Australian Mole 3
Episode 1

See more images of episode one on this site: http://www.sub.net.au/~powney/gameshow/themole2002.htm

Day 1
Twelve people come together on a boat. One of them is not a genuine contestant, because the role of that person is to be The Mole. They watch a tape where Grant, the host, introduces the players.
Bob, 37, truck driver.
Thao, 21, law student.
John, 72, former businessman.
Alaina, 21, works in insurance
David,  33, stone mason
Yasmin, 19, swimmer
Joe, 26, bodybuilder
Crystal-Rose, 21, model
Pete, 22, bodyboarder
Ann-Maree, 60, estate agent
Marc, 25, lawyer
Janet, 45, make-up artist & mum

They have to put on wetsuits immediately after the end of the tape for their first challenge, worth $10,000. They are taken up in a helicopter and have to jump out of it ten meters above the sea. The pilot will count from 3 to 1 and say 'Drop!'. They have to jump on 'Drop!'. If they it takes them a second longer, they are pulled back into the heli and they have failed. To win the money, all of them have to jump.
Thao is feeling nervous.

CC (Confession Cam)
Thao:"When they said 'You're going to jump out of a helicopter.' I went absolutely nuts. My worst fear is heights. And for them to be standing there telling me 'You're gonna jump out of a helicopter, 10 meters high into the ocean.' That really really killed me."
Pete:"Getting up in that helicopter, reminded me of one of those Vietnam movies. That was a great feeling to finally get to do that."

The men go first. Pete is first. He bodyboards high waves, so jumping out of a helicopter shouldn't be a problem. He jumps. So does Joe. Bob is up next.

CC
Bob:"I mean come on, jump out of a helicopter? 10 meters up in the air? Hehe, it's a way to start off what could be a really good time."

He jumps, followed by John. Marc is next.

CC
Marc:"I've never been on a helicopter and as exciting as it is, it's scary. It's really scary. So my first reaction was one of anxious fear. And it's a feeling I'm not used to. I'm used to being in control of what happens in my own life."

He jumps. David does too. All six men have jumped, but they will only win the money if all six women jump too. Ann-Maree, the 60 year old estate agent is first.

CC
Ann-Maree:"It was extraordinary and it was great to be able to do something. At my age and my little rotonde figure, I think I did OK."

She jumps, but knocks her arm on the edge of the helicopter. But she's OK. Alaina jumps next and then Yasmin, an international level swimmer. She's one of the most competitive members of the group.

CC
Yasmin:"I'm here to be friends with everybody, but remember that this is a game and there's $200,000 at the end of it and I wanna get it."

She jumps, followed by Chrystal-Rose. In the final helicopter is Janet and Thao, the most nervous of them all. If she doesn't jump, they will miss out on $10,000. The pilot starts counting and Thao already jumps on 2.

CC
Thao:"When I actually did it, it was a huge personal achievement for me. I was really really proud of myself."

Janet is the last one to jump and she does. They have won the money, but the girls don't know it yet, because they don't know whether all men jumped. They come back ashore and the host asks them if anyone had any second thoughts on jumping.
Thao:"Yeah I had, but team pressure, you know. 'Cause Bob was like 'Anyone who doesn't jump, has to face me!' and I was like 'Oh I don't wanna face Bob!' Anyone but Bob!"
The guys arrive and they find out they have succeeded. $10,000 in the kitty.
They have to get changed, because in two hours they will catch a plane. However, there is too much luggage. But they will get $100 for every kilo they unpack. The guys get a room and the girls get one. So they must repack their bags and leave behind what they think they can do without. But it's not that simple, because when they enter their rooms, it turns out it's not their own luggage they have to repack. The guys have the girls' bags and vice versa.

CC
Crystal-Rose:"They had given our bags to the guys and the guys' bags to us. It was such an invasion of privacy and my rights just went out of the window!"
Thao:"Just thinking that someone was going through your underwear and your personal belongings."
We see Bob taking out Thao's pyjama's with bears on it.
Thao:"The whole time I was just thinking in my head 'Please please please please don't take out my Elmo!"

Bob has found the Elmo in Thao's bag."This was in Thao's bags! That's gone!"
Bob and Thao are repacking each others' bags. Bob is showing the guys Thao's underwear, while Thao in the girls' room is panicking about what they will take out of her bag.

Joe is repacking Crystal-Rose's bag and she is repacking his bag. She finds a big barrel of bodybuilding proteins and some fat-free chocolate bars. She and Thao can't stop laughing about it. She also finds an alarm clock and fat-free tuna! She also removes his pink shirt.
Joe is being more serious with her bags. "It's very difficult to select luggage for a model!"

CC
Crystal-Rose:"I was like you have got to be joking! There are so many things in that bag which are so personal, not just your bras and undies. Every piece of item in your luggage you had selected. Not for them to go through it to judge for you what you need and what you don't."

Alaina is repacking Marc's bag, but Marc also has Alaina's bag and is going through all her underwear and even putiing on the bras. He tries to match the pairs.

CC
Marc:"My girlfriend is going to hate it, because I was putting on G-strings and bras, but you're there in the moment and your adrenalin is charging through you. I felt a bit uncomfortable about having to decide on bits of underwear. About bras and undies. I didn't put them all in and felt a bit guilty about that. Because underwear is very personal, but I wanted to getthe kilos down to get some money."

Pete leaves Janet's bunny behind, while Yasmin leaves out John's Harry Potter books.
It's time to leave, because they still have to ctch the plane. They go to the airport, where the luggage is weighed. The men are first:
David has Ann-Maree's bag. Before it was 16 kg. Now it's 10 kg. A gain of 6 kg.
Joe had Crystal-Rose's bag, which weighed 19 kg. Now it's weighing 11 kg. Gain: 8
John had Yasmin's bag, which has gone from 19 kg to 10 kg. Gain: 9
Marc had to repack Alaina's bag. Before: 15 kg. Now: 9 kg. Gain: 6
Pete: Janet's bag. Before: 15 kg. Now: 12 kg. Gain: 3
Bob: Thao's bag. Before: 20 kg. Now: 12 kg. Gain: 8
They have lost 40 kg of the girls' luggage and won $4,000.

Time for the girls:
Alaina: Marc's bag. Before: 16 kg. Now: 9 kg. Gain: 7
Ann-Maree: David's bag. Before: 14 kg. Now: 7 kg. Gain: 7
Crystal-Rose: Joe's bag. Before: 24 kg. Now: 10 kg. Gain: 14
Janet: Pete's bag. Before: 11 kg. Now: 9 kg: Gain: 2
Thao: Bob's bag. Before: 16 kg. Now: 12 kg. Gain: 4
Yasmin: John's bag: Before: 20 kg. Now: 10 kg. Gain: 10
The girls lost 44 kg of luggage, earning them $4,400. Added with the money the guys won, this is $8,400. The host rounds it up to $9,000.

They now confront each other with what they took out of each other's luggage. The girls arrive with the guys and talk about it.
Thao is desperate to have her Elmo doll.
Bob:"You lost 8 kg."
Thao:"8 kg? There's one very important thing I hope you didn't take out. I'll die! Did you take my Elmo out?"
Bob:"Elmo's gone!"
Thao cries a little for having to leave behind her Elmo doll.
Crystal-Rose lost 14 kg of Joe's luggage, mostly body building food. She tells him the food is gone, though she left two bars to ration. The tuna is gone and the pink shirt is too, which Joe apparently doesn't quite like.
Joe tells Crystal-Rose what's left out of her luggage. He did well, because she doesn't mind.
John tells Yasmin her underwear is intact and he halved her tops and shirts. He also tells her her books and her walkman are gone. Yasmin doesn't mind.
Marc had Alaina's bag. He tells her he took away 5 kg of her luggage and some thongs. Alaina doesn't mind either.

But they haven't been totally honest with each other. They get on the plane and it's only that evening that they can check their luggage.
CC
Yasmin:"I checked my bags and I have only got one pair of underwear left for a possibility of a month!"
Ann-Maree:"If I could have got my hands on that David I probably would have brained him! I can't believe he was so vile!"
David:"Ann-Maree is fuming. I did feel pretty bad. But what's the point about worrying over it now? It's done, move on and get over it!"
Janet:(crying)"He took out my bunny... so cuddly to go to bed. I left with a pack of three bunnies and I left one bunny with my 12 year old daughter and the other one with my husband. If I'm crying like this after day 1, I hate to think what I'll be like after a week or so...but we'll see how we go. But the adventures are great."

Day 2 - Gwydir River in northern New South Wales
The Gwydir river is relatively placid. But a touch of the button can turn the river into one of the most violent rivers in the country. The contestants will go rafting on the river for 1 km. If they're all still in the rafts at the end, they win $10,000. For every person that falls out or gives up, they lose $2,000.
Each raft has a guide and they are taught some of the basic moves before actually going into the wild water. They're also told that if they fall out, they have to look out for people on the side who are throwing a rope, so they can be pulled back ashore.
Before they start, the host asks if anyone wants to bail out, but David and Bob yell no one can bail out!
Raft 1: Yasmin, Alaina, Marc and Pete
The guide tells them where to go and which places are the dangerous ones they have to avoid. They safely reach the halfway point, where they will wait for the others to come through, before doing the second raft.
Raft 2: Ann-Maree, David, Bob and Thao.
They get stuck into a suction and Bob falls over to Marc, almost pushing him out of the raft. Marc manages to hold on though and they make it through safely. The $10,000 ar still safe so far.
Raft 3: Janet, Joe, John and Crystal-Rose.
They too get into the suction, but are less lucky and all of a sudden, the raft flips over and everyone falls into the wild water.

CC
Janet:"It was such a terrifying experience and the first thinf that went through my mind was 'There goes the money.' The water was so freezing cold and I was gasping for breath. The water was ferocious, absolutely ferocious."

They are washed downstream and the safety guards are throwing ropes at them, trying to catch them and pull them back to the side.

CC
Janet:"It was just so fast and you see these people running all over. I found a rope. All of a sudden I felt a rope and it was a great feeling, I thought 'I'm ok. I still can't breathe, but I'm at the side and I never hugged a rock so hard before in my entire life."
Crystal-Rose:"What I remember was we went down the first dip really well and then all of a sudden we tipped over and we were absolutely terrified. The water alone just knocked the breath right out of me and all of a sudden you just see all the water heading towards you. I was going under and up and under and up, going past rocks, ramming into things. Under the water, over the water, left, right. And I just thought 'Oh no, I'm not gonna get a rope! Someone help me!'."

A safety guard throws a rope towards Crystal-Rose in the water, but she can't reach it and is washed away further downstream.

CC
Crystal-Rose:"I really thought I would end out crushed up against some rock. I just really wanted to get out of there."
Janet:"I don't feel I let the team down, not at all."
Joe:"Considering what we were into, we were pretty lucky getting out of it. I was happy that all of us got out of it pretty safe and the girls were a bit shocked."

A quick check reveals a few cuts and bruises, but no permanent damage. They just lost the team $8,000. Was it an accident, or is The Mole one of the four?
The two remaining rafts still have to continue to win the $2,000 that's still up for grabs. The Host asks them if they want to continue. Thao is crying, but says she'll continue. The team encourages her and applauds when she decides to continue. If the two rafts flip over too, they will be $14,000 in the red! But they can also win $2,000 if they all remain in the rafts.
Raft 1 is ready for the second part, which has waves of over 2 meter height. But one rapid in particular will form the most danger: a 4 meter drop!
It's a violent drop, but the first raft makes it to the end. It's now up to raft 2. They make it to. $2,000 won

CC
Thao:"Today why did I break down in tears again?! God! When they asked who wanted to bail I was sitting there, shivering to death and these thoughts about being swallowed up by the monstruous water! It was a scary thought."
Bob:"Going down a boat with no control, trying to go down in a straight line, it was unreal! We went down and rose like a phoenix and the four of us were really peddling. You're not gonna beat me! No way! Not with a bunch of wild rapids, no way!"
The tipping over of the raft cost the team $8,000.
Marc:"My first thought was 'Could The Mole be on that boat?' but then again how could one person be able to tip over a boat with 5 people? The way that river was running, I don't think The Mole could have had any serious impact on the boat tipping."
If the contestants suspect the wrong person, the risk being sent home empty-handed.
Ann-Maree:"Tonight's one of those nights where everybody's crapping themselves, there's no other word for it."
Yasmin:"I'm extremely nervous. I don't want to leave. I would really be disappointed if I had to go tonight."
Bob:"I would be devastated. I would feel like I have failed, which is something I never want in my whole life. I hate failure!"

Suspicions
Crystal-Rose:"At this stage it's just guessing I think. You're just looking at personal traits. My first suspect is probably quite obvious, Bob. I see a glimpse in his eyes or something about his expression that makes me think."
Janet:"I just have a gut feeling that it's Marc. And Thao... she's the innocent little player in all of this. Looking at her, you think 'God no, she couldn't be it.' but maybe that's her tactics."
Thao:"On my list is Janet. She is a person that I think is sophisticated enough to be The Mole. She can appear to be the nicest person, but I think there is more to it than that. I think she's the person other people wouldn't suspect."
John:"Thao is highly intelligent. If the Mole is someone that needs to gain someone's confindence, then she's out of the blue, because she's so cuddly. And the more and more you speak to her the more you see what's behind that brain of hers."
David:"Janet is still on top of my list. I've got a feeling about her. Yasmin is my second suspect, there's something about her as well. And I'll put Thao third, because she's the least likely to be The Mole and therefor she probably might be."
Marc:"Janet, Alaina and probably Thao. she's adorable and everyone loves her and she's in my mind a perfect candidate to screw us over."

Suspicious in this episode
Thao is afraid to jump out of the helicopter. Or is it a play so she can use that fear for later challenges?
Janet, Pete and Thao had unpacked the least luggage, earning the least money.
Janet, Joe, John and Crystal-Rose fell out of the raft, costing the group money.

Elimination
Who will be the first to go? Click and find out...

Episode 2

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