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When I think the best that reality TV has to offer, The Mole is definitely near the top of the list. I may have missed the boat in the early 2000's but I managed to watch season 2 of this show on line earlier this year, and despite knowing who the winner was, I neverlost interest. This show had epic casting, a host to die for, and challenges that put all of the other reality TV shows to shame.

Now before I continue the list, it is worth noting that I have not seen all too much of this show - I have only seen the second and the fifth season, but I am still a little knowledgeable about the other ones. The second I consider to be one of the top 5 reality TV seasons ever, and I have heard that season one was similar to it in terms of quality. Conversely, I am under the impression that the celebrity editions were crap, and that season five fell somewhere in the middle (which is still pretty good because it is very difficult to compare to the first two).

If you haven't seen this show, the concept is that a group of 8-12 contestants travel the world while completing challenges in order to add to a pot that only the winner receives. However, one of these players is a paid plant named 'The Mole', and it is their role to sabotage the missions as much as possible without giving away their own identity - though everyone is aware the Mole exists, neither the cast or the audience is privy to knowledge concerning whothe Mole is. At the end of each episode, there was a quiz regarding the identity of the Mole, and the person who did the worst went home. To top it all off, almost every challenge allowed a competitor to take an exemption from the quiz that week at the expense of the team. The show was set up to keep a high level of suspicion but also being really fun and exciting.

So, what exactly did The Mole have going for it? Well, I can illuminate this by speaking solelyabout season 2.

First of all, the casting is fantastic for this show. It was full of huge personalities that were also really fun. The smaller personalities (Elavia, Heather, Darwin, Bribbs, Dorothy) would still blow a lot of the recent Survivor contestants out of the water, and IMO the larger contestants (Katie and Al) were comparable to likes of Cirie and Yau-man. Although they were all suspicious of one another, they were still able to bond and share positive experiences as well as the negative ones, which was really nice to see.

Second, this show had the best host of a reality TV show ever. Anderson Cooper blows Jeff Probst out of the water (except maybe the Borneo version). He didn't take sides in favor or against people, didn't take himself too seriously, and really connected with the cast. It is not surprising that he moved on to bigger and better things. Oh, and he's smoking hot. To give you an idea of his hosting abilities:

Anderson Cooper >>> Jeff Probst (Pre-Ass) >>>Phil Keoghan>>>>> Jeff Probst (Post-Ass) >>>>>>>>>> Chenbot >>>>>>>>>>>> Tyra Banks >>>>>>>>>>>>> Jeff Probst (Gabon)

Third, the challenges in this show were really great. They measured a variety of skills, so physical competitors did not dominate all the challenges. They also threw in confessionals with challenge footage, which really helped the show a lot. They were also very well designed so that people could sabotage the challenges if necessary. My favorite challenge EVER on reality TV is the one where Al is forced to stay in a room overnight where they are playing the song 'tiny bubbles' on repeat the entire night.

So, if the show is so great, why didn't it make it higher? Well, actually as I sit here and write the review, I'm kind of second guessing myself, but I don't think I'd move it more than 2 or 3 spots higher anyways. Basically, from what I have seen and heard, season 3, 4 and 5 just weren't as good as season 2. 5 was decent for sure, but the contestants were not as fun, the host was not as cool and although I'm glad I watched it, there's no way it would have made the top 25 on its own. #19 seams like a decent middle ground.

Also, the actual Mole was not too impressive in either season, and I think that they could have done a lot more sabotage. The Mole was especially bad in season 5 though and I felt the ending to that season really sucked because of it. I don't think that I can really say more without disclosing who it is, so I'll leave it be at that.

ETA: I forgot to mention this, but The Mole succeeded in doing what family guy did. The show was cancelled in the early 2000's, but was resurrected successfully last summer.