How is de Mol?

Television broadcast
Original title	How is de Mol?
Country of production	Netherlands
original language	Dutch
Year (s)	since 1999
Production company	IDTV
length	60 minutes
Episodes	191 in 19 seasons
genre	Reality - Game show
Theme music	Ugo Farell - Oratio (small section)
Moderation	Rik van de Westelaken (since 2019)
First broadcast	November 19, 1999 on Nederland 1

How is de Mol? ( Dutch for Who is the mole? , Abbreviated WIDM ) is a Dutch reality - game show that since November 1999 by the broadcasters AVROTROS (until 2014 AVRO will broadcast) and produced by Dutch production company IDTV. It is based on the game show concept The Mole , which was first implemented in Belgium in 1998 with the title De Mol .

The show revolves around a game in which participants have to work together on various tasks in order to win money for the jackpot. However, one of them is “the mole ” (“de mol”) and tries to sabotage the tasks in secret. The jackpot is paid to the winner.

history

The Belgian reality game show De Mol was produced in 1999 by the Belgian production company Woestijnvis based on the idea of ​​its producers Bart De Pauw, Tom Lenaerts, Michiel Devlieger and Michel Vanhove. It was broadcast by the public broadcaster TV1 ( VRT ) and immediately achieved high ratings . In 2000, the program won a Golden Rose at the television festival in Montreux . The format was sold to more than fifty countries, including the Netherlands.

From 1999 to 2003 the series was played with unknown Dutch people. The game has been played with celebrities since 2005 (season 5) .

concept

The game was played by ten unknown Dutchmen in the first four seasons (only eleven candidates took part in season 3); since season 5 it has been played by ten celebrities. The game takes place in a different country per season.

Candidates must work together to complete the tasks as well as possible and earn money for the jackpot ("de pot"). One of them is a fraudster, the mole ("de mol"), and his job is to sabotage the tasks. He is selected and supported by the producers. The mole must proceed in such a way that the others do not find out about the sabotage. The other participants have to find out who the mole is. After each episode, the candidates must answer twenty questions (forty questions in the last episode) about the identity of the mole. The one who does the worst in the test is eliminated and has to go home. So an important task for the candidates is to collect as much information about the others, especially about the mole suspected by the candidate. It is beneficial for one candidate to be viewed as a mole by the others.

Since season 6, candidates have been able to earn “jokers”: for each “joker” that the candidate uses in the test, an incorrectly answered question is counted as correct. In some episodes, the candidates can win “exemptions” (“vrijstellingen”) so that they do not even have to take the test and therefore cannot be eliminated in the respective episode. Self-interest can therefore essentially conflict with group interests. In season 14 of the show, the "black exemption" ("zwarte vrijstelling") was introduced. If this is used by a candidate, all jokers and exemptions used are invalidated. The “black exemption” also appeared in seasons 15 and 16.

At the end of the season there are three candidates in the finals (only in season 7 there were four finalists). One wins, one loses and the third is the mole. The candidate who does best in the final test wins Wie is de Mol? and with it the jackpot.

Season overview

Season	premiere	The Mole	winner	Losing finalist	Other candidates (the order of elimination)	Profit amount	Host country
1	November 19, 1999	Deborah	Petra	Robin	Sandy, Willy, John, Warner, Foke, Arnoud, Wilmie	82,500 ƒ	Australia
2	January 5, 2001	Nico	Sigrid	Yvonne	Gerda, Ward, Björn, Nazife, Cor, Dan, Doortje	70,000 ƒ	Scotland
3	February 8, 2002	George	John	Jantien	Erik, Paméla, Dick, Kerstin, Karen, Prince, Harry, Ellen	€ 42,300	Portugal
4th	March 15, 2003	Elise	Ron	Chandrika	Louis, Julien, Aafke, Astrid, Patricia, Ferdi, René	€ 35,550	Canada
5	January 14, 2005	Yvon Jaspers	Marc-Marie Huijbregts	Lottie Hellingman	Roeland Fernhout, Yvonne van den Hurk, Victoria Koblenko, Jim de Groot, Gijs Staverman, Sander de Heer, Isabelle Brinkman	€ 23,000	Australia Indonesia
6th	March 10, 2006	Milouska Meulens	Frédérique Huydts	Roderick Veelo	Geert Hoes, Chris Tates, Mary-Lou van Stenis, Liz Snoijink, Richard Groenendijk, Toine van Peperstaten, Peggy Vrijens	€ 24,475	Argentina
7th	January 4, 2007	Inge Ipenburg	Paul Rabbering	Renate Verbaan & Eva Van Der Gucht	Sander Lantinga, Liesbeth Kamerling, Menno Bentveld, Alex Klaasen, Dick Jol , Nadja Hüpscher	€ 17,300	Thailand
8th	January 3, 2008	Dennis Weening	Edo Brunner	Regina Romeijn	Nicolette Kluijver, Annette van Trigt, Georgina Verbaan, Coen Swijnenberg, Joris Linssen, Dunya Khayame, Patrick Martens	€ 20,375	Mexico
9	January 8, 2009	Jon van Eerd	Viviënne van den Assem	Anniek Pheifer	Vera Mann, Hans Schiffers, Paula Udondek, Froukje Jansen, Sebastiaan Labrie, Rick Engelkes, Dennis Storm	€ 22,650	Northern Ireland Jordan
10	January 7, 2010	Kim Pieters	Frits sissing	Sanne Vogel	Loretta Schrijver, Tim Akkerman, Manuel Venderbos, Barbara Barend, Hind Laroussi , Arjen Lubach , Erik van der Hoff	€ 21,950	Japan
11	January 6, 2011	Patrick Stoof	Kind of Rooijakkers	Soundos El Ahmadi	Hanna Bervoets, Horace Cohen, Miryanna van Reeden, Jan Kooijman, Pepijn Gunneweg, Anna Drijver , Karin de Groot	€ 19,540	El Salvador Nicaragua
12	5th January 2012	Anne-Marie Jung	Hadewych minis	Liesbeth Staats	Marion Pauw , Dio, Maarten van der Weijden , Marit van Bohemen, Frits Huffnagel, William Spaaij, Tim Kamps	€ 12,601	Iceland Spain
13	January 3, 2013	Kees Tol	Paulien Cornelisse	Carolien Borgers	Ewout Genemans, Joep van Deudekom, Janine Abbring, Tim Haars , Tania Kross, Daniël Boissevain, Zarayda Groenhart	€ 17,120	South Africa
14th	2nd January 2014	Susan Visser	Sofie van den Enk	Freek Bartels	Maurice Lede, Owen Schumacher, Daphne Bunskoek, Jennifer Hoffman, Aaf Brandt Corstius, Jan-Willem Roodbeen, Tygo Gernandt	€ 16,700	Hong Kong Philippines
15th	January 1, 2015	Margriet van der Linden	Rik van de Westelaken	Marlijn Weerdenburg	Pieter Derks, Evelien Bosch, Ajouad El Miloudi, Viktor Brand, Carolina Dijkhuizen, Martine Sandifort, Chris Zegers	€ 10,500	Sri Lanka
16	2nd January 2016	Klaas van Kruistum	Tim Hofman	Annemieke Schollaardt	Airen Mylène, Remy van Kesteren , Ellie Lust, Marjolein Keuning, Cécile Narinx, Rop Verheijen, Taeke Taekema	€ 13,020	Dominican Republic
17th	January 7, 2017	Thomas Cammaert	Sanne Wallis de Vries	Jochem van Gelder	Vincent Vianen, Yvonne Coldeweijer, Roos Schlikker, Sigrid ten Napel, Jeroen Kijk in de Vegte, Imanuelle Grives, Diederik Jekel	€ 24,320	United States ( Oregon )
18th	January 6, 2018	Jan Versteegh	Ruben Hein	Olcay Gulsen	Ron Boszhard, Jean-Marc van Tol, Bella Hay, Emilio Guzman, Loes Haverkort, Stine Jensen, Simone Weimans	€ 17,750	Georgia
19th	5th January 2019	Merel Westrik	Sarah Chronis	Niels Littooij	Evi Hanssen, Nikkie de Jager, Evelien de Bruijn, Robèrt van Beckhoven, Jamie Trenité, Rick Paul van Mulligen, Sinan Can	€ 10,150	Colombia
20th	January 11, 2020	Rob Dekay	Buddy Vedder	Miljuschka Witzenhausen & Nathan Rutjes	Anita Witzier, Tina de Bruin, Jaike Belfor, Johan Goossens, Claes Iversen, Leonie ter Braak	€ 13,400	People's Republic of China

Moderation

Until season 5, Angela Groothuizen took over the moderation of the show. However, her contract at AVRO was not extended and so Karel van de Graaf took over her role. After one season, the AVRO wanted to dismiss him as a presenter, but after a successful complaint he was allowed to stay and moderated another season. When Van de Graaf quit after season 7 at AVRO, he was replaced by Pieter Jan Hagens . From season 12 to 18 Art Rooijakkers , who won season 11 himself, was responsible for the moderation. The winner of the 15th season, Rik van de Westelaken , has hosted the show since season 19.

reception

Audience ratings

Season	Time	premiere		Resolution sequence		Average audience
		date	spectator	date	spectator
1	Friday, 8:30 p.m.	November 19, 1999	0.807,000	January 21, 2000	0.915,000	0.793,000
2		January 5, 2001	1,070,000	March 2, 2001	0.960,000	1,006,000
3	Friday, 9:35 p.m.	February 8, 2002	0.928,000	April 19, 2002	1,005,000	0.909,000
4th	Saturday, 9 p.m.	March 15, 2003	1,115,000	May 24, 2003	0.626,000	0.785,000
5	Friday, 8:30 p.m.	January 14, 2005	1,289,000	March 18, 2005	1,485,000	1,450,000
6th		March 10, 2006	1,168,000	May 12, 2006	1,147,000	1,106,000
7th	Thursday, 8:30 p.m.	January 4, 2007	1,358,000	March 15, 2007	1,270,000	1,188,000
8th		January 3, 2008	1,922,000	March 6, 2008	1,563,000	1,513,000
9		January 8, 2009	1,597,000	March 12, 2009	1,409,000	1,460,000
10		January 7, 2010	2,040,000	March 25, 2010	1,558,000	1,673,000
11		January 6, 2011	2,146,000	March 17, 2011	2,031,000	1,922,000
12		5th January 2012	2,136,000	March 8, 2012	2,105,000	1,899,000
13		January 3, 2013	2,070,000	March 7, 2013	2,579,000	2,132,000
14th		2nd January 2014	2,455,000	March 20, 2014	3,148,000	2,464,000
15th		January 1, 2015	2,486,000	5th March 2015	3,359,000	2,403,700
16	Saturday, 8:30 p.m.	2nd January 2016	2,163,000	5th March 2016	2,982,000	2,114,900
17th		January 7, 2017	2,882,000	March 11, 2017	2,999,000	2,540,000
18th		January 6, 2018	2,669,000	March 10, 2018	3,227,000	2,582,300

How is de Mol? has been the second most-watched show in a day several times after the evening news. The first episode of season 11 reached two million viewers. The last episode of season 13 was the most watched program of the day with more than 2.6 million viewers. The most watched episode of all time was the final episode of season 15, which reached 3.4 million viewers.

Awards and nominations

In 2013 Wie is de Mol? for the 13th season the Golden Televizier Ring . She won the Rinf with 49% of the vote and got through Flikken Maastricht and Divorce . For that price was Wie is de Mol? nominated in 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In the Netherlands, Wie is de Mol? 2001 a “ Gouden Beeld ” for the best entertainment program.

Web links

• Official website at AVROTROS (Dutch)

Remarks

1. ↑ Corresponds to approximately 37,437 €
2. ↑ Dan was eliminated in the third episode, but was brought back into the game immediately afterwards.
3. ↑ Corresponds to approximately € 31,765
4. ↑ Astrid left the game voluntarily because she accepted the offer from Angela. This offer included that Astrid would leave the game with € 7,000, so that the evaluation of the test would not have to be carried out.
5. ↑ Roeland had to leave the game due to illness.
6. ↑ Gijs was eliminated in the first episode, but was brought back into the game. Finally, he was eliminated at the same time as Jim in the third episode.
7. ↑ Frédérique Huydts died on April 3, 2006, at the time the series was broadcast on television. At her request, the series continued. At their request, half of the prize money of € 24,475 was donated to the WNF, the Dutch section of the WWF , and half to the Stichting Kinderen Kankervrij.
8. ↑ Richard was eliminated in the third episode, but was brought back into the game.
9. ↑ Paul dropped out in the third episode, but was bought back by Nadja in the fourth episode.
10. ↑ In season 7 there were four people in the finals: the mole, the winner and two losers.
11. ↑ Manuel had to leave the game due to illness.
12. ↑ Janine's vertebrae shattered because of jumping off a rock. She had to quit the game because of her hospitalization.
13. ↑ In the final, a game was played that allowed the winner of that game to double the jackpot by winning the final. Sanne won this game and became the winner of this season, so the jackpot doubled.
14. ↑ Jean-Marc left the game for personal reasons.
15. ↑ With the exception of episode 5 of season 15 due to an incident in the Media Park. This episode aired the next Friday at 8:30 p.m.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview with Art Rooijakkers, as nieuwe presentator Wie is de Mol? , Dichtbij.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2017. (Dutch)