De Mol (TV series)

*De Mol*
De Mol
Genre	Reality game show
Created by	Michiel Devlieger; Bart de Pauw; Tom Lenaerts; Michel Vanhove
Presented by	Michiel Devlieger (1998–2000, 2003); Gilles De Coster (2016–)
Country of origin	Belgium
Original language	Flemish/Dutch
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	63
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Woestijnvis
Original release
Network	TV1 (1998–2000, 2003); VIER (2016–)
Release	6 December 1998 –; 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. It was revived in 2016 (February 1) 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 himself or herself. 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

Each series of The Mole involves ten 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 his or her job is to try to prevent the other players from winning challenges without revealing himself or herself to others. The Mole may be told ahead of time of how to do this or what challenges to expect, while at other times the Mole must decide whether to intervene or not.

At the end of each episode, the contestants take a quiz regarding the identity of the Mole and his or her 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. The winner of the game is the one that answers the most questions correctly on the final quiz given when there are only three players remaining (including the Mole).

While success in the challenges is important in order to build 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 his/her attempts to derail the team, disingenuous attempts to emulate the Mole must be subtle, while still noticeable and suspicious.

Challenges

Similar to other reality shows, The Mole features challenges in which the players received money that was added to a group pot which only one person could win. However, unlike challenges in other reality shows, the ones seen on The Mole offered players ways to disrupt the game, as well as ways of disguising their betrayal.

Quiz and eliminations

The quiz is the primary device of eliminating contestants across all series. Traditionally between ten and twenty questions, the quiz asks the players to identify the Mole and several pieces of information regarding the Mole, including the Mole's activity in challenges, biographical profile, their fashion and/or culinary choices during the show, etc. The player scoring lowest on the quiz (and taking the longest time to do so, in the event of tied scores) is eliminated from the game.

Series overview

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	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

Locations map

France

Spain

Italy

Argentina

South Africa

Mexico

Vietnam

Greece

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Locations of the Belgian version of The Mole.

International versions

In total, over 50 series/seasons of The Mole have been broadcast around the world, since its inception in 1998 in Belgium.

Legend:

(3) Currently airing

(15) 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^[1] Kartitsata	Ivan Hristov	TV7	26 March 2013	17 May 2014
Bulgaria	Къртицата^[1] Kartitsata	Andrey Arnaudov	TV7	26 March 2013	17 May 2014
Catalonia	El Talp	Pol Izquierdo	TV3	2003	2003
Finland	Myyrä	Roope Salminen	MTV3	1 January 2019	2 March 2019
France	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^[2]
	Der Maulwurf – Die Abenteuershow	Steven Gatjen	ProSieben	7 July 2000	25 November 2001^[2]
	The Mole – Wem kannst du trauen?	The BossHoss	Sat.1	6 May 2020	24 June 2020
Israel	מי החפרפרת Ha-Chafarperet	Itai Anghel	Channel 2 (Keshet)	13 February 2001	2001
Italy	La Talpa	Amanda Lear^[3] 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	Italia 1	9 October 2008	27 November 2008
Netherlands	Wie is de Mol?	Angela Groothuizen	AVRO (1999–2014) AVROTROS (2015–)	19 November 1999	present
		Karel van de Graaf
		Pieter Jan Hagens
		Art Rooijakkers
		Rik van de Westelaken
	Wie is de Mol? Junior	Sipke Jan Bousema	Nederland 3	17 May 2008	21 June 2008^[4]
	Wie is de Mol? Junior	Art Rooijakkers	Nederland 3	9 March 2014	27 April 2014
New Zealand	The Mole	Mark Ferguson^[5]	TV2	2000	2000
Norway	Muldvarpen	Lars Arentz-Hansen	TV2	31 January 2000	9 December 2002
Norway	Muldvarpen	Ove Christian Owe	TV2	31 January 2000	9 December 2002
Poland	Agent	Marcin Meller	TVN	22 October 2000	22 December 2002
Poland	Agent – Gwiazdy	Kinga Rusin	TVN	23 February 2016	present
Portugal	O Sabotador	Paulo Nery	RTP1	9 September 2001	4 November 2001^[6]
Spain	El Traidor	Luis Larrodera Sergio Muñiz	Cuatro	12 July 2006	8 September 2006
Spain	El Topo	Daniel Domenjó Emilio Pineda	Telecinco	25 June 2009	July 2009
Sweden	Mullvaden	Pontus Gårdinger	Kanal 5	2000	2001
Sweden	Mullvaden	Hans Fahlén	Kanal 5	2007	2007
Ukraine	Крот^[7] Krot	Konstantin Stognii	ICTV	24 October 2014	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 Rashād		9 January 2001	18 February 2004
		Jon Kelley		2 June 2008	11 August 2008