The Mole (Australian TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Mole was an Australian reality television series that aired on the Seven Network
. It is based on The Mole franchise
of programs that have aired in numerous countries. The sub-title for the Australian version of the show was a simple question: Who is the traitor?. Its last season aired in 2005.
The series is a reality competition in which the contestants work as a group to add money to a pot that only one of them will win. Among the contestants is one person who has been designated "the Mole
" by the producers and is tasked with sabotaging the group's money-making efforts. At the end of each episode, the contestant who knows the least about who the mole is, as decided by the results of a quiz, is eliminated from the game.
The series was hosted by actor Grant Bowler
in its first four seasons, and subsequently by presenter Tom Williams, who filled in for Bowler in the fifth season due to a prior commitment on Bowler's part. The first three seasons all took place in Australia, but the fourth and fifth were set in New Caledonia
and New Zealand respectively.
Unlike in the American version of the show
, player alliances are quite rare and considered by many players to in fact be cheating. Only the most informal, friendship-based groups ever took shape, and only in Seasons 2 and 5.
However, in season 2, it was revealed that after the Robbery Game in episode 4, three of the contestants had entered into an agreement that if one of them won the group kitty, $20,000 would be given to each of the other two, as long as none of them was the Mole.
There were often assignments that were based on extreme sports or otherwise appeared dangerous. Overcoming fears was often a theme behind some of these challenges. Some of the challenges from season four in French-speaking New Caledonia were also based on having the language barrier as a hurdle, and others in Australia and New Zealand in the other seasons involved the players needing the assistance of unsuspecting citizens in the cities where they were based in order to be completed (such as in the third season, in which there were no local contestants mainly due to the season being based in Queensland, an assignment required them to search for their luggage at an unknown location).
Some assignments require every member of the team to successfully complete their part for money to be won, while others will assign a value for each individual player to finish. The players are commonly told to separate into several groups, such as "leaders" and "followers," which determines particular roles for an assignment.
Assignments often have explicit rules designed to increase their difficulty attached to them, with monetary penalties from the pot assessed if they are violated. Rule violations outside the boundaries of an assignment can also cost the team money from the pot, though this is less common.
Players can sometimes earn free passes through to the next episode. In contrast to the American series, these are usually quite rare (they increased in number in season five), and the exempted player does not take the quiz. If there was a tie for the lowest score, the player in the tie who took the longest time to take the quiz would be eliminated. Sometimes, contestants are offered the chance to give up their free pass in exchange for a particular amount of money to be added to the kitty, however, he or she must still take the quiz. A host can reveal who is exempt from elimination before the process begins, as by then he or she would have completed the quiz by then (this happened in seasons 3 and 5). In this case, a contestant would have had to have bid money from the kitty to buy the free pass, with the highest bidder being awarded the exemption. As he or she has already taken the quiz, they can opt out of being eliminated by keeping the free pass and not adding money to the kitty, or take the risk of being eliminated by giving up the free pass and adding money to the kitty. In this case, that amount of money is therefore doubled and added to the kitty (e.g. a contestant who has bid $24,000 for a free pass could give it up and therefore add $48,000 to the kitty), with that contestant being put back into the elimination pool. In both seasons 3 and 5, the contestant has given up his or her free pass, and both succeeded.
Similar to Big Brother, eliminated contestants are immediately isolated from the group, and then driven by car to a separate hotel that night, before flying home to his/her native state the following morning.
and featured ten contestants, one of whom was the Mole, and a maximum prize of $200,000. The players started the season on the mainland of Australia, but their first challenge was to fly to Tasmania
and land before the plane did – parachute jumping. The remainder of the season took place in Tasmania.
and was also hosted by Bowler. The maximum prize was $300,000. This season included as a challenge an entire episode of The Weakest Link
(in which the contestants were flown from the Gold Coast to Melbourne), aired on 11 March 2002, where the money won would go into the group kitty and the winner of the game would earn a free pass through to the next episode. In contrast to the previous two seasons, this season did not dedicate an entire episode to revealing the Mole and the Mole's sabotages and clues, but instead simply a brief segment on the last episode of the season. This practice was followed in the subsequent seasons.
and was hosted by Tom Williams, as Bowler was unavailable due to a prior commitment. This season introduced live eliminations after the produced portion of the program. This season featured a maximum prize of $500,000 and the highest actual prize of any of the five seasons as it was the only season the prize topped $200,000.
Though the show attained a cult following, there has been no indication that it will be renewed in the future.
s:
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
. It is based on The Mole franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
of programs that have aired in numerous countries. The sub-title for the Australian version of the show was a simple question: Who is the traitor?. Its last season aired in 2005.
The series is a reality competition in which the contestants work as a group to add money to a pot that only one of them will win. Among the contestants is one person who has been designated "the Mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
" by the producers and is tasked with sabotaging the group's money-making efforts. At the end of each episode, the contestant who knows the least about who the mole is, as decided by the results of a quiz, is eliminated from the game.
The series was hosted by actor Grant Bowler
Grant Bowler
Grant Bowler is a New Zealand actor who has worked in American, Australian and New Zealand films and television.He is known for playing the role of Constable Wayne Patterson in Blue Heelers and also appeared as Wilhelmina Slater's love interest Connor Owens in Ugly Betty.In November 2010, he was...
in its first four seasons, and subsequently by presenter Tom Williams, who filled in for Bowler in the fifth season due to a prior commitment on Bowler's part. The first three seasons all took place in Australia, but the fourth and fifth were set in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
and New Zealand respectively.
Contestants
Contestants typically meet each other very shortly before shooting begins.Unlike in the American version of the show
The Mole (US TV series)
The Mole was an American reality game show that aired on ABC. It was based on The Mole franchise of programs that have aired in numerous countries. The Mole was produced by Stone Stanley Entertainment for its first four seasons. It was cancelled but was later picked up again after a four year...
, player alliances are quite rare and considered by many players to in fact be cheating. Only the most informal, friendship-based groups ever took shape, and only in Seasons 2 and 5.
However, in season 2, it was revealed that after the Robbery Game in episode 4, three of the contestants had entered into an agreement that if one of them won the group kitty, $20,000 would be given to each of the other two, as long as none of them was the Mole.
Assignments
Each episode features multiple assignments (called "challenges" in season one, and occasionally in the later seasons), of varying size and value, that are worth money to the group pot if successfully completed. Some assignments have penalties associated with them if they are failed. The assignments will alternatively require physical skill, mental acuity, keen strategy, or all three from the players for them to be successfully completed. In some cases, however, an assignment was not fully explained to all contestants, increasing its difficulty. In those cases, perhaps only selected contestants were informed of the full nature of the challenge, and must work towards a different goal than the rest.There were often assignments that were based on extreme sports or otherwise appeared dangerous. Overcoming fears was often a theme behind some of these challenges. Some of the challenges from season four in French-speaking New Caledonia were also based on having the language barrier as a hurdle, and others in Australia and New Zealand in the other seasons involved the players needing the assistance of unsuspecting citizens in the cities where they were based in order to be completed (such as in the third season, in which there were no local contestants mainly due to the season being based in Queensland, an assignment required them to search for their luggage at an unknown location).
Some assignments require every member of the team to successfully complete their part for money to be won, while others will assign a value for each individual player to finish. The players are commonly told to separate into several groups, such as "leaders" and "followers," which determines particular roles for an assignment.
Assignments often have explicit rules designed to increase their difficulty attached to them, with monetary penalties from the pot assessed if they are violated. Rule violations outside the boundaries of an assignment can also cost the team money from the pot, though this is less common.
Quizzes and elimination
At the end of each episode, the players took a computer test based on the identity of the Mole, asking questions such as "Who is the Mole?" or "What did the Mole eat for breakfast?" The player who scored the lowest on the quiz each time was eliminated from the game and immediately sent away. The length of the computer test varied by season; in season one the quiz was twenty questions, in seasons two and three it was ten questions in length, and in season four it was reduced further to six questions. Season five changed the elimination format slightly – the players would spend a weekend in New Zealand completing assignments and then return to the Seven Network studio in Sydney to take a live quiz and face a live elimination. Five questions were part of the live broadcast, such as "Who is the Mole?" and "What group was the Mole in for the first challenge?" while before the live portion of the show, five questions based on profiles, such as "How many brothers and sisters does the Mole have?" and "What city does the Mole live in?" were asked.Players can sometimes earn free passes through to the next episode. In contrast to the American series, these are usually quite rare (they increased in number in season five), and the exempted player does not take the quiz. If there was a tie for the lowest score, the player in the tie who took the longest time to take the quiz would be eliminated. Sometimes, contestants are offered the chance to give up their free pass in exchange for a particular amount of money to be added to the kitty, however, he or she must still take the quiz. A host can reveal who is exempt from elimination before the process begins, as by then he or she would have completed the quiz by then (this happened in seasons 3 and 5). In this case, a contestant would have had to have bid money from the kitty to buy the free pass, with the highest bidder being awarded the exemption. As he or she has already taken the quiz, they can opt out of being eliminated by keeping the free pass and not adding money to the kitty, or take the risk of being eliminated by giving up the free pass and adding money to the kitty. In this case, that amount of money is therefore doubled and added to the kitty (e.g. a contestant who has bid $24,000 for a free pass could give it up and therefore add $48,000 to the kitty), with that contestant being put back into the elimination pool. In both seasons 3 and 5, the contestant has given up his or her free pass, and both succeeded.
Similar to Big Brother, eliminated contestants are immediately isolated from the group, and then driven by car to a separate hotel that night, before flying home to his/her native state the following morning.
Season 1
The first season of The Mole originally aired from 27 February 2000 to 24 April 2000. It was hosted by Grant BowlerGrant Bowler
Grant Bowler is a New Zealand actor who has worked in American, Australian and New Zealand films and television.He is known for playing the role of Constable Wayne Patterson in Blue Heelers and also appeared as Wilhelmina Slater's love interest Connor Owens in Ugly Betty.In November 2010, he was...
and featured ten contestants, one of whom was the Mole, and a maximum prize of $200,000. The players started the season on the mainland of Australia, but their first challenge was to fly to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and land before the plane did – parachute jumping. The remainder of the season took place in Tasmania.
Season 2
The second season of The Mole originally aired from 21 February 2001 to 25 April 2001. It took place in Victoria and was also hosted by Bowler. This season featured a unique first episode, one that started with sixteen potential players starting in groups of four from different places in Australia and needing to get to a designated hotel by a time limit. Along the way, they were presented with dossiers from members of another group, and at the hotel they all took a computer test based on general knowledge about all sixteen people. The six lowest scorers were eliminated, and the other ten, one of whom was the Mole, moved on to the rest of the season as normal. The maximum prize was again $200,000.Season 3
The third season of The Mole originally aired from 20 February 2002 to 1 May 2002. It took place in Gold CoastGold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
and was also hosted by Bowler. The maximum prize was $300,000. This season included as a challenge an entire episode of The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link (Australian game show)
The Weakest Link was an Australian game show based on the successful UK format, which aired from February 2001 until April 2002 and was broadcast on the Seven Network. Presented by Cornelia Frances, the show featured nine contestants competing for a potential prize of $100,000...
(in which the contestants were flown from the Gold Coast to Melbourne), aired on 11 March 2002, where the money won would go into the group kitty and the winner of the game would earn a free pass through to the next episode. In contrast to the previous two seasons, this season did not dedicate an entire episode to revealing the Mole and the Mole's sabotages and clues, but instead simply a brief segment on the last episode of the season. This practice was followed in the subsequent seasons.
Season 4
The fourth season of The Mole, subtitled The Mole in Paradise, originally aired in 2003. It took place mostly in New Caledonia, and was again hosted by Bowler, with a maximum prize of $500,000. This season featured two atypical eliminations. In the third episode, Cam appeared to be the third player eliminated, but the remaining players were all instructed to privately vote as to whether they would want him returned to the game. If even one person opted to do so, Cam would be returned to the game and $50,000 would be added to the group kitty. Exactly one player voted for Cam to return, and he did. Later, Petrina appeared to be the fourth player eliminated, but she was presented with an offer to return to the game if $50,000 would be removed from the kitty. She accepted this offer and returned.Season 5
The fifth season of The Mole, subtitled The Amazing Game, originally aired from 25 August 2005 to 28 October 2005. It took place in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and was hosted by Tom Williams, as Bowler was unavailable due to a prior commitment. This season introduced live eliminations after the produced portion of the program. This season featured a maximum prize of $500,000 and the highest actual prize of any of the five seasons as it was the only season the prize topped $200,000.
Though the show attained a cult following, there has been no indication that it will be renewed in the future.
Awards
Logie AwardLogie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
s:
- 2001Logie Awards of 2001The 43rd Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 22 April 2001 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Shaun Micallef from the ABC was the Master of Ceremonies...
Most Popular Reality Program (won) - 2002Logie Awards of 2002The 44th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 28 April 2002 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Wendy Harmer from the Sydney radio station 2Day FM was the Master of Ceremonies.The ratings of the 2002 logie awards averaged around 1,865,000 and ranked at #5...
Most Popular Reality Program (lost to Big Brother) - 2003Logie Awards of 2003The 45th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 11 May 2003 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Eddie McGuire from the Nine Network was all Master of Ceremonies...
Most Popular Reality Program (lost to RPARPA (TV series)RPA is an Australian reality television show that is filmed at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and shows the everyday workings of this major hospital in Sydney, Australia...
) - 2004Logie Awards of 2004The 46th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday, 18 April 2004 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Eddie McGuire presided as Master of Ceremonies for the second year in a row, and the awards featured special guest Mel Brooks...
Most Popular Reality Program (lost to Australian IdolAustralian IdolAustralian Idol is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on July 2003 and ended its run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive...
) - 2006Logie Awards of 2006The 48th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday May 7, 2006 at the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne and televised on the Nine Network....
Most Popular Reality Program (lost to Australian IdolAustralian IdolAustralian Idol is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on July 2003 and ended its run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive...
)
Notable Contestants and Statistics
- Alan Mason, the first season's Mole, was the adjudicator on The Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link (Australian game show)The Weakest Link was an Australian game show based on the successful UK format, which aired from February 2001 until April 2002 and was broadcast on the Seven Network. Presented by Cornelia Frances, the show featured nine contestants competing for a potential prize of $100,000...
throughout that show's entire run. - Abby Coleman, the runner-up of the first season, is now an announcer on Adelaide's SAFMSAFMSAFM is a commercial FM radio station in Adelaide, Australia, primarily targeted at those in the 16-35 age group on a frequency of 107.1 MHz, and part of Austereo's Today Network.-Station History:...
. At 18, she was the youngest ever contestant to play the game, and reach the final, albeit losing. - Jessica Hardy, eliminated in the first episode of the second season, appeared on Big Brother Australia 2002 as a housemate and developed a relationship with Marty on that show, which later dissolved.
- Michael Laffy, the second season's Mole, formerly played for the Richmond Football ClubRichmond Football ClubThe Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in the AFLAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
. He only played a handful of games in a career marred by injury. - John Binning, eliminated in the second episode of the third season, at 72 is the oldest player to play the game. Had he made it to episode four, he would have also been the oldest ever contestant to appear on the Australian version of The Weakest Link.
- David Annand, eliminated in the seventh episode of the third season, whose father Bud played several games for the St Kilda Football Club in the 1950s and 1960s. David also had a cameo role on the TV show Canal RoadCanal Road (TV series)Canal Road is an Australian television drama series on the Nine Network. The series was produced in-house, under producer Susan Bower, in collaboration with writers Sarah Smith, John Ridley and Dave Warner, and directed by Kevin Carlin. It was filmed at Channel Nine’s GTV Studio 11 and on location...
, playing a bank robber. - Robert "Bob" Young VII, eliminated in the ninth episode of the third season, was the winner of the Weakest Link special aired on 11 March 2002.
- Marc Jongebloed, the runner-up of the third season, soon embarked in a career in acting. As well as this, he also had a job as a marketing executive at the Collingwood Football ClubCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. - Crystal-Rose Cluff was the youngest winner of The Mole, at 21. Jan Moody is the oldest, at 40.
- Alaina Taylor (Mole) and Thao Nguyen (both contestants from the third season) were students at the University of SydneyUniversity of SydneyThe University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
at the time of their appearance on The Mole. - Petrina Edge, the fourth season's Mole, was one of the minor producers behind the animation film Happy FeetHappy FeetHappy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released...
. - Cam Villani and Alison Lyford-Pike (both contestants from the fourth season) developed a relationship with each other soon after their season ended. Villani had been eliminated in an atypical elimination, was resurrected before being eliminated in the penultimate episode.
- Nathan Beves, the runner-up of the fourth season, embarked on a career in modelling soon after the show ended.
- Shaun Faulkner was the only male to win The Mole, in 2003.
- Heidi Monsour was the only player ever to earn two free passes in one season, in 2005. She is the younger sister of Brisbane Lord Mayoress, Lisa Newman, the husband of Campbell NewmanCampbell NewmanCampbell Kevin Thomas Newman is the leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland. He was the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 2004 to 2011....
. She was eliminated in the seventh episode of that season. - Kristy Curtis was a part-time trainer on The Biggest Loser Australia in its fourth season.
- Liz CantorLiz CantorLiz Cantor is an Australian television presenter.She is currently the weekend weather presenter for Seven News Brisbane and she also reports on a number of Seven Network Queensland lifestyle programs, Great South East and Creek To Coast; and also presents the Golden Casket Lotto draw segments.Liz...
, the winner of the fifth and final season, is now a personality on Brisbane's Seven NewsSeven NewsSeven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...
, filling in on weather. - The most money ever lost by a Mole was $427,000, by Petrina Edge in the fourth season, where the potential top prize was $500,000. The least money lost by a Mole was $85,000, by Alan Mason in the first season, where the potential top prize was $200,000.
- The most money ever won by the genuine contestants was $203,000, by Liz Cantor in the fifth season, where the potential top prize was $500,000. The least money won by the genuine contestants was $100,000, by Brooke Marshall in the second season, where the potential top prize was $200,000.
- Overall, the five winners across the five seasons won $630,000 in prize money, at an average of $126,000 per season. The five Moles across the five seasons lost $1,311,000 in prize money, at an average of $262,200 per season.
- The range of money lost by the Mole was $342,000 across the five seasons. The range of money won by the genuine contestants was $103,000 across the five seasons.