The Mole (Australia season 5)

Infobox tvseason
season_name = The Mole: The Amazing Game


caption =
show_name = "The Mole"
dvd_release_date =
dvd_format =
country = AUS
network = Seven
first_aired = August 25, 2005
last_aired = October 28, 2005 [http://www.tv.com/the-mole-australia/show/3545/episode_listings.html?season=0&tag=season_dropdown%3Bdropdown]
num_episodes = 10
prev_season = "The Mole in Paradise"
prev_series =
next_season =
next_series =

The fifth season of the Australian version of "The Mole", subtitled "The Amazing Game", took place in New Zealand and was hosted by Tom Williams.

how Details

The announced maximum pot for the season was $500,000, though the absolute maximum was slightly more than that. The final group pot was $203,000. This season featured a slightly different format from other seasons, in that the challenges took place over a weekend in New Zealand, and afterward, the players were flown in to a studio in Sydney for a live quiz and elimination. This also meant that the seclusion of the players, normally a standard feature of "The Mole", was broken, as the players were able to talk to friends and family while in Sydney, watch the produced episode, and even check the internet for clues.

Additionally, it was revealed at the beginning of the series that if the Mole went unidentified over the course of the series, they would win all the money that was kept from the group pot.

Williams was brought on to host the show because popular previous host Grant Bowler was unavailable due to a prior commitment.

Contestants

Over 4,000 people auditioned to be on the show. [http://www.elitestv.com/discus/messages/8346/25434.html?1141233676] These are the twelve who were chosen:

Avalanche: The players met up for the first time on a snowy mountaintop in Queenstown, New Zealand. They were split into three groups of four and were given thirty minutes to find three avalanche beacons that had been hidden in the snow, to the north, east, and west of their starting position. Each group was given shovels and a receiver that would beep if it was within 40 meters of the beacon. The groups sent to the north and to the east found what they were looking for quickly - the group sent to the north found the beacon itself, while the group sent to the east found a locked black case. Upon returning to the starting position, they found that the north group's beacon had a dogtag on it that revealed the combination to one of the locks. Kristy, Heidi, Sonya, and John, sent to the west, initially went in the wrong direction and returned with their beacon with mere seconds on the clock. The group unlocked the black case in time, but what they found inside it was a second locked case. The host revealed that he had the key to that case, and to obtain it, nine of the players would have to spend the night in a snow cave. The three who were spared were Liz, Heidi, and Kristy. The other nine were told that if anyone asked to leave the snow cave, they could, but the money for the challenge would then be lost. All nine of them stayed the night in the snow cave, and the $25,000 was won.

Rungway: The players met up at the bottom of a hill with rungs attached to it. They were told to split into two groups of six, one group who would take an easier climb to the top of the hill, and one who would take a harder climb. Along both climbs were several envelopes with letters in them, to be used as part of an anagram puzzle on a board at the bottom of the hill. There were clues, of increasing obviousness, on the board that could be uncovered for $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000 from the pot. They were told to retrieve the envelopes and not open them till they were back at the bottom of the hill, and to not unhook their carabiners from the line, or incur a $5,000 penalty. The group doing the easy climb followed the directions and retrieved their letters quickly, but the group doing the hard climb all climbed up the hill right past the letters and had to go back down to retrieve them, back up to the top again, and then finally back down to the bottom of the hill. After the group bought the $5,000 clue, "He is still alive," Liane from the team doing the easily climb solved the anagram before the team that had done the hard climb even returned to the starting position, getting the answer of Edmund Hillary. Along with the $5,000 price of the clue, Liz was revealed to have unhooked her carabiner on the hill, costing another $5,000.

Episode 2

Election: On the plane trip back, the players were informed that New Zealand was shortly to have a national election and that their next assignment was to land in Wellington, New Zealand's capital, to obtain 100 signatures of New Zealanders on a petition stating that New Zealand should give up its independence and become the seventh state of Australia. They split into three groups, with each using a different means to get the word out. After their advertisements had been out for a short while, each group was given two hours in downtown Wellington to actually collect, among them all, the 100 signatures. They were told that each person must know precisely what they were signing if the signature was to count. The host waited for them at the Beehive. After the groups reunited, very shortly prior to the deadline, it was determined that Craig, Heidi, and Liane had bent the rules in obtaining their signatures, and very few of them counted toward the necessary total of 100. The group wound up surpassing that total anyway, however, winning the $25,000.

Shooting: The group selected their six best shooters. They were given the task of shooting ten clay pigeons, for $25,000. The catch was that from their shooting position, there was no ammo present. A kilometer away was an ammo dump, and the six shooters would start there, take one round, and ride a quad bike to the shooting position where they'd get one shot at a clay pigeon, turn around, go back, and start all over again. The three who were left out, Juan, Liane, and Heidi, would be snipers, trying to hit each shooter on the course with paintball guns. If all six were shooters were successfully taken out, no money would be won and the three snipers would all win free passes to the next episode. Heidi and Liane took positions on a ridge overlooking the quad bike course, while Juan sniped from a helicopter. Craig, Nat, and Kristy were taken out of the game very quickly. John and Mark each made multiple successful runs, eventually figuring out that the helicopter had to land and reload every time Juan fired 200 shots, meaning there would occasionally be a window of opportunity when they faced little resistance to getting to the shooting position. Liz only left the safety of the covered ammo dump once, to draw fire away from Mark, eliminating herself but allowing Mark another safe run. Mark successfully shot two clay pigeons before he was eliminated. John was the last shooter standing and successfully shot six targets, but was eventually hit by Juan from the helicopter, which denied the group the money and won each of the snipers a free pass to the next episode.

Episode 5

Mud: The players met up with the host at Hells Gate in Rotorua, and were divided by sex. The women had to cook corn and eggs the traditional Māori way, by lowering baskets full of them from a height into hot springs down below. For each dollar they made selling eggs and corn to locals, they would win $100 for the group pot, at a maximum of $25,000. They were given an hour. The money, however, was locked in a safe, and two of them had to search through a mud pool for dogtags bearing the combination to the safe. Heidi and Liane cooked the food and made $172, which the host rounded up to $18,000 potential winnings. Liz and Kristy searched the mud pool for the dogtags and found only two of them, the first two digits to the four-digit safe combination, which were both 6. They delivered the two dogtags to Liane and Heidi and kept looking, but before they found the third dogtag, Liz figured out that the combination would be the word MOLE on a telephone keypad, 6653, since that was borne out by the first two digits both being 6. As they raced to Liane and Heidi's position, the other two tried two unsuccessful combinations before hearing the solution. The safe would lock for three minutes after a third incorrect guess, and their time ticked under three minutes as Liane and Heidi waited for Liz and Kristy to get close enough to them to tell them the solution. When she saw the safe's keypad, Liz told Heidi to key in 6642, since the number 1 on the safe had the letters A, B, and C where on a telephone it has no letters. This guess was incorrect, and they did not have time to try again. The host revealed, when the time ran out, that 6653 was indeed the correct combination.

Meanwhile, Craig and John were sent to find men in the town of Rotorua who could reasonably pass for each of them. They found eighteen men, and the twenty of them covered themselves in mud and wore masks, forming a lineup for the women. The women were told to pick Craig and John out of the lineup, and that they would win $5,000 for whoever they could pick out, but if they chose someone thinking it was Craig or John and it was not, the man they failed to identify would win a free pass through to the next episode. The women quickly identified John, and took a guess for Craig as their time was running out. Even when Craig took his mask off, no one was quite sure it was him, but it indeed was, and $10,000 was won.

Four-Wheel Drive: The players were told to pair up, a driver and a navigator, for a forest course that they were to tackle in off-road vehicles. They were given a practice run to familiarize themselves with the course, but upon returning to the starting position, they were told that for the real run, the navigators and drivers would have to switch positions, and the drivers would be blindfolded. The drivers would lose $5,000 from the pot if their blindfolds were taken off, even just an inch, and the same penalty would be assessed if a navigator touched the steering wheel. There was a 30 minute time limit and $25,000 to be won. Craig and John, who had both had experience driving big vehicles, had initially volunteered as drivers, but this twist meant Liz and Heidi had to drive when it counted. Liane and Kristy easily made it through the course, but Liz's car became stuck on the side of the course for several minutes until John came to that position in the next car and was able to help Craig push it back onto the course. Liz's blindfold also came off, seemingly by accident, and she kept her eyes tightly closed as she retrieved it. All three teams narrowly finished within the time limit, and it was decided that Liz had followed the spirit of the rules by keeping her eyes closed, so no penalty from the pot was assessed.

Episode 8

Extreme Challenges: One by one, the players each received a harrowing or physically difficult challenge, chosen at random: Liz had to do a tandem parachute jump from a height of 5 kilometers, Craig had to bungee jump from a height of 134 meters (three times the height of the bungee jump that took place earlier in the season), and John had to spend half an hour as a passenger in a stunt plane doing aerial acrobatics without vomiting. As each prepared for their task, the twist was revealed - $25,000 would only be won if exactly two of them, no more and no less, went through with their challenges. All three ended up speculating that someone else would back out and went through with their challenges themselves, so no money was won.

Two Questions: The last challenge took place on another boat trip. One at a time, each player answered two morality questions where the choices were the other two players, such as "Who is more likely to leave a note with their phone number on the windshield of a parked car they accidentally hit, Liz or John?" The other two were given $10,000 from the pot to bet on the answers the other player gave, and could bet between $1,000 and $5,000 on each question. Liz and John got both of Craig's questions wrong and lost $7,000. Craig and John got one of Liz's questions right and one wrong, finishing at even money. Craig and Liz got one of John's questions right and one wrong, finishing $1,000 ahead and thus losing $6,000 all tolled for this assignment.

For this last round only, the quiz was done prior to the live portion of the show. Each player was locked into a compartment on a train to take the final test. The host unlocked the winner's compartment, and Liz emerged onto the stage in Sydney, winning the $203,000. The host then told her to open the Mole's door, and she uncovered John. Since she had correctly identified John as the Mole on the quiz, he did not get to keep the money kept from the group pot, but was presented with two tickets for a holiday to Tonga. Craig ended up being the runner-up.

Tom admitted John had him fooled, as he thought Liane was the mole.

Mole Sabotage and Hidden Clues

Christchurch: John's onscreen profile listed him an avid chess player, but he did nothing to help Craig win the first game, and only spoke up in the second when the team was already in position to win.

Crayfish: John's profile also listed him as a strong swimmer, but he only retrieved one cray, from the easiest pot, and feigned fatigue when returning to the boat.

Māori Waka: Another of John's hobbies is canoeing, but in this assignment, he purposely used a poor rowing stroke that slowed the waka down and kept them from winning the $10,000.

Hostage Rescue: John knew immediately that he and Liane had been taken to a police holding cell (this was also called a clue, as John's vocation was a police detective). He did not volunteer this information to Liane or the rescuers and tried to waste time having Liane sit on his shoulders to look out a window and pick out landmarks that weren't of much help on their own. However, when Liane figured out the clue in the cell that told them the city they were in, and the players resourcefully sent the boat to retrieve the car team, the group wound up winning this $25,000 anyway.

Shooting: John tried to look like the hero in this challenge, making six successful runs for ammo and hitting the clay target each time he got back to the shooting position. He needed only to crash his quad bike once to make himself an easy target for Juan in the helicopter to keep this $25,000 from ultimately being won.

Canyon Swing: John purposely missed an easy question when Heidi was attached to the canyon swing.

Caving: John pointed Craig away from the path of the blue glow sticks deep in the cave, knowing full well that it was the wrong way, and cost the pot another $8,000.

Jetboating: John intentionally left the dock with his seatbelt unfastened, pretending to fumble with it, and had to do an extra lap.

Orienteering: John held the map in his duo with Liz, but never once used it. He allowed Liz to lead them, based on her GPS, over the hill to base camp, when he knew that was the wrong way and they'd never make it on time. Only when Liz took the map did they head to the correct route around the hill, but by then it was too late and another $8,000 was lost.

Night Maze: John not only allowed himself to get caught by the hunter, but purposely took a turn divergent from Craig's directions, taking a second beacon that was put out of play for a loss of $10,000.

Profiles Clue: Below the pictures in the onscreen profiles was Braille writing, that initially said "Who is the traitor?" The first word changed each week for the next eight weeks, and those words spelled out "The Mole is going to reveal himself tonight." This meant the Mole was a man. Also in the profiles, as the facts cycled in and out, numbers were apparent on the screen, and they were an alphabet code (where 1=A, 2=B, and so on). The messages spelled out "The Mole is not ___" a different player each week, and in week nine, it spelled out "The Mole is not Craig." Since the Braille writing indicated that the Mole was a man, that cancels Liz of being the traitor. This left only John.

599: The magic number from the counting challenge was itself a clue, one that Liz was said to have picked up upon. The number 599 can be converted by to telephone code to JWW, the initials of John William Whitehall, the Mole.

John later claimed that he had attempted a sabotage in every challenge except the very first one, and some parts of his 'confession' referring to them simply weren't aired. [http://aussiesurvivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/5734/t/WELCOME-JOHN.html?page=1]

References