Wie is de Mol? (Dutch season 18)
The eighteenth season of the Dutch TV series Wie is de Mol? aired in the winter of 2018. This was the last season with current, and longest running host, Art Rooijakkers. The season took place in Georgia, the former Soviet Union State. The season premiered on January 6, 2018. The Live Finale aired on March 10, 2018 from the VondelCS pavilion. During the Finale, Ruben Hein was declared the winner of the season, earning a grand total of €17,750.-. Hein had successfully unmasked Jan Versteegh as the Mole of 2018, outwitting his fellow finalist, Olcay Gülşen.
Format
Followed the same format as its Belgian predecessor, the season had ten Dutch celebrities travel to Georgia to complete Assignments to earn money for the group pot. However, one of the ten is the titular Mole, the one designated to sabotage the assignments and cause the group to earn the least amount of money for the winner's pot as possible. Every few days, players would take a 20-question multiple choice test about the identity of the Mole. Once the test is complete, the candidates await their results in an Execution ceremony. The candidate with the worst score is executed from the game, while in the event of the tie the candidate who completed their test the slowest is executed. The season plays out until there are three remaining candidates, where they must complete a final test. The candidate with the highest score, or had completed their test the fastest in a tie, is declared the winner and receives the group's pot.The season began with the candidates unknowingly scattered in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine for the first assignment to discover where the host country of the season will be, Georgia. This season also had a candidate quit in the season for the upkeep of their mental health; a series' first compared to previous medical evacuations and withdrawals. The season also changed the unmasking of the Mole. Where after the final test had been written, the finalists were informed that they would find out who the Mole is along with the rest of the Netherlands at the Live Finale. Typically the finalists would be informed of the Mole immediately after the final test and the secret would remain until the unmasking during the Live Finale broadcast.
Candidates
Candidates Progress
;NotesEpisodes
For more information, see: :nl:Lijst van seizoenen van Wie is de Mol?#Seizoen __|List of seasons of "Wie is de Mol?"| Episode | Air Date | Title | Amount in Pot | Location | Days | Eliminated | Video |
| 1 | 'Een Verhaal Apart' | €0 → | Yerevan, Armenia; Baku, Azerbaijan; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Moscow, Russia; Kiev, Ukraine → Tbilisi, Georgia | 1 | |||
| 2 | 'Wisseltruc' | → | Tbilisi, Georgia | 2—3 | |||
| 3 | 'Kreupelstraat' | → €810 | Tbilisi, Georgia → Stepantsminda, Georgia | 4—5 | |||
| 4 | 'Vooruitzicht' | €810 → €5,810 | Stepantsminda, Georgia → Tbilisi, Georgia | 6—7 | |||
| 5 | 'Zienswijzen' | €5,810 → €8,450 | Tbilisi, Georgia | 8—9 | |||
| 6 | 'Verlost' | €8,450 → €10,200 | Tbilisi, Georgia → Tskaltubo, Georgia | 10—11 | |||
| 7 | 'Schijn Werper' | €10,200 → €11,700 | Tskaltubo, Georgia → Kutaisi, Georgia → Borjomi, Georgia | 12—13 | |||
| 8 | 'Gelijkgestemd' | €11,700 → €14,250 | Borjomi, Georgia → Vardzia, Georgia → Borjomi, Georgia | 14—15 | |||
| 9 | 'Finalist' | €14,250 → €15,250 | Borjomi, Georgia → Lake Tabatskuri, Georgia → Akhaltsikhe, Georgia | 16—18 | |||
| 10 | Finale | €17,750 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||||
| 10 | Finale | €17,750 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Winner | |||
| 10 | Finale | €17,750 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | The Mole |
Notes
Season Summary
Episode 1 - Een Verhaal Apart
Opdracht 1 - Max. €10,000.-In duos, the candidates arrive in their hotel rooms with Art appearing on their televisions to introduce them to the first assignment. In two hours, each duo must find and open a safe hidden somewhere in the city, using a code that gives a clue the whereabouts to Art's current location. Elsewhere in the city, each duo can find €2,000.- and two Jokers respectively, with the help of information held by other duos. Any duos who do not manage to find and open their safe, face the first test and execution of the season.
In each hotel room lay a photograph of a café the candidates must first find, where they will receive a cellphone with two numbers saved on it, a map, a five set circular key, dossiers on their eight fellow candidates, and information on the whereabouts of the safe, money, and jokers.
Each cellphone has the phone number of on3 other duo, and a hint line to Art. Every phone call after their first to Art, removes money from the pot for receiving a hint. The candidates are unaware each duo is in a different country. Starting in Yerevan, Armenia; Baku, Azerbaijan; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Moscow, Russia; and Kiev, Ukraine. With Art located in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
Three duos managed to open their safes and retrieve their plane tickets in time, however, €3,000.- was removed from the pot when they arrived in Tbilisi.
Jan, Jean-Marc, Loes, and Ron wrote the first test, with Ron being executed from the game in Moscow.
Episode 2 - Wisseltruc
Wisselgeld - Max. €1,000.-Meeting Art in the Navtlugi Bazaar, the candidates were shown 100 -€20.- notes stapled onto a board. The assignment was to find and staple down as much positive money onto the board, as the combined positive and negative notes would be added to the pot. With a €1,000.- note and a photograph, the group must find the vendor in the photo to exchange their note for two €500.- notes and a new photograph of the next vendor with money. The candidates have 30 minutes to exchange their money and staple to the board to cover the negative money.
Despite the wind blowing off the money immediately after the time limit was up, the production was gracious and totalled up the full amount including the blown off notes.
The group earned €860.- for the pot.
Aanschuiven - Max. €2,000.-
Attending a performance of Julius Caesar at the Rustaveli Theatre, the candidates were separated into spectator boxes in the wings of the theatre. Throughout the performance, Art would text clues to the candidates about which box each of the candidates must be in at the end of the play. In the middle of the assignment, Ron, the first candidate executed in the game back in Moscow, texted the group that he was attending the play with them. He held crucial information for the upcoming test, and if any of the candidates were to join him in his box within the next ten minutes, he would share that knowledge and re-enter the game.
The candidates, including Ron's starting partner Loes, stopped each other from meeting with Ron, sending him home at the end of the assignment.
The candidates failed the assignment as well, and nothing was earned for the pot.
Opscheppen - Max. €3,000.-
Using heavy machinery, the candidates excavate dirt in order to drive a Lada car along a path in a construction yard. For every ten meters the Lada moves from the starting position, the group earns €500.- for the pot. If the group succeeds, they are rewarded with an additional €500.-. The candidates had an hour and 30 minutes to complete the assignment. At the end of the time limit, Art will drive the Lada as far as it can to measure how much the group had earned.
Jean-Marc stepped away from the assignment, as he was becoming overwhelmed by what the assignment entailed. Leaving the candidates down to eight people to complete the assignment.
The Lada traveled a distance of 29m and 60cm, rounding it up to 30m for the assignment.
€1,500 was earned for the pot.
Jean-Marc after some consideration away from the Opscheppen assignment, elected to quit the game and return to the Netherlands. The candidates were informed of his decision at the Execution, and were informed that the Execution was cancelled due to Jean-Marc's decision to look after his mental health over the game.
Episode 3 - Kreupelstraat
Tijd is Geld - Max. €2,500.-Arriving in Stepantsminda, the candidates were tasked to drive around the town for 15 minutes at a time. Choosing between five cars, the candidates had to pick between four cars with increasing amounts of money, and a final car with a Doubler. In a staggered start, the candidates had to drive around Stepantsminda without being trapped in by hunters in red cars. If a car is trapped before returning at the end of their 15 minutes, they are out of the assignment and earn nothing for the pot. If the Doubler car survived the assignment, all money earned in the assignment would be doubled.
Three out of the five cars finished the assignment, including the Doubler car. €900 was added to the pot.
Kwestie van Vertrouwen - Max. €2,500.-
In the fields by the Gergeti Trinity Church, the candidates were asked to partner with someone they could trust. In their duos, the candidates will walk across a field with four boxes full of positive money, negative money, exemptions, and black exemptions. Once each duo has looked in their four respective boxes, they meet in the middle of the field with an opposing duo to share information of what they've seen. After the meeting, the duos must then select a box per candidate on the opposing side of the field to retrieve any items available. All candidates have one opportunity to walk across the field during the assignment.
€1,250 was removed from the pot at the end of the assignment.
Molcast - Max. €4,000.-
Art arrived at breakfast to collect all the positive and negative money from the group's treasure. Before leaving, the candidates were instructed to form two teams of four, one who are brave with good memories, and the other who excel at being organized and communication.
When the teams arrived at Guadauri Resort, the Organized team are informed that the Brave candidates will listen to podcasts about Georgia's history, food, sports, and culture respectively. Meanwhile, the Brave team went tandem paragliding off one of the nearby mountains. Once they are up in the air, the Brave team may listen to their podcasts to answer the Organized team's questions until they touchdown. Each correct answer out of the 40 questions earned €100 for the pot.
The teams managed to answer 18 questions correctly, earning €1,800 for the pot.
Episode 4 - Vooruitzicht
Tunnelvisie - Max. €1,500.-Returning to Tbilisi, the next morning saw three candidates who weren't claustrophobic volunteer for the assignment. The remaining four candidates were dropped off in Tbilisi and instructed to find where the three missing candidates were hidden underground. The Underground candidates have no idea where they have been hidden, but hold the information in which the Searchers could use to find them. The underground candidates were hidden in a tunnel maze, where throughout the tunnels they could find simple instructions and photographs of where the Searchers had to go in order to receive new instructions. The Underground candidate's phone could only receive signal at a small opening far from the instructions board in the maze. With a phone in hand, the Searchers have 45 minutes to find the Underground candidates to earn €1,500 for the pot.
The candidates failed the assignment, and nothing was earned for the pot.
Niets is Wat Het Lijkt
The day of the assignment was Georgia's independence day from the Soviet Union. The candidates were taken to the 9 April Park, for a private interrogation with Art. Between Art and the candidate stood a table with a series of flowchart questions. Before Art begins the interrogation, he informs each of the candidates that they could earn an Exemption for the Finale if they do well in this assignment. The interrogation begins with Art asking if the candidates want to know who the Mole already, with the candidate having to answer yes or no. They proceed through the flowchart answering Art's questions about their personal tactics and potential dilemmas until they reach the bottom of the table, with a final question between €5,000 for the pot, or a group exemption.
At the end of the assignment, Art informed the candidates that if they had paid enough attention, they would have noticed that they were visited by the Mole during their interrogations in the park. Essentially being the exemption to the Finale that Art mentioned at the beginning of the assignment.
Rode Draad - Max. €5,000.-
The candidates were taken to the old Soviet District in Tbilisi, a lower-class district with Soviet era accommodations. On top of one of these buildings, the candidates had to zipline between two buildings. With the questions from yesterday noted by Art, the candidates had a choice of earning €5,000 or a group exemption in this assignment. The choice that the majority had chosen would be inside one of the envelopes Art gives the candidates. The objective of the assignment was for the candidates to transport envelopes across the zipline, earning whatever they managed to bring to Art. Each candidate were allowed to take only one out of the seven envelopes while they ziplined. Ruben panicked and refused to do the zipline, which led to Stine also deciding to not complete the assignment.
Only five of the candidates completed the zipline, with Art informing the candidates afterwards that they had been competing for €5,000. After opening all the envelopes, the candidates had successfully brought the €5,000 envelope to Art, and was added to the pot.
Episode 5 - Zienswijzen
Geldcircus - Max. €4,000.-In the middle of a circus floor, the candidates were tasked to each build a four-tiered house of cards. Each candidate to succeed in building their house of cards earns €250 for the pot. As the assignment went began, a circus procession entered the ring to distract the candidates, with Art announcing more tasks to earn money throughout.
None of the candidates built their house of cards, but €1,640.- was earned for the pot regardless.
Chaos - Max. €2,000.-
The Treasurer was separated from the group, and informed of the assignment. The rest of the group would race around Tbilisi seeking checkpoints. At every checkpoint were cars to take them to another part of the city, however, the last candidate to arrive at each checkpoint would be eliminated from the assignment. It was the Treasurer's job to assign different rewards to each candidate, and whoever won the race, their reward would be the prize for the assignment.
The rewards were: One Joker, two jokers, €500, €1,000, and one candidate received nothing.
Loes won the race, and at the finish, Art announced that the money she earned would be doubled.
€1,000.- was earned for the pot.
Woordzoekers - Max. €1,000.-
Standing in an empty warehouse, the candidates were shown a giant Wordsearch puzzle painted on the floor. On the other side of the warehouse, hung the words they needed to find. Using paint, the candidates had to remove all the hanging words from the wordsearch. The candidates had 15 minutes to present a sentence using the remaining words to Art at the end of the Assignment.
The candidates did not present the correct sentence, and nothing was added to the pot.
Episode 6 - Verlost
Sleutelpositie - Max. €1,500.-The candidates were locked up in different rooms across an abandoned hotel. Throughout the 50 rooms in the hotel hid €1,500, and Jokers. The candidates are locked in rooms with keys to other rooms each, except for the Treasurer, who starts the assignment free to move around the Hotel from the beginning. The candidates had 15 minutes to free themselves and search the rooms for the money.
€500.- was earned for the pot.
Ladas met Lading - Max. €1,500.-
Divided between three houses in the village of Sukchai, Art instructed the candidates to help the families living in these houses pack their furniture into three Ladas, within 30 minutes. The next part of the assignment had the candidates try to add more furniture into their Ladas to add €50 per item for the pot, with 15 minutes to repack. The owner of the furniture was €250 for the pot. Once the repack was done, the candidates had to drive the Ladas to the new houses. Everything that was included in the repack and arrived at their new homes added money for the pot.
€1,250.- was earned for the pot.
Groen/Rood - Max. €1,500.-
At the Execution, the candidates were given an opportunity to prevent their results from being shown. At the Medea Sanatorium, stood two identical boards with eight rotatable screens. Five screens had the candidates' names on them, and three had €500 on them. To prevent a candidate from seeing their screen, and earning money for the pot, both boards had to have matching green screens showing. Art presents a series of questions to the candidates, if they are correct, the candidate can turn a red screen green, or opt out from turning a green screen red. The candidates were divided into two teams: three designated to the red board, two assigned the green board.
The candidates chose to prevent their results from being shown, except for Simone. Nothing was added to the pot. Simone saw a Green screen for her results, even with a Black Exemption nullifying her Jokers, and everyone proceeded to the next episode.
Episode 7 - Schijn Werper
Oplichten - Max. €1,630.-Taken to the Manor Sanatorium, the candidates had to complete five tasks that they could observe from a control room. In the control room also stood a three-minute timer for each candidate. If a candidate's timer reaches zero before they can reset it, they are out of the assignment. The candidates have a total of 21 minutes to complete the tasks. Each completed task added €250.- to the pot, with an additional €380.- if the candidates got a specific task correct.
€750.- was earned for the pot.
Praten als Brugman - Max. €1,250.-
Arriving in the town of Kutaisi, the candidates had three hours to paint an important restored bridge for the town before the mayor officiates the grand re-opening. They could recruit the locals to help assist in completing the bridge. Every meter out of the 125 meter long portion they had to paint earned €10.- for the pot.
The candidates successfully completed the assignment, and €1,250.- was earned for the pot.
Perongeluk - Max. €1,500.-
From Borjomi to Tsemi, the candidates were in a mail train, where they had to sort out boxes into their colour matching wagons. Along the train ride, the candidates also had to find and deliver packages to the correct stations. Every incorrectly delivered package cost €250.- from the pot, while if the candidate are successful in sorting out the boxes and deliver all the packages correctly, they would earn €1,500.- for the pot.
The candidates narrowly failed in sorting out the boxes, and two packages were not delivered to their correct station. €500.- was removed from the pot.
Episode 8 - Gelijkgestemd
Geluids Mix - Max. €1,000.-The candidates walked through the historic monasteries in Vardzia, listening to traditional Georgian choral singing. For every song the candidates correctly match by listening to the singers, €250.- would be added to the pot. The candidates could only listen and match songs in 20 minutes.
The candidates completed the assignment and €1,000.- was added to the pot.
Car-aoke - Max. €2,200.-
Taken off the road back to Borjomi, the candidates had to seat in parked cars facing perpendicular from each other. In each car was an envelope with a ten-song playlist. For 15 minutes, the candidates had to mimic as many songs as possible for the candidate in the opposing car to identify. The assignment is made more difficult with the inclusion of water continuously being hosed down on the cars by the production. Every correct song guessed added €50.- to the pot, with a bonus track worth €100.- each.
The candidates guessed 12 songs correctly, including two bonus songs, adding €700.- to the pot.
Geldstroom - Max. €4,000.-
Riding the white water rapids of the Mtkvari River, the candidates had to collect tubes of money hanging over the river at specific points designated by Country flags. In the first stage of the rafting, the candidates have to practice their paddling while looking out for information, the second stage has the candidates finding out how to collect the money, with the third stage being where the candidates could collect the tubes of money. With a total of €4,000.- available, collecting the wrong tubes removes money from the pot. Candidates who collected tubes designated for them, would double their earnings. Only tubes in the raft at the end of the rafting course would be counted for the assignment.
€850.- was earned for the pot.
Episode 8 - Gelijkgestemd
Maneschijn - Max. €1,000.-The finalists were taken to the Abastumani Observatory, among the buildings stood five telescopes, with three labeled with the Mole logo. The candidates have 30 minutes to find each telescope and point them at the moon. They can call Art at any moment to check their work. If the candidates get all three telescopes pointing to the moon, they would earn €1,000.- for the pot.
The candidates completed the assignment, and €1,000.- was earned for the pot.
Verbergen - Max. €1,500.-
Arriving at a small lakeside town of Tabatskuri, the finalists were tasked to drive along three different routes in Jeeps. Along their routes would be posts with two puzzle pieces hanging on them, and a question to help the candidates pick the correct one. Having only correct puzzle pieces would provide directions to where the candidates could find money in the region. The finalists had one hour to find the money at the end of their routes.
The finalists failed the assignment, and nothing was added to the pot.
The Final Test - Max. €5,000.-'''
Awaiting the finalists at the bottom of Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe, Art informed each of them that they had an option to add money to the pot one last time. As soon as they entered the Castle, they had to follow signs leading them to where their final test would be written. Two longer, diverting routes would lead the finalists to €2,500.- that they could add to the pot, or to see the Mole at the end of the longest route. However, their time for the test starts as soon as they enter the castle, so the diversions cost time on their final test.
The final amount earned for the winner's pot would be revealed during the Live Finale, where for the first time in the series' history would include the unmasking of the Mole in front of the live audience, 167 days after the final day of filming.