MovieChat Forums > The Mole (2000) Discussion > Episode #6.15

Episode #6.15

posted 11 years ago by budarc
16 replies | jump to latest

I watched all five seasons of the American version and quickly jumped into the currently airing sixth season of the Australian version to curb my fix. I hate it. Honestly, the contestants are all jerks, sabotaging each other every inch of the way. It's stupid that you can lose money from the pot and you have to "defend" your exemptions, after they're already hard enough to obtain. The idea of "freebies" is a total cop out, and I was PISSED when Kerrie was executed in the fifth round (because she was the only player without a freebie). And now, with this latest insult of an episode, they lost $125,000 in a single game, putting the "kitty" down to only $7,000. Seriously? Obviously, the producers knew that this game would be the ultimate temptation and everyone would cash in. It was designed to lose. That, coupled with the fact that the remaining contestants are all selfish idiots is just the final straw. I honestly don't give a crap anymore. How many weeks are left? Three? How much money can they make back in that time? Does it even matter who wins anymore?

I also hate the fact that termination rounds come about so seldom. It's been 15 episodes so far, and only five executions have occurred. They spend too much time showing talking head clips and repeating the same information ad nauseam, and the game never goes anywhere. Couple that with the fact that I HATE reality programming (The Mole U.S. was one of my few exceptions) and you've just lost another viewer.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I like the cast, but I was disappointed in that game. Bringing the pot down to such a trivial amount after 15 episodes in is a little ridiculous. I'm hoping the games/contests coming up will give the cast a chance to win it back quicker than it took them to earn it originally.

This season isn't as good as the first two U.S. seasons, but it's far, far better than season 5 AU. Did you watch that season? They were downright nasty to each other.

I like a lot of the changes they've made, especially the inconsistent elimination quizzes and the exemption defenses. There shouldn't be as many freebies as there are, though. I'd be fine with a few floating around, but a person having 5 and another having zero changes the dynamics of the game quite substantially.

I think they're experimenting here, and if we get another season, perhaps they'll learn what they improved upon and what they could do better. I'm happy to see the show back on at all. It and The Amazing Race are really the only reality shows I've ever cared for.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

It's nice to see there's at least one other person who checks these forums (even though the last message was made over 3 years ago). ;)

No, I haven't seen any of the other international versions. They're hard to find. I'm torrenting season 6 right now, but it's so bad I don't think I want to go back and watch the earlier ones. Especially if you say season 5 AU was even crueler than this one.

When that terrible first episode in the middle of the desert aired, there were a few characters that got on my nerves right off the bat: Shaun, Sam, Mozzie, Nick and Alex. Way too overconfident, arrogant and cocky, that turned me off from the show immediately. Of those, only Alex and Mozzie have been terminated (I was laughing when Aisha was crying because the only other "good looking" person had left), and now the fact that Sam is guaranteed to be in the final four is another huge thorn in my side. What a little weasel. Throughout the season, I've found that the contestants have been more focused on "winning" the game rather than earning any money for the pot. As a psychological experiment in selfishness and greed, it's brilliant, but as a spectator it drives me mad. I think the only contestant I actually grew to like was Kerrie, who obviously was unfairly booted out because she chose self-respect and decency over the "game."

Anyway, since you're the only other one here, do you have any clue who the Mole is? I've entertained the possibility of all of them at one point or another, but now I'm thinking it's either Nick or Sam...because they both look like such *beep* :P Then again, Sam's spending of 75,000 to get the ultimate exemption did reek of desperation and would have been too obvious a move for the Mole to make. Nick on the other hand doesn't seem as emotionally invested in the game, and rather has been sabotaging small amounts every step of the way (like leaving the 3,000 in Hillal's cabinet and letting everyone argue over it). Of course, in this game, it's always the person you "least" expect, and for me, that would be either Ally or Hillal...or possibly Aisha or Erin. The problem is that everyone has been so focused on sabotaging each other on purpose that there really isn't any clear mole sabotage going on. I've ruled out Shaun only because of that one abseil game where he started crying and I felt genuinely sorry for him.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

You can find season 5 AU on YouTube. I think it's still there, but all the episodes were on the channel TheMoleQueen3. I think there are several other seasons there also. It's a little different than other runs since it was airing semi live, meaning that they were filming as the show was airing instead of several months beforehand. The host was also awful. Shura is much better, IMO.

I've never been particularly good at picking out who the Mole is in any season. I don't think the Mole would've spent $70,000 on the ultimate exemption, though. It would put too much attention on him/her, and the way that assignment was going up until that point, there was a good chance the bid would've either maxed out or gotten close to it without his/her help. Like you mention, so many people act so selfishly and immature that it's hard to tell what is actually mole activity, what is other contestants pretending to be the mole, and what is actual immaturity coming through.

I don't think Shaun is the Mole either now, but that's only due to the last episode. After Shura mentioned the ultimate exemption sold, Shaun gave a "yes! I won it" gesture when he thought he was the highest bid. Since the rest of the gang couldn't see him due to the dividers, there would've been no reason for him to pretend to be excited about that if he were the mole; no one would've been able to see him feign excitement.

I think the mole is Erin. It has as much to do with her talking heads as it does her performance in games, which hasn't been particularly strong. The way she comes off seems suspicious to me.

I don't know what to make of Ally. Her overacting and 'emotional instability' could go either way. She would be hamming up to the camera or she could just be a bad actor. I lean towards the former, though, since I don't think she would've made a good candidate in the producers' eyes. All I think about with her is the weird make believe tug-of-rope thing she did with Linda in the connect the pipe assignment.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Erin has really been floating low under my radar, other than that one time she spent 15K from the pot in order to keep her exemption (which seems like a pretty petty amount in retrospect). I think she'd make a perfect candidate for the mole, since all she pretty much has to do is step back and let everyone else destroy themselves.

If Ally is the mole, she's a really good actor. I don't think so, though; her performance kind of reminds me of Adrianna from Whodunnit, who was very overemotional and headstrong and everyone suspected her as such...wrongly, I might add. I think Ally's too involved in the game and she gets her feelings hurt when she's left out (like that one game where they had to revolve around the library and open up metal boxes -- it cracked me up how pissed off she was!).

I remember that moment of Shaun's perfectly. He was so excited to win the ultimate exemption and then -- shock, awe. Hilarious. If he actually turns out to be the mole, I'll take back every bad thing I said about this show...that would be completely brilliant.

I've never been good at figuring out The Mole either, and I don't have the hindsight of knowing who the Australian producers chose in the earlier seasons in order to determine a "pattern." I know the American version had a strange line-up (the beautiful lawyer, the old retired Navy admiral guy, two beautiful models in a row -- no one would have suspected it the second time around! -- and then the fat, funny dude). There's a part of me that thinks that Aisha could easily pull it off because she's such a hottie (and they tend to go by undetected), but Erin could clearly qualify for that same reason.

I'm going to stick with Nick as my mole suspect for now (something to do with those beady eyes)...I suppose we can reconvene here in a couple of episodes and compare notes. Nice talkin' to ya! ;)

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Well, it definitely isn't Nick. I'm *beep* horrible at this game...

If I'm not mistaken, Nick went for Erin or Aisha as the Mole, right? I'm pretty sure Shaun has adamantly been sticking to Aisha, but he's still in the game. It seems like a lot of people suspect Aisha, but honestly, I don't know if the show would make that information blatantly known unless they were trying to purposely lead us astray.

It was strange at the end how Hillal openly called out Shaun as the Mole. He could have been easily trying to cast suspicion away from him, though. Also, everyone accused each other in that moment, except for Aisha. So, who knows. Every episode I second guess myself even more. That's why I've always found this series so compelling.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I loved the banter at the end of the episode!

I'm kind of glad Nick is gone. He seemed so sure of himself and was so certain that Hillal would be eliminated. He got his just desserts. He was way too confident, and he tried to explain how the game worked or who would do what if they were the mole. He was wrong in those assessments (from my perspective) more often than he was right.

I am happy that there haven't been many freebies/exemptions lately. It's getting to the end of the game, and the contestants' fates should rely on their own observational skills, not luck.

For my pick, I'm still sticking with Erin. I just don't think it would be Sam if only because his spending $70,000 AU on the ultimate exemption would be a terrible thing for the producers to have him do. They could easily hedge against having a high payout by simply implementing challenges like that where it would be simple for the Mole to do his work. I think losing money is the alteration I dislike the most.

Everyone writes Hillal off, but if he turns out to be the Mole, it will be a huge surprise. The only thing about that possibility is I don't think he's really done anything to lose the group money. Only thing that comes to mind is doing the silo walk "just 'cause he wanted to" when everyone opposed it.

From the edit we, as viewers, received; it appeared as though Nick and Shaun were both going for Aisha. Nick made an ostensibly unsuccessful attempt to sway Shaun from Aisha to Erin. But who knows how much we're shown reflects reality? One of them could've changed his mind by the time he took the quiz.

I am suspicious about them allowing Erin to make a phone call to her sister about the crane jump challenge. Wouldn't that let it out to the public that she was still in the game? I know in The Amazing Race that eliminated contestants are taken to a compound until the show has stopped filming to prevent potential leaks of information/spoilers. I wonder what they do for this show (if anything)...

[–] budarc 11 years ago

I think Sam and Shaun are the only players I'm eliminating from my suspect list. If it's either of them, then the game has done its job and I'm an idiot.

It's funny that Hillal seemed to be the top suspect at the very beginning of the game. I don't know if you remember, but they used to have Twitter messages during the show and lots of people guessed the mole was Hillal. I took that to mean that it WASN'T Hillal, because I don't think they would air those otherwise. But who knows, this show has gone on so long, I can't even remember back to the beginning of the game.

Hillal seems like the only one who actually TRIES in this game. And hilariously, that makes him the least likely Mole suspect. Of course, with everyone else sabotaging the *beep* out of each other, the Mole doesn't actually have to "do" anything, so it's the perfect cover. If Hillal turns out to be the culprit, I wouldn't be too surprised.

I recall that Shaun and Nick were targeting Aisha, and Nick was trying to sway Shaun to vote for Erin. When Shaun mentions this to Erin while they're preparing dinner, I believe Erin says that Nick suspects Shaun. So maybe Nick actually accused Shaun and that's why he was booted off. Who knows.

I also think it's weird that players are able to communicate with the outside world at will. But if I recall correctly, I remember reading that season 5 of the Australian version was airing in real time, which meant that all the contestants got to go home in between each episode (don't quote me on that). Since they're all locals, it wouldn't surprise me if they were given liberties to stay in contact with their family, since everything's being recorded anyway.

Any idea how many more episodes this show is going to go on? I'll admit that I'm addicted to this series and Wednesdays are the days I'm most looking forward to all week. I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I'll probably go back and watch the first 5 AU seasons when this is all over. Gotta get my fix somehow.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

Nope, I don't remember much about the Twitter messages. The popups on the screen or something outside the game?

About Hillal being the Mole: The thing about the Mole *not* sabotaging the group is that it means the point of having a Mole in the first place was moot. It kind of defeats the purpose if the Mole isn't even one of the individuals who lost the group the most amount of money.

I mean, from the way I can see it, the only reason why the Mole's identity needs to be a secret at all is because it gives the contestants the opportunity to put whom they think is the Mole in the least important roles in the challenges. That doesn't really ever happen, though. I just don't think these contestants would be any more successful if they all knew who the Mole was, flat out.

About communicating outside: Yeah, that did happen in season 5. I think I mentioned it above. That was a different format, though. It was airing as it was filming. It has different repercussions this time because there's a delay.

About Nick & Shaun: Yeah, admittedly, I didn't pay a lot of attention to Shaun and Erin in the kitchen. I was going by what Nick mentioned in the talking heads. It's possible he could lie to the camera, but how possible? We could analyze this back and forth if we had the gumption, like Vizzini in The Princess Bride!

I'd wager there are 3 episodes left, possibly 4. I think there's another quiz coming up this week by what the preview last week let on.

I wish they'd say whether the show will be coming back. I don't know why it isn't more popular. I guess the fact that there's nobody posting here except for you and me is a terrible sign. :(

Season 2 US Spoilers:
Just curious, have you read Bill's book about his experiences on the Mole? I've considered buying it... It's always nice to have more perspective, and season 2 US is my favorite of all seasons of the Mole.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

About communicating outside: Yeah, that did happen in season 5. I think I mentioned it above.

Shoot, for some reason I thought I read it on Wikipedia. It makes no sense for me to quote you back to you. :P

I get the feeling The Mole won't be coming back anytime soon. I don't know where I read it (hopefully it wasn't in this thread), but supposedly the ratings are lacking in Australia, which is why they started showing double episodes for awhile. This has got to be the longest season of any of the Mole versions, right? I can't help but think that lowers the fanbase considerably, since you have to follow it from beginning to end. (Also, the fact that every episode used to feature a termination at the end made it easier to eliminate your suspects, rather than having to wait 3-4 episodes.)

That's an interesting point you made. Despite the whole premise of the show being to "figure out who's the Mole," it doesn't always make a such a big difference in the end because EVERYONE screws up, whether by accident or on purpose. The mole doesn't always have to sabotage, and if they did, it would be way too obvious (and we would actually be able to guess it for once). In a way, it doesn't even matter who the mole is, because everyone technically does things to lose money simply by design of the game. Thanks for deconstructing it like that. :P

I'm probably wrong, but I'm starting to think it might be Aisha. Again, it seems too obvious, but I wouldn't put it past the show at this point. Of course, Hillal and Erin are all good suspects, and I keep changing my mind from challenge to challenge. If it's Sam, I'll be pissed; that ultimate exemption bid was just too desperate a move. And if it's Shaun, I'll tip my hat to the show, because I've completely eliminated him from my radar, despite him doing some pretty shady things.

Of course, right now we're just speculating, but it'll be fun to look back in hindsight once they actually reveal the identity. Yeah, I heard about Bill's book, but I only read an excerpt from it (which was available online). I also thought it would be an interesting read, although the season finales do a pretty good job of reviewing the Mole's methods and showing you all the hidden clues. Yeah, season 2 was a good one. I don't think they'll ever be able to top Anderson's Funhouse ("Tiny bubbles...").

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I hope they spend time and do go into detail on what the Mole did to actually lose money in the finale. That is interesting to me. Now that I think of it, they will probably have an episode just for that, so there might be more more than I guessed above.

While I have enjoyed the longer season, I agree that it has to hurt the ratings, especially since they stopped airing two episodes at once. It's also certain to be annoying for the winner, as it just means longer before he/she can get the prize money.

I'm pretty sure the original Belgian version of the Mole is still running. About a year ago I watched part of the first episode of a recent season. There was somebody subtitling the episodes on YouTube. I just couldn't get through it though. Subtitles on reality TV apparently aren't easy for me to watch. You may want to look into that if you still haven't quelled your Mole appetite after you finish up Mole AU.

Aisha is probably my 2nd choice. She's done some things that never made sense to me. For instance, during the paintball exemption defense challenge, she ran out from cover against Erin to try to make it to the other end of the course when all she had to do was wait out the timer to successfully defend her exemption--all that was left were 15 or so seconds when she made her big break. Maybe she just didn't understand the challenge well (or has terrible sense of time), or maybe she's the Mole. After all, I guess an exemption wouldn't matter to her if she were.

If you run across some good seasons, do let me know. I've only watched the U.S. ones and AU 5, so I'm sure there's got to be some diamonds in the rough still out there.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Did they do the finale recaps in the previous seasons of AU?

Yeah, reading subtitles on a reality show doesn't sound like a very attractive prospect. Besides the first five seasons of AU, I'm planning on looking into the two seasons that were produced for the UK in 2000-2001 (I found a torrent for season 1, and season 2 is on YouTube). If nothing else, we can look forward to a second season of Whodunnit (with a very similar premise to The Mole) next summer; I recall seeing you post on those forums, too.

While I'm enjoying this season (kind of a guilty pleasure despite all the things I find wrong with it), I'm finding the length of this season excruciating and unbearable. When I went back and watched the US shows, I marathoned them all in about a week. This is the first time I'm actually watching it "live" and I hate it. (I feel the same about most drama series's on television; I usually wait till the show has ended before watching it.)

I have a terrible memory, so I can only remember back a few episodes at a time. Aisha's been having some weird behavior lately. Like that time on the train where she was supposed to find clues left by Erin and Shaun and she didn't see any (she also got one of the questions wrong by misremembering a lyric). Then there's that clearly awful attempt at "moling" when she dropped the geography piece on the grass, hoping to smudge out some of the chalk (even though that didn't really have a bearing on the purpose of the game). Most of the time, it seems like she's playing it too innocent and naive...in fact, in the last episode, I think it was Hillal or Shaun who mentioned that she used to do some acting (when she was crying because she didn't want to do the bungee jump). In fact, if you google Aisha Jefcoate, you can also find some bikini clad photos of her modeling...and I highly recommend it.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

Yeah, I found Aisha's LinkedIn profile a while back. Several of the contestants are friends with each other on there, actually. It seems like she and Erin are both working in the media industry or seeking work in it. That's an interesting factoid, but who knows if it means anything. If she were the Mole, she'd probably be careful about what she says to people; I think mentioning acting classes would fall under that. Maybe my judgment is different.

They did a finale recap in season 5, but it wasn't as satisfying as I would've liked. Nothing about that season really was, though.

Do you think the season would be more bearable to you if you just waited until it was over and then finished it up? I'm used to watching TV shows that span 20+ episodes over the course of 8 months, so this doesn't bother me too much. For this show, I do think they could've made a tighter season in fewer episodes.

I started watching Whodunnit, but I couldn't make it past the 2nd episode. It was way too cheesy and not at all what I was hoping it would be.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Yeah, I definitely would have enjoyed this season more if I watched it all in the span of a day. I would have been able to forgive it its more glaring errors, because I wouldn't have had time to sit around and think about it and be so critical. I considered waiting until the season ends to resume watching, but I think I'm into it too deep now.

Whodunnit was extremely cheesy and over the top, but again, once I started it I felt compelled to follow through to the bitter end. It's actually pretty rewarding after awhile, once you accept that all the contestants are required to do a bit of "acting" (as well as some of the edited footage containing stunt doubles and added angles, making it all the more fake). I find it strange that I've been so adamantly against reality competition shows for so long, and all of a sudden this year I've been watching tons of it (beginning with The Hero, which I really enjoyed). I remember watching Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, The Mole and Fear Factor all during their respective first and second seasons in 2000-2001, but the trend wore on me all too quickly and then it spouted into that horrible Reality TV standard where any idiot could get their own show (and they usually did). Now 12 years later, I have a renewed vigor for the medium. Go figure.

[–] SpaceAndTime 11 years ago

I've never had a problem with competition reality TV. Amazing Race is one of my favorite shows. I'm surprised it's still going on since it seems like the reality TV that _I_ like is not the reality TV that the general public likes. I'll take a look at Hero. Looks like it's available to watch on Amazon so I might check that out.

Survivor/Big Brother may have competitions, but there's too much focus on drama, politics, etc. for me. Not enough challenges. I like the challenges... I mean, I used to watch Road Rules for God's sake. :p

This might be a long shot, but there's a reality competition show (from Canada, I believe) on Hulu called Solitary. It's about a group of people who get put in these octagonal rooms and are tested to their limits. Basically, it's like a reality TV version of 24. I'm only three episodes in (watching it slowly), but it's an interesting watch... different. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case it struck your fancy.

[–] budarc 11 years ago

Interesting. I'll check it out, thanks for the recommendation.

[–] huibioux 10 years ago

I just watched season six in full and while I enjoyed a great deal of the show I have to agree that the amount of mole-ing where players deliberately screwed up things just to draw suspiscion to them was rather off putting at times. I loudly cheered when Alex got eliminated. Sam while being the devious jerk of the season had some trickster kind of quality to him and was quite the contrast to too goody two shoes Hillal. The final two girls annoyed me a bit for their fake girly attitude. I loved Ally's over the top mugging for the camera. I hated the circumstances of Kerry's elimination.

Overall though I really like season six and hope for more seasons.

money can`t buy you back the love that you had then - Feist "1 2 3 4"