De Mol (TV series)

De Mol (The Mole) is a Belgian reality game show that originally aired from 6 December 1998 to 19 March 2000 and again from 19 January to 16 March 2003 on TV1 with Michiel Devlieger as host. It was revived in 2016 (February 1) on VIER with Gilles De Coster as host. The show won the famous Rose d'Or award in 2000. The format has been licensed in 40 countries from all around the world.

For the animated film series, see Mole (Zdeněk Miler character).

De Mol
GenreReality game show
Created byMichiel Devlieger
Bart de Pauw
Tom Lenaerts
Michel Vanhove
Presented byMichiel Devlieger (1998–2000, 2003)
Gilles De Coster (2016–)
Country of originBelgium
Original languageFlemish/Dutch
No. of series7
No. of episodes63
Production
Running time60 minutes
Production companyWoestijnvis
Release
Original networkTV1 (1998–2000, 2003)
VIER (2016–)
Original release6 December 1998 (1998-12-06) –
present
External links
Website
Production website

Players in The Mole must work together to complete various physical and mental challenges to build up a significant prize for the winner. One of them, however, is "the Mole", a double agent hired by the producers to sabotage the efforts of the group. The Mole must be careful to avoid drawing too much suspicion to himself or herself. Using journals, players must track vast amounts of data 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.

Format

Each series of The Mole involves ten contestants. During each episode, the contestants participate in a number of challenges, each assigned a monetary value. However, one of these contestants has been selected by production to be the Mole; it's his or her job is to try to prevent the other players from winning challenges without revealing himself or herself to others. The Mole may be told ahead of time of how to do this or what challenges to expect, while at other times the Mole must decide whether to intervene or not.

At the end of each episode, the contestants take a quiz regarding the identity of the Mole and his or her involvement in the previous activities. The player who scores the lowest on this quiz, or was slowest to answer in case of a tie, is eliminated from the game. The winner of the game is the one that answers the most questions correctly on the final quiz given when there are only three players remaining (including the Mole).

While success in the 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.

Challenges

Similar to other reality shows, The Mole features challenges in which the players received money that was added to a group pot which only one person could win. However, unlike challenges in other reality shows, the ones seen on The Mole offered players ways to disrupt the game, as well as ways of disguising their betrayal.

Quiz and eliminations

The quiz is the primary device of eliminating contestants across all series. Traditionally between ten and twenty questions, the quiz asks the players to identify the Mole and several pieces of information regarding the Mole, including the Mole's activity in challenges, biographical profile, their fashion and/or culinary choices during the show, etc. The player scoring lowest on the quiz (and taking the longest time to do so, in the event of tied scores) is eliminated from the game.

Series overview
Series Premiere Finale Host The Mole Winner Runner-up Amount won International destination
1 6 December 1998 31 January 1999 Michiel Devlieger Magda Ral Hugo De Bie Mon De Ridder BEF 1,150,000  France
2 23 January 2000 19 March 2000 Hugo Daemen Marianne Dupon Niki De Boeck BEF 1,145,000  Spain
3 19 January 2003 15 March 2003 Mark Simons Stijn Vandaele Sandra Welvaert / Inge Boere €33,100  Italy
4 1 February 2016 28 March 2016 Gilles De Coster Gilles Van Bouwel Cathy van der Ha Hanne Vanhaesebrouck €30,790  Argentina
5 6 February 2017 3 April 2017 Eline Michiels Davey Van Rode Annelies Cooymans €27,250  South Africa
6 25 March 2018 20 May 2018 Pieter Delanoy Lloyd Vermeulen Bahador Sabouri €27,665  Mexico
7 10 March 2019 12 May 2019 Elisabet Haesevoets Axel Pailler Bas Moeyaert €34,050  Vietnam
8 8 March 2020 26 April 2020 Alina Churikova Jolien Derck Bart Lintermans €22,835  Greece
9 TBA 2021 TBA 2021  Germany

Locations map
France
Spain
Italy
Argentina
South Africa
Mexico
Vietnam
Greece
Germany
Locations of the Belgian version of The Mole.

International versions

In total, over 50 series/seasons of The Mole have been broadcast around the world, since its inception in 1998 in Belgium.

Legend:

  (4) Currently airing  
  (14) No longer airing  
CountryNameHost(s)TV stationPremiereFinale
 Australia The Mole Grant Bowler Seven 27 February 2000 28 September 2003
Tom Williams 25 August 2005 28 October 2005
Shura Taft 2 July 2013 16 October 2013
 Bulgaria Къртицата[1]
Kartitsata		 Ivan Hristov TV7 26 March 2013 17 May 2014
Andrey Arnaudov
 Catalonia El Talp Pol Izquierdo TV3 2003 2003
 Finland Myyrä Roope Salminen MTV3 1 January 2019 present
 France Qui est la taupe ? Stéphane Rotenberg M6
RTL-TVI (Belgium)		 1 July 2015 5 August 2015
 Germany Der Maulwurf – Die Abenteuershow Michael Stich ProSieben 7 July 2000 25 November 2001[2]
Steven Gatjen
The Mole – Wem kannst du trauen? The BossHoss Sat.1 6 May 2020 24 June 2020
 Israel מי החפרפרת
Ha-Chafarperet		 Itai Anghel Channel 2 (Keshet) 13 February 2001 2001
 Italy La Talpa Amanda Lear[3]
Paola Perego
Guido Bagatta		 Rai 2 30 January 2004 2 April 2004
Paola Perego
Stefano Bettarini		 Italia 1 20 September 2005 22 November 2005
Paola Perego
Paola Barale		 9 October 2008 27 November 2008
 Netherlands Wie is de Mol? Angela Groothuizen AVRO (1999–2014)
AVROTROS (2015–)		 19 November 1999 present
Karel van de Graaf
Pieter Jan Hagens
Art Rooijakkers
Rik van de Westelaken
Wie is de Mol? Junior Sipke Jan Bousema Nederland 3 17 May 2008 21 June 2008[4]
Art Rooijakkers 9 March 2014 27 April 2014
 New Zealand The Mole Mark Ferguson[5] TV2 2000 2000
 Norway Muldvarpen Lars Arentz-Hansen TVNorge 31 January 2000 9 December 2002
Ove Christian Owe
 Poland Agent Marcin Meller TVN 22 October 2000 22 December 2002
Agent – Gwiazdy Kinga Rusin 23 February 2016 present
 Portugal O Sabotador Paulo Nery RTP1 9 September 2001 4 November 2001[6]
 Spain El Traidor Luis Larrodera
Sergio Muñiz		 Cuatro 12 July 2006 8 September 2006
El Topo Daniel Domenjó
Emilio Pineda		 Telecinco 25 June 2009 July 2009
 Sweden Mullvaden Pontus Gårdinger Kanal 5 2000 2001
Hans Fahlén 2007 2007
 Ukraine Крот[7]
Krot		 Konstantin Stognii ICTV 24 October 2014 2014
 United Kingdom The Mole Glenn Hugill Channel 5 12 January 2001 9 December 2001
 United States The Mole Anderson Cooper ABC 9 January 2001 18 February 2004
Ahmad Rashād
Jon Kelley 2 June 2008 11 August 2008

References
  1. "The Mole (Bulgaria)". TV7.bg. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. "Der Maulwurf". wunschliste.de.
  3. only first episode
  4. "Wie is... de Mol? Junior 1 Netherlands". worldofbigbrother.com.
  5. Cleave, Louisa (4 May 2000). "TV: Contestants dig deep to flush out the mole". The New Zealand Herald.
  6. "O Sabotador – Contests – RTP". RTP.pt. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  7. "The Mole (Ukraine)". ictv.ua. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
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