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The show opens with a definition in black text on a white background. A voice-over reads it to us: "MOLE: noun. A spy (double agent) who establishes a cover long before beginning espionage." I'm fascinated by the need to further define a spy as a double agent, but then to use the word "espionage" with no further explanation. I mean, I know what it means, and I'm sure you know what it means, but why did they need to clarify "spy" and not "espionage"? Fascinating editorial decision.
Over a shot of a barren wasteland, some high-tech-looking on-screen text informs us that this is "Day 1 -- Mojave Desert 7:35 AM." Well, if I had any lingering doubts about my ability to be on this show, they've just been erased -- I definitely couldn't get up that early. A metal roadside sign that says "The Mole" rattles in the wind. We see people approaching on a bus, on a motorcycle, on foot, and in a car. Anderson "Gloria Vanderbilt's Baby Boy" Cooper, dressed all in black, appears against a white background. Cooper explains that this story involves "ten strangers" on "a twenty-eight-day journey that will take them over fifteen thousand miles, four countries, and two continents." At each destination, the players will complete challenges for cash prizes. The cash is added to the pot, and one player wins it all. Yeah, we've all seen Road Rules, Sparky. Let's move on. While Cooper continues speaking, we see shots of the players assembling in the desert, and greeting one another. I'm going to skip the descriptions until we are introduced to them individually, because it's too confusing. Cooper introduces the twist -- "one of the players is a mole -- a double agent, working for us." This mole will try to sabotage the group's efforts and prevent them from completing the challenges. Cooper says that "every few days, there is a quiz about The Mole," with questions about The Mole's gender, age, or eating habits. The player who scores the lowest on the quiz is "executed" and must leave immediately. Cooper finishes by saying the person who wins must correctly answer the question, "Who is The Mole?" Credits.
Remember when Anderson Cooper was on the ABC overnight news? In the dark days when I didn't have cable, I used to watch it sometimes, because I'm a television-loving insomniac. Anyway, one time the pre-Alison Stewart female anchor was out, and they put a cardboard cutout in her seat, and just went on with the broadcast as if she were really there. They were wacky, wacky folks.
Now, we're introduced to the players. Jim is twenty-six, a former lawyer from New Jersey who is now a helicopter pilot. He looks a little weaselly to me -- kind of a poor man's Skeet Ulrich. We see a clip of Jim saying, "We are a team, but we're not a team."
Afi is twenty-three, a recent college graduate from Colorado, who plans on going to medical school. In Afi's clip, she irritably tells someone to "chill. Have fun. It's a dang game!" We should probably just call her Kameelah now and get it over with.
Steven is thirty, an undercover narcotics cop from Colorado from a military family. Ooh, an undercover cop. On the one hand, too obvious to be The Mole. On the other hand, that's exactly what they want you to think. Steven's clip shows him claiming that he can lie without blushing if he has to. Steven looks disturbingly like Jeff Probst. I think it's the dimples.
Charlie is sixty-three, a retired police detective from New York City. He looks exactly like one of my professors from college, Father Ridley. I mean, exactly. Like I had to do a double take when he first appeared on the screen. In Charlie's clip, he claims to have trained undercover people, and you train them to blend into the woodwork. Again, as with Steven, is he too obvious a choice, or is reverse psychology at work?
Wendi is twenty-nine, and a "visual display artist." I don't know what that means. Wendi looks a bit like a young, Gloria Bunker-era Sally Struthers to me. In Wendi's clip, she is telling someone, "You are trying to play off the fact that you are probably The Mole." Ooh, the intrigue.
Manuel is forty-two, and "a single father who grew up in the projects of Oxnard, California." I already like Manuel. He looks all happy to be there. In Manuel's clip, he says that this is all like a dream. Hmm. With the intensity with which the editors are pressing our sympathy buttons, he's either The Mole, or the Sonja.
Kate is fifty-five (but doesn't look it), a grandmother of two and former Peace Corps volunteer. She's my early pick for The Mole. I just have a feeling. In Kate's clip, she is arm-wrestling someone on an airplane. See, they want you to know that just because she's one of the older contestants, and she's a woman, she's no Sonja.
Kathryn is twenty-eight, and graduated second in her law class from Stanford. She's pretty, and they reinforce her resemblance to Stacey by showing a clip of her getting in a fight with one of the guys, bitchily.
Jennifer is thirty-five, and a corporate communications manager. Ooh, Richard was in corporate communications. Watch out for this lady. She is also a former professional snowboarder. In Jennifer's clip, she is doing an interview and crying about how the show is emotionally challenging.
Our final player, Henry, is twenty-three and a bartender. In his clip, he asks rhetorically, "Am I The Mole?" and then, according to the captioning, "laughs evilly."
Cooper reminds us that one of these people will be eliminated tonight, because at the end of every episode, the person who knows the least about The Mole's identity will have to leave. We see a montage of people taking the quiz.
Cut back to the group standing on the roadside in the desert. They joke about one of them being The Mole in that nervous way people do upon first meeting one another. Suddenly, two helicopters appear on the horizon and buzz the group. Anderson Cooper gets out of one of the helicopters, walks over to the group, and welcomes them. He instructs them to leave their bags and follow him to the helicopters. The credits appear along the bottom of the screen, and I see a lot of familiar names -- Clay Newbill and Craig Borders are two that I know have worked on The Real World and Road Rules in the past. The helicopters take off with the players inside.
The helicopters land at some sort of airfield. The door to one of the giant hangars whirs open and a group of people in jumpsuits walk out. Cooper tells them that their first test will be "a free-fall from ten thousand feet." Oh, it's so Bunim-Murray of them to start the season with skydiving. Or bungee jumping. It's always one or the other. The group cheers. Cooper tells them that if everyone in the group jumps, they add $75,000 to the pot. Kate voice-overs that she didn't have time to think about it, or she would get scared. Steven accepts the $20 slipped to him by the producers and says he has "a bad feeling about this test." Whatever, Han Solo. Henry says that he doesn't think Steven or Manuel will be up to the task. Manuel admits to the group that he's afraid of heights and someone is going to have to push him out of the plane. Afi volunteers to be that person. Look out for her, man. Manuel says he won't know until he gets up there. I admire that he's willing to give it a shot. If this were Road Rules, the fearful person would be crying and swearing and generally throwing a fit.
The group gets on the plane, which takes off. Standard "plane taking off" montage complete with Top Gun-esque background music. Kathryn says that she got up there and thought she wouldn't be able to do it. Jim says that, normally in a helicopter, he doesn't fly this high. Wow, thank you for telling me that. Suspenseful music starts up as we see everyone looking worried, or praying. Cooper reminds us that if any one of the players refuses to jump, the group fails the test. When he says it, we see a shot of Manuel, like, we get it that he's the one most likely to refuse to jump, guys. Done. They are jumping strapped to a professional, which is not nearly as scary as going solo. At least, I would think. You couldn't pay me enough money to jump out of a plane. I wouldn't even jump out of one of those little coin-operated planes they have in front of K-Mart.