Celebrity Mole: Hawaii is the third season (and first celebrity edition) of the American version of The Mole and aired from January 8 to February 12, 2003. It was filmed on the Big Island of Hawaii in October 2002. On December 17, 2002, a fire on the second floor of the Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles caused the offices of Stone Stanley Entertainment to be flooded with water from sprinklers and fire hoses. All of the tapes from the series were found soaked in 18 inches of water, but they were all recovered, dried out, and ultimately were unharmed.
Seven celebrities competed in physical and mental challenges while trying to determine who among them had been hired to sabotage their efforts to earn money from these challenges. In the end, model Frederique van der Wal was unmasked as the mole and comedian Kathy Griffin took home the $233,000 grand prize. In contrast with celebrity editions of some reality and game shows, each contestant played for his or her own benefit rather than for charity.
This season was presented by Ahmad Rashad.
Celebrity Mole Hawaii was most recently reran as a marathon on Fox Reality on March 1, 2008.
Celebrity contestants
Corbin Bernsen (actor; Major League, L.A. Law) Erik von Detten (actor; The Princess Diaries, Dinotopia) Frederique van der Wal (model; Victoria's Secret) Kathy Griffin (comedian, actress; Suddenly Susan) Kim Coles (actress; Living Single, In Living Color) Michael Boatman (actor; Arli$$, Spin City) Stephen Baldwin (actor; The Usual Suspects, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas)
Queen Latifah was originally part of the cast but dropped out shortly before filming. Griffin claimed she agreed to do the show because Latifah was on it, but could not drop out after Latifah did. Griffin also claimed she persuaded producers that the celebrity contestant winner should get to keep the winnings, rather than charity.
Execution chart
Episodes
Episode 1
On The Line: The group is split up into two groups: four strong players, and three who would like to hang out. A player from the hang out group will be on a zip line and have to grab a bucket, fill it at the waterfall and empty it into a bigger bucket, which when filled with enough water will lift a money bag worth $10,000. The strong players will be in four positions: two operate a crank that moves the hanging player back and forth; one operates a joystick that moves the player up and down; and the other will be a spotter giving instructions to the other three strong players. The first hanger has six minutes to complete the task, while the two other hanging players will have to beat the previous best time in order to add money. The strong players rotate positions for each turn. Up to $30,000 can be added to the pot in this game.
Baa Baa Black Jack: The players form three groups of two, leaving one person out of the first part of the game. Every sheep has a cape with a card value on it. For each group that can wrangle two sheep into the group's pen in three minutes and beat Ahmad's hand, two cards picked from regular cards by the left out player, $5,000 is added. The group with the best hand can add an additional $10,000 by beating Ahmad's hand a second time. Finally, the player who was left out can earn an exemption and double the money earned from this game if he can corral the Mole sheep, a sheep with a black cape, into one of the pens in under three minutes. However, if he fails, all the money is lost from this game. In this game, up to $50,000 can be added to the pot.
Episode 2
Take This Job: The players are split into three groups of two: flight attendants, short order cooks, and lifeguards. The flight attendants are to wipe off grease on the front panel while a plane does tricks in the air. The short order cooks are to walk across hot rocks and retrieve a chicken. The lifeguards' job is to jump into a lagoon. The players will guess on the performance of the other group's members. For each correct guess, $1,000 will be added, making this game worth $24,000.
Underwater Charades: The players form three groups of two: charade players, gravediggers and players in a submarine. The charade players are given five cards which have the titles of movies or television shows in which a character dies. The submarine group must figure out the title. Once they do, they report the title to the gravediggers, who will dig up a coffin of the actor whose character died. Inside one of the coffins is $25,000. If the gravediggers find this coffin, that money will be added to the pot.