The Mole - Series One

This reality show involved contestants completing challenges and overcoming a planted double agent, in order to avoid elimination and win a $30,000 cash prize. “All they have to do is survive the show and unmask the mole,” says host Mark Ferguson (Living the Dream, Spin Doctors). Across these nine episodes of the first season, the group visit Queenstown and Dunedin to tandem bungee jump, herd sheep, look inside each other’s bags, climb, cycle, complete brain teasers— and enjoy a flash meal, before facing potential elimination. Made in 2000, this Kiwi version of a 1998 Belgian format won big audiences; it also made it onto a 2016 NZ Herald list of New Zealand’s worst ever reality shows.

Remember The Mole? It was like Big Brother meets Top Town meets the board game Cluedo ... Someone in the show had been planted by producers to subtly sabotage their efforts. Based on a Belgian show that was remade in 40 different countries, the Kiwi version was fronted by Mark Ferguson's eyebrows, which he'd aim at the camera and arch every time a supposedly dubious comment or action was made by a potential 'mole'.

– NZ Herald writer Chris Schulz sums up The Mole, in a 25 October 2018 opinion piece on New Zealand's worst reality TV shows

Key Cast & Crew

Mark Ferguson

Presenter

Jim Curry

Director, Field Producer

David Brechin-Smith

Writer

Craig Meade

Director, Field Producer

Kevin Hastings

Series Producer

Carolyn Mee

Director, Field Producer