Who Is The Mole?: Fat On Reality TV
My favorite reality show that nobody but me and Kim watches is The Mole. (The first host of the show was the amazing Anderson Cooper; the current host, Jon Kelley, is equally fabulous and hot. You heard it here first.)
The premise of the show is that a dozen or so contestants are competing in complicated challenges and puzzles, trying to put money into the pot. In the meantime, one of them is secretly the Mole, whose job is to conduct subtle sabotage. So players are all trying to earn money for the pot, draw suspicion to themselves as being the Mole so people are misled, and trying to figure out the identity of the actual Mole. Sounds simple, right? Sure. Sounds totally irrelevant to this blog? Well, not quite. Spoilers for the final episode of The Mole after the jump.
So the Mole turned out to be Craig Silke, the season’s “bumbling fat guy” (his photo can be seen here). From the TWoP recap:
So how did Craig do it? And what did he sabotage? His strategy was to be the fun, lovable guy, and it worked. He wanted people to think he was trying but incompetent. In the waterfall mission, Craig dropped the bag as he was told, and people cheered for him anyway… Craig admits that he played into the stereotype of the jolly, dumb, fat guy.
I was struck by the same thing when I watched the finale. Craig said that people might not expect a “large guy” to be especially athletic or smart. So he befriended everyone and played into the stereotypes, in the end, fooling almost everybody, turning out to have been a lot more intelligent and competent than he let on, and turning the fat stereotype on its head a little bit. It was a very satisfying ending to a satisfying season of a good show.
It also made me think about fat people on reality television, and how they’re portrayed in general. Apart from those on shows like The Biggest Loser, where their fat is the point, not a lot of fat contestants come to mind. Richard Hatch, who won the first season of Survivor, had lost a lot of weight before going on the show, if I recall correctly. And on American Idol, we’ve had Mandisa and LaKisha and Jennifer Hudson. On Project Runway this season, we have Korto, who is not all that large, but who designs for plus-sized women. And that’s all that comes to mind. I’m guessing you all watch different reality shows than the ones I do: is there anything or anyone that I’m overlooking? Or is Craig in a league of his own?
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: American Idol, Fat Positive, Fatism, Project Runway, Question, TV
Email us
Equally hot as Anderson Cooper? I think not, as such a thing can not possibly exist.
There was a fat guy on Road Rules a couple years ago, a legitimately fat guy too. He went on the challenge show after, which is a show that is VERY athletic, and I remember he collapsed during the final challenge from heat exhaustion or something.
The Real World is the biggest (heh) offender here, in my book. Even back when they cast allegedly “real” kids on the show instead of just boozing skanks and fratty rapey types (yes I know that was evil and judgemental, I just hate what that show has become when it used to be good!), the only plus sized girl ever to make it on was London’s Sharon. She was kind of annoying too, but at least I don’t remember her weight ever coming up as an issue.
I watched The Mole too.. =)
Several fat contestants come to mind for me – Jay McCarroll (winner of Project Runway 1), Chris March, who went deep into last season of PR, several Top Chef contestants from seasons past, and let’s not forget Ruben Studdard if we’re talking Idol. It’s definitely not where it should be, but I don’t think it’s a wasteland, and I can’t think of an example where the person’s fatness was directly referenced as a factor in their success, so this Mole example is pretty unique.
Oh my god, the Real World! Every season I hoped for a fat chick on that show. I actually interned for them for a summer; if I could go back in time I would storm into Bunim and Murray’s offices and demand that they represent.
And yes to Jay McCarroll and Chris March! I watch Rroject Runway, can’t believe I forgot about them.
Still no fat white women on the list, I notice. Is that weird?
I LOVE THE MOLE!! And this season of the Mole had not only a fat white woman, but an older woman too. Liz who was 60, was not stick thin like the other girls on the show. This is why I like the Mole, the contestants aren’t all the “beautiful” people. They’re normal people.
I don’t watch the show, but I thought the Amazing Race had a good variety in contestants, don’t they? Maybe I’m wrong since I don’t watch. The Mole is the only reality show I watch.
I totally watch the Amazing Race and they do have fat people of all races on there! What is wrong with me? Heh.
Interesting that the Real World would come up. My closest brush with fame was being called by an MTV producer in 1995 (after I won a national award) to ask me to audition for Real World because they were looking for a fat chick. I have no idea if they ended up with one or not since I’ve actually never watched the show.
The very first Real World had a fat girl on there. She was my favorite out of the group next to Julie, the Southern girl who was trying to make it as a dancer. New York will always be the best one for me because it was the first season, and they were trying to be groundbreaking and cast a variety of types, instead of the usual model-ready drunks, druggies, and sex addicts that they are obsessed with now.
If you are just thinking reality shows don’t forget all the overweight people on wifeswap/trading spouses/all the nanny shows.
Wow… and I missed this? I remember watching one season of The Mole a few years back, but have mostly been turned off by Reality TV (Big Brother, Survivor, etc). It’s nice to know someone with a little heft was the “background spotlight guy” the whole time.
What about Fat Mama who won on Who Wants to be a Superhero?
Oh der, I mean winning second place, but still.
There really ought to be a place where readers can submit new stories that may have potential interest to BFD. Example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7557028.stm
“Clumsy and poorly coordinated children could be at higher risk of obesity in later life, a study says.”
I just want to add another post for Eric from the Fresh Meat challenge. Yes in the final mission he collapsed from exhaustion, but he gave it his all and I was proud of him. Amazing Race was another good suggestion. They really run through people from all walks of life. Amazing. Also on the recently completed I Survived a Japanese Game Show, my favorite player was Andrew. He was an amazing competitor and only lost because he couldn’t change into women’s clothing as fast as a woman.
I watched The Mole and thought he was very clever turning that stereotype. People like fat men to be the clown, the friendly, harmless John Candy guy all too often. I wonder if a fat woman could have played it that way.
It bugs me that Biggest Loser doesn’t feature really big women. There are always super-size men, but they seem to want the women to be able to get down to a certain size during their time on the show.
Hey, Casting Agents, over here! Maybe someday my dream of becoming a Fat Reality TV star will come true!
My mom and I both LOVE “The Mole”! We didn’t really susupect Craig – we figured it was that annoying Nichole.
Do you count talent shows as reality shows? The woman who just won Nashville Star is big (she lost something like 70 pounds during the course of the show, but is still plus size) and America’s Got Talent (or whatever it’s called – the show with Sharon Osbourn as a judge) has had plenty of big contestants.
I LOVE The Mole. My fiancee got me all obsessed with it. I knew it was Craig since episode 4 or so. (And I’m SO happy that Mark won. He was so sweet.)
Um, I don’t watch reality tv really, so that’s about all I can contribute. :P
It may well be that, while there have been fat reality show contestants before, this was the first time fat’s been an issue in the outcome. (On The Amazing Race, there have been fat contestants who have complained about being out of shape, but that’s about not exercising rather than fat qua fat.) On a similar note, I’d love to see a fat athlete compete in a physical challenge on a reality show and watch everyone else’s heads go ‘splodey. “But wait.. she’s fat.. but she kicked my ass.. but she’s fat..” *BOOM*
Y’know, I keep hearing that Korto designs for plus-size women, but has this once been mentioned on the show? Or are they saving that up for a challenge like the “mom” challenge last season, where the designers were utterly baffled when asked to dress a fat body?
No, Korta designed something for a big drag queen. It was pretty fabulous… She likes to talk about designing for plus size clients, but she said something silly like “they want to look good, just like everybody else.” Yeah, who’d have thought?
I love how on project runway, if it was an insult to people’s clothes on the previous season, you can be sure that on the next season it will be a challenge. There was that time they told someone his dress looked like a prom dress and then next season had a prom dress challenge. I’m fairly sure last season they told someone his outfit looked drag-queeney. So I await a “halloween costume challenge” with bated breath, as “costume-y” seems to be the worst thing the judges can hurl at a designer.