Sam, 22, is one of 12 contestants competing in the show. He admitted altering his personality was part of his strategy.

“In real life I’m cocky, confident, forward, loud, funny, not shy, not easily offended and I generally get what I want,” he said. “But this is a game of deception, manipulation and smarts.

You can’t take the word of anyone here.

“So in The Mole I’m quiet, submissive, go-with-the-flow, and I let other people have their way even when I know they’re wrong.”

The group confronts physical and mental challenges to earn money, with a potential $250,000 up for grabs for the winner. But hidden amongst them is one contestant who is the Mole – a saboteur thwarting the group’s strategy to raise money and to create confusion.

A devout Christian, Sam said he struggled at first with the idea of lying and reconciling it with his strict Pentecostal Christian teachings.

“The hardest rule in this game in regards to my religion is simply not to lie,” he said. “It’s a strong commandment in the Bible and it’s hard here because this is essentially a game of lies. But The Mole can be won without lying.

“I’m attempting to not lie and I’ve discovered that if you just don’t open your mouth, you don’t lie. If someone asks me a question I just don’t want to answer, I don’t say anything.”

Sam – who graduated from The Scots School in 2008 and now works as an AFL development officer – said meeting people from a range of backgrounds and religions was something he had enjoyed during filming.

“I’ve grown up in a fairly mono-cultural part of the country and I have never been close friends with a Muslim, but I immediately hit it off with Hillal,” he says. “The fact that we both have a religious belief actually brings us together.”

The Mole continues tonight on Channel Seven