"The Mole" returns!!

I'm a few days late watching it, but here are my semi-"live" thoughts while watching the new incarnation of ABC's The Mole.

- I missed the music. The scenery. The fact that it is The Amazing Race and Agatha Christie all in one show.
- The new host is no Anderson Cooper. He is okay, not bad enough for me to stop watching. But, he is no Anderson Cooper.
- Immediately, after having met each other in a car ride, the host had everyone vote on who they thought the Mole was. After traveling together!! Crazy.
- The first task had contestants, attached to a bungee cord, jumping for a bag of money off of a waterfall. They were jumping off a waterfall. That is when I would resign from being a contestant on the show. NO JOKE. That is completely scary. And as the contestants jump, their raft goes over and crashes into pieces! L
"I see losing as failure." - the history teacher, who is slightly Michael Scott-esque, on why he wanted to win.
- Another reason why I love The Mole (non-celebrity editions) and had forgotten: the show does a great job capturing the human element. Not just the backstabbing staple of reality television shows. But it shows people's quirks and unique personality traits that helps us love or hate everyone. And that's the whole point of this show: who can you love or hate? You instinctively try to form a bond with everyone, but there's this complication that one of them - and you do not know who - is sabotaging everyone else But they have to work together to get money and win at the tasks. There are all these problems and complications, and the show deals with them in a (mostly) honest and refreshing way.
- Four people had to sleep outside. And for an Amazing Race-like, international journey show like The Mole, how did that one person expect that she would never have to sleep outside? For those who did not watch, she was told that the cabin was for people who were sleeping. And she was one of those unfortunates who lost out on being in the cabin. So she stayed up all night, inside the cabin, instead of sleeping outside.
- SECOND GROUP VOTE: Who is the group's biggest whiner? HA! Everyone said Nicole, the "I stayed up all night" girl. In the producer's interview, she then gives us this great gem of a quote: "What's wrong with being smart and gorgeous at the same time?" Nicole = Omarosa.
- SECOND TASK: On a beach (island?), the whiner had to pick out a few scavengers, time keepers and appraisers. 45 items were scattered across the beach. They had to pick out which 5 items would have been around in the year 1704, concurrent with the tale of Robinson Crusoe. Scavengers had to scoop up all the items and then figure out the right items, then present to the appraisers. Meanwhile, the Time Keepers had to keep scooping sand into a special hourglass, to keep the game running as long as possible. COOL! They only got 3 out of 5 items correct, after 3 tries.
- In honor of Robinson Crusoe, the Whiner got "stranded" on the beach by herself. What a great payoff! Normally, reality shows drag tensions like this out forever. But to have a nice little arc within one episode? I love it when that happens! So while the Whiner struggles to make fire, the other 11 contestants stay in a nice hotel.
- BEST QUOTE TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT: "I don't want to go home." - the stay-at-home mom.
- BAD NEWS OF THE NIGHT: Since Nicole is stranded out on the beach, and not there to take the quiz or be there for the execution, she cannot be sent home. She would not have anyways, though. Because she is too suspicious, too soon, to be the Mole.
- The execution is four minutes of pure torture and suspense. People who you think will go home, don't. And everyone is nervous, you are nervous, the music makes you nervous... It's an amazing ride.
- Who went home? Marci, the stay-at-home mom, who everyone thought was the mole. I know! She was so nice, so sweet, and I wanted her to WIN THE GAME. And, for the record, she does want to see her family again. She does miss them a lot. So she still wins.