WIDM aftertalk: even with prior knowledge you are not safe

There are a number of well-known WIDM statements that come back every year: ‘follow the money’ and ‘knowledge is power’. And the latter ensures that the participants, but also we at home, try to remember every detail a bit obsessively. The Mole always has an advantage in this, as they know exactly which tasks are coming. Those who are lucky can sometimes earn some extra information as a candidate. But as nice as it is to be able to make a plan of what you are going to do and what you are going to pay attention to, prior knowledge is not a free pass. You can just check in at the elimination hotel with your well-thought-out tactic.

Looking for paparazzi

It's a party in Cambodia, Roos is celebrating her birthday and is joyfully sung to by her fellow candidates and the local population. The beautiful Angkor Wat is of course not a bad place to celebrate your birthday. But back to business: Rik reminds everyone of the facts; they are not paying as much attention as they think. A photo of the group has been taken and they now have to discover which of the eight local paparazzi it was. Spread across the temple complex are ‘tourists’ with hints to the right photographer. Based on selfies, the candidates must figure out where they can find these people. To make it even a bit harder, the hints are in Khmer, the Cambodian language, and must first be translated. While everyone is busy, things are going a bit more slowly for Roos and Sophie. Here and there a discussion about where they should go exactly, and who keeps putting that phone on airplane mode? You would think that after almost ten years, Ellie’s discipline with the radio would be good by now; but unfortunately, those radios remain a bit of a problem. While Roos is distracted by a group of monkeys and Stijn by a handsome local, the group manages to gather quite a few hints. Sam, meanwhile, is diving deeper into his Sophie tunnel; he does not believe at all that she is playing honestly. After another attempt by Maaike to sow some confusion, the right photographer is finally pointed out. With the full €2000,- added to the pot, it is one of the few tasks that really succeeds. Well, the Mole can't always win.

Plenty of cheating

The Mole was not the only one in this episode with a free pass to not play honestly. In a quiz, Stijn, Sophie, and Sam get questions about previous WIDM seasons. Each correct answer earns €100,-. If they don't know something, they can press a button to fall back on Maaike, Nora, and Roos. If they can't answer either, there is still a group of Molloten ready. This does mean that no money is earned anymore. This task also has a second layer: the three quizzers must not show when they ask for help. The candidate who can best assess who is playing on their own strength gets a mysterious trump card. To be fair, even for seasoned fans, some questions were quite tough. So it's not surprising that the help button was pressed quite often. Of the total thirteen questions, only two were answered immediately. With a meager €200,-, the Mole quickly made up for the morning's slip-up. Sam sees through his fellow candidates the best, but he and his duo partner Roos will still have to wait a bit for their prize.

A small lead

The game of WIDM actually goes on 24/7: the candidates keep an eye on each other continuously, and that is quite exhausting. The group could certainly use a good massage, and that just happens to be an important part of Cambodian culture. But such a moment of complete relaxation doesn't really fit into the program, does it? There must be more going on, right? Maaike and Stijn find it hard to let go of this idea, and really enjoying themselves is not possible. This moment turns out to be not entirely innocent either; Roos and Sam just now get their trump card: prior knowledge about the notorious task at the abandoned airport AND Ray's tablet. If they manage to smuggle this, they will get to see the videos in which everyone heard their ‘role’ in the game. The rest of the group doesn't really have time to interrogate the two, it's time for the test. And again it is proven, watch out for tunnel vision. Sam's complete focus on Sophie gives him a red screen. The prior knowledge for the next task could no longer help him. The same goes for the tips from his father Pieter Jan Hagens, who presented the show for four years. In the next episode, it will finally be time for THE airport task that has been talked about for weeks, and we will see who gets that valuable information. Another extra to look forward to: in honor of the 25th anniversary, we can enjoy another extra season in Portugal. In Rik's words: “It promises to be an adventure full of surprises and echoes from our rich past.” Already looking forward to it.