The Mole

Today, for some random reason, I really feel like watching one of my favorite TV programs: The Mole. This was a reality game show centering around a group of people (usually ~12 individuals), one of whom is a saboteur -- the mole, who was hired by the show’s producers and is trying to undermine the group’s efforts to win money in contests. The goal of the group is to work together at these physical and mental games to win money (which one person only will win at the end) and also to determine who is the mole. I liked this show since people were removed from the show based only on their own lack of knowledge about the mole (not based on conniving and vote-mongering like in shows such as Survivor). At the end of each show, all contestants would take a quiz, answering detail-oriented questions about the mole. The person who gets the most answers incorrect goes home.

This game involved a lot of thinking and detective-work on the parts of the players and it just looked like a really fun game. The challenges that the players participated in were usually elaborate, well thought-out and fun-looking. I really wanted to be a contestant when this show was on the air, but I was under 21 at the time and thus ineligible to play (boo). The show only ran for two seasons in the US, but it is a big success overseas in Europe and Australia. The first season of The Mole took place in France, Monaco, and Spain while the second season was held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Italy. I have both seasons of the show -- the first on DVD and the second on my computer. I think it is unfortunate that such a clever game was discontinued after only 2 seasons (4 if you count the two seasons of Celebrity Mole that followed the original) while boring shows highlighting manipulative people (like Survivor) have lasted for about 20 seasons!