Outside of me, were there people out there clamoring for more seasons of The Mole? ABC promoed tonight's episode as "four years in the making" so maybe people weren't clamoring so much as ABC was just preparing for it this whole time. Maybe ABC just wanted to make this the biggest, baddest, best, Mole ever. It's a little too soon to tell if they succeeded, so let's talk about what happened tonight.

Jon Kelley, our new host, instantly asked everyone to choose who they thought the mole was. A plurality of people in the group believed that stay-at-home mom Marcie was the mole. I'm not quite sure what led anyone to such a belief, but it's possible that she wasn't chosen by more than two people and as Jon didn't tell us the total number of votes Marcie received, it seems unlikely that a large number of people chose her.

The upshot of the choice was that she got to choose who would be jumping off a raft at the top of a waterfall in order to reach a bag of cash and who would be jumping off a raft at the top of a waterfall to receive a big old bag of nothing. She herself didn't have to jump, which is kind of unfortunate, as it looked like a lot of fun.

Alex and Ali went first and second and both missed their bags, instantly leading people to suspect that they were in fact the mole. And that, I think, is why the show is brilliant – messing up, not getting money, leads people to believe that you messed up on purpose, you fail and people think you're the mole rather than just grossly incompetent. Everyone on the show is instantly so hugely paranoid that they all sound vaguely ridiculous every single time they open their mouths.

What sounded somewhat more ridiculous were the two guys who seemed to honestly believe that there was a chance that they were going to die trying to complete the jumping off the raft task. Craig, one of our fraidy-cats, did seem to get a pretty good jerk from the bungee cord once off the raft, but I'm not buying that he was in mortal danger at any point.

The 12 contestants ended up with 6 bags out of a possible 11. They ended up with two bags of cash and four bags of "mole money," which isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

That dismal total was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Marcie had to choose four people to sleep outside that night as the cabin could only, allegedly, sleep 8. Nicole, instantly becoming my least favorite person on the show (and yours too, admit it), started cursing and complaining about being selected as one of the four outside. She decided that she could just opt to stay awake the whole night inside, as the rules only stated that she had to "sleep outside." She stayed up the whole night inside the cabin and earned the enmity of the whole group.

Is it worthwhile, this early on, having everyone hate you? I know that the game is to find out who the mole is, but does Nicole believe that she's better equipped to do this by being a bad person. Needless to say, the next morning when Jon asked who the group's biggest whiner was, Nicole went to the head of the pack. She also declared herself "smart and gorgeous at the same time" in a one-on-one with the camera. I declared her, again, the person I wanted to see go home first.

The mission for the day was for the group to figure out which five items out of a group of 45 Alexander Selkirk (the guy who was the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe) had with him when he was marooned. It shouldn't have been terribly difficult, blue jeans didn't exist back at the beginning of the 18th century, nor did electric vacuum cleaners and electric fans. It seems, however, that it was that difficult. The contestants did badly, and seemed to be very angry with one another at the end of the task.

Apparently everyone on the show is far more interested in discovering who the mole is than earning money for the team at the end of the time. Have they all forgotten the fact that the last person left standing wins the money? Is everyone's goal simply to survive until the end and leave with virtually nothing? Is there some sort of hall of fame that their aching to get into, a hall of fame that they place well above winning cash?

The best thing that happened tonight was Nicole getting left at the beach after the Robinson Crusoe task. The worst? She didn't get sent home as she was at the beach and didn't take the 10 question quiz which is how the elimination was determined. Instead, the person with the lowest score (and therefore going home) was Marcie.

Poor suckers that believed her to be the mole at the outset of the game. How wrong they were.

Other bits and pieces:

• Paul and Marcie started a coalition tonight, and Paul had a lot of other people, including Alex, thinking that Alex and Paul had a coalition. Frankly, I don't think that Paul's quite smart enough to pull off a double cross. Luckily, with Marcie booted, he won't have to.
• You know you're speculating, so I'm going to ask, after one episode, who is the mole? I have no belief that I'm right at this point, but I'm perfectly happy to throw out a name (and will do so each week). This week, I'm going with Mark. He cried to the camera in a one-on-one and I'm calling that a mole-type thing to do.

What I can tell you without a shred of uncertainty, is that the mole does not write for The TV and Film Guy's Reviews.

Comments

I think the Mole is one of the best reality shows. We're leaning toward Bobby being the Mole.

Bryan | Jun 2, 2008 9:31:02 PM | #

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I argree with John, righ now my money is on Mark as being the mole. I can't tell for sure, but his actions are questionable at best. I means, crying at the camera on the first show. I will have to wait for a couple more eps. to see, but right now he stand out the most.

LT | Jun 2, 2008 11:12:21 PM | #

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I love love love Mole. I dunno why, but I'm feeling Kristen for the mole.

Also, there's a little more detailed recap, on levyonteevee.blogspot.com

Nate | Jun 2, 2008 11:16:02 PM | #

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I'll go with the 60 year old lady (sorry, don't remember her name), just because it seems outlandish. But think about it-she wins everyone's confidence by succeeding in a tough initial challenge no one expected her to be able to do. Now people will be less supsicious of her going forward.

And you weren't the only one waiting for REAL Mole to come back, not crappy Celebrity Mole.

ferretrick | Jun 3, 2008 5:32:00 AM | #

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Also, Nate? Really rude to pimp your own site on someone else's recap. Shut up.

ferretrick | Jun 3, 2008 5:33:09 AM | #

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I didn't watch this show the first time around, and now I am saddened by that fact. I have to say, I have no clue who the Mole is, but I can't wait to try to figure it out!

And yeah, Nicole needs to go.

Astrid | Jun 3, 2008 6:08:39 AM | #

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My early guess is that Nicole is the mole. During the commercial break, I thought Nicole was going to get penalized for not "sleeping" outside (regardless of her technicalities). And when I mean penalized, I mean taking money out of the pot like they did in the earlier seasons of the show. But I guess she circumvented that. Second, I'm sure Nicole knew what the second game was going to be about, so she set herself up to be the biggest whiner. As a result, she got to control that game.

CW | Jun 3, 2008 7:25:52 AM | #

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Man, I love the mole. I only started watching half way through season 2.

I don't know why, but when they asked for a first impression of the mole, I said Marcie too, as did one of the friends I was watching with. How wrong we were.

I don't know who the mole is yet, but I don't think it's Paul.

It's probably someone who hasn't made a big splash yet.

Brian | Jun 3, 2008 7:45:17 AM | #

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The problem with this type of show is we only see what the producers/editors want us to. It is hard to determine the mole based on that fact alone.

Jon's Shirt | Jun 3, 2008 8:11:32 AM | #

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Is it really necessary to reveal the elimated contestant on the home page? Some of us have DVRs. It's one thing to spoil a couple days after the show airs, but to do it the following morning is bad form. There was no way for me to avoid seeing the eliminated contestant when I logged on. I love your site, but this is surely one way to keep me from it. How about a picture of the host rather than the eliminated contestant?

Jeff | Jun 3, 2008 9:31:20 AM | #

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I think my husband and I figured it out.
If you were paying close attention to the jump sequence, you'll know, too.... that's all I'm saying. :)

Shoshie | Jun 3, 2008 9:40:26 AM | #

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Early money's on Clay. We saw next to nothing on him.

Corey | Jun 3, 2008 10:42:12 AM | #

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The Mole was (and is) my favorite reality show ever. I was sad to see it go the celebrity route (losing Anderson Cooper in the process - bet he's not the least bit sad about that, though) and even sadder to see it canceled.

Still, as happy as I am that it is back, I'm pissed that I can't watch. Why the hell is this show on at 10pm and that vile sewage 'The Bachelorette' is on at 8pm? I'm sure it's a ratings thing but still. I only have broadcast TV and my reception isn't good enough to warrant pulling out the VCR let alone having a Tivo.

Ah well, I'll check to see if it's on abc.com, but last time I went there I could never get their damn player to function properly.

DanC | Jun 3, 2008 1:13:46 PM | #

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Nothing like having 2nd thoughts AFTER clicking the Post button...

Sorry to have been all negative and pissy, just irritated that I can't watch a show I've been waiting for for weeks (I have to get up for work around 5am, and I do NOT function well on less than 7-8hrs sleep).

DanC | Jun 3, 2008 1:17:22 PM | #

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I have watched The Mole since Season One and after watching last nights episode I felt it was missing something. I can not quite place my finger on it but the show also felt a little rushed and the scavenger hunt dragged a little. It did have a lot of excitement though and Nicole reminds me of Omarosa from The Apprentice. I will be watching next weeks episode. Oh and I think The Mole is Victoria.

Tony | Jun 3, 2008 2:28:58 PM | #

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I love this show and so glad it is back on, Celebrity Mole was alright, but still pretty cheesy.

Anyone know if they are giving subtle clues on TV like they did last time?

I hate Nicole also and my guess for the mole is Bobby.

db | Jun 3, 2008 2:32:29 PM | #

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ferretrick,

Sorry you feel that I was rude. I was simply trying to offer a more detailed recap if people wanted one. But seriously, you need to do a whole new post to call me out on it? That's a little rude.

Nate | Jun 3, 2008 3:09:48 PM | #

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I enjoyed The Mole in past seasons and was looking forward to its return. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with the first episode. The contestants all seem pretty dull, and the new host is charmless.

The footage of locations where the events take place used to be one of the things that made this show shine. Except for the initial daylight shots of the waterfall, it was hard to tell if this episode was filmed in Los Angeles Chilé or Los Angeles California.

Let's hope things improve with future episodes.

eieio | Jun 3, 2008 5:05:41 PM | #

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I agree with you as well Tony. I love the Mole and have watched all of the US, UK & Australian Moles, and something definitely seemed off abut this episode. The one thing I noticed was that there seemed to be way more talking head segments. Instead of showing us what's going on in the tasks we kept getting voiceovers and commentary from players after the fact. They used to save most of that for after each task, and i think it kind of ruined the tension a bit.

I like Jon Kelly as the new host. He seemed a bit shaky at the start, but by the end of the episode seemed to be growing into the role. If he can get some of Anderson Coopers devious charm in there, i think he'll do good. Hopefully he finds his groove in the next few episodes.

It was a fun show, far from perfect, but i'm happy to have the Mole back. I hope it does well enough for ABC to bring us future seasons.

Ryan | Jun 3, 2008 5:09:31 PM | #

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I'm so glad the Mole is back also. It was my favorite show when the first 2 were on, and it looks like this season will continue to get better. I'm not sure who the mole is so early into the game, but I'm betting on someone they didn't show a whole lot of last night. Here's just hoping more people continue to watch this show.

Oh, and where's the laptop to type in the ppl's names???

A-Rob | Jun 3, 2008 5:56:16 PM | #

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I think The Mole is Victoria. She was completely incompentent.

NayNay | Jun 3, 2008 6:28:02 PM | #

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RE: [db] "Anyone know if they are giving subtle clues on TV like they did last time?"

Right before the commercial hit at around 10:46 PM, the Mole logo is displayed and quickly zooms towards the screen. In that brief millisecond, there could be a clue within the graphics. I thought I saw something. The only reason I may have caught this is because like you said, they have done it before - and I was expecting it.

I don't have DVR, so I can't do a slo-mo replay. And when I tried to watch it online, I didn't have the patience to search for that point in the episode. So I gave up looking for it.

I've checked other forums, and one guy said there is something in one of those Mole graphic logos (when he did a DVR slo-mo replay). But he spoilerized what he saw, so I don't know what the clue is...nor do I think I wanna look.

CW | Jun 3, 2008 7:44:10 PM | #

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Hooray The Mole is back!!!

The only reason that the Mole is Mark, is the fact that he cried on the very 1st episode (like The Mole season 1's Kathryn).

I feel sorry for Dr Whiner Nicole, yes she did complain, but she did not break the rule , also she stay inside and watch every people in the cabin act/react...so she could be the mole...so why are people complain about her, I would keep my eyes close on her instead...

Khiem | Jun 3, 2008 9:06:05 PM | #

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My money's on Victoria (though I think that thumb print may have been a little too obvious to be the clue), or Nicole. I agree with the person above who pointed out that she very easily could have manipulated herself to control the second game and she wasn't punished for pulling the "I'm not sleeping" bit.

Rae | Jun 3, 2008 9:55:06 PM | #

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If Victoria does turn out to be the Mole, the producers ruined the show with a way too obvious clue. I can only hope that we see another obvious clue on someone else next week or that Victoria is eliminated. Until then, my bet is on her to be the Mole.

Spike | Jun 4, 2008 4:21:01 AM | #

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