New reality show ‘The Summit’ premieres: Who was voted off mountain?

In CBS’s new reality competition series a group of strangers must work together to climb a mountain in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. But only a select few will actually make it to “The Summit.”
Throughout their journey contestants carry a $1 million cash prize evenly distributed among themselves in backpacks as they reach several checkpoint camps. At the camps they must vote each other out. Along the way they have to overcome obstacles and are forced to make difficult decisions presented by what’s called “The Mountain Keeper.” 
If the entire group of remaining contestant fails to reach the summit of Mount Head in 14 days, they all go home empty handed. 
At the start of Sunday’s premiere episode, 16 players begin the adventure of a lifetime but by the end only 14 of them are left. Here’s what happened. (If you don’t like spoilers this isn’t the story for you.)
Turmoil ensues among the group pretty quickly as some players move slower than others and personalities clash. Yet they are forced to work together during the first challenge, which was to stride through a rope bridge in pairs.
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Beckylee Rawls, a 29-year-old San Diego construction worker, is chosen to lead the team through the obstacle. After getting across with Arizona army veteran Rose Mattie as her partner, she must decide which pairs cross next.
After a medical evacuation leaves 15 players remaining, Rawls realizes that one will be left behind. East Texas teacher Bo Martin, 52, eventually finds himself alone with everyone else is on the other side.
Then “The Mountain Keeper” gives the group their first difficult decision: Leave Martin behind to accelerate their pace or help him across. Despite concerns that Martin was slowing down the group the majority decides to leave no man behind.
Upon completing their first obstacle, the group ultimately fails to reach the first checkpoint camp by the end of the day and spends the night on the trail in bivy sleeping sacks.
Media director Tony Reyes, 36, became the first contestant to exit the season after fainting on Day 1.
The journey became too much for the Austin marathon runner, who insisted he would be OK if they waited another five minutes. Ultimately, medical personnel pulled him from the game despite Reyes’ persistence.
“Tony didn’t quit. His body quit on him,” Martin said. “That hit at home ’cause that could be any one of us.”
With his exit so went the money he carried, bringing the total prize pot down to $937,500. (The prize money only decreases when someone quits or is medically evacuated, not voted out.)
On Day 2, the group reached the first of nine checkpoints camp, where they were treated to food and wine. Their shared celebration was short-lived once host Manu Bennett revealed that that they would vote a contestant out and divide their cash evenly.
Martin became the obvious choice until Mattie found herself the chopping block, having rubbed several others the wrong way. Mattie insisted she wanted to vote out MMA referee Jennye Stirlen, whom she called bossy. Unlike “Survivor,” there is no secret ballot so the players are forced to vote in front of each other.
In the end, everyone voted for Mattie except for South Carolina bank manager Amy Stephens, who stayed loyal to her fellow mother. Mattie emptied the cash from her bag said goodbye to a heartbroken Stephens while rejecting everyone else’s goodbyes.
“I didn’t want their fake hugs. Do you want to get the knife out of my back?” Mattie said in her confessional. “The mountain will show people’s true colors. Stay true to who you are.”
“The Summit” premiered Sunday, Sept. 29 from 8:30-10 p.m. PT / 9-10:30 p.m. ET.
For those who missed it, the season premiere will air again on Wednesday, Oct. 2 from 9:30-11 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, the standard time slot moving forward.
The show is also available to stream on Paramount+, live and on-demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs.
New Zealand actor Manu Bennett serves as the host of CBS’s reality series “The Summit.”
CBS’s “The Summit” was filmed in the Southern Alps of New Zealand . The group begins their 14-day journey to the top at Lake Wakatipu near Glenorchy, a town in the South Island.
Bennett is best known for his work in “Spartacus,” “Arrow” and “The Hobbit” films.
This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.