.:the interview with the producer:.

interview with the producer

1: How is the cybermole project different from all the other online mole games?

Well, first off, the cybermole project created many different aspects of the game to try to make a simulation that is as close a televised version as possible. When you read the episodes, you can tell that there is editing there that makes you feel that you're actually there along with the contestants, almost as if you're playing along rather than being a spectator in a stadium. You'll really feel as if there's a camera right in the middle of the action and right where you want it. You get the feeling that you know more than the contestants do.
Then there's a lot of different things that try to intensify and make the game seem unique. There are the topic challenges, which basically mandatory discussions...and those play a key part in the game. There's also the message center and the hotel rooms. In order to create more communication links between players, we created systems so that players have more than one level to communicate. This makes the game have a more secret aspect. The players have more opportunities to lie to each other and back-stab each other, but it also gives them the possibility to create alliances and tell each other secrets. On the televised versions, it was really hard to get away from the group for one second, but in the cybermole project...you rarely spend time with the whole group, so different relationships develop because of that.

2: How did casting go along? Did you get more applicants than you expected?

Well, casting was a hoot. It was fun. It lasted a whole month and I only expected it to last two weeks. Unfortunately, advertising the project was really hard because the cybermole project takes place in a secret location. Most mole games are in yahoo! clubs or on public message boards. Contestants just have to join the club and play along. But since the cybermole project was intricately cast, it required a lot of advertising and being hated for posting on other message boards. It was also really hard, because we tried to find a majority of contestants that had never been involved with other online rpg games. We found quite a bit, and in fact thought that we only had one person that had that experience, but we found out later than about half have already played in an online game.
If we would have cast better and more efficiently, we definitely would have gotten more applicants. The process wasn't as great as we wanted it, and we were basically making a promise that no one knew if we could keep. It was already so hard to trust unknown producers of an unknown mole game, so the applicants were really going on a limb there. Luckily, we found at least thirteen great applicants that we really wanted and the eleven players in the game came from those great applicants.

3: What types of challenges did the contestants play in? and What is your favorite challenge?

Hmm...I can't disclose too much information about the challenges (you'll have to come back and read about the challenges when the episodes are released ;), but I can tell you that most challenges were very original and did not follow any of the challenges from a televised version or a different online game. You might see some similarities in some games...like the man in the iron mask, or a few trivia challenges, but most of the high-profile challenges were created by the producers and should be intriguing.
The most original and favorite challenge by far is the first challenge. The whole team is dropped into the challenge and they are basically given no information whatsoever. Not only does the team have to find out information about everyone else, they also have to figure out what they have to do for their challenge! It was a really intense challenge and it's a type of challenge that really confuses but it's the most interesting thing out there. It's a type of challenge that you'd never see on television because it would be impossible to do it in real life.

4: Tell me a bit about the people on the show.

Well...I can't tell you too much, as I don't want to give away "the illusion of the first time". But I can tell you that every contestant has his/her own different personality that is distinct from the others. The contestants are very colorful and I think that everyone should be able to find at least one contestant that they like and can relate to. The contestants come from different ages, different areas, different religions, different cultures and different orientations so I think we found a very good combination of people.

5: Do you have any favorites or really extreme personalities out of the group?

One of my favorites was the first person that I chose to be on the cast. He was an early favorite because most of the early applications were denied, so he became one of my favorites to watch. I think he's one of my favorites because he's very honest and frank in his conversations and he turned everything on time :) The extreme personalities...well the most extreme thing is that there was always the conservative vs liberal side. It comes up quite a bit and a few of the contestants were very opinionated, but luckily everyone was very understanding. And a few contestants really surprised me. One contestant seemed to be a very sweet, caring person in casting, but underneath she is a die-hard wrestling fan and a bit of a flirt. Oh, the players...you'll just love them.

6: Was there a real jackpot in the game or was it just pretend money?

From the beginning, there was always a jackpot. Just like the game, the group has to accumulate money for the jackpot by winning challenges. The money was definitely an aspect of the game...because everyone had the thought of money in the back of their head at all times.

7: Did the contestants ever meet each other in real life or did they have to rely on the computer to communicate?

Meeting other online people can always be a traumatic or exciting experience and it would also be hard because everyone has a job or are studying, so it would have been impossible for people to meet in real life. They used a message board, so at least someone in a different time zone could leave a message and someone on the other side of the world can still read it later next day. The project was set up so anyone from any time zone could participate well and still not find any problems.

8: Were there any big problems or difficulties in producing the show?

All of the contestants went through three rounds of vigorous interviewing and revealing...so they all were very committed when they signed the contract to participate, so I can say that none of the contestants dropped out because they simply didn't want to participate. I think the biggest difficulty was when one of the producers dropped out of the project. Originally, there was supposed to be two producers producing the show, but the other guy's day job laid a lot of work on him and he couldn't help out anymore. I regret that he couldn't help, but there's not much we can do. Because of that, there was a lot of reorganization in the middle of the game...so sometimes time was added to a challenge or episode because no one was around to give answers or confirm the solutions to the challenge. But in the end, the game results would have been the same with two producers or one.

9: Can you tell me who the mole is and who's the winner?

There was no mole...there was a cybermole, and no I can't tell you. But I think it's better that you find out along with the rest of the web viewers. I tried to resist spoilers and speculations as much as possible when watching the show, and it's more rewarding to see it all culminate in a full climax...rather than not having the story come to a climax. The winner hasn't even been decided yet either...the game's still going on. But if you hear something from anyone about the winner or the cybermole, it might not be true. The contestants agreed that they wouldn't allude to or reveal the identity of the cybermole...in fact, they signed a contract. So if you ask them, they'll probably tell you that they're on a contract.

Thanks to axthemole for giving some time to participate in this interview and I hope that the cybermole project does very well!

home|episodes|contestants|info|opinions|communication|links

this website is not an official website of abc's the mole or any of the mole televised shows. this website does not reflect the opinions or thoughts of the producers of the televised shows. all content (words and images) on this website is owned and copyrighted to cybeteur productions. no images on http://thecybermole.tripod.com have been borrowed except for the ads (obviously). if you find any problem (legal or technical) with this website, please email the webmaster and explain the problem.
copyright 2001.

1: How is the cybermole project different from all the other online mole games?
Well, first off, the cybermole project created many different aspects of the game to try to make a simulation that is as close a televised version as possible. When you read the episodes, you can tell that there is editing there that makes you feel that you're actually there along with the contestants, almost as if you're playing along rather than being a spectator in a stadium. You'll really feel as if there's a camera right in the middle of the action and right where you want it. You get the feeling that you know more than the contestants do. Then there's a lot of different things that try to intensify and make the game seem unique. There are the topic challenges, which basically mandatory discussions...and those play a key part in the game. There's also the message center and the hotel rooms. In order to create more communication links between players, we created systems so that players have more than one level to communicate. This makes the game have a more secret aspect. The players have more opportunities to lie to each other and back-stab each other, but it also gives them the possibility to create alliances and tell each other secrets. On the televised versions, it was really hard to get away from the group for one second, but in the cybermole project...you rarely spend time with the whole group, so different relationships develop because of that.

2: How did casting go along? Did you get more applicants than you expected?
Well, casting was a hoot. It was fun. It lasted a whole month and I only expected it to last two weeks. Unfortunately, advertising the project was really hard because the cybermole project takes place in a secret location. Most mole games are in yahoo! clubs or on public message boards. Contestants just have to join the club and play along. But since the cybermole project was intricately cast, it required a lot of advertising and being hated for posting on other message boards. It was also really hard, because we tried to find a majority of contestants that had never been involved with other online rpg games. We found quite a bit, and in fact thought that we only had one person that had that experience, but we found out later than about half have already played in an online game. If we would have cast better and more efficiently, we definitely would have gotten more applicants. The process wasn't as great as we wanted it, and we were basically making a promise that no one knew if we could keep. It was already so hard to trust unknown producers of an unknown mole game, so the applicants were really going on a limb there. Luckily, we found at least thirteen great applicants that we really wanted and the eleven players in the game came from those great applicants.
3: What types of challenges did the contestants play in? and What is your favorite challenge?
Hmm...I can't disclose too much information about the challenges (you'll have to come back and read about the challenges when the episodes are released ;), but I can tell you that most challenges were very original and did not follow any of the challenges from a televised version or a different online game. You might see some similarities in some games...like the man in the iron mask, or a few trivia challenges, but most of the high-profile challenges were created by the producers and should be intriguing. The most original and favorite challenge by far is the first challenge. The whole team is dropped into the challenge and they are basically given no information whatsoever. Not only does the team have to find out information about everyone else, they also have to figure out what they have to do for their challenge! It was a really intense challenge and it's a type of challenge that really confuses but it's the most interesting thing out there. It's a type of challenge that you'd never see on television because it would be impossible to do it in real life.
4: Tell me a bit about the people on the show.
Well...I can't tell you too much, as I don't want to give away "the illusion of the first time". But I can tell you that every contestant has his/her own different personality that is distinct from the others. The contestants are very colorful and I think that everyone should be able to find at least one contestant that they like and can relate to. The contestants come from different ages, different areas, different religions, different cultures and different orientations so I think we found a very good combination of people.
5: Do you have any favorites or really extreme personalities out of the group?
One of my favorites was the first person that I chose to be on the cast. He was an early favorite because most of the early applications were denied, so he became one of my favorites to watch. I think he's one of my favorites because he's very honest and frank in his conversations and he turned everything on time :) The extreme personalities...well the most extreme thing is that there was always the conservative vs liberal side. It comes up quite a bit and a few of the contestants were very opinionated, but luckily everyone was very understanding. And a few contestants really surprised me. One contestant seemed to be a very sweet, caring person in casting, but underneath she is a die-hard wrestling fan and a bit of a flirt. Oh, the players...you'll just love them.
6: Was there a real jackpot in the game or was it just pretend money?
From the beginning, there was always a jackpot. Just like the game, the group has to accumulate money for the jackpot by winning challenges. The money was definitely an aspect of the game...because everyone had the thought of money in the back of their head at all times.
7: Did the contestants ever meet each other in real life or did they have to rely on the computer to communicate?
Meeting other online people can always be a traumatic or exciting experience and it would also be hard because everyone has a job or are studying, so it would have been impossible for people to meet in real life. They used a message board, so at least someone in a different time zone could leave a message and someone on the other side of the world can still read it later next day. The project was set up so anyone from any time zone could participate well and still not find any problems.
8: Were there any big problems or difficulties in producing the show?
All of the contestants went through three rounds of vigorous interviewing and revealing...so they all were very committed when they signed the contract to participate, so I can say that none of the contestants dropped out because they simply didn't want to participate. I think the biggest difficulty was when one of the producers dropped out of the project. Originally, there was supposed to be two producers producing the show, but the other guy's day job laid a lot of work on him and he couldn't help out anymore. I regret that he couldn't help, but there's not much we can do. Because of that, there was a lot of reorganization in the middle of the game...so sometimes time was added to a challenge or episode because no one was around to give answers or confirm the solutions to the challenge. But in the end, the game results would have been the same with two producers or one.
9: Can you tell me who the mole is and who's the winner?
There was no mole...there was a cybermole, and no I can't tell you. But I think it's better that you find out along with the rest of the web viewers. I tried to resist spoilers and speculations as much as possible when watching the show, and it's more rewarding to see it all culminate in a full climax...rather than not having the story come to a climax. The winner hasn't even been decided yet either...the game's still going on. But if you hear something from anyone about the winner or the cybermole, it might not be true. The contestants agreed that they wouldn't allude to or reveal the identity of the cybermole...in fact, they signed a contract. So if you ask them, they'll probably tell you that they're on a contract.
Thanks to axthemole for giving some time to participate in this interview and I hope that the cybermole project does very well!

home\|episodes\|contestants\|info\|opinions\|communication\|links
this website is not an official website of abc's the mole or any of the mole televised shows. this website does not reflect the opinions or thoughts of the producers of the televised shows. all content (words and images) on this website is owned and copyrighted to cybeteur productions. no images on http://thecybermole.tripod.com have been borrowed except for the ads (obviously). if you find any problem (legal or technical) with this website, please email the webmaster and explain the problem.
copyright 2001.