The Mole

In January of 2001, The Mole premiered on ABC to critical acclaim and middling ratings.  It was pulled from the air after its second season and replaced with an ill-fated celebrity edition, which included such big time stars as Kim Coles, Erik von Detten and Ananda Lewis.  ABC axed the show after two seasons of that atrocity, and fans expected never to see The Mole again.  Luckily for followers of the intelligent reality franchise, that wasn't the case.

Tonight, The Mole returns from the scrap heap after four years to kick off an all new competition.  Twelve contestants will battle it out for a shot at winning up to $500,000, but one of them will secretly be trying to sabotage the other players.  Can you guess who the mole is?

The episode kicks off with the players meeting new host Jon Kelley, who successfully brings some of that Anderson Cooper brand of charm back to the series.  Jon hands out cards and asks the contestants to guess the identity of the mole based on their short interactions with one another.  The players decide Marcie is the shady one, so Jon puts her in charge of making decisions for the team this week.

It's time for this season's very first mission, which takes place in the heart of Chile.  Each person will be navigating a raft over the edge of a cascading waterfall, and while going over they have to lunge to grab a bag hanging from a rope.  Some of the bags will be filled with money, others won't, and Marcie gets to decide who deserves a shot at the cash.

Alex, who I'm pretty sure is Kevin Walker from Brothers & Sisters, is the first to go over the falls.  He fails to grab the bag, forcing his teammates to think he's either the mole or a terrible athlete.  One by one the players go over the falls and lunge for the bags, but only Mark and Clay end up with real cash by the end of it.  Mysteriously, the other four people with bags received nothing but a handful of fake money.  Since Mark and Clay each receive $10,000, there's now $20,000 in the pot.  Craig and Victoria do especially bad during the challenge, which forces others to wonder if they're secret saboteurs.

Being pegged as the mole is really working out for Marcie.  Jon has a cabin that can only fit eight of the players overnight, and Marcie gets to decide which four people sleep outside.  She chooses Nicole, Liz, Craig and Bobby.  Nicole throws a hissy fit, screaming that the only two things she has to do in life are "stay black and die."  Sleeping outside doesn't go over well with her.

The next morning, Jon tells the gang to meet him at a nearby beach.  The host asks the contestants who the biggest whiner in the group is, and of course they choose Nicole.  After relaying the story of 18th century sailor Alexander Selkirk, Jon tells Nicole to choose six scavengers, three appraisers, and two time keepers. There are 45 items spread around the beach, and it's the job of the appraisers to find the five that Selkirk actually would have traveled with.  The scavengers gather the items together, the appraisers decide which are authentic, and the time keepers rush to fill hourglasses with sand to give the players more time.  For each correct item found, $5,000 will be added to the pot.

Once the challenge kicks off, Nicole immediately becomes suspicious of Mark and his scavenging skills. He's a history teacher, but he's choosing items that seem obviously incorrect.  When the appraisers gather together their first batch of five items, Jon confirms that only one is correct.  As time runs out, the appraisers end up with three out of five items. $15,000 is added to the pot, bringing the total to $35,000.

Nicole, aka Dr. Whiner, will be left to chill on the beach all evening.  Apparently that's her punishment for constantly complaining.  Meanwhile, the other 11 players are attempting to discern the identity of the mole. Could it be Paul or Alex, who have already formed an alliance?  Marcie, who seems somewhat devious? Craig, who seems suspiciously nice?  Or is it someone else entirely?

To decide who will be "executed" this week, the players have to take a quiz to prove how much they know about the mole.  The person who knows the least will be eliminated.  The questions include things like whether the mole is male or female, where they slept on the first night, and whether they have an even or odd number of letters in their name.  The gang answers the ten questions online, then gathers to discover who will be sent home.

Since Nicole spent the night on the beach, she's not eligible for elimination tonight.  Jon lets each contestant know whether or not they're safe, but he doesn't tell them which answers they got correct.  After going through each player one by one, Jon reveals that Marcie will be executed this evening.  He then pulls out a gun and shoots her point blank in the head.  Just kidding!  He actually has a nice little chat with her and sends her on her way.

Next week on The Mole, Nicole threatens to kill Paul in his sleep.  It's nice to see everyone getting along so well, isn't it?


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)