16 replies to this topic

[Lantern7]

The year was 2003. The Mole had been relegated to a summer series in the previous year. Fans of the show fretted about the status of what MENSA called the smartest show of television. And then...ABC brought it back. With celebrities. Cue the fans' faces, going smack into their hands.

Okay, in retrospect, it wasn't that horrifying. The critics and haters had a field day taking their whacks, getting not-so-clever jabs in before retiring to cover actual television shows. And host Ahmad Rashad was no Anderson Cooper. How ABC removed Rashad from Michael Jordan's buttcheeks is a mystery.

But we had a show, filled with players of various degrees of celebrity. Of course, few people in the mainstream would remember runner-up Erik von Detten, who starred on ABC's Dinotopia, a series that had been cancelled for a few months prior to CMH's premiere. Or Michael Boatman from Arli$$ and Spin City, who quipped during a hula challenge, "I smell something burning. Oh wait! It's my career!" Nope, instead we remember Corbin Bersen and Stephen Baldwin, two dopes who peaked a good decade ago. Baldwin was clearly a dope, and I'm amazed that he didn't kill Celebrity Apprentice on his own (I didn't watch, so maybe he grew a few brain cells). Bersen did appear to have watched the previous editions, but didn't grasp that there were some things that weren't clues...like, say, how bags that had dollar signs on them would reflect that Michael was the Mole, because he was on Arli$$. Stephen and Corben went out second and third respectively (after the relatively normal Kim Coles), and they ended up getting brought back for the following season...and they got executed third and second.

So what kept the season from being a complete and total clusterfuck? Well, the games were as sharp as ever. How can go wrong with psuedo-celebs trying to wrangle marked sheep into pens while playing blackjack? There was the event that mixed a submarine, charades, grave digging and characters that died in movies in a creative way. The final game wasn't as awesome as Three Rooms from the original season, but it had the final three players -- including supermodel/Mole Frederique -- running around willy-nilly around a house. But the big draw was one Kathy Griffin. Now, I know she's a polarizing figure, but the lady knows her reality television. Three years prior, she hosted a recap show -- Kathy's So-Called Reality on MTV. We needed her to bag on Corbin, calling him "Super Veiny Hockey Dad." We needed her to snap on coalition-mate Erik after he deliberately botched a mission. And when she was running around in the final game, she yelled, This is like a sorority porn movie! And I’m the headmistress!” I think it was for the best that she won...no offense to Erik, but any other outcome would've sucked.

That's all the stuff I can remember. What say you about the beginning of the end of the franchise?

[Dennys]

I honestly don't think it was as bad as people say. The games were actually pretty good compared to Yucatan's and the final three had all good players.

I believe Frederique was the best mole on the show ever (waits for fruit to be thrown). I mean, nobody suspected her up until the final quiz, which is pretty impressive. She managed to do obvious sabotage (the pepper game) and subtle (racing it only one minute to late, untying the knots). Imagine if Erik hadn't won the exemption in the final four and he was executed. Kathy would suspect Michael, Michael would suspect Kathy, and not one person would suspect Freddy.

[Basileus]

I think Frederique did an amazing job as The Mole. I bought the DVD and recently watched it with a friend, and he was convinced the Mole was Eric. At the original broadcast, I kinda suspected Freddie was the Mole, but wasn't entirely sure since she seemed so hell bent on winning challenges, little realizing of course that she was subtley sabotaging them and I never picked it up at all. So Kudos to Fred for doing a good job.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that originally any money made would go to a charity of their choice, but Kathy put the kibosh on that! LOL Her arguement was that if she was going to have to go through all this, she wanted to keep the cash. And she did and got some plastic surgury. Love it!

[Rinaldo]

With distance of time, I have fond memories of this season too. It wasn't up to Seasons 1 or 2, but it wasn't in an altogether different league either. It had some good challenges, it had the schadenfreude element of laughing at what a maroon Corbin was, and most significantly it had Kathy Griffin as ideal player-commentator and Frederique as pretty much an ideal Mole. (I especially remember her explanation of how she deliberately used her accent to make people think she was just being linguistically clumsy in the waterfall challenge.) Credit where it's due.

[diznee]

(I especially remember her explanation of how she deliberately used her accent to make people think she was just being linguistically clumsy in the waterfall challenge.)

That was one of my most favorite Mole moves ever. I remember watching the episode the first time and wondering what the hell "leadway" was, so I was impressed to find out that she said that deliberately. On the subject of her accent, I also loved the way Frederique said "guyes."

Freddie also gets points for untying the knots, which showed some quick thinking. However, she gets points taken away for that horrid dolphin clue.

[unheavybro]

Ah, nostalgia. I did love me some Freddy, and if memory serves, i didn't know she was the mole. i think i thought it was kathy cuz she was such a meta-contestant, it would have been a great choice. definitely not on par with seasons one and two, but still very enjoyable.

[gpfallow]

How ABC removed Rashad from Michael Jordan's buttcheeks is a mystery.

LMAO! In hindsight, it was pretty enjoyable. I thought Corbin and Stephen were hilarious. Much like Kathy and others, I thought Michael Boatman was the mole as well. I was not a fan of the show going with two supermodel moles in a row though.

Edited by gpfallow, Jun 1, 2008 @ 4:30 PM.

[samsnee]

I liked Corbin. Yeah, he was crazy and paranoid about everything being a clue, but let's face it, so are most of us TWOP-ers who watch this show.

Edited by TWoP Mars, Jun 11, 2008 @ 2:31 AM.

[Meedis]

Touché samsnee!

[Carmella]

I loved CM:H. I thought the group was great (even though Baldwin got on my nerves, but he was gone quick, and Kathy made him tolerable while he was around). The games were fun. It was just light-hearted fun. I own the DVD and give it a watch every now and then.

I never suspected Frederique, so that reveal was quite a shock. It's a shame many people seemed to have disliked this showing. Perhaps now that the real Mole show is on, people won't look down on this one since it was just a special season.

Now, look down on the other Celebrity Mole all you want. It sucked.

[JakeyIsSusan]

I recently stumbled upon the first three and a half episodes online (my favorite moment being the ridiculous "Hot Pepper Looky Loo"), and it was enough to make me search for the DVD. I remember its original airing, but in retrospect it's even more fun, largely due to Kathy Griffin, who seems to be at the top of her game now. FWIW, I loved the inexplicable chemistry between her and Erik von Detten.

[ShunnedforLife]

Freddie also gets points for untying the knots, which showed some quick thinking. However, she gets points taken away for that horrid dolphin clue.

Let's not forget the random letters (VS-CMH03) that we were supposed to think Victoria's Secret: Celebrity Mole Hawaii 2003.

[icedtea]

I own the DVD and give it a watch every now and then. - Carmella

I've only watched online, and when I spotted the dvd at Walmart as one of the 2/$25 deals I was wondering if I should invest... I did enjoy this season way more than Yucatan.

[z-26]

how bags that had dollar signs on them would reflect that Michael was the Mole, because he was on Arli$$

I thought that was pretty inspired, actually. (I mean, I write my dollar signs with two vertical lines too!) Better than some of the actual clues that were given in the game...

I find Kathy Griffin/Griffith generally over-the-top and intolerable anywhere else, but she was pretty funny here.

[Wu Kong]

Frederique was amazing as the Mole. My favourite moment was when Michael got executed -- the looks on Kathy and Eric's faces was absolutely priceless. The fact that no one had picked Frederique on any of the quizzes until the last one is a credit to her.

[Eponah]

Freddie was pretty good, but at the same time, there were a lot fewer episodes and tasks to sabotage, so there was a lot less to view with suspicion. But yeah, I thought it was Michael too till the end.

[TheRabbi]

I skipped this when it was on TV since, well, its a celebrity show, but was ready to give it a shot so I watched the entire thing on youtube today. It was alright. I think the reason Frederique wasn't on anyone's radar was because she hardly did any sabotaging. Compare her sabotages with those of this season's Craig and Nicole (one of whom is not the mole), and she hardly did anything. All I can think of off the top of my head were not picking up the bucket in the waterfall task, not saying American Beauty, not eating the pepper, and untying a couple of knots which in the end helped add $60,000 to the pot instead of preventing 30.

It was ok. Nothing I have any desire to watch again. Also, talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel for "celebrities." Obviously, its impossible to not know the Baldwins, but I hadn't seen Stephen before, had no idea who Kim Coles, Corbin, Erik, or Frederique were, knew who Kathy was, and only knew Michael Boatman because I was a Spin City watcher back in the day.

Michael Boatman had the best line of the season, in the first episode, when Kathy is "herding" out in the middle of nowhere. "She was herding mosquitoes for all I know." lol

Ahmad Rashad was ok, but obviously he's no AC.