What to Know About 'The Mole' Host Ari Shapiro, Including His 'Traitors' Connection
The hilarious host said his 'Traitors' BFF advised him to "wear lots of kilts and tartan" on 'The Mole.'
Published June 27 2024, 5:54 p.m. ET
Season 2 of Netflix's The Mole is finally underway, and fans have been waiting to see how 12 strangers will react to the intense quizzes that occur on the popular game show. The new contestants will face a new series of challenges throughout the season, and, according to the show's description, "all players must keep tabs on the people around them and test their intuition in periodic quizzes about the Mole’s identity: Whoever scores the lowest is eliminated."
The show's premise for Season 2 will be similar to Season 1 and the ABC show before it. However, the sophomore season has a new host, and sorry to OG Mole fans, but it's not Anderson Cooper. Instead, Netflix hired radio personality Ari Shapiro to replace the previous host, Alex Wagner.
The Mole is Ari's TV debut. Although he is new to showing his face on the show, he has a breakout Peacock star on speed dial.
Keep reading to learn about Ari's Traitors connection and what else we learned about the blossoming reality star.
'The Mole' Season 2 host Ari Shapiro is BFFs with 'The Traitors' star Alan Cumming.
Many might not recognize Ari's face, but his voice may sound familiar. He's currently the host of NPR's All Things Considered and has been with the radio giant since 2015. He became the first reporter to be hired in at NPR under the age of 30. When he's not being living history, Ari writes and is the author his New York Times Bestseller, The Best Strangers in the World.
Ari has made multiple celebrity connections during his 15-plus years in the music biz. However, his relationship with actor and The Traitors host Alan Cumming means everything to The Mole newbie. The pair met through a mutual friend when Alan was doing Broadway. Alan told 90.5 WESA's Priyanka Tewari on Morning Edition that they connected after Ari interviewed him several times. Today, the two are closer than ever and have a cabaret band together called Pink Martini.
The hilarious Traitors host also advised his BFF when Ari booked his hosting gig, though he admittedly didn't take it.
"His tips included wear lots of kilts and tartan, find a castle, and say 'murder' as often as you can," he shared with Entertainment Weekly in May 2024. "And I graciously accepted the advice and then went in my own direction."
Ari Shapiro has been married to his husband, Mike Gottlieb, since 2004.
You should always have good friends and a good partner in your corner, and Ari seems to have both. In addition to a solid bond with Alan, he also has a supportive husband named Michael "Mike" Gottlieb. The pair married in 2004 in San Francisco, Calif. during a time when same-sex marriage wasn't yet legal in all 50 U.S. states.
"On February 27, 2004, a woman at San Francisco City Hall took our wedding license fee and handed us a pamphlet on avoiding unwanted pregnancies," Ari shared in his 20th anniversary post to Mike. "It was city policy, she explained with a shrug. Well, she must have done something right because 20 years later, we haven’t accidentally gotten pregnant even once. Happy anniversary to my husband (who isn’t on social media but really does exist, I promise)!"
While the name might sound familiar, Ari confirmed on X, formerly Twitter in 2016 that his husband Florida House of Representatives Member Mike Gottlieb and said the two just happen to have the same name. The Mole star's hubby actualy works as a Managing Partner of Research at Penta Research and has worked for both President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama's administrations.
The Mole Season 2 airs on Netflix on June 28, 2024. Season 1 is available to watch on the streamer.