Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Reality series “The Mole,” which began on ABC in 2001 and then got revived by Netflix two years ago, introduces a Pittsburgh contestant in the show’s second season on Netflix.

Now streaming its first five episodes — three more episodes stream July 5, and the final two debut July 12 — “The Mole” features 12 players, 11 of whom are trying to add money to a jackpot that only one person wins in the end, but one player has secretly been designated “The Mole” and tasked with sabotaging the group’s efforts.

“Is it sabotage or weapon­ized incompetence?” one player wonders aloud, considering if a competitor could be “The Mole” in the new season.

Quaylyn “Q” Carter, a 2001 Woodland Hills High School grad who lives in Monroe­ville and drives a bus for the Port Authority, became a fan of “The Mole” during its first Netflix season and applied to be on Season 2.

“I saw they were doing casting around February or March (2023), and I said, ‘I could do that,’ so I applied and totally forgot about it,” said Carter, 42, who earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Seton Hill University and worked as a corrections officer in North Carolina before returning home to Pittsburgh in 2014.

Months after submitting himself to “The Mole” producers, Carter got a call and started a round of auditions, ultimately landing on the season that filmed in Malaysia in July 2023. (He took a leave of absence from the Port Authority with the organization’s support.)

“When you’re from Pittsburgh, there’s a whole lotta world out there,” Carter says in the season premiere.

Carter proves to be a high-energy, outgoing, likable contestant, at one point exhorting his fellow players, “You come on the show to win money, not to lose money!”

He never even thought about applying to be on a reality competition series until “The Mole.”

“I like the competitiveness of the show,” Carter said. “It’s weird to say you have to work together, but you’re not working together because, at the end of the day, you’re trying to win the pot (of money).”

Carter said other than rewatching Season 1 and staying in shape for the physical challenges, it’s hard to prepare in advance for “The Mole,” which has a new host this season in Ari Shapiro of NPR, replacing last season’s Alex Wagner.

“You can try to take bits from the last season, but mostly you’re trying to put your own spin on it, getting your observations together,” Carter said. “I was preparing for trying to be observant if I was or if I wasn’t the mole.”

Carter said the biggest challenge during filming was staying mentally focused.

“Being on a reality show like that is draining,” he said. “Sometimes we’re filming for 11 or 12 hours. You had to be on your game at all times.”

Carter plans to celebrate the show’s premiere with a watch party for family and close friends.

“I can’t believe this Friday I get a chance to see myself on Netflix,” he said. “What hurts a little is my mother passed away two years ago. She always said, ‘Boy, you need to be on TV, you’re a character,’ and I finally got a chance and she didn’t get to see it. But it’s a blessing still. I’m doing what my mom believed in me to do.”

So far, Carter hasn’t told any of his bus riders about his “Mole” adventure.

“I’m hoping one day I’m driving and they say, ‘Hey, you’re so-and-so from “The Mole”!’ I’m definitely taking this all in,” he said. “I’m not a superstar, but I feel like a little one.”

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