| Alt Name: | The Mole |
| Genre: | Reality game show |
| Creator: | Michiel Devlieger Bart de Pauw Tom Lenaerts Michel Vanhove |
| Presenter: | Michiel Devlieger Gilles De Coster |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Language: | Dutch |
| Num Series: | 12 |
| Num Episodes: | 73 |
| Runtime: | 60–80 minutes |
| Company: | Woestijnvis |
| Network: | TV1 (1998–2000, 2003) VIER (2016–) |
| Last Aired: | 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. A revival has aired since 1 February 2016 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 themself. 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.
Each series of The Mole involves a group of 10 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 their job to try to prevent the other players from winning challenges without revealing themself to others. The Mole is told what challenges to expect, but not always how to sabotage them; they must decide whether to intervene and how they do so.
To eliminate someone, all contestants take a quiz (which consists of 20 questions) at the end of every episode regarding the identity of the Mole and their 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. When there are only three players remaining, including the mole, the winner of the game is the one that answers the most questions correctly on the final quiz. The final quiz is usually 30 questions.
While success in the challenges builds 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 their attempts to derail the team, disingenuous attempts to emulate the Mole must be subtle, while still noticeable and suspicious.
| 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 | Armand "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 | |
| 9 | 21 March 2021 | 9 May 2021 | Lennart Driesen | Annelotte De Brandt | Sven Uyttersprot | €18,240 | Germany | |
| 10 | 20 March 2022 | 8 May 2022 | Philippe Minguet | Sven Pede | Yens Wittebrouck | €26,390 | Canary Islands (Spain) | |
| Uma Vandemaele | ||||||||
| 11 | 19 March 2023 | 7 May 2023 | Comfort Achuo | Lancelot De Deurwaerder | Toos Vandervelde | €27,320 | Arizona (United States) | |
| 12 | 24 March 2024 | 12 May 2024 | Senne van der Zweep | Bernard Balcaen | Michaël Moens | €24,160 | Sicily (Italy) | |
In total, over 50 series/seasons of The Mole have been broadcast around the world, since its inception in 1998 in Belgium.
Legend:
(4) Currently airing
(16) 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 |
| Andrey Arnaudov | |||||
| Catalonia | El Talp | Pol Izquierdo | TV3 | 2003 | 2003 |
| Finland | Myyrä | Roope Salminen | MTV3 | 1 January 2019 | present |
| France Belgium (Wallonia) | 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] |
| Steven Gatjen | |||||
| The Mole – Wem kannst du trauen? | The BossHoss | Sat.1 | 6 May 2020 | 24 June 2020 | |
| Hungary | A Tégla | László Szalma | TV2 | 28 March 2000 | May 2000 |
| 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 | 20 September 2005 | 22 November 2005 | |||
| Paola Perego Paola Barale | 9 October 2008 | 27 November 2008 | |||
| Netherlands | Wie is de Mol? | Angela Groothuizen | AVRO (1999–2014) AVROTROS (2015–) (2024) | 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] | |
| Art Rooijakkers | 9 March 2014 | 27 April 2014 | |||
| New Zealand | The Mole | Mark Ferguson[5] | TV2 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Norway | Muldvarpen | Lars Arentz-Hansen | TVNorge | 31 January 2000 | 9 December 2002 |
| Ove Christian Owe | |||||
| Poland | Agent | Marcin Meller | TVN | 22 October 2000 | 22 December 2002 |
| Agent – Gwiazdy | Kinga Rusin | 23 February 2016 | 2019 | ||
| 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 |
| El Topo | Daniel Domenjó Emilio Pineda | Telecinco | 25 June 2009 | July 2009 | |
| Sweden | Mullvaden | Pontus Gårdinger | Kanal 5 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Hans Fahlén | 2007 | 2007 | |||
| Discovery+ (Sweden)[7] | 2 November 2021 | 8 December 2022 | |||
| Ukraine | Крот[8] Krot | Konstantin Stognii | ICTV | 24 October 2014 | 26 December 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 Rashad | |||||
| Jon Kelley | 2 June 2008 | 11 August 2008 | |||
| Alex Wagner | Netflix | 7 October 2022 | present | ||
| Ari Shapiro | |||||