articles
January 10, 2001
The Mole: Reality TV Without the Bikinis
by Barbara Fletcher
Rest assured, Survivor and Temptation Island nay-sayers, there is a reality TV show just for you.
Last night ABC debuted The
Mole: reality TV without the bikinis, infidelity, or violence.
The Mole starts off with ten contestants -- 5 women and 5 men from varying backgrounds -- who are dropped off
in a secret location. For the next three weeks, they will travel the world participating in various
mental and physical tests -- all in efforts to win up to $1,000,000.
The catch is that one member of the group is the Mole, a person whose sole purpose is to prevent the
contestants from succeeding.
Every few days the contestants must answer the Mole quiz -- a series of 20-25 questions about the Mole's
personality, physical characteristics, and behaviours. Sample questions include "Is the Mole a man or
a woman?" "What city is the Mole from?" "Does The Mole have any children?" "Did the Mole eat cereal
for breakfast today?" and "What color shirt did the Mole wear today?".
The player who answers incorrectly to the most questions is considered "executed" and is escorted from
the show. Manwell, a single father, was the show's first victim.
With each quiz the contestants are eliminated until three people are left: the Mole and two players.
For the last quiz, one more player is eliminated, and at this point the identity of the Mole
is divulged. Then the winner takes home all of the accumulated money.
What makes the show interesting is that, like
Survivor, only one contestant
will win the cash -- but everyone must work together to grow the prize pot.
Money is earned throughout the shows when contestants are asked to complete challenges. For example,
on last night's show, all ten players were required to skydive from an airplane at 10,000 feet into
the Mojave Desert. All of
the players successfully jumped so the prize money was awarded in full.
However, during the second challenge in France in which two players successfully completed a test
combining memory, mathematical, and physical tests, the sequestered remaining players were caught breaking an
information silence rule, and a penalization of $10,000 was applied to the prize.
Other surprises lie in wait for the unknowing contestants in attempts to throw them off the trail of the Mole
and to encourage them to suspect their fellow team members. On the first show, in a
divide and conquer move, half of the players were held back from moving to the next location and were
told to repack all of players' luggage into smaller bags, making the decisions for the whole team
as to what each of them needed most in the coming weeks.
Viewers can keep up-to-date on episodes, participate in contests, and chat with the victims on
Wednesday evenings via The
Mole Web site.
The ten-part show will air on ABC on Tuesday nights -- a start to three nights of reality TV viewing
including Fox's Temptation Island on Wednesdays and CBS's Survivor 2
on Thursdays.