The Mole‘s rule aren’t that clear at the beginning of Netflix’s reboot of the classic reality TV show. All we know is that there is a mole amongst the twelve cast members as they compete missions in various locations in Australia. However, it’s unclear what the motivations are for the mole to sabotage the missions and keep the money prize pot low. Here are all The Mole‘s rules explained and how the reboot differs from the original series that started in 2001.
How The Mole‘s Rule Work & Why The Mole Can’t Win
The saboteur or mole in the game is picked by production before the game begins. As Netflix laid out, the mole can’t win the prize money at the end of the game. Perhaps that should change. Without a financial motive, what exactly motivates the mole to serially sabotage the other competitors?
After competing mental and physical challenges called missions, the contestants on The Mole complete a quiz of 20 questions. Each new quiz has a new batch of questions. The competitors not only have to figure out who the mole is, but they also have to recall different things about the players in order to answer the very specific questions correctly.
Here are some examples of the quiz questions asked on the show. “Is the mole currently married? Did the Mole’s team make it back to the plane with a case? What color shoes is the mole wearing tonight? Is the Mole an only child? What color are the mole’s eyes? Who is the Mole?”
After each quiz, the cast members sit together at the table and one by one they check their phone to see their quiz results. The one cast member who answers the least amount of questions correctly gets eliminated. That’s why a lot of contestants had a strategy of spreading their answers among all the other cast members. That way they can hedge their bet and hope someone else put too many answers on the wrong people.
Contestants who are not the mole want to trick their opponents into thinking they are the mole. That way they can be the one right at the end of the competition and take home all of the prize pot money.
How A Cast Member Wins The Mole & Prize Pot Money
A contestant wins all of the remaining prize money at the end of the game after the final quiz. The Mole‘s rules state the finalist with the most correct answers wins the prize pot money. Again, the mole in the final quiz cannot win the prize money because they already likely know all the answers to the quiz questions, because the quiz is about identifying them!
How The Rules of Netflix’s The Mole Reboot Compare To The Original
The maximum value pot of prize money was $1 million back on the first season of The Mole. Netflix’s remake offers much less than that, with the overall prize money, without sabotages, likely only amount to a around $200,000 (unless the final episodes include very big prize money). The original series also had more side missions that only select competitors are privy to. On top of that, later seasons had the “neutralizer”. This would exempt one competitor from being eligible for the exemption card that round.
“The original Mole was a sort of seismic event in American television. It broke the mold,” The Mole host Alex Wagner explained to Netflix’s Tudum. “There’s every reason to watch the reboot, because I think the concept of the show is ever more resonant today. We have refreshed a lot of the elements to make them even more compelling than the original — and that was pretty damn compelling.”
Some fans think the reboot is scripted, but overall it appears to preserve most of the original series.
