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De Mol (TV series)

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De Mol
De Mol series banner
Also known asThe Mole
GenreReality game show
Created byMichiel Devlieger
Bart de Pauw
Tom Lenaerts
Michel Vanhove
Presented byMichiel Devlieger
Gilles De Coster
Country of originBelgium
Original languageDutch
No. of series12
No. of episodes73
Production
Running time60–80 minutes
Production companyWoestijnvis
Original release
NetworkTV1 (1998–2000, 2003)
VIER (2016–)
Release6 December 1998 (1998-12-06) –
present

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. A revival has aired since 1 February 2016 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.

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 themself. 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

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Each series of The Mole involves a group of 10 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 their job to try to prevent the other players from winning challenges without revealing themself to others. The Mole is told what challenges to expect, but not always how to sabotage them; they must decide whether to intervene and how they do so.

To eliminate someone, all contestants take a quiz (which consists of 20 questions) at the end of every episode regarding the identity of the Mole and their 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. When there are only three players remaining, including the mole, the winner of the game is the one that answers the most questions correctly on the final quiz. The final quiz is usually 30 questions.

While success in the challenges builds 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 their attempts to derail the team, disingenuous attempts to emulate the Mole must be subtle, while still noticeable and suspicious.

Series overview

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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 Armand "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 21 March 2021 9 May 2021 Lennart Driesen Annelotte De Brandt Sven Uyttersprot €18,240 Germany
10 20 March 2022 8 May 2022 Philippe Minguet Sven Pede Yens Wittebrouck €26,390 Canary Islands (Spain)
Uma Vandemaele[a]
11 19 March 2023 7 May 2023 Comfort Achuo Lancelot De Deurwaerder Toos Vandervelde €27,320 Arizona (United States)
12 24 March 2024 12 May 2024 Senne van der Zweep Bernard Balcaen Michaël Moens €24,160 Sicily (Italy)
Notes
  1. ^ During the fourth episode of season 10, Philippe withdrew from the game due to mental health reasons, also revealing that he was the Mole. A new Mole was selected among the remaining six candidates at the end of the episode.[1]

Locations map

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De Mol (TV series) is located in Earth
France
France
Spain
Spain
Italy
Italy
Argentina
Argentina
South Africa
South Africa
Mexico
Mexico
Vietnam
Vietnam
Greece
Greece
Germany
Germany
Canary Islands
Canary Islands
Arizona
Arizona
Locations of the Belgian version of The Mole.

International versions

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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  
  (16) No longer airing  
Country Name Host(s) TV station Premiere Finale
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[2]
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
Belgium (Wallonia)
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[3]
Steven Gatjen
The Mole – Wem kannst du trauen? The BossHoss Sat.1 6 May 2020 24 June 2020
Hungary A Tégla László Szalma TV2 28 March 2000 May 2000
Israel מי החפרפרת
Ha-Chafarperet
Itai Anghel Channel 2 (Keshet) 13 February 2001 2001
Italy La Talpa Amanda Lear[4]
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–)
NPO Start [nl] (2024)
19 November 1999 present
Karel van de Graaf
Pieter Jan Hagens
Art Rooijakkers
Rik van de Westelaken
Hila Noorzai [nl]
Wie is de Mol? Junior Sipke Jan Bousema Nederland 3 17 May 2008 21 June 2008[5]
Art Rooijakkers 9 March 2014 27 April 2014
New Zealand The Mole Mark Ferguson[6] 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 2019
Portugal O Sabotador Paulo Nery RTP1 9 September 2001 4 November 2001[7]
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
Discovery+ (Sweden)[8] 2 November 2021 8 December 2022
Ukraine Крот[9]
Krot
Konstantin Stognii ICTV 24 October 2014 26 December 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 Rashad
Jon Kelley 2 June 2008 11 August 2008
Alex Wagner Netflix 7 October 2022 present
Ari Shapiro

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Belle de Jong (11 April 2022). "Saboteur quits Belgian game show over health concerns". The Brussels Times. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. ^ "The Mole (Bulgaria)". TV7.bg. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Der Maulwurf". wunschliste.de.
  4. ^ only first episode
  5. ^ "Wie is... de Mol? Junior 1 Netherlands". worldofbigbrother.com.
  6. ^ Cleave, Louisa (4 May 2000). "TV: Contestants dig deep to flush out the mole". The New Zealand Herald.
  7. ^ "O Sabotador – Contests – RTP". RTP.pt. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Mullvaden 2021 på discovery+ med Anders Lundin, Agneta Sjödin". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  9. ^ "The Mole (Ukraine)". ictv.ua. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
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