There’s a traitor in the midst of the 12 contestants competing for a giant pot of money in The Mole — but that’s kind of the point. The beloved reality competition, which ran for five seasons on ABC beginning in 2002 and was hosted by Anderson Cooper, returns as a reimagined version hosted by MSNBC anchor Alex Wagner.

The three-week event premieres Oct. 7, with new batches of episodes releasing each week until the identity of “the Mole” — someone secretly planted by producers to thwart the competition — is uncovered and someone takes home the cash. How much money the contestants earn depends on how well the Mole does their job sabotaging the challenges and lowering the amount of money in the jackpot. 

And though the series went off the air in the US years ago — the original Belgian version, De Mol, is still running — Wagner tells Tudum that she’s excited to follow in former host Cooper’s footsteps and introduce the show to a new generation. “The original Mole was a sort of seismic event in American television. It broke the mold,” she says. “There's every reason to watch the reboot because I think the concept of the show is ever more resonant today. We have refreshed a lot of the elements to make them even more compelling than the original — and that was pretty damn compelling.”

'The Mole' Host Alex Wagner Interview

In Tudum’s exclusive interview with the host, she also reveals what kind of person she thinks will do well on the series, which is all about trust. That’s “a person who is deeply in touch with their own emotional convictions,” she says. “Even if you know you're lying to the rest of the group, you've got to sort of believe in your own lie.”

Her own strategy, if she were playing? “Kill them with kindness."

Find out just how this high-stakes competition series has been refreshed when the first batch of episodes drops Oct. 7.