'The Mole' Has Returned on Netflix — How Much Does the Mole Get Paid for Fooling People?

After fourteen years off the air, The Mole returned on Netflix. The series initially premiered back in 2001 and has previously been plagued by hiatuses for its initial five season-run. Now, the reality show competition returns for an all-new season of completing assignments, deliberation, and sabotage. It's kinda like Among Us, except on Earth. More specifically, a tropical location for any given season. And of course, there's a cash prize involved.

But while 11 players are initially trying to make the cash prize as big as possible, there's one titular "Mole" trying to ruin it for everyone else. Suspicion and scandal begin mounting as the game stretches on, all while the Mole tries to make sure they can get away with mischief.

The real players may be trying to cash in at the end, but does the Mole get paid for tricking everyone on The Mole? Viewers have questions.

The show follows 12 real-life contestants. Their job is to complete several assignments in order to earn money for the group pot at the end. However, one of the 12 is a Mole installed in the group to sabotage the rest of the team. If the Mole plays their cards right, the team could easily lose out on several thousand dollars.

Throughout the game, players can take a multiple-choice test to see who knows the most about the Mole based on past events.

Players with the lowest score during each test are eliminated from the competition. The real player left standing wins whatever is in the pot.

Interestingly enough, however, the Mole isn't playing for the pot. After all, their job is to make sure that money doesn't go into the cash prize in order to ruin it for everyone else. They don't necessarily win that cash at the end for fooling everyone, which has led many fans to ask how much the Mole is paid.

In fact, this question has existed since the show's premiere back in 2001. During the first season, a fan asked on The Straight Dope Message Board what the first Mole — Kathryn Price — got paid for fooling everyone. One user replied, stating that she got paid "a fixed amount" of money for sabotaging the other players.

A user on a 2021 Reddit post echoed this theory, stating that they're still being paid for deceiving the other contestants.

"I don't think it's even been stated if they got paid based [on] how well they messed up the tasks," they commented. "But they're getting paid probably more than the regular contestants are going to win in the end."

It stands to reason that each contestant gets paid something simply for appearing on the show, even if they don't win. On other reality competitions like Survivor, contestants get paid different sums depending on how long they are able to stay on the show.

Though no cash amounts have ever been revealed on The Mole, contestants probably earn something for competing well. And since the Mole gets to stay on for the whole season, they probably get paid the big bucks.

Watch The Mole on Netflix.