Joi must be the mole. Why else would she remove $25,000 from the participants’ bonus pot to stay in the game herself? Stop: It has to be Avori. She had dropped something on purpose and screwed up a task – or was she just trying to draw suspicion? Or is it Will, who could be playing a very perfidious game. Yes, that’s how the game show works The Mole, and at some point you think: Good heavens, who is it now? You’re sitting in front of one of the best reality formats currently, for a number of reasons.
The show has been around for more than 20 years in different countries; in Germany she was seen as a moderator in 2000 with tennis pro Michael Stich and a year later with Steven Gätjen. The basic concept then as now: A group earns as much money as possible in various tests, but in the end only the person who is left gets it. There is a traitor among them who sabotages exams; in each episode, contestants must answer 20 multiple-choice questions related to the troublemaker. Whoever answers the least correctly is out.
In the end, it’s not just about finding the culprit. Each participant has a motive for being a perpetrator themselves – for example to ensure their own survival. Or the incentive to behave in a way that arouses suspicion, so that the answers of the others on the test are as wrong as possible. At some point, the audience not only puzzles, who could be the mole, they also ponder: What would I do?
And suddenly you realize what annoys you so much about the other shows; so for example survivor, the legendary jungle show, for more than 20 years worldwide rate guarantee. There, it is not who wins who would actually survive on the lonely island – on the contrary: There is an incentive to choose the stronger ones from the pack for the survival of the more boring ones.
Finally a game where whoever plays it best actually wins
Or dating shows like love is blind, The Ultimatum and Hands off!: Participants are thrown into psychological experiments, everything is designed for maximum drama, you watch uninteresting people philosophize about relationships – despite the fact that they prove every minute that they have absolutely no idea.
Or any talent format with juries like Germany seeks the superstar about or Germany’s Next Topmodel: Annoying that the tests are often designed in such a way that dropping out often has nothing to do with finding the most talented or the most beautiful – a model who doesn’t sit an exam because of fear of spiders; a tattoo artist whose client can’t handle pain.
The Mole is exciting because it is coherent and yet tricky; the candidates have to pass tests: scrambling over abysses, prison escapes, bank robberies, arithmetic, riddles or keeping a straight face when eating chili. In addition, they should control the suspicion, but not gamble away any money, and find out who the mole is.
In the end, whoever played the game best wins. The first eight episodes are currently on Netflix to see, the last two will air on Friday; and thus finally the resolution, because it has to be Avori. Or yo. No, yes Will. Lord God!
The Mole, on Netflix.
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