| Genre: | Reality |
| Presenter: | Grant Bowler Tom Williams Shura Taft |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 6 |
| Num Episodes: | 64 |
| Executive Producer: | David Mason (Seasons 1-5) John Leahy (Season 6) |
| Runtime: | 43 minutes |
| Company: | FremantleMedia Australia (2013) |
| Network: | Seven Network |
| Related: | The Mole |
The Mole is an Australian reality television show that aired on the Seven Network. It is based on other versions of the original Belgian TV series The Mole that have aired in numerous countries. The most recent season aired in 2013.
The series is a reality competition in which the contestants work as a group to add money to a kitty that 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. His or her identity is unknown until the end of the series, when two genuine contestants take a final quiz in the final episode regarding details of the Mole. 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. Tom Williams hosted the fifth season,[1] Shura Taft hosted the sixth season.[2] The first three seasons, as well as the sixth, all took place in Australia, but the fourth and fifth were set in New Caledonia and New Zealand respectively. The first season was produced by Mason Media Group. Seasons two to five were produced within Seven and executive produced by David Mason. The sixth season was produced by FremantleMedia Australia.
Contestants typically meet each other shortly before shooting begins. However, in season six, contestants only met each other as a whole group for the first time upon completion of the first assignment of the season.
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 kitty (or "pot" in season six) if successfully completed. Some assignments have penalties associated with them if they are failed. The assignments may require physical skill, mental acuity, keen strategy, or all three from the players for them to be successfully completed. In some cases, assignments were not fully explained to all contestants, where only selected contestants were informed of the full nature of the challenge, and must work towards a different goal than the rest.
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, which determines particular roles for an assignment. Assignments often have explicit rules 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.
At the end of each episode, the players take a multiple-choice test based on the identity of the Mole, asking questions such as "Who is the Mole?". The player who scores the lowest on the quiz each time is eliminated (or, in season six, "terminated") from the game. 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 given the season's live format. During the live broadcast (from Seven's Martin Place Studios) five questions were asked - four about the Mole's role in challenges the players participated in during the week, with the 5th question being "Who is the Mole?. However, a further five questions on biographical information (such as "What city does the Mole live in?") were asked before the broadcast. The Elimination Ceremony would follow immediately from the live questions as part of the live broadcast. Season 6 returned to a quiz of twenty questions similar to season 1.
The final quiz is normally double the number of questions from the earlier quizzes.
Free Passes (sometimes known as "exemptions" or "immunity") which allows them to automatically progress to the next round without taking the quiz. However, in season six, players who won exemptions would have to defend them in later assignments, or risk losing them. 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, they must still take the quiz and remain vulnerable. The 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 (like 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.
In season 6 players can also earn "Freebies". If a player chooses to use them, then a question that was answered incorrectly on the quiz will be counted as a correct answer.
| Series | Premiere | Finale | Host | The Mole | Winner | Runner-up | Amount won | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 February 2000 | 24 April 2000 | Grant Bowler | Alan Mason | Jan Moody | Abby Coleman | $115,000 | Australia (Tasmania) | |
| 2 | 21 February 2001 | 25 April 2001 | Michael Laffy | Brooke Marshall | Hal Pritchard | $100,000 | Australia (Victoria) | ||
| 3 | 20 February 2002 | 24 April 2002 | Alaina Taylor | Crystal-Rose Cluff | Marc Jongebloed | $108,000 | Australia (Gold Coast) | ||
| 4 | 27 July 2003 | 28 September 2003 | Petrina Edge | Shaun Faulkner | Nathan Beves | $104,000 | New Caledonia | ||
| 5 | 25 August 2005 | 28 October 2005 | Tom Williams | John Whitehall | Liz Cantor | Craig Murell | $203,000 | New Zealand | |
| 6 | 2 July 2013 | 16 October 2013 | Shura Taft | Erin Dooley | Hillal Kara-Ali | Aisha Jefcoate | $180,000 | Australia |