An Interview with Mole 2's Winner, Dorothy Hui

The date was April 21, 2001. It was a warm day in New York as I waited on a line, leading up to auditions for the second season of The Mole After watching a season of ABC's entry into the reality show genre, I knew this was the show I had to go on. Forget getting stuck on a desolate wasteland or in a house of nutcases. I'd go to Europe, solve puzzles, stay in posh hotels, and have a good time.

I waited on line for my shot. I got hassled by some bum who felt superior to me because he wore a Yankees jacket. I engaged in inane chatter with some of the people on line. One of these people was a young woman. She was a musician, singing a little while we waited. She also had griped about the lack of Asians on reality television shows. After an hours-long wait (interrupted by a quick bite to eat and a jaunt to a nearby arcade), I got interviewed. After ninety seconds, I went home, thus ending my experience.

October. The fourteen contestants for The Mole 2: The Next Betrayal were announced. In the mix was an Asian-American musician from New York named Dorothy. Could it be the same person? Sadly, ABC shelves the series after three episodes, due to poor ratings.

June. ABC decided to start running the new episodes. I find that Dorothy was in a band, Dimestore Scenario, where she played bass guitar and was a backup vocalist. They were playing Le Bar Bat in New York, and I had to find out if she was the one who I saw on line. Not that the question consumed me all this time - I just found it funny that somebody on the same line as me made it to the show. And yes, it was her. I tried to stay out of fanboy mode, not pumping her for inside information on the show. But I did ask if I could interview her, and she was okay with that. That was two days after the fifth episode, the one where Rob Nelson was executed.

August. A Starbucks in Greenwich Village, fifteen months after the audition, roughly 50 blocks from the Hard Rock. It had been two days after the final episode aired, where Dorothy Hui was revealed as the winner of a $636,000 pot. I talked to her about the show, her group, and her future.

RealityNewsOnline: What was the process in getting on the show?

Dorothy: Actually, my roommate was pretty hot on trying out for The Mole, and I decided to tag along with her. When I first went out to audition, I just thought, "Oh, I'll have a good time and it'll be fun." I never thought I'd get on the show. [Laughs]

I was speaking to people on line in front of me about the band, and I mentioned I had a rehearsal later that day. Since things kept running really late and they kept pushing our line farther and farther back, I kept wanting to get out of the line because I felt responsible for my band members to make the rehearsal, and everybody was saying, "Oh, you should stay, you should stay. Just wait five more minutes and you're going to thank us when you get on the show," and I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm not going to get on the show." When we got into the holding room the get our first round of interviews, I was [saying], "Okay, I'm leaving this room. I need to get to rehearsal. My bandmates are going to be so pissed at me." One of the women in front of me [said], "Oh, ask all these people if you can cut them." So I ended up asking the people in front of me if I could cut and I did, and they were right… now I have a really funny story.

RNO: All I really remember from my experience was getting a ninety-second interview. Not that I'm bitter.

Dorothy: My first round was thirty seconds. (Laughs) It was mostly why would you want to be on The Mole, would you make a good Mole, and why would you make a good Mole. They called me back the next day and recorded the second interview. They basically made an audition tape for us. They asked a bunch of questions about what I do, my band, what it was like growing up in Middletown.