Last night The Summit delivered a crash course in how to lose a ton of money and it’s only episode 2.
It’s day 3 on the mountain, and the 13 remaining hikers have 12 days to get themselves and a potentially life-changing 900 thousand dollars in prize money to the summit. The tranquility of the first checkpoint is shattered when the Mountains Keeper arrives with a coffee machine in tow. The group are given the tempting offer, $1000 for a coffee. Most of the group opt out, but four hikers Trisha, Mat, Charlotte and Taylor take the mountains keeper up on her offer, spending $4000 of the groups’ money to the disappointment of their fellow hikers.
On the hike, country girl Ros, continues to slow the group down, stoping and starting and turning a 4 hour trek into an 8 hour slog. Sharksey, and Mat, are frustrated with the pace of the group and want to cut the dead weight and Ros from the group at the next checkpoint. The group struggle up the most difficult ascent of the climb so far, but at the end of the day, when they stop to camp for the night Jai greets them with bad news. The group left the black duffle for the shared prize pot at the bottom of the mountain. Jai returns the empty bag, but to teach them a lesson fines them $20,000 for their mistake.
Overnight, stay at home dad Theo, falls ill and a Doctor diagnoses him with a kidney stone. Theo is devastated as he is medi-vacced off the mountain, and the group lose his $53,000 dollars from the prize money as well. In the last 24 hours the group have lost $77,000 dollars of prize money and Lachlan, Olympia and Charlotte decide they can’t take anymore risks. Yesterday, Bali bombing survivor, Phil, put his hand up to carry an extra two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the prize money. While his motive was to help the group, Charlotte, Olympia, and Lachlan, quickly decide that he should be voted out at the next checkpoint to get his huge chunk of money into the shared prize pot.
As the hikers set off on Day 4, they come to a terrifying rope crossing suspended 30 meters above a 25 meter ravine. With only 16 planks of driftwood to help them get across, the remaining 12 hikers must get to the other side, because if they don’t them and their prize money will leave the game. Phil sees this as a chance to prove to the group that he is an asset and is strong enough to take the extra $250,000 to the top. He decides to cross without any driftwood to leave it for those who need it most, and to take the target off his back. When rocket scientist and experienced mountain climber Ava gets onto the ropes, despite her confidence she struggles and falls, costing the group valuable driftwood. Ros is terrified to attempt the crossing but knows the group see her as weak so she digs deep and manages to get herself across. Once all the other hikers are on the other side, Ava only has 2 pieces of driftwood left for her second attempt. Although she struggles, she eventually gets across believing that it’s just one failure and she has proved herself enough over the last few days that the group wont target her.
As the group reach checkpoint two, Mat discovers that some of the group want to target Phil, he goes into overdrive to convince the group to vote for Ros, as she is the one slowing them down the most, and if they’re too slow, they’ll never reach the summit. Ros makes an emotional plea to the group, begging them to keep her in the game, and pointing out that she’s only worth $53,000 to the group, but Phil has the extra $250,000 and would be the strategic choice to get the most cash into the shared duffle. The group are torn, but ultimately decide to cut Ros, ending her time on the Summit and adding her $53,000 to the prize pot.
