There’s just something about the face a contestant makes on The Mole when they’re about to screw over their fellow players.
There’s usually some mischief and defiance in their eyes. Sometimes (but certainly not always) their lips might twitch ever so slightly with shame. Given the nature of the game, however, it’s always impossible to tell how real these looks even are. Is that player sorry they just sacrificed tens of thousands of dollars from the group’s shared prize pot to secure exemption from elimination? Or are they, and everyone around them, for that matter, simply bluffing?
The Mole first debuted in 2001, when reality television as we now know it still felt brand-new. There was Survivor, but no The Bachelor. The Amazing Race would not premiere until later that year. Our original host? Famously, a very “Y2K” Anderson Cooper—complete with black leather jacket and tiny black sunglasses. (Subsequent hosts included sportscaster Ahmad Rashad and journalist Jon Kelley.) Now, Netflix has brought the series back for a 10-episode sixth season that lives up to the calculated chaos of the original.
The first five episodes of the new Mole will debut on Netflix Friday, with the remaining five set to premiere in batches during the two weeks that follow. As always, the goal of the game is simple: Players must work together to add money to a shared prize pot while they each individually try to determine who among them is the Mole, a producer plant whose sole aim is to sabotage their efforts. Figuring that latter part out, is much easier said than done.
Each week, the players must complete challenges that test their wits, their endurance, and their problem-solving skills before taking a quiz about the Mole’s identity. How many languages does the Mole speak? How long is their hair? Do they have siblings? The key to survival in The Mole is to not only guess the person’s identity correctly, but to gather as much information about them as possible. Pick the wrong person, and you might just score lowest and get sent straight home.
Everyone has an idea who they think the Mole is, and everyone has a different strategy for throwing their fellow competitors off track. Some people’s game plans are calculated; some are intuitive; and some are just nonsensical enough to make you think they might be the Mole.
What tends to vary most across players, however, is how far each of them will go in the name of public villainy in order to secure their own results. Throughout the game, producers dangle “Exemption” cards that will protect players from elimination, but they always come with a steep price.
In one choice moment, one player pleads with another not to screw the group over for a second time by taking another exemption. “You’ve already had one,” he says, his eyes wide with stress as though one wrong syllable could set off a bomb. It’s in moments like this, dear reader, that I remembered how reality TV can make a person feel alive again.
As our newest host, MSNBC’s Alex Wagner often makes for a delightful fly on the wall—especially during more humorous challenges, like one built around competitors’ ability to hide the fact they’re eating extremely spicy, nauseating foods. (Think: balls of wasabi as peas, or a nice, tall pint of apple cider vinegar posing as beer.) A deft presenter with easygoing charisma, Wagner knows just when to turn up the humor versus when to be sincere but efficient. (Not every would-be reality show host knows how to load a visibly distraught player into a van with such grace!)
This season’s players, meanwhile, are a well-cast blend of obvious influencers and fascinating on-screen characters. Sadly, gone are the days of the “ordinary-people” competitors of the early aughts. Much like the faces who appear on other Netflix reality shows like The Circle, most of the contestants here are young and conventionally hot. (As in, one dude is literally nicknamed “Thor.”)
Stand-outs include Joi Schweitzer, a 40-year-old commercial airline pilot with suspiciously poor navigational skills; Greg Shapiro, a shifty 32-year-old marketing consultant; Dom Gabriel, a heavy machine operator who nicknames himself “Dom Cruise,” and 26-year-old professional gamer Avori Henderson. “Thor,” by the way, would be 29-year-old lifestyle brand manager William Richardson.
There’s no rest for the Mole (or for those hunting them down) and eight episodes in, I’m pretty sure I’ve guessed each player was the Mole on at least one occasion. The game’s only drawback comes not from its secrecy but from its impatience. The game is exceptionally fast-paced, and while that helps preserve the Mole’s secrets, it also eliminates some of the idle, unstructured time that can make reality programming so fun to watch.
Some of reality’s most interesting moments come during the conversations players use to kill time, and in a social strategy-based game like The Mole, a lot of fascinating conversations likely hit the cutting-room floor. Then again, maybe too much talk would kill the mystery.
