“Just Safety” — Manu Bennett Addresses “Major Concerns” During Summit Filming

The highly anticipated *The Summit* premiere aired exclusively on CBS on Sunday, September 29, 2024, at 9 PM ET. This exciting reality TV competition series features 16 contestants who embark on an intense journey to climb a mountain in the breathtaking Southern Alps of New Zealand. Contestants have a chance to win a grand prize of one million dollars, which is intriguingly divided among players and stored in their backpacks. Furthermore, any contestant who requires medical assistance is automatically eliminated from the show, resulting in a decrease of the prize fund from its original amount.

As each task nears completion, participants are required to vote someone out, a process that does not impact the overall prize amount. To succeed, the group must complete all tasks within 14 days, or they will forfeit the opportunity to distribute the final grand prize amongst themselves.

Given that all contestants on *The Summit* are inexperienced climbers, host Manu Bennett stressed the importance of safety measures enforced during production.

In a discussion with US Weekly on September 29, 2024, Manu recounted his previous experience on a show where a contestant’s safety was jeopardized. This motivated him to ensure a robust safety protocol was established for the crew and contestants. He remarked:

“I did that show called Going Straight. It was an interesting step into that kind of world back then. There was an accident that took place in that particular filming of that series that was quite serious. So one of my major concerns when I stepped up to do *The Summit* was just safety.”

Host Manu Bennett Shares Behind-the-Scenes Safety Measures for *The Summit*

Contestants were oblivious to the fact that they would be climbing a mountain or competing for a million-dollar prize, necessitating extra precaution and support from the production team. Manu expressed:

“I — at all times — felt that the network had those bases covered, which I thought was paramount to making sure we were shooting a show that was going to guard these 16 non-experienced people of a very complex mountain system.”

He further unveiled that the cast members were in the dark about their participation details, indicating:

“I don’t believe that they knew as far as I was told. So they didn’t know that they were going to be scaling a mountain — that was going to be their surprise. And they didn’t know there was a million dollars involved.”

Regarding safety protocols, Manu elaborated on the involvement of a “team of international experts in mountaineering”and professional coordinators. He noted:

“As far as safety is concerned, there was an international group of well-versed mountaineers involved in our show. We had one of the best coordinators of obstacle courses. We had some pretty admirable mountaineers that were making sure that nobody stepped too far off track.”

Tune in to watch *The Summit* season 1, episode 2, streaming exclusively on CBS on October 9, 2024, at 9:30 PM ET. The premiere episode is available for viewing on CBS as well as on Paramount Plus.

Source