The Mole (US TV series)
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It has been suggested that Celebrity Mole be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
| The Mole | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality TV |
| Created by | Stone Stanley Entertainment Stone & Co. Entertainment |
| Presented by | Anderson Cooper Ahmad Rashād Jon Kelley |
| Theme music composer | David Michael Frank |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | United States, France, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Chile |
| Running time | ~ 43 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original airing | January 9, 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Mole |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Mole is an American reality television series that airs on ABC. It is based on The Mole franchise of programs that have aired in numerous countries. The Mole was produced by Stone Stanley Entertainment for its first four seasons. It was cancelled but was later picked up again after a four year hiatus. The fifth season is produced by Stone & Co. Entertainment.
The series is a reality competition in which the contestants work as a group to add money to a pot that only one of them will win. Among the contestants is one person who has been designated "the Mole" by the producers and is tasked with sabotaging the group's money-making efforts. At the end of each episode, the contestant who known the least about who the mole is, as decided by the results of a quiz, is eliminated from the game.
The series was first hosted by news reporter Anderson Cooper; for the third season, Ahmad Rashād replaced Cooper, and Rashād was in turn replaced by Jon Kelley[1] for the fifth season. The third and fourth seasons featured celebrity contestants instead of civilians. The series' logo is a bright green thumbprint.
Contents |
[edit] Format
[edit] Contestants
The contestants typically meet for the first time at or shortly before the start of filming, shortly before their first task. They are given black duffel bags with the show's thumbprint logo and their names on them in which to keep their belongings. Each is also given a numbered journal which is the only place they are permitted to record information and thoughts about the other contestants.
Some contestants form "coalitions" with other contestants, ostensibly to share theories and observations about the other contestants. Some contestants attempt to cause others to believe that they are the Mole, on the premise that believing the wrong person is the Mole will result in them having poor quiz results.
[edit] Challenges
Each task generally has a cash reward towards the group pot, and occasionally also has a cash punishment for failure. There are a wide variety of challenges posed to contestants. Most are straight-forward challenges explained to all contestants. Occasionally, however, a challenge is not fully explained to all contestants; sometimes only one or several contestants will be informed of the full nature of a challenge, and must work to a different goal than other contestants. Rarely, there is a task that none of the contestants are aware is a challenge.
Challenges are sometimes entirely physical, or entirely mental, but usually have elements of both. Overcoming fear is a common challenge theme. Another common theme in the first two seasons, which were filmed in Europe, was use of the locale for challenges and as an obstacle (such as overcoming a language barrier).
Some challenges required every member of the team to complete their task for the team to earn money, while other challenges awarded money for each contestant that finished, regardless of the others. A common requirement is for the team to divide themselves into groups based on given attributes (eg: "leaders" and "followers") before they learn what the task is.
[edit] Penalties
In addition to challenges, violations of the game's rules by a player, such as going out after curfew or talking about a forbidden topic, can result in a deduction from the group pot as a penalty.
[edit] Quizzes
Each quiz follows the same basic format, asking either twenty or ten (depending on the season) questions about the Mole. Questions are in multiple choice format with no specific number of options; some questions have only two options including yes/no questions. The questions ask a variety of things about the Mole including personal information such as physical attributes or personal history, or in-game information such as how the Mole performed in a certain challenge. The final question is typically (if not always) "Who is the Mole?", with all remaining players' names as options.
The players complete the quiz in private on a computer. The mole completes the quiz as well, with the knowledge that they are answering about themself. The player who has the lowest score on the quiz is eliminated from the game in an "execution" ceremony. If multiple players tie, the one who complete the quiz in the slowest time is the one eliminated from the game. Eliminated players are said to be "executed by the Mole".
The elimination ceremony consists of the players sitting in rows of chairs before the host. In the first four seasons, the host had a laptop on which he typed each player's name, one at a time. This caused a large television display of the thumbprint logo to turn either green or red, with the latter signifying the player as eliminated. For the fifth season, the laptop an screen were replaced with a single touchscreen display, showing thumbnail images of each contestant. The host touched the players' images to bring up their results with the same green or red thumbprint method.
[edit] Exemptions
Contestants are sometimes offered exemptions from the quiz. An exempt contestant can not be eliminated, though they sometimes do and sometimes do not write the quiz. In the first season, exemptions were an occasional twist, while in the second through fourth seasons, exemptions were offered in almost every episode. It is unknown if this will continue for the fifth season.
Even after the first season, exemptions are usually twists in the game. Sometimes the exempted player is chosen by the group thinking they are choosing the player for something else; other times, the exemption comes in the form of a temptation to not complete a task and forfeit money or the pot. In the second season, there was an additional element called the "neutralizer" which prevented a contestant from being eligable for an exemption that episode.
[edit] Seasons
[edit] Season 1
The first season of The Mole consisted of nine episodes, first aired from January 9, 2001 - February 28, 2001. It featured ten civilian contestants, one of whom was the Mole. The maximum possible value of the pot was $1,000,000, and each quiz consisted of twenty questions.
The contestants began the season in California, and traveled to France in the first episode. The remainder of the season took place in Europe, eventually traveling to Monaco and Spain.
[edit] Season 2
Season 2 of The Mole was subtitled The Next Betrayal. Fourteen civilian contestants, one of whom was the Mole, competed over 13 episodes. The first three episodes aired September 21 - October 12, 2001 before going on hiatus until the next summer, starting again from the first episode on May 24, 2002. The season again took place in Europe, mainly featuring Switzerland and Italy. The maximum possible pot was again $1,000,000, but the quizzes were shortened to 10 questions. Various other minor format elements were changed for the second season.
[edit] Season 3
Season 3 was billed Celebrity Mole: Hawaii and featured a cast of seven celebrities. The season, which was only six episodes long, was filmed on the Big Island of Hawaii. The possible maximuim jackpot was also reduced to $250,000. The season aired from January 8 - February 12, 2003.
[edit] Season 4
The fourth season was billed Celebrity Mole: Yucatan, and featured eight celebrity contestants, including two returning from the previous season. The season was again a short seven episodes long, and was filmed on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The season aired from January 7 – February 18, 2004.
[edit] Season 5
The Mole returned after a four-year hiatus for a fifth season, returning to the civilian contestant format. Twelve contestants, one of whom is the mole, are competing for a maximum of $500,000. The season premiered on June 2, 2008.
[edit] References
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