CBS Is bringing The Summit to living rooms as part of the 2024 Fall TV schedule, and it took a lot of work to get to that point. Beyond working to blindside the contestants about the reveal they'd climb a mountain for a chance at $1,000,000, they needed the perfect mountain to ensure the show was even possible. CinemaBlend asked an executive producer of the show what went into that process, and it's more work than I ever imagined.
EP Kevin Lee is a veteran of The Challenge, Fight to Survive and many other unscripted series beyond The Summit, and was gracious enough to share some details on settling on the New Zealand Alps as the location for the competition. Location scouting is always important on television, but when you're trying to film a reality show with a bunch of people who aren't necessarily trained in climbing, it becomes vital to get it right. As Lee explained:
First of all, [the mountain] has to look right. It has to look dramatic and imposing. It's got to be snow-capped year round, even in the summer, but it's also got to be not so hard that it doesn't take technical skills they don't have time to learn. . . . It needs to be high altitude again so that the snow stays on it, but it can't be so high that these people that aren't trained are on oxygen to make it.
There's a fine line to walk between ensuring the challenge is adequate enough that all 16 contestants don't breezily skip to the finish line, but also not so intense it's overly dangerous for any skill levels. Accidents happen all the time in reality television, and I'm reminded of Survivor Season 44 calling the medics three times in one premiere. As one would imagine, getting an injured person off a mountain can be just as daunting as getting them off an island.
Fortunately, The Summit was successful in making it work on all levels, and as someone who had a chance to watch the first four episodes ahead of its official release, I can confirm it'll be great to watch, whether on CBS or with a Paramount+ subscription.
Kevin Lee continued, pinpointing just how particular the details had to be when location-scouting for the titular summit, saying:
It's really hard and there's just not that many places that offer mountains like that. And, you know, there's a reason why a lot of the big Hollywood mountain climbing movies film in the same area. And it's because the mountains are beautiful and dramatic but they're not so high that you need to be an Everest oxygen, you know, breathing artificial oxygen to make it. A regular person can make it, but it still looks like Everest. Even though it's not that high, that's a big part of it.
The Summit host Manu Bennett told CinemaBlend he had a chance to travel the course before the season officially kicked off, and he was able to get through it. Of course, the actor once synonymous with the DC villain Deathstroke might've had his training from Arrow and other projects to help him through the challenges, but who among these average Joe contestants successfully endure this 14-day journey to the top of the mountain?
Those who do will get a chance to split what remains of the $1,000,000 that the players start with. If a player drops out, or the team is forced to eliminate someone outside of a checkpoint, their share of the money they're carrying goes with them. If someone is eliminated at a checkpoint, the money is dispersed to the remaining players. It's a fun concept and, surprisingly, one that leads to some interesting strategy as Season 1 gets rolling.
As far as reality competitions go, I may much sooner opt to roll the dice and sit around in the Big Brother house and get paid that way, but as a viewer at home, I'm all in on this new show. I hope viewers feel the same because I would love to see what The Summit can do in Season 2.
The Summit airs a special sneak peek on CBS at 9:00 p.m. ET. I'm enjoying the network showing their new shows before their premieres, especially after that surprise twist in Kathy Bates' Matlock sold me on that show.
