YMMV / Wie is de Mol?

• And You Thought It Would Fail: The show, believe it or not, was initially met without much happening, and after the first season, the ratings were declining. People needed time to get into the show's mechanisms (as at that time, internet was a novelty and there weren't a lot of people who already knew of the format) which didn't help things. The producers decided to make one last season, the fifth, with celebrities to go out with a bang. That season became very popular and the show has been continuing with celebrities ever since. This is also the reason why the fifth season took place in Australia, the same country the first season took place (although they also went to Bali in the last episode of the fifth season, technically making it a two-fer).
• Ascended Fan: Lavezzi Rutjes, the son of Nathan Rutjes (a candidate during season 20) is this. He started analyzing each episode and uploaded that online, but by the time of the anniversary he got a seperate show that is both broadcasted on tv and on the youtube channel of the broadcaster. During the 21st season, which he continued analyzing on tv and youtube, he received two prizes as well.
• Awesome Music: The intro music (which is actually an existing piece called Oratio from Ugo Farell's album Preces Maea) easily counts as this. In season 24, it, including the mysterious bit that goes prior to the part of it that has become the intro, is performed on a full string orchestra and manages to be arguably even more amazing as it rightfully brings tears to the candidate's eyes.
  • Word of God tells us in a podcast how that specific piece came to be the intro for it - the person who was asked to find a piece was also in charge of another tv show, in which aspiring and new talent would debute (i.e it was the same tv show Ilse de Lange debuted in), being specifically charged with choosing who would appear. ^note  He had to do both these tasks, as there was no one who was specifically tasked with choosing music for it as no one knew that And You Thought It Would Fail would happen At which he promptly came across the album Preces Maea from Ugo Farell, and immediately knew that Oratio would be the intro, mostly due to it becoming shorter (in the earlier days) and its loopability making it easy to cut it off anytime.
• Elimination Houdini:
  • In season 13, the Mole revealed at one point that if almost everyone hadn't been spared from execution in episode 4, Tania would have been executed as she had suspected the wrong contestant from day one. She most likely survived for two more episodes because almost all the other contestants were suspecting the wrong people too.
  • In season 14, Jan-Willem seemed to have an uncanny knack for avoiding execution in spite of repeatedly targeting people who ended up getting eliminated in the very same episode he voted for them on the test. It got to the point where it became unclear if he was just that lucky or if all of his alleged Moles getting executed were a clue to him being the actual Mole. Turns out that he really was just that lucky, as his luck finally ran out in the 8th episode.
  • In season 17, Jochem would have been executed in the 2nd episode had Yvonne not completed the test slower than him and in the 7th episode had he not used his joker then to negate one of his wrong test answers. Not only that, but he was completely convinced that the wrong contestant was the Mole from the very beginning and still made it all the way to the finals because of an exemption won at a crucial time and only one contestant ever figuring out who the actual Mole was during that season.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chris Zegers, a contestant from Season 15, proved to be so popular with his endless enthusiasm and love for the show that he became one of the main hosts of Moltalk (a talk show that discusses each Wie is de Mol? episode with former contestants) and also the audience interviewer at later live season finales.
  • Ellie Lust from Season 16, in spite of lasting only four episodes, made such a memorable impression as a no-nonsense cop who vowed to solve the constant communication problems of Mole teams through "ether discipline" that her calls for "ether discipline" became a Memetic Mutation and was referenced more than once by contestants in later seasons.
  • Imanuelle Grives was this in season 17, due to her enthousiastic and hyper-energetic attitude during the missions (as well as her (unlikely) friendship with Jochem). What really cemented it in was her performance during the laser game mission (and the way she played her actions out during the confessional), which was so over-the-top hilarious that you couldn't help but have a weak spot for her after that.
  • Ron Boszhart quickly became this in season 18 (mainly due to people feeling sorry for him). He was eliminated early (before even meeting up with anyone except Loes) and subsequent failed to return to the game one episode later, due to the others (silently) voting away his offer. His graceful response to both his elimination and failed return to the game, however, made him one of the more well-liked candidates of the season and even short-listed him for a second chance during the series' bonus season (during which he lasted until the final six candidates).
• Even Better Sequel: A lot of people feel that the show doesn't hit its stride until Season 3, which had what many fans still consider to be one of the series' best Moles, or Season 5, which was the first celebrities-only season.
• Fan Discontinuity: Starting 2023's season, the specific term 'execution' was softened and generalized to 'elimination'; even though this change was cemented in, pretty much all fans continue referring it to with its former term. This is also because the worth 'execution' has a dual meaning; both as in 'something that is carried out' (usually in a technological context, but it is used outside of that as well) and as in 'a predestined killing' - this duality isn't exactly unknown and is played with on other occasions like in world.execute(me);.
• Fan Speak: The Dutch fandom in particular is so big that it has its own lingo.
  • Fans of the show are called 'Molloten' ^note  A fusion of 'Mole' and 'malloten', a Dutch word translating to 'freaks' or 'morons', or alternatively, a fusion of 'Mole' and 'idioten' (which means exactly what you think it does) . Usually, it refers specifically to those prone to making Epileptic Trees. The word has been officially recognized and can be found in the van Dale dictionary.
  • 'Tunnelvision' or 'Tunnel' denotes a state of mind that is only focused on seeing the hints that are related to the candidate one heavily suspects of being the Mole. This applies to both candidates and fans.
  • 'Spreiden' ('spreading') is the opposite of 'Tunnelvision', which denotes one holding multiple candidates for possibly being the Mole.
  • To 'sit' or to 'be' on someone ^note  Not to be confused with 'to be onto someone' is a shorthand for thinking that that candidate is the Mole. Sometimes it unintentionally leads to hilarity as to 'being on someone' is a common Dutch term ('op iemand zijn') for having a crush on said person.
• Genius Bonus: Why was Oregon chosen for the season located in the United States? Maybe because it has more ghost towns in it than any other state. One of the season's last tasks even takes after this fact!
  • Might also be because there is another show centered around mystery and codes set in Oregon.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show was originally Belgian, but the Dutch version became even more popular. It is still one of the most popular shows in the Netherlands after 20 seasons.
  • Thanks to English Fan Subs, this series (and the original Belgian one) have attracted a devoted North American/British fanbase with the UK game show blog Bother's Bar running a "Suspect List" game every year for the Dutch series. An English reality TV podcast even managed to get Gilles de Coster, the host of the Belgian series, as a guest on one of their De Mol podcasts in which Gilles expressed amazement at his discovery that the Belgian series had passionate fans in North America and UK too.
• Growing the Beard: Either season 3 or season 5 would be the moment this happened, depending on who you'd ask. Season 3 hosted one of the most devious moles the series has ever had and showed how intriguing the show can be with an excellent mole, while season 5 (the first celebrity season) is seen as the true starting point of the (modern) version (and also as the moment the series seriously started to gain in popularity). Both seasons are, hence, fondly remembered and still regularly discussed among fans of the series.
• Informed Ability: Art claimed that the Dutch series' season 16 Mole would be "the best prepared Mole ever" but other than using a hidden key to steal money during one challenge, none of the Mole's sabotages displayed any greater knowledge of the game than most other Moles'.
• Memetic Badass and Memetic Loser: Ellie Lust from Season 16 and Ron Boszhart from Season 18. Both came back for a redemption season and despite all odds, Ron managed to outlast Ellie, despite her status as The Leader and his status as The Load.
• Never Live It Down: Ron Boszhart of the Dutch Season 18 was the very first to be executed in the season, and the mechanisms of the first episode made it so that he would not go along with the rest to Georgia. However, he did appear the episode after that, as a chance for the other candidates to get him back. They did not ^note  While a play of the last hours of Caesar was playing, to drive the point home , and so, Ron's name became synonymous for 'the very first to be executed' (i.e 'I don't want to be the Ron Boszhart of this season'). He did get redemption by the time of the Renaissance season, in which he at least survived the first episode, coloring everyone elated.
• Rewatch Bonus: Rewatching a season with knowledge of the Mole's identity can be quite fun in seeing all the Mole's subtle sabotages and manipulation of the other players.
• Shocking Elimination:
  • Patrick in season 8. All remaining contestants (and quite a few fans) had become fully convinced that they were the Mole, which led to many dropped jaws.
  • Arjen in season 10. Not only were they the heavy fan favorite to either win or be revealed as the Mole, but the first five minutes of the episode after their execution were dedicated to the remaining contestants talking about how stunned they were by it.
  • Simone in season 18. In this instance, it was the fans and not the contestants who found it shocking because most of them had become completely convinced that Simone was the Mole. It was pretty common to see Dutch fans lamenting that they lost all their points in the Mole app after Simone's execution.
  • Rick Paul and Jamie were eliminated during a dual execution in season 19. Those two solely held just about 3/4th of all the points in the app.
• Ten Little Murder Victims: Shades of this. Traditionally, the group is a Dwindling Party and a Closed Circle, formed by 10 people (5 men and 5 women) ^note  In some seasons, it's a group of 11, but those are rare at best with a Mole in their midst. Said Mole is always painted as the true antagonist of the game, and the show host acting as the mysterious host commonly present in this trope. Furthermore, each episode (with the exception of two, one of them being the last episode before the reveal) ends with a candidate being 'executed' ^note  Yes, using that specific terminology as if they are victims of the Mole. The usual result is C, although A, B and H are also relatively common to happen alongside C. Word of God has it that the result will never be E, although fans like to speculate so every year.
• Voted Off the Island: Word of God says that the test and execution system was implemented specifically to avert this, as the developers found it much better to having people eliminated because they failed to gather information and reproduce them correctly than for people to be chosen to leave.
  • This mechanic also has a more practical reason for it not to be used. If the multitude votes off the Mole, that would reveal their true nature prematurely.