Too bad Anderson missed the Best Reality Show Host category

I am so happy The Mole is back. SO happy. It's kind of hard to believe that it's back at all; I mean, it last aired something like 4 years ago. Sure, it doesn't have Anderson Cooper hosting, but the new guy doesn't seem too bad. (Of course, I don't have the antipathy toward Ahmad Rashad--who hosted the celebrity editions--that a lot of other people seem to have.) I mean, check out this quote from his blog:

One of my all-time favorite comments so far? That Anderson Cooper and I actually resemble each other! No joke. One guy even wrote that we must be, "brothers from another mother." That is CLASSIC! For those of you who might get us mixed up, I’ll help you out with a little hint: if you look very closely, I have a small freckle under my right eye. He doesn’t. So as long as you stay aware of that, you should be good.
Oh, and I’m black.

For the record, I, like many of you, thoroughly enjoyed watching Anderson Cooper lead the way through season’s 1 & 2. He’s smart, funny, talented and I dig his style. Cooper no question was an important thread and a solid part of the show’s appeal. Knowing he held the reigns to this hosting position before I did, made this role even more appealing.

It's just a good show. Part of the appeal is that, unlike the vast majority of reality shows out there, the audience isn't involved in who stays and who goes. Like The Amazing Race, people get booted because of how they're playing the game.

And what a game. Physical challenges, mental challenges, combinations...and then there are the bizarro challenges. Man, what I would give to see the "Tiny Bubbles" game from Season 2. (Why do you let me down, YouTube???)

It does seem that the contestants are a bit more obnoxious than I remember them being in the first two seasons (I'm looking at you, Nicole and Paul, and don't get too comfortable there, Mark). But it may be that I just don't remember; maybe I should snatch the first season DVDs off my Amazon wishlist. (It's only $14!)

Who do I think is the Mole? Got me. I'm quite bad at this. It seems like a lot of people are going with Clay, and I've seen good arguments for Craig. Give me a few weeks and maybe I'll have a firmer notion; right now I'm really just rooting for Paul to get executed.

Hmm. Maybe audience voting isn't such a bad thing.