In the alps of New Zealand, 14 strangers are given one million dollars in cash, divided equally. To keep the money, all they have to do is get themselves and their backpack of cash to the summit of one of the country’s highest peaks.
See Also: How The Summit raised the stakes as high as a mountain’s peak
In The Summit, premiering Sunday 14 May, teamwork will be essential as the contestants must stick together, so therefore they are only as fast as their slowest hiker. And here’s the core of the game – when you only have 14 days to get to the top, who will force the group to fall behind and how long do you keep them before you risk getting to the top in time?
If contestants leave a hiker behind in order to move faster, their backpack of cash is removed from the prize pool. But if they don’t get to the summit in time, then all the money is forfeited.
The host of The Summit is international Australian movie star Jai Courtney. He’ll be watching the hikers every step of the way, providing valuable information on how they are tracking and if they will reach the summit in time. But on this mountain, nothing is easy as the path to the summit is riddled with massive obstacles thrown up by the terrain – from jaw-dropping gorges to raging waterfalls protecting its peak, the hikers will have to navigate past them on their quest to the top.
As they climb, the trek gets harder and so do the obstacles. Their only relief is when they arrive at a checkpoint and can rest. But these checkpoints don’t come without sacrifice, they’re a battleground where strategy and greed rule. Because only at the checkpoints can the group decide to call a vote on whether to cut someone loose. Unlike leaving a trekker behind or on the hike, when the group votes someone out, their money will be stolen and added to the prize pot for the remaining trekkers.
While getting to the top of the mountain is the main goal for all contestants, the significant test in The Summit throws up a surprising end game that no one will see coming.
The Summit premieres Sunday 14 May at 7:00 pm on Nine and 9Now.