LISTEN: This summer, Netflix brings back the thrilling competition series "The Mole" for its second season, with a familiar face at the helm. NPR's award-winning host of "All Things Considered," Ari Shapiro, steps into the role of host, guiding viewers and players through the twists and turns of this high-stakes game.
This summer, Netflix is bringing back The Mole for its second season, the competition series with side of sabotage. NPR listeners will probably recognize the host this season, too. All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro will be guiding viewers and players through the twists and turns of this high-stakes game.
In The Mole, 12 contestants work together to add money to a collective pot, but there's a catch: One of them is a saboteur, secretly working against the team. The challenge for the players — and the viewers — is to figure out who the mole is before the final reveal. The concept, originally popularized by ABC with Anderson Cooper as host, has been rebooted by Netflix.
Shapiro, a fan of the series, spoke with GPB's Pamela Kirkland about his excitement around hosting.
"I've been obsessed with this show for more than 20 years," Shapiro said. "Every season is set in a different country, and every episode takes place in a different location. It's an incredibly glamorous game of sabotage and intrigue."
His journalism chops will come in handy as Shapiro is also in the dark about who is the mole, until the finale.
"As a journalist, I am constantly asking 'Who's lying to me? Who's telling me the truth?'" he explained. This skill set aligns perfectly with the core of The Mole, where discerning the truth from deception is key. "The stakes are low compared to real-world journalism, which makes it fun. When someone is lying to you about whether they sacrificed money from the pot to get themselves an exemption, that's just fun."
You can watch The Mole on Netflix, out now.
Pamela Kirkland: It's Morning Edition. Summertime is heating up, and maybe that means you're spending some time inside catching up on your favorite shows. Netflix just came out with Season 2 of The Mole, the high-stakes competition show where 12 players work together to add money to a pot only one of them will win — and all while one mystery player works to sabotage the game.
Trailer for The Mole: God, I love this game. One of you isn't trying to win money for the team. You're the objective of the mole is to sabotage as much as they can without being caught.
Pamela Kirkland: And you'll definitely recognize this season's host. NPR's award winning host of All Things Considered, Ari Shapiro, will be guiding you and players through the latest installment. Ari joins me now. Thank you so much for being here.
Ari Shapiro: Thanks for having me, Pamela.
Pamela Kirkland: Let's start talking about The Mole. For listeners who aren't familiar with the series, can you just give us a brief overview of what the competition entails?
Ari Shapiro: Okay. I've been obsessed with this show for more than 20 years because it started on ABC, hosted by Anderson Cooper, and Netflix rebooted it with the same concept, which is basically you've got 12 players who are competing as a team to add money to the pot, but one of the 12 is secretly working against the team, to sabotage them, and so everybody has to try to figure out who is the mole. And at the end, only one of them will win the pot. But one of the things that I love about the show is that every season is set in a different country, and every episode is in a different location. So it's this incredibly kind of glamorous game of sabotage and intrigue where you're going from jungles to skyscrapers to tropical islands. I always thought it would be so thrilling to be a contestant on the show, and now I somehow get to be the host.
Pamela Kirkland: I mean, it seems like you are having a great time on the show as the host. What really attracted you to it? I watched the original as well. But what made you say, "this is on my bucket list. I've got to do this."
Ari Shapiro: Well, first of all, the places we go are just spectacular. And I had never set foot in Malaysia. And over the course of the six weeks of filming, we got to see so many places that are off the typical tourist track. But I also think that, like as a journalist, I am constantly asking "Who's lying to me? Who's telling me the truth? Am I getting spun?" And that's the question at the heart of this game, because the mole is lying and other people might be playing a complicated game where they're pretending to be the mole and are just 'blah, blah, blah.' So that aspect of like, who is telling the truth and who is lying really sits right squarely in my zone of experience as a journalist. The great thing is, on a show like The Mole, the stakes are low. You know, like when a White House spokesperson is lying to you about a war, the stakes are very high. When someone is lying to you about whether they actually sacrifice money from the pot to get themselves an exemption, like, that's just fun. So you can play with these, like, high-stakes questions of who's lying, who's telling the truth in a much lower-stakes environment in a spectacular setting. That's what I loved about it.
Pamela Kirkland: And I was going to say, you have to pull on some of that journalistic background because you, like the viewers, don't know who the mole is. So you're kind of going through this experience with us —
Ari Shapiro: Right.
Pamela Kirkland: — and you have to stay neutral, no matter whether or not you have a hunch it might be one person or another.
Ari Shapiro: I was really relieved when they told me that I wasn't going to know who the mole was, because if I did know, I would have been terrified to let on. I did — I did do a thing where often I would sort of walk into the scene and I would say, "Hello, players; hello, mole." And it was just a little line I came up with. I want to remind people that the mole is not some abstract idea, but actually like one of the people sitting in front of them. So I would walk in and I would say, "Hello players; hello, mole." And when I said "hello mole," I would look at someone specific: just anyone, random, one of the players, and they got obsessed with like, "oh, when Ari said 'hello, mole,' he was looking at so-and-so!" Like, I didn't know who it was. I had my own theories, which were often wrong, but it was just fun to kind of mess with them a little bit.
Pamela Kirkland: And it's coming out at the perfect time because, you know, summertime, it's hot. Sometimes you just want to chill in front of your TV and maybe binge a little bit. No spoilers, but besides taking us to these beautiful destinations, what can viewers expect from this season of The Mole?
Ari Shapiro: There are so many twists and turns. There are highs and lows. You know, I told you that people are kind of building up the pot, but many of the missions are designed to force people to choose between helping themselves and draining the pot, or helping the team and adding to the pot, and that tension between doing something as a team and looking out for yourself is the tension that plays out through all 10 episodes. And so, you know, without giving any spoilers, the pot fills up and the pot drains down. (Laughs) And it fills up again, and it's like the lurching of a roller coaster to watch this. And hopefully people really feel — I absolutely felt in some of those moments, like, "did that really just happen? Did somebody really just do that?" And I was like, "Yes, they did." And it was intense. Like, the emotions are real. Oh, I loved it. I had a great time.
Pamela Kirkland: Well, I'm excited to continue watching to see how this all ends. Netflix just came out with Season 2 of The Mole. Ari Shapiro will be guiding you through the entire season. Ari, thank you so much for spending time with me on Morning Edition.
Ari Shapiro: It's been so fun talking to you. Thanks for having me.
Pamela Kirkland: And you can watch Ari Shapiro in action in Season 2 of The Mole out on Netflix now.
