LAST EDITED ON 01-17-03 AT 05:20 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON 01-17-03 AT 00:57 AM (EST)
hey, your Big Island Mole-watcher here... 
I have to agree with sittem that the hot lava challenge was awfully bogus, and even "vent" a little more on why.
First, they are on an island where lava is actually flowing at a point accessible to the public, but of course they won't take the celebs over there.
So instead, they stage lava at a location about as far as you can get on the island from the actual lava. They shoot in Puako, on top of an old lava flow (so that's real), and then they heat up portions with I don't know what, BBQ coals and lighter fluid?
Of course, Puako Bay does have one big production asset: it's about the closest shoreline north of the multi-million dollar resort the celebs are staying in. Poor things.
I wanted to share some pics of the actual lava flow, taken by me this September. You can see by the girl standing so close that you can get pretty near it, but the temp around it is furnace-like and the sulphur fumes are so intense you need to breathe through a hanky (or in my unprepared case, my sleeve).
And ROFLMAO at the idea you could walk on that black crust. It would eat your foot in a millisecond. An experienced photographer got too close this year, a new shelf collapsed on him and he fell into the flow. He was GONE in seconds.
They should have put a "don't try this at home kids" disclaimer on it.
Photos: (I apologize for the white frames. I cropped the photos so they wouldn't be too big and somehow didn't lose the borders. Sorry, don't have time to re-do! 
That stuff is HOT and it spits chunks without warning! I'm not really surprised they didn't do a real challenge with it, but it bugged me that they had to set up something so fake and not admit it was staged.
I didn't find it suspicious that Corbin couldn't fly in the bi-plane. They do have horrendous winds in Waimea that can come up really fast.
The Grave-digging scene
The Mole producers REALLY insulted the local beliefs with that challenge. I cannot overstate how incredibly sacred burial grounds are to the Hawaiians.
The Hawaiian court recently stopped a multi-million dollar development from progressing because the developers had failed to properly deal with the issue that there are bones on the land. Also, a major hotel in the same area near the Burial Grounds is slated to be razed to the ground because it was discovered to be an ancient burial site.
Lekeleke Burial Grounds are in the area they were filming;
Lekeleke Bay is where Erik jumped off the cliffs. I wonder if they staged the burial at Lekeleke Burial Grounds:
http://www.hawaiiweb.com/hawaii/html/sites/lekeleke_burial_grounds.html
it's hard to imagine they would have gotten permission to use the actual site and enact even a fake digging up of bones. The Hawaiians believe the ghost of the bones will be angry and haunt the person who disturbs their bones, and probably cause the person some very bad luck or death.
I was recently told a bunch of these stories by a perfectly modern young woman who works at Radio Shack, so it's not some superstition that only lives among the Elders.
Come to think of it, the show made light of the power of Pele, goddess of the volcano too. Pele is very vindictive.
Hmm, well now I see why the studio caught on fire and the tapes got flooded!
"your pattern is different than what it implies
the words may be true, but I realize--it isn't description so much as disguise"
Edited out typo: "deserves" their bones. Sheesh!
*waves at Roni and Asrai*
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