THE MOLE - It begins...

After a four year hiatus, The Mole returns to TV this week, and paranoia and second-guessing return with it.

Remember this show?  The original version was hosted by none other than Anderson Cooper himself.  There was a celebrity version of The Mole as well, where Victoria's Secret model Frederique van der Wal schooled all of her fellow celebrities week after week while they were too busy fighting amongst themselves.  Now, The Mole returns with twelve new contestants...  actually, strike that.  Eleven new contestants and one traitor.

OK, in case you didn't watch, here's the lowdown:  twelve people compete in a series of challenges in exotic locations.  Each challenge has the potential for earning a lot of money that goes into the ever-growing prize pot.  But there's a catch:  one of the contestants is The Mole, a double agent who will try to sabotage the competition and keep the contestants from earning the maximum possible money.  Each week the contestants form their own theories as to who among them is The Mole, and then fill out a quiz based on the week's competition and who they believe The Mole is.  The player with the fewest correct answers on the quiz gets "executed" while The Mole snickers and schemes.  Got it?

This week we met all twelve contestants - head on over to The Mole page on ABC.com to familiarize yourself with the players.  The first challenge tested the players' resolve and their fear of heights as they had to ride a wooden raft over the edge of a waterfall, grabbing a dangling sack of money as they did so.  Unfortunately, three of them fell to their deaths on the rocks below.  No, I'm kidding.  They had safety ropes.

One of the contestants, Marcie, picked whether or not the bags her fellow players were jumping for had real money or fake money inside.  This cast a great deal of suspicion on poor Marcie right off the bat.  Why did she choose fake money for several of the more athletic players?  Was she sabotaging the competition from the very start?  But there were several players who did not succeed in grabbing any money at all.  Alex, Ali, Paul, Victoria, and Craig all failed to grab their bags before sliding over the edge.  Could one of them be The Mole?  Or would The Mole deliberately fail at a task so early in the competition?

The next challenge was a beach scavenger hunt searching for the five items that famed castaway Alexander Selkirk had with him at the beginning of his four year stay on an uninhabited island in 1704.  Racing an hourglass, one team had to comb the beach, and bring back the items they found to the appraising team, which consisted of retiree Liz, history teacher Mark, and neuroscientist Kristen.  The appraisers would decide whether the items the scavengers brought them were stuff the marooned Selkirk had with him, and the group would get money for each correct item.

This is where I got suspicious.  The appraisers got three items correct - a goat, a Bible, and a musket.  I had a hard time believing that Mark, a history teacher, would think that a man at the dawn of the eighteenth century had a pair of blue jeans and a revolver with him.  I mean, come on.  You could make the arguement that Mark might have thought that the jeans represented generic pants, but there is no way any history teacher worth his salt would think that a revolver pistol belonged in 1704.  I don't know, maybe he's the worst history teacher in the world?

Marcie was eliminated from the competition this week, so the one player that the other contestants seemed most suspicious of is now no longer a factor.  Eleven remain.  Which one of them is The Mole?

My Mole Pick of the Week: definitely Mark, the history teacher (pictured).  He succeeded at the waterfall challenge because it was too early in the game to deliberately fail, but I think he undermined the scavenger hunt.  Am I wrong?  We'll see. 

What about you?  Who do you think The Mole is?

--Dave Campbell

Comments

[J-S]

Dave, you know I was SOOOO excited to hear this show was coming back. However, I'm not all that thrilled with our host, I must admit. Maybe it's because I just LOVED Anderson Cooper. And then Ahmad Rashad didn't do so bad either. But this new guy is showing no personality. Let's see if he begins to show one as the season goes on! :-)

But let's get to the show!! The first show and already so many are suspicious! Who is it??!! I agree with you, Dave, that the teacher was highly suspicious. I mean, I don't see him as being so smart that he would choose the jeans *only* to cause people to think he's the mole when he's not. He's high on my Suspect Mole list.

More importantly, we need to know what number journals everyone has!! I mean, did ABC give us obvious clues to who the Mole is on that first episode just to throw us off base or did they simply give us clues, period?? If the clues were legitimate, I'd be voting for the contestant with Journal #11. Like I said, though, it could just be ABC faking us out! Ohhh, what to believe?!

I don't think it's the scrawny guy who couldn't even walk on the beach without nearly keeling over. Why would they choose someone to be the Mole when it is highly unlikely they'll ever be able to "win" a physical challenge, which is what the Mole needs to do on occasion to throw suspicion off them. I've dated a couple of skinny guys who actually were strong, so I gave this a little more thought... but I just think this guy is incredibly weak and maybe ABC chose him as a contestant because there *would* be questions about his being the Mole due to his losing challenges... Hm.

Super duper excited for Monday night, Dave!!