THE SUMMIT’s Manu Bennett Previews CBS’ Wild New Competition Series: ‘This Mountain is the One with the Final Word’

On CBS’ THE SUMMIT, 16 strangers are brought to the New Zealand Alps, aware they’re going to be competing, but unclear about what their task actually is. In the show’s series premiere (which airs with a special preview on Sunday, September 29 at 9/8c; 8:30 PM PT), they discover their goal of the series: They have to climb up a mountain—while also carrying the $1 million prize—in two weeks.

The journey is treacherous, with physical and mental challenges…and a “Mountain’s Keeper,” watching from afar, who makes sure they abide by the rules in place.

 As the contestants make the trek, they have host Manu Bennett along for the ride. Bennett, best known to TV audiences from his roles on SPARTACUS and ARROW, pops up along the way to check in on the group, be there as they have to make their eliminations, and give them vital pieces of gameplay information.

Here, Bennett talks with Give Me My Remote about moving into the hosting world and what viewers can expect from the new series.

The contestants obviously didn’t know the exact details about the show, but what did they tell you in your initial pitch? 
My agent and manager rang me and said, “CBS would like to have a meeting with you about a show called THE SUMMIT. It’s about mountains.” I knew immediately—I’m a big fan of climbing: [Alex] Honnold and Jimmy Chin, and these climbers who do free-climbing and all this other stuff. I’ve been following it for a few years. So it really popped. 

THE SUMMIT for me is just a really wonderful metaphor for breaking through the ceiling—reaching the height of what human capabilities are. What is entailed when you really have to take on elements and work your way to the ceiling, to the summit? So it intrigued me straight away because of that title.

Then I got to meet with these incredible heads of CBS, Endemol [Shine North America], Paramount+; they’re a really tight family. And they’ve had great shows SURVIVOR and THE AMAZING RACE. I was thinking, like, “Am I really going to do something that winds up on par with those shows? Really?” Recently, I got to meet [SURVIVOR host] Jeff Probst and we had a little interview for CBS…it was about him sort of handing over the mantle to me with THE SUMMIT. And that was surreal, very surreal. I felt kind of a seismic shift in what I know about this industry and how I’m involved in this industry.

For me, [my career has] been acting and a bunch of wonderful opportunities there. But to get to come onto a series like this, which is filmed in my country, and I can have the pride of place. Also to be a Māori, and to be able to represent that part of my culture, and the people of the land, which I belong to? Very proud, very, very, very proud moment. And I don’t think at any point in the discovery of me getting the job was there anything but a very, very positive interaction between myself and the network and realizing it was a good fit.

There is a beautiful moment that kicks off the series of you acknowledging the land. How did that come to be?
The producers, some of them had never been to New Zealand. The word “Māori” is probably only known in the context of a historical figure of New Zealand…As we headed toward the filming, I said, “Look, I feel obliged to make an acknowledgment, a solid acknowledgment in front of everything, to the people of the land.” And they saw that it was necessary also.

It really helped ground me, as well, because I was very nervous the first moment I had to be on camera as myself. My sister said to me, “Manu, this is a great opportunity for you because everybody knows you as all these different characters—Crixus and Deathstroke and Azog the Defiler. They’re going to know you now. People [will] come up to you and go, ‘Manu! You’re on THE SUMMIT!’ which is a beautiful breakthrough. I don’t think many actors get this opportunity to bring themselves to the fore. 

One little funny story is on the day that I was actually sent the contract to sign from Paramount, I went downstairs and I met the producing partner of Anthony Robbins, the motivational speaker. And I said to him, “Oh, wow, isn’t it coincidental meeting you? You guys were driving people to the best capabilities. And I just literally setting a contract today for taking people up to the summit. It’s amazing to see you and have this moment of meeting you.” And he went, “Oh, wow. You know, we worked with an actor recently, Matthew McConaughey. And Matthew said that being able to get onto the stage and just be himself was such a liberating kind of experience.” That is one of the things that I found [was] a big door opening for me—introducing the audience as myself.

What was the balance like of how much of your personality you wanted to show versus how serious you wanted to the stakes of the show? And how much were you adjusting as you went along?
Trust me, that was a work in motion, literally. From the very moment of standing at the bottom of the mountain, they said, “Okay, and action.” I mean, I was frozen. The first take, I think they had to throw in the bin, right? I was just like [mimes being frozen stiff]. But then I opened [with the land acknowledgment]; it hadn’t been planned like that. And I said, “I’m going to ground myself right now with that acknowledgment,” took a very deep breath, and I let myself go into my spiritual self. And that helped eliminate that camera presence. I just really took the moment, and I even said, “I want to take a moment to acknowledge the people of this land.” The breath that I took next gave me the courage—I’ll call it the wairua, which is the spirit of my people, the Māori idea of spiritualism—that sort of lifted me into the next moment. 

From that moment, there was no turning back. Everything just started to evolve. But as we made our way up the mountain and everything like that, you got scripts. You’ve got things that can give you the sort of the basis of what you’re dealing with. But you’ve got people who are going through some things that are quite challenging, are often traumatic, because none of these people were prepared to climb a mountain. No one even knew they were climbing a mountain. That was a surprise to them when they met me at the river. [When they were told,] their faces—I don’t think people get that idea of that challenge. Just thrown! It’s their responsibility to reach the top of that mountain? 

We’re talking about people whose jobs have nothing to do with the outdoors. Maybe they’ve got a gym membership. Maybe they go for a walk. But most of them just looked up and were paralyzed. I could see in their face. I could see this kind of assessment. The question was, “Can I do that? Is that possible? Is that why we’re here?” And then while they’re going through that thought process, I take a bag off my shoulder…and inside it’s a million dollars in cash. And then their brain goes, “My whole life [could change].” It’s the question: Would you do something for a million dollars? It’s funny, because each of them, individually, now wants that million dollars. And all of a sudden they’re looking at each other [as competition]. When they first got to the river, there’s camaraderie…All of a sudden [they’re thinking], “How am I going to beat you, you, you, you, and [all of] you to get that million dollars?” 

It’s this wheelhouse of madness that’s going on, you know? There’s a massive physical challenge. But then starts the gameplay of, “Oh, this is what’s all about. It’s about competing for a million. I have to get there.” When I say, “Okay, your time starts now,” they’re all giggling. But deep in their thought, they’re all going, “At what point am I going to push somebody over that ledge for a million dollars.” [Laughs.] 

And interviewing them each day, knowing that they’re doing all these crazy, totally out of their world, challenges. Not only seeing how they’re coping with that, but seeing how each of them has a game plan. It’s so much fun. It’s a social essay. It’s really, really interesting.

The trek they’re on is very tough. How much of it did you have to experience yourself? 
Prior to filming, I got taken through the whole course. I got to experience all of the challenges, right? So I went around—and we were doing it three days before the contestants were called on; we were doing checks on the bridges and all the scaling and all that. We did the whole track. 

I’m pretty athletic, and I was nauseated at times, by [the] heights, I don’t necessarily have a fear of heights, but when you’re kind of dealing with tricky terrain, and you’re kind of looking down, and it’s a death drop—a lot of stuff goes through your mind. Which is, you know, just survival. 

Some of these people are literally stay-at-home moms, a guy that works at Trader Joe’s. When they’re standing on the edge of a serac, which could collapse—which we’ve seen happen multiple times in Khumbu [at] Mount Everest. All those elements are up on this mountain, and they confront them. They come face to face with these very serious obstacles. Of course, we have an incredible safety group that’s working around them and testing all of this stuff. [But] we can hear avalanches going off…[and] hear the cracking [as] part of the mountains break away. 

But the guys that are taking [the show] up this mountain know the area very well, and they’re there the day beforehand to test and see what’s going on with the terrain. But you never know. If Mother Nature wants to unleash hell, she’ll unleash hell to some degree. That was one of the scariest parts of the competition: Knowing that we’re not really in control of this mountain. This mountain is the one with the final word…We’re all 99% relieved from the safety mechanisms, and 1% just [thinking] “Please mountain, take care of us and our 16 contestants.” [Laughs.]

THE SUMMIT, Special Preview, Sunday, September 29, CBS

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