Season 3 of Hunted returns on 12 August with a new look, a new chief, and a twist that adds “a whole other layer” to the game. EP Marty Benson and Network EP Tamara Simoneau told Mediaweek the hook for this season was to make the contestants “real” fugitives on the run. The newest season opens with a (staged) bank robbery and sees the fugitive teams initially split in half: a team of nine “robbers” and a team of nine “planners”.
The robbers will together plot the grand bank heist and creep out into the night to steal from a bank in Ballarat in the early hours of the morning. Meanwhile the “planners” plan the all-important getaway. The Ballarat Bank holds $1 million, with the entire loot up for grabs.
Whatever the Fugitives can steal, they will divide amongst themselves. If they make it to the extraction point, that will be their prize money. “The inspiration for the new twist came from our UK counterparts, a show called The Heist, which is shot in a similar way but the format is a bit different,” Benson said.
“That show starts with a staged bank robbery, and we thought it would be a great way to add another dimension to Hunted and actually make our contestants be actual fugitives and on the run.” “Before they were just on the run for the game, now they’re on the run because they break the law,” Simoneau said. Reece Dewar OAM is Hunted’s newly appointed chief, and brings to the investigation a wealth of varied tactical experience from a 30-y.