| Genre: | Reality competition |
| Presenter: | Jai Courtney |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 21 |
| Location: | Mount Aspiring / Tititea, Southern Alps mountain range, South Island, New Zealand |
| Runtime: | 90 min (with ads) |
| Company: | Endemol Shine Australia |
| Network: | Nine Network |
The Summit is an Australian reality television series which first premiered on 14 May 2023.[1] The premise being that a group of contestants have to reach the top of a mountain, undertaking various tasks along the way. Each contestant has a backpack with a portion of the grand prize of A$1,000,000.[2]
The series is produced by Nine Network and Endemol Shine Australia. Auditions for a second season opened in August 2023, with filming to take place over three weeks between November and December 2023.[3] Season two premiered on Sunday, 12 May 2024.[4]
Contestants must all inevitably work together to complete several tasks, within only fourteen days. They are initially strangers to each other.[5] Where a contestant stops competing, the prize pot significantly reduces; similarly all the prize pot will disappear if the syndicate does not reach the summit in the allocated time.[6]
The host of the series is Australian actor Jai Courtney.
The Mountain's Keeper will make appearances throughout the series; she keeps track of the trekkers' movements, is fully aware of the procedures necessary to reach the summit, and will be keeping an eye on the group at all times. The Keeper will occasionally instruct the gang to get rid of someone in order to advance.
The team may stay in a sizeable campground and get a variety of amenities, including food, when the trekkers reach a checkpoint. The team must, however, vote one of its own team members off the mountain at the majority of checkpoints, with the evictee's money still in the game.
Should the remaining team members make it to the summit, then the prize fund will be divided among the successful team members by the eliminated players. This was alluded to on the show with the saying “Be careful with who you meet on the way up, because you don’t know who you’ll see on the way down” as said by Jai on the start of their journey.
The series was filmed in the Southern Alps, South Island, New Zealand starting near Glenorchy at the northern tip of Lake Wakatipu. During the second episode a clear view of Mount Alfred can be seen during the climb up to the ridge overlooking the Rees River.The destination summit is Mount Head with several episodes were shot on Rees Valley and The Branches high-country stations in the province of Otago, north of Glenorchy. Lake scenes were shot at Lochnagar, headwaters of the Shotover River. Both locations are on private or leasehold land.[7] The series places emphasis on the sociological aspects of competition and reward, as the group works together to complete the arduous task of climbing the mountain, while also having to work against each other out of self-preservation.
| Season | Episodes | No. of contestants | Originally aired | Result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | Remaining contestants at Summit | Initial Prize | Remaining Prize | Decision? | ||||
| 10 | 14 | 3 | $490k | Unequally split | |||||
| 11 | 15 | $536k | |||||||
| Name[8] | Age | State | Occupation | Status | Reason for exit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaac Compton | 36 | NSW | Musician | Day 14 | Completed | |
| Brooke Kilowsky | 38 | SA | Parent | Day 14 | Completed | |
| Lulu Hawton | 38 | WA | Boxer | Day 14 | Completed | |
| Jans Andre | 28 | Qld | Entrepreneur | Day 14 | Lulu chose to eliminate | |
| Alex Silvagni | 35 | WA | Former AFL player | Day 13 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Indy Thompson | 23 | Tas | Marine scientist | Day 13 | Lulu chose to eliminate | |
| Josh Waldhorn | 52 | Vic | Graphic designer | Day 11 | Majority group voted to eliminate | |
| Sam Molineaux | 28 | NSW | Personal trainer | Day 8 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Phillip Kuoch | 29 | Vic | Doughnut bakery owner | Day 8 | Eliminated in challenge by sacrifice | |
| Annikki Chand | 27 | Qld | Dance teacher | Day 7 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| 50 | Vic | Olympic aerial skier | Day 6 | Brooke chose to eliminate | ||
| Gemma Mullins | 29 | Vic | Health coach | Day 5 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Catherine "Kitty" Connor | 60 | NT | Outback registered nurse | Day 3 | Withdrew voluntarily | |
| Stephen Butler | 34 | Qld | Sock designer | Day 2 | Majority group voted to eliminate |
| Name | Days in | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ||
| Isaac | Completed $250k | ||||||||||||||
| Brooke | PE | Completed $150k | |||||||||||||
| Lulu | PE | Completed $90k | |||||||||||||
| PE | |||||||||||||||
| Jans | |||||||||||||||
| Alex | Eliminated | colspan=14 | |||||||||||||
| Indy | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Josh | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Sam | Immunity | colspan=14 | |||||||||||||
| Phillip | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Annikki | Eliminated | colspan=14 | |||||||||||||
| Jacqui | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Gemma | Eliminated | colspan=14 | |||||||||||||
| Catherine | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Stephen | colspan=14 | ||||||||||||||
| Prize | $1m | $928.5k | $857k | $785.5k | $704k | $632k | $560.5k | $490k | |||||||
| Name[9] | Age | State | Occupation | Status | Reason for exit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte Shelton | 35 | NSW | Nurse/Midwife | Day 15 | Completed | |
| Mat Rogers | 48 | Qld | Former NRL player | Day 15 | Completed | |
| Simmone Jade Mackinnon | 51 | NSW | Business owner/Actress | Day 15 | Completed | |
| Trisha Lindgren | 43 | SA | Personal trainer | Day 14 | Mat chose to eliminate | |
| Taylor Reid | 28 | Vic | Stevedore | Day 13 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Tiffani Wood | 46 | NSW | Singer | Day 12 | Majority group voted to eliminate | |
| Sam Molineaux | 29 | NSW | Personal trainer/Season 1 Climber | Day 11 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Ava Kazemi | 29 | LA/WA | Aerospace engineer | Day 11 | Majority group voted to eliminate | |
| Phil Britten | 43 | WA | Martial artist/Motivations speaker | Day 10 | Sam's choice to replace | |
| Olympia Valance | 31 | Vic | Actress | Day 7 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Lochie Dornauf | 31 | Tas | Farmer/councillor | Day 6 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Glen "Sharkesy" Parkes | 30 | Qld | Unprofessional poker player | Day 5 | Withdrew due to believing the game is rigged | |
| Roslyn "Ros" Buerckner | 41 | Qld | Horse trainer/farmer | Day 4 | Eliminated at checkpoint | |
| Theo Zaharopoulos | 49 | Vic | Stay-at-home dad | Day 3 | Withdrew for medical reasons | |
| David Cotgreave | 59 | WA | Technical director | Day 2 | Majority group voted to eliminate |
| Name | Days in | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | ||
| Charlotte | Completed $336k | |||||||||||||||
| Mat | Completed $100k | |||||||||||||||
| Simmone | Completed $100k | |||||||||||||||
| Trisha | Eliminated -$53.5k | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Taylor | Eliminated | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Tiffani | Eliminated -$53.5k | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Sam | In | Eliminated | colspan=12 | |||||||||||||
| Ava | Eliminated -$53.5k | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Phil | Eliminated | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Olympia | Eliminated | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Lochie | Eliminated | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Sharkesy | colspan=11 | |||||||||||||||
| Ros | Eliminated | colspan=12 | ||||||||||||||
| Theo | colspan=13 | |||||||||||||||
| David | colspan=14 | |||||||||||||||
| Group | Lost $270k | Gained $250k | Lost $4k | Lost $50K | Lost $100K Gained $80K | Lost $50k | colspan=2 | |||||||||
| Prize | $1m/ 750k | $925.5k | $869k | $815.5k | $765.5 | $746.5 | $693k | $639.5k | $589.5k | $536k | ||||||
An American version will air on CBS with New Zealand actor Manu Bennett as host.[10] In July 2024, it was reported that a British version had been commissioned by ITV.[11]