petrina. Winner: Shaun. Losing finalist: Nathan.
  • 2005 (in New Zealand) Mole: John. Winner: Liz. Losing finalist: Craig.

United States

Anderson Cooper, a former correspondent for ABC News (now the host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°), hosted the show's first and second seasons in the US. The original series of The Mole was aired in early 2001. The second series, Mole 2: The Next Betrayal, aired in September 2001, but was put on hiatus after only 3 episodes following disappointing ratings in the wake of 9/11, then quietly returned in summer 2002 to broadcast the remaining episodes. In early 2003, Celebrity Mole Hawaii, hosted by Ahmad Rashad, with fewer contestants and a smaller potential pot, debuted. In January 2004, Celebrity Mole Yucatan again featured Ahmad Rashad hosting the show as a mid-season replacement. ABC has since let the show go, and no other network has picked up The Mole. A DVD of the first season is now available.

  • The Mole (in USA; then Paris, France; and then Spain) - Mole: Kathryn Price. Winner: Steven Cowles. Losing Finalist: Jim Morrison. Aired: 9 January 2001 - 28 February 2001.

The ten participants and their fate: 1. Manuel Herrera (9th place-Week #1)), 2. Afi Ekulona (8th place-Week #2), 3. Wendi Wendt (7th place-Week #3), 4. Henry Wentz (6th place-Week #4), 5. Jennifer Biondi (5th place-Week #5), 6. Kate Pahls (4th place-Week #6), 7. Charlie McGowan (3th place-Week #7), 8. Jim Morrison (2nd place-Week #8), 9. Steven Cowles (1st place-Winner-Week #9), 10. Kathryn Price (The Mole-Week #9).

  • Mole 2: The Next Betrayal (in St. Moritz, Switzerland and then Italy) - Mole: Bill McDaniel. Winner: Dorothy Hui Losing Finalist: Heather Campbell. Aired: 28 September 2001 - 12 October 2001, and 4 June 2002 - 6 August 2002.

The fourteen participants and their fate: 1. Bob Paulhus (1st Executed); 2. Ali Gorman (2nd Executed); 3. Lisa Noller (3rd Executed); 4. Patrick Guilfoyle (4th Executed); 5. Rob Nelson (5th Executed); 6. Myra Brown (6th Executed); 7. Elavia Bello (Bribed/7th Eliminated); 8. Katie Mills (7th Executed); 9. Darwin Conner (8th Executed); 10. Michael Bribiesca (9th Executed) (as Bribs); 11. Al Spielman (10th Executed); 12. Heather Campbell (11th Executed); 13. Dorothy Hui (Winner); 14. Bill McDaniel (The Mole).

Belgium

Three series, all hosted by Michiel de Vlieger.

  • 1999 in France. Mole: Magda. Winner: Hugo. Losing finalist: Mon.
  • 2000 in Spain. Mole: Hugo. Winner: Marianne. Losing finalist: Niki.
  • 2003 in Italy. Mole: Marc. Winner: Stijn. Losing finalists: Sandra and Inge.

The Netherlands

Until now, five series, all hosted by Angela Groothuizen. The next series will be hosted by Karel Van de Graaf.

Britain

The show had two series in the United Kingdom, hosted by Glenn Hugill on Channel 5. Despite its cult following, a third series was not commissioned. Both series had a special episode at the end detailing the various clues about The Mole's identity, and general details on the production of the show.

  • 2000 in Jersey. Mole: David. Winner: Zi. Losing finalist: Jennifer.
  • 2001 in Canada. Mole: Tanya Buck. Winner: Chris Lintern. Losing finalist: Paul Tregear.

Poland

In Poland The Mole was called "Agent" ("Agent").

  • 2000-2001 (in France): Mole: Agnieszka. Winner: Liwia.
  • 2001-2002 (in Spain): Mole: Mirek. Winner: Bartek. Losing finalist: Hanna.
  • 2002 (in Portugal): Mole: Mirek (other than above). Winner: Małgorzata. Losing finalist: Wojtek.

Holland

Five series, all hosted by Angela Groothuizen.

  • 2000 (in Australia) Mole: Deborah. Winner: Petra. Losing finalist: Robin
  • 2001 (in Scotland) Mole: Nico. Winner: Sigrid. Losing finalist: Yvonne
  • 2002 (in Portugal) Mole: George Winner: John. Losing finalist: Jantien
  • 2003 (in Canada) Mole: Elise. Winner: Ron. Losing finalist: Chandrika
  • 2004 (in Australia) Mole: Yvon. Winner: Marc-Marie. Losing finalist: Lottie


Mole series have also occured in other countries such as Germany, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Spain and Italy

See also

External links

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