Obviously we’re big fans of Wie is De Mol? at the Bar, the Dutch version of The Mole, we have our own little commentary board set up for it every year. But last year Belgium, where the format originated, bought the show back by popular demand and its timing of starting its run halfway through the Dutch series is really unfortunate because it’s frequently incredible, and I can only really concentrate on one Mole series at a time. And I’ve just started watching the most recent series.
We watched the first series unsubtitled last year, and despite not knowing Flemish particularly well the production quality shined through. This is a surprisingly different beast to the Dutch show – whereas in the Netherlands the show’s a bit more of a travelogue, putting a high value on shots of the surrounds and the group dynamic and film soundtracking, apart from one or two set pieces the challenges are not usually all that dynamic, many of them quite simple tasks that cost £10 + a large hill. It’s also produced in the US “tell then show” reality style, albeit better than that because the confessionals feel rather more raw and honest, without the dramatic irony US producers ladle on so nothing really feels like a shock any more.
The Belgian reboot looks and feels like it’s got some proper backing, it really feels like old-skool De Mole but with thoughtful use of modern production and graphics and great challenges and twists. 2017 episode two has an excellent modern version of the classic Hitchcock Hotel task (people in different rooms have to solve puzzles to help people in other rooms in order to escape within a time limit) with a safari twist – and some hilarious Mole-esque gags, followed by a game with a gospel choir which I thought would be really boring but was really, really tense, like a musical version of that bit in Lord of the Rings where the Hobbits are hiding from those screechy people. Great use of singling out the contestants’ voices when the blindfolded judges were near. And it does its diaries in the old style – strictly each evening. It all feels beautifully produced.
If you like The Mole but can’t get on with the Dutch show I heartily recommend giving the Belgian version a try, someone brilliant has given both series English subs, but unfortunately it’s on rubbish streaming site Dailymotion so I find I have to turn them off and on at the beginning of each video before they show up. I’m only a couple of episodes into 2017 but I want to mainline it all.
Also the Belgian host still looks uncannily like Charlie Brooker.
Just a quick question: The only thing I remember from German Mole was a Hitchcock-ish task where they recreated the Psycho murder scene. Did they do it in several countries and that’s why you pointed it out or was it just a weird coincidence?
Yeah, Hitchcock Hotel was done pretty much everywhere except the UK, amusingly.
Here’s a thing I wrote 12 (!) years ago with a load of the stock games:
https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=947
Episode 3: Drunken burglary.
Episode 4: Finding lettered ostrich eggs in a maze to play Scrabble against the host whilst getting chased by ostriches.
A little bit of controversy is surrounding Flavio Insinna since yesterday, when Striscia La Notizia aired the audio of a post-taping meeting where the host of Affari Tuoi verbally lashes at his staff for picking an unspectacular contestant, calling her “that shitty dwarf that doesn’t speak”.
The comedic newscast also aired an outtake of Insinna giving his very personal opinion of the “Pacco X” box. I could write a transcript of what he said, if anybody here wants.
I might have to whisper it, but I enjoyed Belgian Mole more than Dutch Mole this year.
The drunken burglary was hilarious, as was the Scrabble task.
As it’s a South Africa-set season, I was of course horrendously wrong on The Mole (it’s tradition!) and one of the clues was hilariously mean.
I don’t think that’s that controversial, although I did think this year’s Dutch Mole was the best for a while. Dutch Mole tends between 7/10 and 9/10 whereas all the Belgian Mole I’ve seen is at least a 9.
What I loved about Drunken Burglarly was its very idea, the sort of stupid plan you might have come up with after getting very drunk made real. That it was a really tightly made challenge just made it even better.
I did episode four last night, I was roaring when the ostriches started chasing the contestants. And I enjoyed Gilles (Slimste Mens champion) pointing out how badly they were playing Scrabble against him.
I only have a passing idea of who the Mole is but there are some super-entertaining contestants, every task is improved by Robin sounding increasingly incredulous.
Anyone remember Splatalot? It was a Canadian game show, similar to Total Wipeout which was redubbed by Dick & Dom and was shown on CBBC here. It ended in 2012.
Well, the set has been completely abandoned. With all the obstacles still there, I found a video of someone exploring it. A very interesting watch:
Nice! I look forward to watching this when I get in.
In French news, Vincent Lagaf will be a contestant on Fort Boyard this series…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUco1Mjg-7D/
Wowsers, that’s quite a coup.
Ooh, it’s red shirts this year.
I like.
The itv2 celebrity gameshow has more info. it is called celebability and will be hosted by Iain Stirling.
“Each 45 minute episode of CelebAbility sees a group of 5 friends go head to head with 5 celebrities in a series of rounds. Each section is based on an unusual skill or ability that the celebrities believe they naturally possess.
The producers explain: “All the games build up to a final prize winning game in which the remaining friends must answer questions about the remaining celebrities. Fewer celebrities mean fewer possible answers so the greater the chance of winning and the more questions answered correctly means the greater the cash prize!””
https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/2599/iain_stirling_on_celebability/
Bel-mole is absolutely brilliant, the direction, the music, the detail and the creativity of the challenges. I love how it manages to play the game in all seriousness and yet keep room for mischief at times.
I’ve only seen the first ep of 2017 but I thought they already managed to do the idea from 101 ways better than 101 ways ever did. Can’t wait for the rest.
They do something clever in episode six that I don’t think I’ve seen in any version before, they do the test but it features a question on a challenge they have to do before elimination so it means everyone tries to make the challenge go a certain way.
Hasn’t this happened fairly recently in Dutch Mole?
Having a quick look at Wikipedia, it looks like they did it a couple of episodes before the final of Season 11, the one Art Rooijakkers won in El Salvador.
I might have watched that one without the English subs, it would have been a fair while ago. Still, though.
That was the first season that got subtitled.
I’ve definitely watched it, it’s the series where they start by getting picked up on the bus, right? But I’ve definitely watched it without subs. I might have rewatched at a later date but the test thing doesn’t ring a bell.
It’s in the second last episode; the challenge that gets impacted is literally the final challenge of the season.
I’m only one episode in and this is so good. So good.
The Mole is still the best game show of all time, in any country.
I forgot how absurdly tense it can be. The falling task was such a simple but anxiety-inducing idea. Also the elimination ceremony, of course.
Okay I posted that right before the twist at the end of the episode was revealed, that was awesome. And the reveal was so clever.
I love this show.
I’ve just finished this, truly great series.
I also really like the off-handedness of the end of series montages.
Oh my god, the final challenge involves someone trying to do my job (well, with animals instead of history, but..). They’re even being evaluated like I get. I feel empathy for them, although I also want to be like, it’s not that hard!
Wow. Pretty much the only person I never for a moment suspected to be the mole was the mole. I was sure it was the second place finisher for about the second half of the season. Wow.
Wow really? I flip-flopped between the winner and the eventual Mole until about episode six, then came down on the right person.
I look forward to being able to discuss this series of Belgian Mole without having to tiptoe around the names for fear of spoilers around April 2018.
In hindsight I was VERY VERY SURE they were the mole for like 5 minutes after their probably most blatant betrayal, but they managed to convince everyone else, including the person in question (and, well, me), that it was another person’s fault.
I spent most of the latter half of the season going back and forth between first and second place, but by the penultimate episode was “sure” it was second place.
And then after they pushed blame onto the other person, I was sure that person was the mole up until they were eliminated, with the eventual winner as my second choice until the elimination, at which point the second place person became my prime suspect.
Also yes writing like this is awful.
I’ve got it.
Derren Brown: The Mole.
He can host it and add his own kind of tricks and trials along the way (without straying too far from the format per se). As part of the casting process, he could put the mole through ‘vigorous psychological tests’ which are sneakily edited and peppered over the series, like the mole’s a kind of apprentice of his.
It writes itself!
Finally just watched the reunion show. I guess my piecemeal watching of recent seasons of various nations’ versions of the show didn’t prepare me for how absurdly abstract the viewer clues have become. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, knowing how much people on the internet love working out clues.
Also, I was thinking about it and one of the things I most love about this show is how it plays up the espionage aspect in the production – tense and brooding in the music and design, the way it’s filmed, etc. But watching the reunion also reminded me that I love for all that, and for all that it’s not a huge focus, there’s such a warm personality between the contestants too. They seem to cast people that are genuinely likeable, and I like how they show how close the contestants can become, the cool experiences they get to have, etc. It’s very nice to see, and especially cool with the dichotomy of the two moods of the show, and how they inform each other (contestants reminding themselves that however much they like someone personally, they might be the mole).
Sorry, I just really, really love this show. I’ve been babbling about it in person to friends a lot lately too. 😛
Hi, I’m actually the subber for the Belgian mole 🙂
I doubt anyone will read this, since this post is so old. But I’ve been updating some of my original subs recently (since when I first started I hadn’t used English regularly in a while, so I’m not happy with the quality tbh), so I stumbled on this post from Dailymotion’s analytics. And I love reading foreigners’ opinions on the series, since that’s why I started subbing it in the first place 🙂
Sorry about having to put it on Dailymotion. I really didn’t want to. I try to put it on YouTube when I can, but most of the episodes get taken down for copyright. And no matter what I try to do to stop it, they’re still taken down. The Belgian distributor just isn’t as understanding as the Dutch one, unfortunately.
If anyone does read this, though, do you have a recommendations or suggestions for another site to upload to? I’m hoping to have time to sub the 2018 season, so this is mostly just for future reference. I’ll probably ask again then, too. I picked Dailymotion just because they aren’t affected by copyright claims anywhere near as much as YouTube.
Hi there, thank you very muxh for doing it, it’s greatly appreciated.
You’re welcome, I’m really happy to see that people outside of Belgium appreciate the show 🙂
Damn it, Brig beat me to it. Thank you for letting us view what is basically the best version of my favourite show ever.
‘Best version’ is high praise. I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! I agree, there’s something about the Belgian version and their use of ‘regular’ contestants that I just really love 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH for all the effort you put in to doing the subbing – it is amazing. I love the Belgian Mole and it’s one of my favourite formats of all time. I can’t wait for next series Belgian (and Dutch) series.
I’m very happy sticking with DM. If you want to change it that’s fine but I’m quite happy.
No problem 🙂 I actually enjoy subbing, because it gives me a chance to be exposed to more Dutch and English.
I’ll probably stick to Dailymotion at this point, but I’m always open to any better options that pop up in the future.