The third season of the Australian version of The Mole took place mostly in Gold Coast, Queensland and was hosted by Grant Bowler.

Details This season was similar to the previous Australian seasons of The Mole. A twist introduced this season is that not all assignments are assessed on a pass/fail scheme. In previous seasons a $10,000 assignment resulted in the team adding $10,000 to the pot, or failing, and adding none. In this season depending on the level of the team's success, they may win a portion of the prize, i.e. $4,000. It had an announced maximum prize to be won of $300,000, with the absolute maximum considerably more than that. The main difference was that it had a larger cast, twelve players rather than ten, and as such, two additional rounds of play. A notable and unique assignment in this season occurred during the fourth round of gameplay, and involved the players being blindfolded and taken to the set of The Weakest Link, with all money won added to the group kitty and the winner of the game given a free pass through to the next round. Filming took place throughout January and February in 2002, including the Weakest Link special episode. This season coincided with the Nine's 2002 edition of Australian Survivor (which aired an hour later on Nine) and produced poor ratings, leading to rumours the show would be cancelled.

Contestants Due to the series being based on the Gold Coast, no contestants from Queensland were considered. Instead, contestants from New South Wales (seven), South Australia (one) and Victoria (four) were picked. At the time of the airing of this season, seven contestants were under the age of 30, making this group one of the youngest groups on the Australian version of The Mole. These are the twelve contestants who were on the show:

PlayerAgeHometownOccupationOutcomeJanet Kesby45Balgownie, New South WalesMakeup Artist11th PlaceJohn Binning72VictoriaRetired Businessman10th PlaceYasmin Dunn19New South WalesWorld-class Swimmer9th PlaceThao Nguyen21Bankstown, New South WalesLaw Student8th PlaceJoe Ballota26St. Albans, VictoriaBodybuilder7th PlacePete Moore22St Ives, New South WalesBodyboarder6th PlaceDavid Annand33Castlemaine, VictoriaStonemason5th PlaceAnn-Maree Weaver†62Petersham, New South WalesReal Estate Agent4th PlaceRobert "Bob" Young VII37Glendenning, New South WalesTruck Driver3rd PlaceMarc Jongebloed25Toorak, VictoriaLawyerRunner-upAlaina Taylor21Cherrybrook, New South WalesInsurance AdviserThe MoleCrystal-Rose "Crystal" Cluff21Blaxland, New South WalesModelWinner

† Ann-Maree Weaver died on 6 January 2013 aged 72.

Elimination Chart +Elimination ChartPlayer12345678910INININININININININWINNERAlainaINININININININININMOLEMarcININININININININRUNNER-UPBobININININININININOUTINININININININOUTDavidININININININOUTPeteINININININOUTJoeININININOUTThaoINININOUTYasminININOUTJohnINOUTJanetOUT

Indicates the player won the game Indicates the player was the mole Indicates the player won a free pass Indicates the player won an exemption, but either gave it back for money or lost it in a later assignment Indicates the player scored the lowest on the quiz and was eliminated

Episodes

Episode 1 Episode 1 recapLocation: Sydney, New South WalesGwydir River, northern New South Wales Assignment Money earned Possible earnings Rescue Jump $10,000 $10,000 Luggage Repack $9,000 $10,000 Whitewater Rafting $2,000 $10,000 $30,000Elimination Janet 1st player eliminated

Rescue Jump: After meeting for the first time on board a large boat, the players were told to don wetsuits and prepare for their first assignment, for $10,000, which was to board a helicopter and simulate a rescue jump into the ocean, from 10 meters in height. The players went up in the helicopter in pairs, and although a few of them were frightened, particularly Thao, all of them jumped and the money was won.

Luggage Repack: Immediately after the Rescue Jump, the players were told to prepare to take a plan to trip to Gold Coast. They first had to lighten the amount of luggage they were taking on board with them, and were told that the men had a room to change and unpack luggage and the women the same. What they were not immediately told was that the men were unpacking the women's bags and the women the men's. Each kilogram that they unpacked from the bags was worth $100 for the kitty. Some of the items that were discarded became important as the season went forward, such as Thao's Elmo doll and Joe's bodybuilding food. The men removed 40 kilos from the women's bags, and the women removed 44 kilos from the men's. This was rounded up to $9,000 total winnings.

Whitewater Rafting: The players were taken to the Gwydir River, made more turbulent by releasing water from the Copeton Dam, and told to raft a 1 kilometer section of the river, for $10,000. If all of them, put into three groups of four, remained in their rafts after a kilometer, $10,000 would be won, but for each person who fell out, $2,000 would be lost. Each raft had a guide, but it was up to the contestants to provide the rowing power and most of the steering. Before the assignment properly started, the host offered to allow anyone, even the entire group, to back out and not risk losing $2,000 for falling out of the raft. They all decided to press on. The first two rafts made it to the halfway point, but the one transporting Crystal-Rose, Janet, Joe, and John tipped over after moments, putting all of them in the water and instantly losing $8,000. At the halfway point, the host then offered the eight remaining rafters another opportunity to bail out, but they again declined. Both boats made it to the finish, and $2,000 was won.

At the elimination, most of the contestants expressed their fear and disdain about the first elimination, and that they would not want to be the first eliminated. Bob said he did not want any of the male contestants to be eliminated first. Thao was visibly upset before the elimination began as she hoped not to be the first contestant eliminated. After green screens appeared for Bob, Thao, Crystal-Rose, Marc, Ann-Maree and Yasmin, the screen turned red when Janet's name was typed in. Everyone was shocked, whilst Ann-Maree was audibly upset. Janet thought Marc was the Mole.

Episode 2 Episode 2 recapLocation: Gold Coast, Queensland Assignment Money earned Possible earnings Campout $1,000 $6,000 Snipers $5,000 $8,000 Trap Shooting $4,000 $25,000 $69,000Free Passes— Alaina, Pete, and Yasmin were all shot during the sniper assignmentElimination John 2nd player eliminated

Campout: The players met up with the host at the foot of a small hill. They were told to split into three groups and walk up the hill to the top, where they'd be camping that night. Along the way, they'd find two locations with everything they needed for the night. The players at first thought this sounded suspiciously simple to be a money-winning assignment, but found that at each location there was a choice - take $1,000 for the kitty, or some camping gear. Collectively, they took $2,000 (in form of two pieces of paper with the amount printed on them) and four large duffel bags containing gear, but their inability to contact one another wound up giving them the nearly useless combination of having a tent, but no tent poles or pegs. Midway through the night, the host brought the two bags they'd left behind and offered to give them to the players for $2,000 taken from the kitty, but they immediately declined. He then asked for the two $1,000 vouchers, but only one could be produced, so only $1,000 was added to the kitty. The players, particularly Bob, were livid that the Mole was seemingly able to strike right under their noses.

Snipers: After being selected as the three with the best night vision, Alaina, Pete, and Yasmin were taken to an old, abandoned shopping mall. They were given laser guns with which to shoot their teammates, radios to keep in contact with one another, and some pointers from a professional armorer. The others were also given laser guns upon arriving at the shopping center, and told that their task was to shoot the three snipers. For each player from the group of eight that was shot during thirty minutes, $1,000 would be added to the kitty, but if Alaina, Pete, or Yasmin survived the assignment without being shot themselves, they'd earn a free pass through to the next episode. Once the assignment properly started, all the lights in the shopping mall were turned off. Alaina and Yasmin acted only in the interests of their own survival, not shooting anyone or even appearing to try. Pete eliminated Ann-Maree, John, Marc, Crystal-Rose, and Thao before Joe in turn eliminated him. Alaina and Yasmin tried to hole up in an old cinema, but wound up triggering their own alarm wire. They were eliminated by Bob and David with only 30 seconds remaining in the time limit, so $5,000 was won and no one got a free pass.

Trap Shooting: At breakfast the next day, each player received an envelope. Five of them had targets printed on them, meaning those five people would spend the day shooting clay pigeons. They were trained by Olympic champion trap shooter Michael Diamond. The very slight-framed Thao was among the shooters, and she had problems simply lifting the gun, let alone firing it. Yasmin was then separated from the other six and told to, one at a time, match them with a quiz question from a presented category. The player who answered the question then selected a shooter, who took aim at five clay targets, each worth $1,000. Crystal-Rose answered her question correctly, and on her behalf Pete hit three targets, winning $3,000. Joe then shot on behalf of Bob, but missed all five targets. Bob missed his question, so no money was possible in the first place in this round. Ann-Maree selected David to shoot for her, and he hit three targets. Ann-Maree's answer, however, was wrong. Alaina then got her question right and picked John to shoot for her, who hit one target. The last shooter was Thao, who miraculously hit two targets, but Marc got his question wrong, so the money was not won.

At the elimination, the two snipers' names were first typed into the computer, Yasmin and Pete namely, and the green screen appeared for both of them. Following further green screens for Joe, David and Ann-Maree, the screen turned red when John's name was typed in. Most of the players, visibly Thao, were upset to see him leave. He was described by Pete as "a legend" and David as "the fittest 72–73-year-old bloke that he has ever met". John thought that Pete was the Mole.

Episode 3

Episode 3 recapLocation: Gold Coast, Queensland Assignment Money earned Possible earnings Gold Coast Shopping Spree $0 $10,000 Toughness $0 $5,000 Minefield $1,000 $8,000 Luggage Reclaim $0 $92,000Free PassesJoe Earned by fooling the others into stopping in the Toughness assignmentElimination Yasmin 3rd player eliminated