Reference Mathematics Today at 18:22:
I fail to see the difference between Dave calling Mario Mole, to the housemates calling Steve Baron, or housemates calling Corin Coz, or housemates calling Ben Bento, etc. They are all just nicknames that stuck, no matter how much people read into them.
Well... "The Baron" could have been considered offensive, as it was originally a reference to Steve's appearance (i.e. he looked like Baron Greenback), but Steve reclaimed the nickname for himself. (I seriously doubt the other HMs would continue to use the nickname if Steve wasn't happy about it...
)
As far as Dave calling Mario Mole is concerned: IMO, its really about how he says it. Maybe, just maybe, I'm allowing my dislike for Dave to colour things, but I rarely see any of his "jokey" comments as being
just light-hearted - there always seems to be some barb hidden inside them. However, I tend to disagree with watcher1: I personally think that Dave keeps referring to "The Mole" to keep reminding other HMs that Mario has previously deceived them, and therefore imply that he still cannot be trusted. (Dave has alluded to this more explicitly on several occasions).
TBF, though, I think some of the other nicknames used in the house aren't all that innocent either: For example, I always felt that Nathan's constant references to Ben as "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (or rather again, the
way he would say it) had more than a touch of "Class War" about them...