Wie Is De Mol? - General Discussion

[stellavision]

Nice list, Trip! You clearly have a type, and it only somewhat overlaps with mine. A couple of your choices I think would try to elbow me out of the way to get to a mirror, and I like 'em a little less perfect.

 

I was shocked when reviewing the possibilities to find that there were not, in fact, ten who I would not kick out of bed for eating crackers. Not to say that the overall level of cast hotness isn't significantly higher than that of most reality shows -- I just thought these eight were a cut above the others.

 

8. Daniel Boissevain: I admit I barely remember him from South Africa, and his inclusion on this list is mainly based on his Twitter profile photo.

 

7. Ewout Genemans: I am a sucker for a full head of curly hair. He'd be higher on this list if I didn't feel like I could maybe take him in a fair fight. (And that is why Remy will NEVER be on my list, at least not unless he takes up powerlifting and puts on at least 20 pounds.)

 

6. Jan-Willem Roodbeen: Also a very nice head of hair, and a great smile. And he's tall too, right? As Trip has pointed out, I like tall.

 

5. Pieter Jan Hagens: My silver fox. Okay, okay, so he was kind of dry as a host. But you have to admit he's aged well, no?

 

4. Ellie Lust: I don't normally have girl crushes. But an athletic-looking, assertive woman who looks like she could put me in a headlock without even trying? Um, yes please.

 

3. Viktor Brand: For me, a nearly perfect mix of conventionally hot (tall, lots of hair, nice build) and slight imperfections (scruff that doesn't look perfectly manscaped, a few smile lines). Also, dimples. Ayup.

 

2. Maarten van der Weijden: Did I mention I like tall? If he took up weight training he'd be my #1, unquestionably. (I actually have a feeling that if I ever met him in person, I might not crush so hard on him; 205 pounds is pretty light for a 6'8" man.)

 

1. Art! I mean, there's his looks, but he's also such a good host. I confess I get even more attracted to him when he says snarky things after the contestants have failed at a challenge.

[LakeGal]

I just watched this season.  I found it interesting that none of the players seemed to zero in on the mole till the end.  Even the ones that casually considered this person still didn't accept they were the mole.  The winner only changed moles when the main suspect went home at final 4.  I have to say that I kept thinking the person that won was the mole and I didn't like it.  I thought that person was too obvious.  All in all an enjoyable season.

[LakeGal]

I just binged this season.  It was a different way to pick the mole.  I think they should leave the choosing up to the experts.  I did not care for the mole in this season.  It was way too obvious to everyone (myself included) who it was.  I like a bit more mystery.  A mole who is afraid of going in dark tunnels?  That is usually one of the main traits of the mole.  I did enjoy the cast though.  I found some of them extremely likeable and fun to watch.  I liked the challenge where they were in the dark creepy Titanic building at night. 

[SnideAsides]

Tim Hofman posed with another straight TV host for a Dutch gay magazine. (NSFW butt)

[Trip]

I'm getting really frustrated that Belgium has completed their revival of De Mol and *nobody* has subbed it into English yet.  From what I've read online, it was a really good season.

I'm also really eager to get those other WIDM seasons in English, but it would be tacky to push the usual subtitler, given how much work she already does for us for free.

[SnideAsides]

On 29/7/2016 at 10:53 AM, Trip said:

I'm getting really frustrated that Belgium has completed their revival of De Mol and *nobody* has subbed it into English yet.  From what I've read online, it was a really good season.

I just watched it over the weekend, and... yes. It was. It's pretty accessible without the language barrier - between ideas you'll recognise from other versions (the chain exemption challenge turns up yet again, as do, randomly, the banana boat seat swap challenge and the Celebrity Mole Yucatan art relay) and well-known puzzles that are turned into Mole challenges (what starts out as a basic "free the hostage" challenge turns, hilariously, into a version of the shell game), you should be able to follow what's going on - so I'd definitely recommend it.

And there's a challenge about halfway through the season that's instantly rocketed into the top five of my imaginary Mole challenge ranking. It's such an inspired and yet obvious idea that I kind of can't believe it's taken this long for a version of The Mole to do it, and it delivers spectacularly. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but two words: Return December.

[SnideAsides]

No, seriously. The next season is set in OREGON.

Premieres January 7th in the Netherlands.

[CarolinaPam]

Can.not.WAIT!

[Watermelon]

This is needed.

[Trip]

And the kandidaten have been revealed!  You can see 'em in unsubtitled YouTube clips.
I do wish you'd consider another title for this thread, though. 

[SnideAsides]

I'll probably change it while the season's airing (as I tend to do with Big Brother UK), but for now the combination of the reveal being on election night and the Oregon Trail being in the reveal itself made it kind of irresistible.

[Trip]

And now it's time to play our favorite game, Predict the Mole Based on Nothing But the Opening Credits!

I'm gonna say ... Sanne.

[Watermelon]

I'll go with Roos. Or maybe Vincent

[SnideAsides]

My two suspects are Imanuelle (in the location reveal video, there's a shot of a card reading 'HINT' and her name is partly-visible on the side of the shot) and Diederik (just because they love surname clues on this show - the repeated "jongens"/"Jung is" for Anne-Marie, fishermen for Susan, crosses for Klaas - and jokes about Mr. Jekel hiding is something I doubt they could resist).

[EllieH]

Vincent or Thomas, because why not?

[Trip]

I'm currently rewatching this season with a friend who hasn't seen it before (though he has seen the rest of seasons 11-16).  We're both enjoying it a lot, enough that I'm surprised by the above comments.  The mole did a good job, I thought -- moling while not being the most suspicious person.  Almost all of the challenges were quite good, in the true Mole tradition, with almost no duds (oceanside oversized-matchstick puzzle aside).  I think I might put this among my top few WIDM seasons, honestly.

[SnideAsides]

It's an odd one, for sure - I was lukewarm on it at the time, but seeing 80% of the same challenges get recycled abysmally on the 2013 Australian season made me realise it absolutely could be much worse.

[Trip]

I just watched episode 1.  It was kind of infuriating because the video turns gray and pixellated at key moments, including at the red-screen reveal.

 

Also infuriating in that I only completely eliminated one candidate from my mental Mol list, and of course that's the person who goes home, THANKS A LOT SHOW.

[CarolinaPam]

Yeah, I was upset with the video quality, especially at the very end when Art was revealing green or red screens. I know it's not Marieke's fault though.  So thrilled that she's providing this season for us to watch!  I love this show.

I thought the person who went home would go far in the game.  Shows how much I know!  No idea who may be the mole.  

[stellavision]

Yeah, not her fault but drove me crazy anyway! (Also, I just made the mistake of watching the teaser video, which I hadn't done before, and it is SO CRISP AND CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL. Sigh.)

That challenge went way too smoothly. There's got to be a huge pot-emptying opportunity in the next episode.

Edited January 10, 2017 by stellavision

[SnideAsides]

There's another subbed version of the episode floating about, with better video quality.

[Watermelon]

11 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

There's another subbed version of the episode floating about, with better video quality.

Where, might I ask?  

[SnideAsides]

Same place as the original version. I'm not posting a link in this thread though.

[Kromm]

How weird. Oregon has barely let black people in, and yet they're welcoming the Dutch!

(kidding... sort of...)

Man, they built a hell of a travelogue for Oregon in that teaser though, didn't they?

[stellavision]

I screwed up, picked a Mol this episode and saw that person go home.

I do think the Mole was in the group that went to the fair, since there were more opportunities to sabotage the pot that way, whether by "trying" and failing to bring money back, misleading or not providing others with information on how to get past the snipers, or influencing the jury vote.

Soooooo nice to watch with better video quality!

Edited January 17, 2017 by stellavision

[stellavision]

AGAIN! I did it AGAIN! And by "it" I mean "locked on a Mol by halfway through the episode, only to have that person be eliminated."

(I did start to doubt my choice once I saw the location of the test, since I figured they wouldn't be THAT obvious about a real clue)

Also, have there been other challenges like this in which contestants have been asked to drive around a major city before? Seems like not the safest idea -- I cringed every time someone tried to turn left out of the right lane or drove in the bus lane.

[Trip]

Oh, sure.  I can think of one challenge where they had to not only had to drive cars around a crowded area, but had to line them up in four lanes in a certain order at a certain stoplight by a certain time.  This was nothing.

I'm just happy that I think I can match all the names to faces now.

I was primarily suspecting the women anyway, but "Miss Mole" being one of the books is a nice bit of supporting evidence.  Damn, I'm sorry we didn't get to see the Powell's challenge, since I've wandered all over that store before.

My #1 is still Sanne, almost by default.  My #2 is Sigrid, but they never seem to pick the youngest competitor to be the Mole.  I simply can't believe it's Imanuelle (who I adore at this point).  If it is a guy, the most suspicious to me is Jochem, but he's a distant third to the other two on my list.

[stellavision]

WARNING: semi-veiled spoilers below.

1) oh my god, someone get these pale Dutch people some better sunblock! Art looks fried to a crisp!

2) I looked out for people in the hay bale challenge who were wearing long sleeves -- I was wondering whether that might be a sign, since it was a hot day and yet the Mole would have known that sleeves would have made that challenge a lot more comfortable. Two out of three of the long-sleeve-wearers were men, so I started to wonder about the third. So much for that idea.

3) but, that same person's bet during the auction challenge made me not so sure about her, and more likely to suspect Sanne. A good way to sabotage without being noticed would be to tell Art a low number at the beginning, since that would drop the average bid and thus the amount that could be bet risk-free for real. There were two people who bet zero but I don't think it's either of them. Sanne bid the least of anyone with Art, and then proceeded to drive the auction up way over that amount when it was for real.

Edited January 29, 2017 by stellavision

[Trip]

I'm a little surprised there's not more chatter about this season so far.  I think the Mole isn't nearly as clear as last season.

I'm still fairly convinced that "Miss Mole" is a strong clue, so my top 2 are Sanne and Imanuelle.  Normally I wouldn't even consider Ima (she's so fanatic!), but Moles often act fanatic before there's a pot-draining challenge.  If her fanaticism changes from this point on, I'll consider that very suspicious.

In third place is Thomas, I suppose (which I wouldn't mind terribly, since that would mean I get to look at him for all 10 episodes).  Then Jochem, though he really strikes me as that person who's just trying too hard to make himself look like the Mole.  Diederik and Jeroen are pretty much off my radar.

[stellavision]

Trip: I know! Dammit, I want to talk about this seizoen!

Your Imanuelle theory is interesting. She made so much for the pot at first that I thought it couldn't possibly be her, but you're right that now the pot is nearly empty, and she was a big part of that -- she was one of the two who said zero to Art, right? And then she went and bid up one of the jokers, although not as much as some of the others.

[Mike N]

Hoo boy, OK.

I'm not sure any of the assignments gave me any new insight, TBH. And yet again, the person who was eliminated wasn't on my Mole list. To get something out of my head:

Let's say I think Diederik is the Mole. Am I putting too much stock in (a) the fact that he's wearing a shirt that says "6.023 x 10^23" in the original group shot and/or (b) the fact that he was the liar in the trial assignment (meaning the other two got to do the interesting things)?

[SnideAsides]

I actually AM thinking it's Diederik. What if, hypothetically, he spent his night sequestered in the hotel room memorising a pre-written speech about baby beavers, then recited it the next day knowing that (1) they would fall for it, especially with the ridiculous but real Vegas story as one of the other options, and (2) it would make him almost certain as the choice for the "who's a good talker?" role in the poster challenge, whereupon he can waste time not realising that his posters didn't have writing on them?

[SnideAsides]

For those who want to watch two new Dutch-language Mole seasons at once, the Belgian version's just started its fifth season. Still no subtitles, but PLENTY of South Africa travel porn. And the casting on this version was top-notch last year, so hopefully that'll be the case again this time around.

[Trip]

Just wanted to say that Thomas from season 17 is definitely on my top 10 list now, probably somewhere around 4th through 6th, and there needs to be a challenge that requires him to be shirtless.  That is all.

[Trip]

Someone has just begun putting the Belgian version on YouTube!  Hopefully it'll stay there and we won't have to deal with Daily Motion again.  Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQP9VZEPsjO0_wYLe3eeeWw?spfreload=10

[SnideAsides]

Just to clarify: That's last year's season, which is great.

[widmbelgie]

Oh, I'm actually the one who's subbing the Belgian version :) I'm glad you noticed!

I've just been searching forums about The Mole, because I'm not sure how to spread the word. After I finish last year's version, I do plan on doing the current year, too :)

[SnideAsides]

Daaaamn this season's being uploaded quickly. :)

[SnideAsides]

Guess what turned up on Google Maps?

[CarolinaPam]

Thank you so much, widmbelgie!  And wow, you're fast getting the videos up on YouTube!

[Watermelon]

On 11/15/2016 at 9:06 PM, Watermelon said:

I'll go with Roos. Or maybe Vincent

I'm very delayed in watching this season(not even finished with the first episode. Even so, it warms my heart that by Test 1, most people think the Mole is Roos or Vincent.

 

.

 

 

And OF COURSE, Vincent was first out. That's what I get for patting myself on the back.

EDIT 2: Gosh I never get it right. HOWEVER! I did guess who was lying in the courtroom.  

Edited February 16, 2017 by Watermelon
Finished episodes 1-3

[Trip]

On October 25, 2016 at 0:33 AM, SnideAsides said:

And there's a challenge about halfway through the season that's instantly rocketed into the top five of my imaginary Mole challenge ranking. It's such an inspired and yet obvious idea that I kind of can't believe it's taken this long for a version of The Mole to do it, and it delivers spectacularly. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but two words: Return December.

Just saw this episode.  There was a challenge where, when it was described, I thought "Oh, I really like this idea a lot".  Needless to say, I was not at all surprised when Return December came up.  I guess you and I have similar thoughts about what makes for a good challenge.

[SnideAsides]

I'd like to think so. There's a couple more really good challenges coming up before the end of the season, but nothing to equal that sadly.

[stellavision]

This last episode had me more firmly on Ima. She grabbed one middle-of-the-road amount and the two lowest amounts in the rodeo challenge, thus ensuring the pot couldn't get too big yet being able to claim she made some money.

...except that Sanne said she's betting on Jochem, and I'm pretty sure he's not de Mol. And Sanne saw her screen and it was green. I suppose she could be lying in her voiceover about who she suspects even if she's not de Mol herself. But it still makes me wonder.

I don't think it's Diederik, at least not based on this episode. "I have social anxiety and don't like talking to strangers" seems like way too obvious a tactic, plus it's less effective at preventing large sums from going into the pot than what Ima did.

Edited February 18, 2017 by stellavision

[Trip]

4 hours ago, stellavision said:

This last episode had me more firmly on Ima. She grabbed one middle-of-the-road amount and the two lowest amounts in the rodeo challenge, thus ensuring the pot couldn't get too big yet being able to claim she made some money.

...except that Sanne said she's betting on Jochem, and I'm pretty sure he's not de Mol. And Sanne saw her screen and it was green. I suppose she could be lying in her voiceover about who she suspects even if she's not de Mol herself. But it still makes me wonder.

I don't think it's Diederik, at least not based on this episode. "I have social anxiety and don't like talking to strangers" seems like way too obvious a tactic, plus it's less effective at preventing large sums from going into the pot than what Ima did.

I agree with just about all of this.  My top 2 have been Sanne and Ima for some time now.  Throughout the season, Sanne has claimed to be voting for people who went home or are clearly not de Mol, so I just can't understand how she's surviving if she's not de Mol herself.  If it turns out to be one of the men, I'll be shocked.

[Trip]

Just watched Belgian episode 5 and I was *shocked* by the outcome.  (SPOILERS FOLLOW)  That person was my main mol from the beginning, and this episode confirmed his molness in a ton of different ways (the subtle distraction at lunch so that Bruno wouldn't pay attention to the food; suggesting that all three of the paintings were flipped; etc).  Also, he was using a tactic I've long said I'd use if I were de Mol -- claim from near the beginning to be 100% sure who the mole was (perhaps saying that I overheard a slip of the tongue, or something), so that it seemed less shocking when I easily slid through to the finale.

I've never suspected Bruno or Stijn at all, so if it's one of them, I wonder how much they've actually done.  Hanna has done some very moley things but the show almost never picks a young brash kandidat as de Mol.  And Cathy has just been so damn blatant in her moling that she'd be a little disappointing.  I guess I'll move onto Gilles, who's been my second choice for most of the series so far.

Fun to see the art challenge again, though I wasn't crazy about having back-to-back communication-based challenges, despite their major differences.

[stellavision]

I do hope it's Ima, because I kind of love her and if it's her, that means I don't have to watch her go home.

[Trip]

Episode 6 is easily one of my favorite episodes of any Mole ever.  The pizza challenge was fantastic (the twist it took in the middle made me laugh hard), and the "talk to the Mole" segment was awesome.  (I decided how I would have approached it: been completely silent for the first 90 seconds or so, then scream as loudly as possible into the microphone.)

I am LOVING this season.

[stellavision]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

AGAIN with my top suspect (and favorite player, this time) getting the chop! So much for my previous theory. I did start to doubt myself once the test started and no one so much as mentioned Ima as a suspect, let alone their top suspect.

Can't really say I learned anything from this episode that would point me toward anyone different. I guess I'll go with Sanne, based on the "Miss Mole" book and my comments from January 29. But watch her get eliminated next, given my track record.

[SnideAsides]

I loved that twist too!