ABC is back with another installment of Celebrity Mole. Apparently this is the one show where the celebrity version is a hotter ratings magnet than its citizen counterpart. Celebrity Mole, hosted by Ahmad Rashad operates under the same premise that the original Mole series deployed. Eight contestants participate in a series of games and challenges each with awards to be added to a grand prize pot of money to be given to the final winner. To win, contestants must determine who among the eight of them is actually a “mole”, planted there to keep them from adding more money to the pot. At the end of each episode, the contestants take a quiz concerning the other players actions and the actions of the mole. The player with the lowest score is “executed”.
Back for this chapter, set in the tropical Yucatan, are Corbin Bernsen and Stephen Baldwin with plenty of speculation about why they would come back (having participated in Celebrity Mole Hawaii) – just for the challenge of another round, or to play the part of the mole. Polls at ABC’s Celebrity Mole website indicate most viewers think Corbin and Stephen are back just for the fun of the game and have conjectured that other participants are more likely candidates for mole-dom.
Most reality shows spend the first episode introducing the players, and although there was a certain amount of that tonight, Celebrity Mole has an advantage in that it’s players are all known by viewers already. The six newcomers joining Corbin and Stephen, are comedian Mark Curry, MTV VJ Ananda Lewis, the Cosby’s Keshia Knight Pulliam, Basketball and culture icon Dennis Rodman, model Angie Everhart, and Growing Pain’s alum Tracey Gold. Even as the opening credits still ran, the first challenge began with Corbin acting as Taxi driver with instructions in Spanish to make his way around town picking up each of the other contestants. For each contestant he could pick up and deliver back to the starting beach before 75 minutes elapsed, $5,000 would be put in the pot. With a pair of Mexican chickens in a cage beside him, Corbin made haste in figuring out who was where and managed to pick up all but two of his team mates before running out of time. It was a clever opening and got the players interacting right off the bat.
Taken back to the hotel, the players were given a brief indoctrination and then given their all important journals where they will keep track of the other stars suspicious behavior as well as any clues they may pick up along the way. The next challenge, called “Artifact or Fiction” pitted Corbin against Mark in a sales contest. Each man was given an object, one a genuine Mexican artifact, the other a fake. After spending some time studying their objects (Corbin a gourd and Mark a phallic looking rock) they then had to try to convince the other six that theirs was the true artifact. If the group guessed who was lying they got money in the pot. If unsuccessful, the liar would win an exemption – The Mole’s version of immunity. As it happened the first to test the rest was Mark, lying about his phallic rock being a traditional gift from father to would-be son-in-law. He fooled enough of the team to sway the rest and thereby won exemption. Exhibiting the moliest behavior however was model Angie Everhart who insisted that she had just seen such an object while souvenir shopping the day before. Her motives, she said were to try to convince the other players that she was the mole so they would do poorly on the quiz. And although she did convince a couple of people, her actions looked a bit too transparent to be genuine Mole-like.
Having been the victim of poor planning on his first Celebrity Mole, Stephen decided to try his hand at the game of alliances. Purporting that she was his exact opposite because she is methodical, calculating and brainy, Stephen approached a willing Tracey Gold. Tracey jumped at the chance to partner up with somebody and figured Stephen was as good a bet as any since he was the only one who asked for her loyalty. As always, the alliance could prove to be fatal if either one of them is the Mole.
Just prior to dinner, Ahmad took Keisha aside and said she had been pre-selected (by her choice of journal #2) to play a secret game from that point until midnight. For every player she got to swim with her under the Yucatan moon, $2000 would be added to the pot. And if she could get just one person to skinny dip, she would win exemption. Her success came easily as she gained the favor of Angie for a walk to the beach and a swim in the water. The irony of this game was that Angie may have skinny dipped of her own accord, eager to get naked under the full moon.
Although it’s still too early to make any conclusive predictions, one clue to viewers was in the departing comments of the Executions first victim. Having answered fewer questions correct than anyone else, Ananda Lewis was swiftly escorted from the game and to her waiting Mole taxi by a mournful Mr. Rashad. As she left the seven surviving players, she chastised herself for not following her gut when answering the first question on the quiz. Careful viewers will recall that the first question on the quiz was, “Is the Mole a man or a woman?” In an earlier taped confession, Ananda said she had a feeling that the Mole was either Angie or Keshia. That being the case, her gut would have told her to answer question one “woman.” If indeed she started off on that wrong footing, it’s possible that we may have our first clue that the Mole may be one of the men. If so, my money is on Mark Curry who went out of his way in the Taxi ride at the beginning to look like he was VERY concerned about losing money in the first challenge. The Mole’s objective being to sabotage the challenges without being obvious, Mark’s ploy to “save” the money already earned may also have cost the team at least another $5,000 if they had attempted to pick up one more member.
Probably the least suited player to the game is bad-boy Dennis Rodman. He’s either playing his hand very close to his chest, or he doesn’t really have a clue what the game is all about. I’m betting on the second and that next week will be Mr. Rodman’s execution day.
All in all, Celebrity Mole Yucatan is off to an admirable start. There’s plenty of eye candy for the casual viewer while providing enough mystery for the reality game junkie.
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