This reality show is a game design masterpiece

Mole good, here why

Chapters:
00:00 - intro
3:15 - early game
4:44 - eliminations
6:52 - quizzes
7:58 - tricksters
10:20 - two quick sidebars
11:26 - teams
12:52 - breadwinners
16:59 - end game

All music is by Elliot Holmes, who can be found
The songs, in order:
"Gizmos and Gadgets"
"Walk on Out"
"Shark Disco"
"Talk Back"
"Straight Through My Heart"
"Strange Roll"

[evelinedereu]

I think some important context here, this is not an american gameshow returning after a single season, and now being on Netflix. The original was Belgian, and the show has since been adapted to many different countries. Over here in the netherlands, we have had 26 seasons by now

[Speederzzz]

I remember one season in the netherlands there was one player so bad that people thought they were the mole, eventually earning them nicknames like "assistent mole" and "second mole". He once hid an important piece of a game because he was ashamed of losing the complimentary piece.

[olliejohnson]

i absolutely adore that this video was able to give me every detail i needed without showing a single clip of the show itself

[OfftheRadar]

What absolutely drove me up a wall, especially in the 2nd season of The Mole US on Netflix, is that so many players were so bent on *acting* like the mole in order to draw suspicion, that the group was hemorrhaging money for the whole game. It was so counterintuitive to me that players were willing to sabotage the entire prize pot just to win.
Like, congratulations, you won a grand sum of twenty bucks. Good job!

[Ratstail]

BTW: The Mole in Australia had the mole as a normal player who simply won any money that the team failed to win.

[_bigblind]

The stakes for the mole are indeed incredibly high. In a previous season in Belgium, the original mole stepped out early, because he was caught talking in his sleep, and was scared he might accidentally reveal his identity while sleeptalking, and was then scared to fall asleep, before his roommate did

[rendiggietydog]

as soon as you introduced the quiz where you get eliminated by KNOWING ABOUT THE MOLE... my eyes widened so hard, what a GENIUS MOVE damn super impressive I love this

[charteon]

I just did an online version of this with friends. I figured out the mole early on due to the sacrifice of my ally (had a correction and still got out early game). I was able to figure out the mole, and spent the rest of the game doing counter intelligence. I tricked my final opponent into believing the mole was me, and got the win. Such a fun game to do with friends.

[bittersweetvictory]

you mean to tell me that this is a game show where "third imposter"ing is not just a valid strategy, but *optimal?*

[damienb.kaiser]

One of my favorite shows that didn't run for very long was The Hustler on ABC. There's a small-ish group of people, and one among them is the Hustler. Each round, the group gets one trivia question that the Hustler knows the answer to. It's usually about their interests or habits; for example, there was one Hustler who used to work at a Starbucks, and the question was "Which of these Starbucks treats has the fewest calories". Every correct answer they get adds $1, 000 to the cash pool, which the Hustler either takes at the end or the remaining two contestants split.

Between every round, a fact about the Hustler is shared with the group (i.e. past experiences, there was one Hustler who was raised in a cult), which gives them a hint as to who it is. After three rounds, a voting takes place; the players vote for who they think the mole is. The thing it, none of their votes matter-- the only one that does is the Hustler's, who votes for who they want out of the game. They usually boot out the one who is onto them the most.

Eventually, the game whittles down to three players: the Hustler and two other contestants. Everyone displays who they think the Hustler is on a wooden tablet, and everyone argues with each other for a solid two minutes about who the Hustler is. Two people need to agree who the Hustler is. If they're right, they split the cash. If the Hustler successfully convinces another team member that the other person is the Hustler, then they take the entire prize for themself.


Anyway yeah, thought it was similar.

[I-OGameDev]

Jesus, what an unreasonably good video

[jan_Niwe]

I think this video slightly missed out on another strategy similar to spreading answers: go to the majority. For example, if the question is "is the mole male or female", and there are 6 other males and 2 females, even if you are ALMOST CERTAIN that the mole is one of the women, people would pick "male".

[DusExMachina]

In other versions of the show (Netherlands and Belgium), the role of playing The Mole is a VERY prestigious title to have. It's even gotten a kind of meta around what sort of Mole you want to play. In one season in the Belgium version, one Mole sunk THE ENTIRE prize fund midway through the season for an exemption and everyone forgave them because they brought in so much cash before that.
One thing you will see in versions are jokers and exemptions. Exemptions are free passes into the next episode, and jokers turn incorrect answers in the quiz to correct ones but don't tell you for what questions. These are a massive point where players can sink the prize fund for immunity, or to go against the challenge for a small amount of safety, another great twist in the game.

TL;DR The Mole is great, watch the Belgium version. One of the best tv shows out there

[antiawarenessawarenessclub]

I love how your narration gives off the feeling of a continnuous, unending mindblown meltdown. That's the kind of enthusiasm I want in video essays

[asserm.]

this video is SO interesting i kinda feel that if i were to watch the show id be disappointed by the final product

[thewhiteboy]

the added rule of "if there is a tie, the contestant who finished the quiz the slowest will be eliminated" is also great because it can give false hope to contestants who survive and think they got some answers right but actually they didn't and just finished the quiz faster. There is no information gained by the results of the quiz

[TheWritersMind]

there's also a strategy that arises from breadwinners existing themselves, Lets say the mole switches behaviors around episode 3 to that of a breadwinner, if they do their sabotage subtly enough then people might not realize that the mole has become a breadwinner, but then since they are the mole, but simultaneously a good player, people may stop suspecting them, and on top of that, they are immune from elimination. thus by becoming a breadwinner themselves, they can take back the money for production, while also being portrayed like a breadwinner. this may backfire in the last 2 rounds, when the 2 other people left may still be pretending to be the mole.

[justind]

Thank you so much for making this video. The Mole was my favorite show, and for years I would try to explain it but could never seem to effectively communicate how and why the show was so compelling and entertaining.

[sythersight]

This video is a masterclass in presentation and analysis sans any direct use of footage from the original source. Huge kudos.

[jalapenoofjustice]

there was once a season of the mole in the Netherlands where the mole managed to make himself look like the most fanatical breadwinner in the season