WIDM aftertalk: who actually doesn't lie?

What makes the search for the Mole perhaps the most difficult is that everything can go two ways. A striking action can deliberately be a mole move, but it can also just be a candidate who wants to seem suspicious. If we have learned anything from the last few seasons, it is that hints are often quite well hidden nowadays. Can we immediately dismiss everything that is too obvious? Well, that constant heads or tails game at least helps us to avoid jumping too early on one potential saboteur. And this year's group is even taking it a step further: just all lying seems to be a bit of their strategy.

Lies, lies, lies

Now that the group is a week in, the first alliances are starting to form. To balance out the close bond between Stijn and Bridget a bit, Ray, Sam, and Sophie join forces. But the trust between these three musketeers is immediately put to the test. Task one of this episode is centered around a lie detector, a powerful weapon in the WIDM world. Ray and Sophie conduct the interrogation with Roos, Maaike, and their buddy Sam. The other candidates have to play a haunted house where they can freely answer questions by pressing buttons and earn money. One small addition: every sound they make can wake up the ‘blind bad guys’ with their lasers. If the candidates get hit, it means minus money. For Bridget, this whole task is a real nightmare, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to be in her shoes either. While Nora moves through the haunted house without a drop of fear sweat, Stijn and Bridget are having a bit more trouble with it. Their hard-earned money is effortlessly lost due to their fright reactions. But yes, they can blame it all on the fact that it was just very scary. A great position for a Mole, you would think. Meanwhile, it seems there is one common tactic with the lie detector: create chaos and lie a lot. By deliberately sharing false information and giving convoluted answers, the interrogated try to play the detector. That seems to be working quite well. I doubt whether Ray and Sophie have become any wiser from this; and with a meager yield of €250,- the task is not necessarily a success for the group. Once everyone is back together, the questioning can begin. Although it seems no one really wants to give much away.

An innocent snack

Sometimes there are tasks that make you forget for a moment that you need to pay attention to who is trying to sabotage things. The candidates who, like true Oprah Winfreys, are handing out ice creams to local children is just very cute. You get an ice cream and you get an ice cream. But okay, back to business and refocus on our search. While Sam and Sophie, as team captains, play a game of snakes & ladders, the rest happily works on making the slushies. The more colorants they use, the more money is earned. However, the team leaders still need to free those syrups with general knowledge questions. Of course, there is again a catch: whoever reaches the end of the board game first gets a joker; as long as your team has earned the highest amount. Sam seems to be struggling with all the questions, something that causes quite a bit of surprise in the group due to his work as a journalist. In his team, Nora and Maaike are trying to make the best of it, while Bridget mainly complains about how others are sabotaging. When she finally gets to catch a balloon with syrup, half of it is already lost, and the yield remains a bit meager. Although Roos in the other team seems to be struggling with the same ‘problem’. With €330,- for the pot and a joker for Sophie, the task seems to have gone well. Although the captains only realize at the end that by stretching their game a bit more, they could have earned even more money. Blinded by that oh so necessary joker, or a conscious choice?

A test with a twist

Anyone who thought that after last week's special test we would obediently crawl back behind the tablets has it wrong: this time the test was also hidden in a task. In a still life of a birthday setting, the candidates had to change four details in pairs to make the picture correct. If they succeed within the time, they earn money for the pot and can start the twenty questions earlier. Especially Roos has one clear plan: they are going to mess things up a bit, they need to start that test as soon as possible. In the other pairs, things go a bit more slowly. Important details are overlooked, whether intentionally or not. Ray chooses to do absolutely nothing, a self-imposed ‘black-out’. He dares to take the test with less time. WIDM is a game in which you sometimes have to take a gamble, but this can also go two ways. Ray has to pay the highest price for his decision; he gets the red screen. His elimination immediately points us to a special pattern: everyone who shares a room with Sam or starts an alliance ends up getting eliminated. Does he manipulate his fellow players like this? It is to be hoped that Sophie realizes this in time, although she might be a bit safer at the top of Sam's suspect list. Before we set aside our Mole notebook for this week, we write one question in capital letters: what does Ray's departure mean for the information from the mysterious tablet? To be continued.