Sundays from March 10th,
Vier – official site
And so we come to the highlight of the year (and it’s only March), as Dutch Mole finishes Belgian Mole begins. And this time: there is no Mole.
At least not at the very start, one will be chosen through a challenge. And this year Belgium’s Smartest Man Gilles de Coster has taken everyone to Vietnam.
Who are our ten contestants?
From left to right, top to bottom:
- Axel – 40 years old and a pilot.
- Bas – 32 and a headhunter.
- Bruno – 54, a business manager.
- Elisabet – 34, a doctor.
- Eva – 28 and a lawyer.
- Ingrid – 46, sells blinds.
- Joeri – 32, a team boss.
- Kaat – 22, physiotherapy student
- Liesbeth – 41, a consultant.
- Martijn – 23, a facility assistant
An average age of 35.2, slightly younger than last year (38) but still pretty old for this sort of thing.
As of right now we have no idea if there are going to be English subtitles available anywhere – if not I expect we’ll muddle through but miss out on a lot of context. We ask our international friends not to spoil episodes until the English subs have gone up.
I’m intrigued to find out how they’re going to do the hidden clues if they don’t know who the Mole is going to be at the start. Do they have ten sets ready? Add things in post? I look forward to finding out.
Direct links to episode discussion:
I was right about Bruno getting eliminated! What is it with Final 6 and old men in De Mol? I bet the time they make an old man be the mole in future seasons, we’ll already figure it out by this episode.
Anyways, it was a bit sad that only one loved one would fly out to Vietnam. You can see the spirits go down when they have learned about it. I think the mole will not give their best to win the loved ones challenge, because they’ll already be guilty by knowing that it won’t happen in the first place. I know a lot are suspecting Elisabet now, but I don’t think she’s the mole, basing on how she acted with the loved ones challenge. She’s really really into it, and she didn’t care if it made her really suspicious.
On the other hand, this gives out another reason to suspect Kaat. suggested that they completely ignore money for the task, only to go for it for the final level where she gave Elisabet or Bas’ loved one the opportunity to go straight to the plane.
Axel remains to be my soft mole, but my theory of him as a mole-ling contestant instead of being the mole himself grows stronger, as he seems to be getting successful at eliminating other people by putting suspicion on him. (Ingrid, Martijn, Eva then Bruno).
I wonder how many people are on the mole completely now. If Kaat is indeed the mole, I think Bas and Joeri are on her already, and Elisabet might solidify her suspicions because of her advantage.
And speaking of her advantage, Belgian Mole never fails to surprise us with more fucking good ideas for advantages. I am just impressed with how good of an idea of an advantage “a loved one” is.
Practically needless to say, another sensational episode. (Whisper it, but for me the previous episode was marginally below the highest of standards.) I loved the production values on, and ambition of, the first challenge, the second challenge was just plain funny and the extended dinner scene was so incredibly sweet in its way.
Someone previously pointed to a numeric detail in one of the previous episodes which, if confirmed, would be a really strong “Elisabet is the mole” steer; similarly, the mole diary at the end of the previous episode makes much more sense if she is the mole. And then what she said to her loved one! I very seldom have strong suspicions as to who the mole is, but at this point I’d be strongly surprised if she weren’t. And, yet, in a really good way…
And Bruno’s duck face!
Christ, where to begin.
Loved the computer game task, like so many of De Mol tasks, it’s a good idea improved immeasurably by its brilliant execution – there are so few places where they miss open goals, whether it’s the look and feel or an added interesting decision adding just enough spice at just the right time.
Second task was great, De Mol does its “separate but interconnected” tasks so well – the most important job being worth none of the money, but important to the other two teams earning money. Bruno’s duck face! I feared for those chickens though.
The dinner was a great set-up and impressed how everyone was filmed so it felt like natural interviews.
The bonus was very clever and very Belgian Mole, obtaining important information but only if a) your partner doesn’t mess up and b) you don’t mess up.
Next week: A TUNNEL.
Probably worth putting here, from Natalia’s description this week but regarding Episode 5:
“Here is behind the scenes information about the last episode, because the comment that I posted below is too long already:
As you may remember, Bas said that Cat Ba has a bunch of plants that you only see in garden centers here. Gilles confirmed this and said it felt like Jurassic Park. They drove around in golf carts and he kept expecting to see a dinosaur. The geckos were supposed to be served to the contestants at lunch, but the producers thought it would be funnier to serve them to Gilles so they waited until dinner.
The second challenge was similar to an old Dutch one. The differences were that in the original Dutch challenge each individual challenge was worth the same amount and there was no competition to be the most polite. The Vietnamese hosts were only told that they had Belgian visitors who were trying to be as polite as possible. It was also one of Gilles favorite challenges ever.
They ran into Belgians for the second time at the paintball challenge. The first time, Gilles suddenly heard some Flemings yell: ‘No fucking way, that’s De Mol!’ He successfully lied and said he was on holiday even though there were four camera crews a few meters away. This time it was obvious though, and the Belgians promised to keep it a secret, which they did.”
Bruno’s wife is an icon <3
I Feel like Elisabet is either the mole or the person they originally thought they were going to choose.
I want to say Elisabet is the mole, but then she earned £1500 on ‘team social media’, although the ‘bathroom break’ could be one of those classic moments on the reunion show where it is revealed she was actually up to no good in there (was she perhaps busy drawing the artwork for next week?)
It’s the point of the show now where I finally feel comfortable with all the contestant names and their faces, so each elimination is now like a bullet straight through the heart…I even shed a tear for Bruno 🙁
Do you reckon the friends and family were actually dining very close by to the contestants rather than in Belgium and they’ll show that at the reunion? That would be SO cruel yet something I would totally expect of this show by now at the same time!
Well Brussels Airport is thanked in the credits, so I have little doubt they were in Belgium.
Another very good episode but not quite reaching the heights of the early season. Thought the first challenge was extremely well done and looked great. It also had some funny moments (such as the dancing) to help soften the blow of a pretty harsh twist that only one person can come on the trip. It was nice of them to set up the dinner video conference as a bit of a consolation though. Speaking of that dinner btw, props to the production department for how seamlessly those video screens were added to the mix. Excellent directing on that front. Back to that first challenge though, I thought that it was pretty much designed for failure (as most games involving choosing between yourself and the group are) but it was cool to watch which gives it major bonus points.
The second challenge segment was excellent! The power position was on the street with Bas and Kaat as that’s where you can sabotage the most positions. I’m honestly shocked how well Kaat and Bas did on that game as that challenge seemed extremely difficult on paper. Thought Axel and Bruno were hilarious trying to figure out how to strap all their stuff onto the mopeds. Reminded me of WIDM 18 where they had to jam pack a car to the maximum point. The Instagram game was funny too as is any game where the contestants interact with the locals.
The loved one advantage was incredibly unique and really a big deal for someone who can use it properly. At Final 6, most contestants are already winding down to two or one suspects assuming Elisabet isn’t The Mole, that’s a HUGE, HUGE win especially since her loved one did in fact receive a red screen. What an excellent advantage to give out at Final 6 without having to rely on Exemptions and Jokers/pasvragen.
My Mole suspicions have been shaken up a little this week. Kaat has dropped even lower on my list given her performance on the second challenge. She had no real reason to see as many of the moped items as she did. She had the chance to ignore the x2 and x3 with Bas more focused on the tiles. Axel meanwhile completely took a crazy risk by strapping the boat to his moped. Axel also tried incredibly hard on the second stage of the computer game bringing in a lot of money but also taking so long to do so that all of it was eventually lost. I think Axel was easily the biggest loser for the day and him getting the torch wet a few eps back still sticks in the memory. I’m holding on to Elisabet as a top suspect as well. It would do The Mole a lot of good to have their loved one be the one to come in and deprive a contestant of that advantage. Doing so also eliminated all the money won during the computer challenge so there’s that too.
I was very impressed with how close Level 2 was given the very different strategies employed.
I thought Bas and Kaat’s wall challenge seemed basically impossible, until you remember they only need to concentrate on the buildings. God knows why Bas was banging on about a ladder, surely he knows what a bridge is.
Axel has been riding high on my Mole list as well recently, even if I think his logic at the martial arts game earlier on seemed savvy.
Hi guys. I’m researching early because I’m going to the Benfica match later this week. Anyway, I wanted to ask if white rabbit means anything in English because I’ve noticed that Gilles uses a lot of odd Dutch expressions this year. I didn’t realize white rabbit might not mean anything until I heard that it doesn’t even have the same meaning in the Netherlands. In Belgium, a white rabbit is someone who pops up where you don’t expect them to, usually in politics, like if Gilles suddenly campaigned to join parliament.
Other examples that I can think of is when he said the mole is speeding up. He literally said ‘at engine speed’. That doesn’t make sense to me in English, but you native speakers will know better. Either way, it’s not common at all. He also said it’s time to shift up a gear and has used ‘have the mole in sight’ multiple times. When he said to end their visit, he used an uncommon expression again. I haven’t looked into this though, and I might just notice because they’re hard to translate.
As for the mole, I don’t think it’s Axel. The last few people who have worked with him have all been eliminated, so I figure statistically one of them must have gone all-in on him, probably Martijn. I think Bas just gets caught up in small details that don’t matter. It’s interesting that Joeri and Elisabet constantly work together. The thing about Elisabet is that most viewers don’t like her, especially after this episode. I don’t think it’s fair, but I can’t see her being the mole in a season where they specifically want to make the mole more human. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got one of the maybe screens, but I would surprised with how they edited her if she’s the mole.
On Café De Mol, Pascale was on Axel, Eline was on Kaat and Gilles van Bouwel was on Kaat and Bas, since he refused to narrow it down to one person. A previous mole said they dreaded the family visit because no one knew what they were truly like, so they were afraid they would be revealed with someone from home around. Since three of them were on Kaat, they spent a lot of time talking about how her going for the money instead of the visit seemed like she was trying to prove she’s a contestant. It’s stood out how no one takes the lead to split up a certain way when they can choose themselves, but Elisabet and Joeri did end up in the least influential group.
Hi Natalia!
“White rabbit” has no specific connotation in the UK, other than as a reference to the “I’m late!” character in Alice in Wonderland who she tries to find throughout after following down the rabbit hole, it may then be an allusion to going down the rabbithole and not knowing where you’ll end up.
“Shifting up a gear” is definitely an expression, as in driving a manual car you shift up a gear to go faster/more powerful. “At engine speed” not really an expression, but I can see what it’s getting at (presumably a steam train that’s going at it’s top speed).
There are also some interesting background musical lyrics in some of the episodes I’ve noticed,
“I’ve wanted to track you down, but since you went under-ground, I’ve wanted to dig you out’ as an example from the most recent episode
Even stranger, later in the song it says: You used to sing with a straight face ‘My Heart Will Go On.’ And who sang My Heart Will Go On at the beach challenge… Joeri 🙂
I’m pretty sure that in the UK there is a link to “white Rabbit” good luck and saying it out loud the first day of the month. I think it originally dates back to WWII and something soildiers did for good luck!
I’m so much on Elisabet at the moment that I hope it’s not true. Also, I always find the homesickness and missing the family a bit too much… it’s only been a few weeks at most, right? Maybe I just travel too much and have lost all sensibilities 😉
Going against the crowd here – but I thought the show really fluffed its punch on the “only one comes” twist. Normally I’m used to DM delivering a big emotional hit – and then following it up with a devious, elegant and intense exposition. But the games they played on levels 2 and 3 of the airport challenge felt very bland – I was expecting something a lot more cutthroat. I was expecting at least a dilemma like “10,000E for the other 5 to come”.
As always, I’m being too harsh. DM is an amazing show and I’m enjoying this series enormously.
The twist on the test was very clever, though I’m not sure *how* helpful it will turn out. If I were playing, I’d have gone all-in on Kaat this week.
Ep 7 is up!
I’ve been bamboozled!
My future mole selection process would include “Not picking Michael’s mole pick”. Hahaha. But I too was convinced it was Kaat. I was so shocked she got the boot (though I hope she was in the finale. I love her in the show, mole or not.)
Don’t go via the Google Drive route this week unless you want to spoil the episode before you’ve watched it as kindly indicated by Natalia! (The thumbnail basically shows a frame from the episode next week so gives away who is eliminated in this episode!)
I do love the little references they throw in to this show, like the Banksy style shredder was genius! Was the mole’s signature on the bottom right of the painting? (perhaps hidden by the frame but you could see it as it was being shredded I think)
Those caves looked beyond scary, I suspect health and safety is slightly more generous in Belgium compared to the UK!
I just can’t believe in 2 Monday’s time we will know the winner, the runner up and the mole and it could still be any of them for different reasons! (Loved Gilles with his Hi De Hi tannoy announcement at the start of the episode too!!!)
Just copy and pasting Natalia’s behind the scenes stuff here re: Episode 6:
I posted an analysis of episode 6 below. Here is behind the scenes information: The avatar challenge was on Gilles’ birthday. Everything depended on their internet connection, so when they entered the game center and saw that they misspelled their own name, they got really nervous. But everything worked perfectly.
The family members found out about the twist two days beforehand. The challenge took eight hours to film and they had no idea what the goal was, so they didn’t know if they were doing well. Bruno’s wife had a hard time when she couldn’t go. Kaat’s brother was relieved because he doesn’t like long flights. Michaël’s flight was really delayed, so he spent even less time there than he was supposed to. They ate dinner according to Vietnam’s time zone, so none of them were hungry.
Everyone said their contestant acts the same at home except for Axel. Marie says that Axel is much more reserved on the show. Axel is also genuinely afraid of heights. Julie says the hardest part for Bas is missing everyone and he can’t wait for the show to finish airing so they can all hang out. Axel asked Marie to say hello to all of the other family members for him because he misses everyone too. Everyone got really close during filming.
By the way, in pre-season footage that they didn’t add to the premiere, Axel actually said during his selection interview that he wouldn’t bungee jump or skydive because he doesn’t jump out of working planes. Joeri tried to become a teacher but failed because he was told he doesn’t speak standard Dutch well enough. Bruno’s wife wanted a dog so now they have six chihuahuas. Bruno likes small dogs because you can just put them under the tap and they’re clean. Kaat is a crier. She recently cried when her package wasn’t delivered before she left for work. Bas likes confrontation, and he’s the first one to bring up an issue because it’s a good way to improve relationships.
Right, what an entertaining episode ep 7 was – comedy language learning and art, quiz setting (and discovering British Bulldog on the continent is called Dikke Bertha), and a tunnel challenge that was absolutely brilliant, loved how there was the secret dilemma element, Axel working it out, Bas almost rumbling it, Kaat almost dissuading Axel not to do it then Axel doing it and then Joeri being the hero at the end. That must have been a nightmare to film.
Next week! Pig cleaning! Some sort of fashion show! Room service! Turning the tables on The Mole! AND the traditional final exemption.
You say traditional but isn’t this the first time they’ve done it on Belgian mole? I can’t think back to the first of the new series’ but I’m pretty sure it’s always previously been a straight quiz.
On another note, the number of pasvragen tasks this series seems higher than previous. It’s still nowhere near widm levels and usually pasvragen are given out in a clever way as in this episode. However the previous times it’s just seemed a little arbitrary that “Eva gets pasvragen for causing the group to fail” and “Pasvragen are won if you complete the game without being shot”. I wonder if these earlier bonuses were really that necessary.
Regardless the tasks have been great and often very clever!
Yes, I think you’re right in retrospect, last year’s big final four thing was the phone call thing.
2018 had the phone call with The Mole.
2017 had pasvragen and a peak at the eliminee’s journal.
2016 had a final Exemption as was tradition.
So yeah this year sees the return of the Final Exemption.
I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. There was just no way it was Kaat especially after she said CPR during the music game. No Mole would say the answer and just hope no one types it in. Or maybe I’m just a traditionalist in my Mole expectations in that sense. Either way, her leaving did leave a big impact because everyone else’s suspicions did lead me down a path where I thought it might be her, but she was solidly number 3 behind Axel and Elisabet at this point.
On to the challenges! The first two were fairly simple but very fun games. The Vietnamese art challenge provided some funny moments with subtitles (rub the chef, anybody?). The kids were cute and it was nice to see Joeri and Kaat having fun with them. Making the quiz have a Dix It mechanic was a nice little wrinkle to the game. As for the art challenge, I love how the Mole’s painting was done in a totally different style from the actual artist. Made the challenge even harder, and a success for The Mole as well. Loved how the players analyzed the painting nonstop afterwards.
The tunnels game was amazing television. Simple on paper but made much more complex by the additions of pasvragen and the genuinely unnerving space that they were in. This was a challenge that worked because of the group dynamics (Elisabet going back for the pasvragen, Axel killing time in the tunnels, Joeri playing hero YET AGAIN) and because of a strong setting. The mystique they created around the tunnels was so strong that it totally sold the rest of the segment.
With Kaat gone, I think it’s got to be Elisabet. She messed up the art challenge and got herself screwed going back for pasvragen in the tunnels. My number two would be Axel but the fact that he still brought money out of the tunnels despite having enough precedent to open a tube and find a bomb makes me think it’s not him. Bas would be an interesting Mole just for how strongly he steered away the Axel and Elisabet from the right answer in the art game.
Next week looks amazing. A chance to steal The Mole’s instructions? A final exemption game? PIGS??? I’m ready. Great season.
Elisabet is my mol and about half way through this episode I realised I have never been more confident about a mol in any series.
I really liked the way the three contestants all molled each other on the Vietnamese speaking/art task.
I also had an impression that all the other contestants (including Kaat) know this by now and the test came down to knowledge – AND I think Joeri has been paying the most attention and will probably win if so
So, apparently I’m with this tweet:
https://twitter.com/TomVdBleeken/status/1120222037044281345
“Joeri is making the pot huge because he knows everything about the mol, Elisabet”
Ep 8 is up!
Another great episode today. I wonder how they design tasks like the fashion show specifically – it is an incredibly hard task, though I loved how they made it a 2k-2k split – in case they got awful designers doing the task, the dress will be too recognizable but if it were actually good, they have a chance to win against the fashion students.
My suspicions of Bas grew further this episode. He’s always been causing chaos in discussions and in this episode, he did it again. And my hunch is the Vrijstelling card has a certain mark on it that was included in the briefing – which Bas had seen.
But anyone could be the mole in the Final 3. I was so sad that Joeri was eliminated. I would’ve loved to see him in the finale.
Interesting tasks next episode!
NOOOOOOOOOOO SUPER JOERI </3. Heartbreaking elimination but one that leaves an incredibly tense and confusing final three for the finale.
The first challenge segment was a lot of harmless fun all around but with some interesting things to be seen. First, the power group really is the pig team since they have a larger coverage of affecting both challenges. Axel seemed to be messing up the emojis pretty bad, even mixing up a simple word in a phrase. I liked that the silliness of the pig challenge climaxed with the reveal that they'll be playing directly against The Mole in the next challenge. I like how game solutions have been used to reveal cool plot twists in the show since the first episode. On the other side of things, the fashion game was fun for the silliness of it all despite it leading to some tense moments between Bas and Elisabet.
The second game was very simple in design but nicely built up to and gave us some great character moments. For one, we have the montage at the start of the the episode of the various Mole briefings (stuff like that is what really elevates this season to all time status). Then we have the beautiful juxtaposition of every contestant knowing that something is up when THERE'S A GOPRO STRAPPED TO THE FOOD CART while Axel decides to just have breakfast. HILARIOUS. This game is particularly interesting for the fact that I feel like The Mole had to play fair and wasn't told the solution. In that sense, this is the first time we've seen the players working on an even playing field.
The final challenge was great for the tension in its simplicity, the unfolding of the group dynamics via the card game, and the revelations of information we get from the first portion. Axel as the fastest quiz taker puts him solidly as a contestant to me (coupled with his slow start on the brief game). Joeri as most suspicious to start makes sense as he was high on my list at the open too. It's an even more interesting thing to know that both other Mole candidates has already been eliminated. My money is on Bruno and Kaat.
Great episode, perfectly set up the field for the finale. Speaking of which? QUENTIN TARANTINO PULP FICTION THEMED GAME? YES PLEASE.
After Kaat left, I was solidly behind Elisabet as The Mole. Not much in this episode has dissuaded that idea but this episode did put Bas back in the spotlight for me. I think that the sensible way to go is Elisabet as Mole though. Axel dropped so far off my list after that second challenge and his pretty genuine reactions to Joeri's leaving. I'm stoked for the finale to what might be the best season of The Mole ever, anywhere.
It’s time to look the mole straight in the eye has already given me goosebumps for next week! The best part is it’s Bank Holiday Monday too so no work getting in the way of watching!
And there goes my wildcard mole! All these weeks and Gilles has been briefing the mole from…the toilet!
I’ve also previously mentioned how much I love the flashbacks so I was in heaven this week when they went right back to Episode 1
So much planning and production goes into this series it is quite incredible…hotel room service then allowing them to run round like maniacs with the trolleys trying to find a phone was rather amusing
My gut from the reactions was Bas/Martijn/Kaat (hence why I drafted them in our pool!) so if I was right, not only will I be smug but I suspect at least one of the two young ‘uns were chosen.
I’m going to give this episode the tiniest of criticism because merely two-thirds of it was excellent. The emoji challenge was a lot of fun, and the fashion challenge was an entirely worthy change of pace. The mystery briefing non-prize challenge was also beautifully captured and very funny. As for the card game at the end… it was tense, and anything involving getting everyone around a table will always be intense at the exact point in the series where intensity was called for, but simple card games without a twist (e.g. betting) feel a little low-octane and unkinetic even for The Genius, let alone The Mole. I wonder whether players were allowed to show each other their cards if they wanted to? Granted I can’t imagine there would be many circumstances when you’d want to, but if you know you’re not going to have your exemption taken away from you, and you’re not going to be taking one, then you might.
I also suspect that the UK wouldn’t take quite as many liberties with animal handling. I don’t think there’s any evidence that the animals were at all hurt or harmed, or that the contestants were at all less than diligent in the way they’ve treated animals series-long, but the British style would be to go above and beyond to demonstrate animal welfare throughout, probably to the point of not letting the contestants handle the animals themselves.
One week to go! One week to go! Then another seven or eight months to go!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Joeri! The hero that we didn’t just need, but deserved!
Chasing pigs made me laugh a lot (god knows how they got those sayings from those emojis), Axel taking his trolley out into the swimming pool made me laugh a lot. I loved the tension of the card game.
I like all three of the finalists. For me Axel’s amusing haplessness means I want him to win, but I’m happy with any of them, they’ve all provided marvellous entertainment over the past eight weeks.
Natalia’s behind the scenes info for ep 7:
“Axel learned how to say words backwards to win a Renault Mégane in a radio contest. He had to do 20 words in one minute, but he lost because he forgot one letter. Gilles said that if suddenly becoming the mole wasn’t enough of a surprise, the mole also had to sit there painting during their way-too-short briefings. In the Cu Chi tunnels, someone from production stayed a few meters in front of the contestants the entire time in case they wanted to quit and needed help getting out. On the radio this week, Gilles said not to expect any complex sabotages this year. It’s about the small things and improvising because the mole was unprepared.”
Also, in case you were wondering if De Mol was popular:
“I would be really surprised if there isn’t another season. Last year, 60% of Flanders watched the finale, and the ratings have only improved this year. De Mol is the broadcaster’s #1 show and gets more than double as many viewers as their second-best show. Plus, Gilles has mentioned recently that they’ve already started brainstorming for next season. Whether or not I’ll be back to subtitle it is a different question though.”
Really bummed that Joeri’s gone. I loved his willingness to do whatever needed to be done, and he was great fun to watch. On the other hand, his gung-ho attitude ruled him out really quickly for me for being the mole, but I’m glad he was part of the trip and we got to watch him play.
Also, this is making me laugh way more than it should: https://www.vier.be/de-mol/joeri-soundboard?utm_source=twitter_vier&utm_medium=seeding&utm_campaign=demol
As for the mole, and mole voting… last week, I sank 90 points into Bas (with 10 on Axel as backup), and that’s the first time I went more than 35 points on any one candidate. I know, I’ve been spreading for way too long. Even if I’m right, I’m pretty sure my delay will keep me out of the running, so I think I have to double down and put all 100 into Bas this week. The thing that bothers me though is probably classic tunnelvisie: I feel like most of Bas’s sabotages have been through verbal manipulations, and they’ve been featured pretty frequently on the show. It feels like they’re making it a little too obvious and therefore it can’t be right, but it seems like more people on here have gone for Elisabet, so maybe it’s not as obvious as I’m thinking and I’m not too far off?
I think I have put points on all the finalists at some point in the run, but I did full 100s on Kaat and Eva in some episodes. So I am not so hopeful on that pool now.
I’m leaning Bas purely because of the Ship Room Escape mission.
We know the Mole was instructed to sabotage.
1. Bas pulled on a rope causing one of the cages to sink.
2. Axle got the torch wet.
The difference is, they repeatedly showcased Axle’s sabotage and mention it multiple times. Meanwhile, they showed Bas’s sabotage once and then aren’t bringing it up again. That plus his behavior in the Art challenge really makes me think Bas is probably zeev Mole. I don’t think Elizabeth did anything suspect during that challenge.
Also – during the Final Four suitcase mission. During one of the questions everyone was looking at Bas to see his response. This indicated to me they all knew he was The Mole and wanted to see his answer. Just my observation.
I agree that I believe the ship escape room is the key to figuring this season out. It’s the one piece that doesn’t fit with Elisabet not being The Mole. Why place herself on the ship when it seems like that’s the least effective place to commit sabotage? Y’all are making me doubt my Mole now.
So, I mentioned this on Twitter, but BFOTP (that’s Best Friend of the Podcast to the cool kids), Gilles de Coster has surprised us with our Antwerp visit on Sunday and we’re actually being members of the Press for it, with Press Screening and the opportunity to interview the finalists, so if there’s anything you want me to ask, let me know.
Gilles is such an awesome guy! Do the contestants pretty much speak fluent English (as they have had to speak English for many of the tasks in this series!)…I think Gilles does as he did that awesome podcast with you last year!
I’m hoping so! We’ve been told we should get some time with the Final Three, although I’m selfishly hoping that means everyone really because I need Joeri to say regenpijp for us given our obsession this year with that challenge!
I’m just prepping this post for when the video comes out (probably tomorrow). Can’t wait.
Also can’t wait for all the goss from Michael Harmstone who got invited to the press screening this afternoon.
I don’t think I shall be getting much sleep tonight
Ep 9 Up!
I didn’t just stay up all morning clicking refresh 1000 times…honestly!
Haha i was up anyway and saw it pop up on notifications
Too early for spoilers but WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW
I literally couldn’t pick at the end!
I’m already having Mole withdrawals. Looking forward to RTV Warriors’ interviews and podcasts as well as the reunion episode next week. Then it may be the 7 longest months of my life as we wait for WIDM 2020. (and De Mol 2020).
First, I was sort of convinced that Bas was the mole after Kaat was eliminated. I am still in disbelief, as I definitely saw Elisabet as a contestant – but it makes sense she was acting like that because she was rather unprepared. I am very happy that Axel is the winner though. Such a funny character from the get go.
Second, how amazing was that Finale? First, they did the videoke task at the same place as the Roadblock in TAR31. I was laughing so hard that Axel has to perform some of the songs while on a massage chair. Then the drone task with the tailored suits was so cool.
Overall, this was another amazing season. De Mol has been delivering 4 seasons in a row. Never faltered in quality, really. I am not to ecstatic about the mole but everything else was so perfect. What a ride for everyone.
The karaoke task was super funny.
What I mainly loved about the final task is that it’s typical De Mol – Floor is Lava? Wire maze? Old hat. Except they always seem to manage to find a way to make them feel fresh – whether it’s in the direction, or with a sneaky twist or whatever. It was very cool.
Very pleased Axel won, great Mole, great runner-up, great series. Looking forward to the debrief next week.
Having seen it twice around two different groups of people (*clang*), Axel on the table being manhandled while trying to sing Dancing Queen and Bas shoving Elisabet’s arse out the way got the two biggest laughs of the episode.
Axel was so wonderful in person – he came up to us at the after-party (*clang*) and was so happy for us to be there and completely dwarfed us.
I just loved how the drone challenge they obviously checked the remaining budget and decided ‘yeah we’ve got enough left for some fire and a few explosions’
Also during the reveal the #productionteamblowingoutacandle shot is the next big thing in TV, mark my words!
It was a great cast, as ever, but Axel and Joeri were my faves definitely.
Just as a warning for the podcast, we did record it at 2am so it’s a bit…looser than usual! I’m very tired. What a day though.
As ever, a massive thank you to Natalia for supplying the subs, without which we’d have lost a lot of the comedy and nuance.
A random thought cropped up during the montage at the end of the finale: We saw a clip of Gilles’ briefing on the beach, and how the mole was briefed with the explicit placement of them in a specific location
While it didn’t specifically apply in *that* context, that did get me wondering about the situations where the teams are split into two or more subgroups with vague hints as to the nature of their challenge (“Playful” versus… was it “Sophisticated”) – I wonder if those subgroup names are not just designed for the *challenge*, but also specifically selected to make it easy for the mole to make a case to get themselves into the location they want to be in (and possibly to shape the groups even further – in the case of Playful vs Sophisticated I couldn’t imagine the Playful team as being anyone other than Joeri and Kaat at that point)
My understanding based on Gilles’ past answers is that these words are likely already decided even before The Mole was selected, and this is of course almost certainly true this season. What Gilles and his crew seem to prefer to do is to see what The Mole themselves believe will be what they would do as a normal player and then go for them.
What a finale! Got The Mole and winner right, and more importantly, THOSE LAST TWO CHALLENGES! The karaoke/massage game was pure hilarity while the abandoned building was pure brilliance. Yes, the spy game was nothing we haven’t seen before, especially WIDM loves games themed like this, but the addition of deadly drones and the custom black suits, and a FINAL ESCAPE RUN THROUGH BURSTING BOMBS.
Best season ever. I’m claiming it.
Oh, and as a brief aside: Their location scout *earns every penny*. I’m always flabbergasted with how *good* the settings are for a lot of these things.
Personally I don’t think it was *qui-i-i-i-te* as good as last year, I think overall I prefer a prepared Mole, and I don’t think I thought “ohhhhh that’s really clever/funny” quite as much as I did last time, but I accept that this year’s concept and throughline was carried off very well and it’s been a joy to watch.
I feel this. As much as I think last season had way too many challenges that devolved into “split up and complete comedy minitasks” and felt like a late-Channel-4-era BBUK shopping task, a bunch of challenges this season kind of felt a bit TOO basic, like they tipped the balance too far in the other direction. That’s not to say the challenges were bad, because they definitely weren’t, it’s just… like, this feels like it belongs in between the apprehensive Argentina and confident South Africa seasons rather than being the next step in this show’s evolution.
Brig edit: David’s been having spam trap issues and we’re currently testing things out, if this seems similar to the previous comment.
Agreed. As much as last season kept devolving into late-C4-era BBUK “split up for minitasks and we’ll slap an arbitrary theme on it” challenge design, there’s a few challenges this season that felt a bit TOO basic, like they tipped the balance too far in the other direction. Still a very good season, but definitely not the best ever.
…and I’ve just realised that the contestant photo at the top of the page has Kaat and Liesbeth the wrong way around (assuming they’re meant to be in alphabetical order, at least, as the list of names below is)
I’d get all excited thinking that’s a clue, except it’s a bit late now… and it clearly isn’t.
So yeah, an excellent season of Mole capped up by a fun reunion that showed a lot of personality.
My personal highlights were Elisabet singing a portion of the song used to end the first episode. Seeing the contestants fail miserable at their Mole tests before the season started was also great. Loved Axel breaking a glass to close out the show. Thought that it was absolutely fascinating that they reset Elisabet’s sabotage when her camera went out down in the tunnels. I think this is a case of A) needing the footage for television but also B) being transparent enough about the game to say, we can’t prove that The Mole did x so we have to make it fair for everyone. Good on Elisabet though for turning it around and sabotaging anyways.
Also, huge congratulations to Elisabet for remaining hidden for as long as she did. I know that many WIDM seasons boast the only-one-person-guessed-The-Mole statistic but this felt particularly impressive given the improvised nature of The Mole’s work this year. Even more impressive given how many people were truly certain that Elisabet couldn’t be The Mole. A huge honor and she truly earned that thank you note from the crew at the end.
Great season, my favorite of all time. Well done to all involved, and thanks again Natalia for providing the subs!
Whilst we’re here, FOTB David (who’s been having trouble commenting for some reason) has updated his Mole challenge directory this week, take a look: http://realitytvdesign.blogspot.com/2019/05/we-have-another-challenge-for-you.html
The 13th frame at every elimination clue was incredible editing, and I bet watching the episodes back now will look so obvious!
It was also interesting to see how the key moment in all eyes on Elisabet was basically down to Bas, although by then Axel was likely already the winner due to cracking it at the boat challenge
A huge thanks to Natalia and good luck to her new career in New York!
Now can someone send a large bribe to the producers to turn up in Brazil next year so it might tempt her to doing the subtitles again next year 🙂
This show gives me a real feeling of deflation and longing once it’s all over for the year and all neatly wrapped up. Very few shows ever did that. It showed me enough of what I wanted to see from episode one – and, unexpectedly, beforehand! – that I found it truly satisfying.
In the escape boat challenge, the six-digit code was bizarrely long. Someone in a YouTube comment theorised that it was Elisabet’s date of birth, or at least a version thereof (in some strange order of months, days and years). After this I was all-in on Elisabet. This turns out to have been a dud lead, or at least a coincidence. The comment at the end of the episode about knowing that the others wouldn’t get to enjoy their loved ones’ visit, and then Elisabet defecting during the avatar game to get her husband on the flight, was strong confirmation to me.
Natalia, can we send you money somehow? Not as a bribe to get you to fansub future seasons, but as a gift to thank you for doing this one so quickly and so well.
Yes, if you’ve got a Paypal Natalia let us know and we can send a tip.
I very much enjoyed the montage of Gilles saying things on the beach to throw off the contestants. Also I thought getting The Mole to sing the background clue was very neat.
I’m always fascinated when stuff goes wrong with production. The tunnel sabotage was very interesting in that regard.
The end of series credits montage always reminds me of the ones the BBC do at the end of their big live sporting tournaments.