You know Ari Shapiro’s voice from his work on NPR. Now, we’re seeing much more of him in Netflix’s second season of The Mole. Earlier this year, Netflix confirmed that he would be hosting Season 7 of the competition reality show, and Ari just teased how the cast brought something all-new to the franchise.
Ari knows a thing or two about casting on The Mole. Nearly 20 years ago, he actually auditioned to be a contestant. That didn’t go anywhere, but life has a funny way of coming full circle. He’s now following in the footsteps of Anderson Cooper, Ahmad Rashad, and Alex Wagner by serving as the host.
The Mole Season 7’s praiseworthy cast
Ari spoke to Us Weekly about the new season, and it’s clear that he’s super excited about finally being a part of the show. During the conversation, he praised Netflix for pulling together a “diverse” cast, where everyone brought something unique to the table.
Ari explained, “I say diverse not in the simplistic meaning of the word. I mean it in every sense of the word.”
“So each person is there for a reason. Whether it’s because they’re good at puzzle solving or physical challenges,” he continued. “But they’re all very, very different from one another in age, body type, background, occupation, politics, and race. That was really exciting to see how the 12 of them work together.”
One thing that all of the contestants did have in common was their enthusiasm for the game. As each person got eliminated, Ari said they all expressed disappointment about missing out on more of the experience. They filmed the season in Malaysia, so Ari teased locales of “tropical islands, caves, and skyscrapers.” No one wanted to miss out on any of that.
“The contestants who got eliminated would tell me as I was walking them to the car, ‘I’m really bummed that I’m not going to get a chance to see what comes next,’” Ari recalled. “Because each episode of the show is in a different location because the missions were over the top extraordinary, everybody really wanted to see what comes next.”
Ari explained that he’s grateful to be on the hosting side because now, he doesn’t have to worry about getting eliminated. He had a front-row seat to all ten episodes. Sounds like a good gig for a superfan!
Season 7 of The Mole is streaming on Netflix with new episodes dropping every Friday.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CAST OF SEASON 7 OF THE MOLE? DO YOU THINK ARI MAKES A GOOD HOST FOR THE SHOW?
