SPOILER ALERT:This post contains spoilers from the Season 2 finale of “The Mole,” now streaming on Netflix.
For those who questioned whether Netflix’s revival of “The Mole” would actually choose the retired undercover cop to be the titular saboteur, we finally have our answer.
In the Season 2 finale of the reality competition series, Sean Patrick Bryan, who identified himself simply as a stay-at-home dad (strategically omitting the undercover cop part), was unmasked as the Mole. It wasn’t the biggest surprise, especially after the group sacrificed thousands of dollars in prize money in Episode 4 to listen to each other’s audition tapes for clues. Several people chose Bryan’s, in which he revealed his former profession, raising suspicions of himself even further.
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But Michael O’Brien had already caught onto Bryan’s subterfuge by then, and he stuck to his gut until the bitter end when he claimed the prize pot of $154,000 over fellow finalist Muna Abdulahi.
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“When I went all in on Sean, I never really changed it, because I knew I needed to commit to it — right or wrong,” O’Brien tells Variety in a joint interview with Bryan. “The second I think about someone else, I knew I would start doubting myself. I lived or died with Sean being the Mole.”
The two men reunite to talk to Variety about just how early O’Brien settled on Bryan as his target, which ousted castmates had the best chance of making it to the end, and that tense final four challenge.
Sean, now that you can talk about it, is it hard to be the Mole? What was the most challenging sabotage you had to orchestrate?
Sean Patrick Bryan: It’s stressful as shit! The first two weeks, I was so stressed out of my mind that I was questioning like, why did I do this? Why did I accept this? It is gut-wrenching, because you are doing double the work. You are trying to play the game as a player, but still be the Mole and sabotage. The first two challenges were the hardest, because I was still trying to get a feel for the players. I didn’t know personalities, or what I could get away with. The first two were also a complete failure. I didn’t do my job right because they put money in the pot!
But after I got a feel of who I could align with, who I could trust and who I knew wouldn’t think I was the Mole, then I started playing a little bit more. I became so locked in, and said, “No more money in the pot. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to ruin lives, and upset these people and their relationships.”
You had to have some type of strategy going in though, right?
Bryan: My strategy, even in speaking with the producers, was that I can’t have a hard-and-fast strategy without knowing the pieces in the game. I didn’t know who I was playing against. Of course, I took notes from Kesi [Neblett] last season, of the things to do and not to do as the Mole. I really didn’t want to be detected at all by the viewer.
My goal was the viewer. I knew these guys were going to be on my tail, and figure out I was the Mole after a while. But for the viewer, I wanted to do so many subtle sabotages behind the scenes to make it flow better at home. That was my strategy. And of course, to find guys like Michael, who were willing to be the shield by doing their own sabotage that I could hide behind.
Michael, you pretty quickly identified Sean as the potential Mole. Was there a moment that cemented it for you?
Michael O’Brien: It wasn’t necessarily what Sean did, but what everybody else around him was doing. I was all in on Sean on the second quiz, which is really ballsy. I kind of, just by process of elimination, realized he was the only one it could be. Plus, the first two missions were so exhausting, so I figured if I went all in on him then I was either going home having enjoyed a vacation in Malaysia, or I was winning it all at the end because I had figured it out.
But my own game plan was to act like the Mole, even if I wasn’t the Mole. In the first few episodes, I think you see I was flying under the radar doing enough to be suspicious, but not obvious. Then, as soon as I figured out it was Sean — or I thought it was — my game play changed, and I knew I needed to block Sean’s sabotage if I saw it. So a lot of the time, it might look obvious. But that’s because people saw what I did, not what Sean did. I think almost everybody except one person voted for me at least one time on the quiz, and I stand by how I played because I got to the end — and I won. No one knew what I was going to do next, and that’s how I wanted to play.
Bryan: And that actually complemented my game, because no one was detecting me because it was a lot on him. So, it kind of worked perfectly. He’s at the forefront doing all these sabotages, and I’m doing my own behind the scenes. It was beautiful.
Do you know that one person that didn’t vote for you, Michael?
O’Brien: Yes, it was Muna. From day one, me and Muna had an alliance. An alliance in the sense that we were working together, but we never shared information. Whenever we got the chance, we threw sabotage and suspicion on the other person. I knew if I was going to make it to the end, Muna was likely going to be right next to me. And if I lost, I was 100% OK with Muna beating me, because she played such a great game.
From Tony’s elimination on, I started focusing on one person to get them eliminated to get me further in the game. But it was also to get the people further who I was closest with, that I thought were playing the best game and that I could be proud of if they beat me. Like Ryan would have won this game. But I purposefully chose to be with her in the cave and the wire mission to throw her off. I know she was going almost all in on Sean as well. But I was able to confuse her so much that she switched her answers and went home. So people may not see me put money in the pot, but that wasn’t my strategy. It was to eliminate each person and get to the end.
Sean, did it help or hinder you to have someone like Michael so aggressively acting like his own self-appointed Mole?
Bryan: Honestly, there were times I thought there were two Moles and the producers just hadn’t told me! But when those moments were happening, I was getting a pass. I could just sit back and let them sabotage each other. They were making my job so easy at times.
To deflect suspicion from yourself, you spoke frequently about how you were a stay-at-home dad whose wife went back to school, and is now the breadwinner. How did your wife feel about being your sympathy strategy?
Bryan: Well, it’s all fact. I definitely needed money, and I figured I could play on the real events of my life. And she loves it! She is the sole provider of our household; I have nothing but crazy respect for her, and I wanted her to have her due. I take care of the house, I cook and clean, and get the kids to baseball practice. But she is the one busting her ass every day. So yeah, all those comments about me mooching off her, that is real life. I was mentally playing off what I know.
O’Brien: I have had the opportunity to meet his wife and family now, and they are definitely proud of him.
Bryan: My family is all liars, they are playing “The Mole” just like we were!
Perhaps the most entertaining challenge this season was the final four museum heist, because it gets very heated. Was that real frustration or was it all for show?
Bryan: The minute Michael wanted to put that harness on and be in the middle of the museum, I knew this was going to be great TV, and we weren’t going to win a dollar. This is what I wanted! The minute this beautiful body got in this harness, I loved it.
O’Brien: I knew Sean would be all about it, because why would we put the biggest man up there? No one is going to be able to [move me] over those lasers, and I knew just me being up there was sabotage. Everybody was kind of trying at one point, but every single one of us was trying to sabotage as well. It was just so comical how bad we were. I was almost in tears from laughing. The crew couldn’t look at us.
Bryan: But be honest, were you getting upset a little bit too?
O’Brien: Oh, at the very end, it was real. When I threw that vase, I had been up there for an hour. I was losing feeling in my legs, we weren’t getting anywhere and then the three of you just started outright arguing about sabotage. I was just so done at that point. I threw the vase and said, “F everyone.”
Bryan: God, I love that challenge!
Sean, did you ever worry someone else was onto you like Michael was?
Bryan: A hundred percent. I knew Ryan was on to me for a minute. I could just tell by her body language. She was very quiet toward me, but always wanted to work with me. I purposefully avoid her in a lot of missions to keep her at bay.
On the other hand, Michael, did you ever have any doubts about Sean being the Mole?
O’Brien: Sometimes I thought I was the Mole! But you know, I second guess myself in my everyday life. It is a big issue of mine. So I went into this game saying that I was going with my gut feeling, and I wasn’t going to second guess it. When I went all in on Sean, I never really changed it, because I knew I needed to commit to it right or wrong. The second I think about someone else, I would start doubting myself. I lived or died with Sean being the Mole. I didn’t let anyone else get in my head, or I would have done what Deanna or Ryan did. They second guessed it, and they spread their quiz answers too far across multiple people.
Sure, being the Mole is fun and all. But was there ever a time you were envious of the players who weren’t having to do the dirty work, Sean?
Bryan: Yeah, because I was the only one trying to break up the team. That’s not my natural role in life. I do like to coach and be the leader. Not to the extent that Neesh [Riaz] likes to be the leader. But yeah, it was tough. They had this team built, and I was just faking it. I wanted to be part of the team!
It doesn’t seem like there is any animosity between the two of you now, despite all the deception.
O’Brien: Oh no, he’s stuck with me for life now. I have told him that. At the end, he told me that even though we were going at each other at times, he really liked me. And I said, “Well good because you can’t get rid of me now, Sean.”
This interview has been edited and condensed.
