It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast past weep that line.
Welcome back, guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite
shows get made. So each episode I've been finding guests they want to dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making, so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you've found it. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform.
This chat I am joined by Sam from The Summit, whoever the last few weeks has been seen on Channel nine's ambitious new reality series. The Summit is the latest reality series from Endemol Shine Australia. The premise is a group of contestants racing to the top of a mountain, undertaking various tasks along the way and avoiding being eliminated by a mountain keeper who is making their life a
living hell. Each contestant has a backpack with a portion of the grand prize of a million dollars, which will be split by whoever makes it to the top of the summit. A little bit more about Sam, I guess today. Sam is a strength and conditioning coach from Sydney and he was not one to shy away from the challenge of the summit. We saw him exit the competition on Tuesday, and while he had the fitness to make it to the top, it's fair to say his social game was
what let him down. I will ask Sam about his biggest mistakes and if he's friendship with fellow contestant Jan survived him stealing ten thousand dollars of the prize money. Sam will reveal the accuracy of the final edit and how much of the show is actually set up to create heightened drama. We will even find out how he was chosen for the summit and the real reason why he has said no to countless other offers to appear
on dating shows. Plus, we will also get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes of the Summit, which is currently on Channel nine and ye can catch up on nine now if you've fallen a little bit behind. Anyway, let's bring Sam into the podcast and guys, this is a really fun chance. Sam was a lot of fun to talk to, So I hope you enjoy this episode. Hey Sam, how are you?
Buddy?
Awesome? Ben love it and me, how are you doing well.
I'm a big fan of the Summit, so this is actually kind of exciting to have you to talk about a series.
Nice. I have enjoyed every single minute of it.
I felt like when it started they were long episodes and I was like, God, these are long. And then now we're at this point of this series where I'm like they could be twice as long.
One hundred percent. At first, like a drag's on, but I guess we've got to do a lot of character development, We've got to meet a lot of people set the scene, and yeah, even with that last episode, oh my goodness, just give us more.
Well, I think there's a lot of people in Australia that would definitely be interested in seeing more of you. But I want to start by saying congratulations on a memorable effort on the summit. How are you feeling about the whole thing at the moment.
I'm relieved that it's over. It was a lot of anticipation, a lot of suspense. I am really happy with how I've been portrayed. I can quite truly say when it comes to setting a goal and a termination, I feel like that is exactly how I came across. I had such an amazing time. Like there were freezing moments, there were difficult moments. Dealing with the social structures was such
a challenge that I wasn't ready for. But man like, like you saw in every single episode, it was breathtaking to be able to stop with everyone and just soak in how freaking beautiful New Zealand is.
Oh, I can't. I'm watching it on a big screen at home in my place. I have a home theater, so amazing, Like you're just it's a feast for the eyes, which is great. I'm just talking to you now. You've very well spoken, h You're very articulate, You're very handsome. I want to know how did you get picked to be on a show like this? Did you apply? How did this happen?
For you.
So over the past couple of years, I guess I've had a fair few casting producers reach out for certain shows Lo and Behold. They were always dating shows, and I was like, there is absolutely no chance, Like personally, that is not how you meet someone like and for some people, I just don't underst really understand how it's necessary. But whatever floats your boat, totally fine.
Let's check these off the checklists really quickly, just because we can't live this opportunity. So when I saw you with the long, curly, blonde, golden hair before you had a cut, which is a great charity that you made money for, absolutely gorgeous, So I can imagine that we can check the Bachelor off. I'm sure you would have been offered that one.
Not yet, but I still don't know if I'd be able to bring myself to do it.
What about Marritith first side, if I asked you to do that one.
There is no chance in hell I will ever do that.
But that's not an answer to the question.
We're like asking have you been asked to do those shows?
They're more elusive than that. I think I got asked to do like Sex on the Beach, which or maybe it's on the beach. I don't know. It's one of the two, one of the ones I've already done.
Okay, great, so you've been had on by casting producers all over the country to do dating shows, But then why did you choose a summer look.
They came up to me after the head shave. They were like, you're really enthusiastic and engaging. We think you'd be perfect to this new adventure TV show. And at first I pushed back a little bit and now like, you're us out. It's like Sas Meat Survivor, And that had my ears pricked up because I've seen bits of the SAS and I've always been like, you know what
that has you written all over it. I jumped at the opportunity, and next thing, you know, like two weeks after a big holiday at burning Man, I got flown over to New Zealand and dropped into the complete opposite climate.
Okay, that is a big difference. I don't necessarily know if mentally going to burning Man was a good idea to do this show straight afterwards, But I digress. We need to talk about what the audience reaction has been like for you, because you have very iconic look. So I can imagine walking the streets of Australia at the moment You're getting a lot of people coming up to you and talking to you.
What are they saying?
Well, most of the people. I just did the Sydney half marathon, actually the Runaway Sydney Half Marathon, and I think I had probably about twenty people yell at me saying the mountain man, or get back on the summit, or what are you doing here? People are really nice, which is really good to see. No one has said anything negative and I'm not one to go and read
the comments. I'm never going to go do that. People can shoot me a message, but so far most people have been really lovely, really happy to see me, and yeah, I'm really happy with the response so far.
Well, are you worried about getting the villain editor is what they call it in television land? How were you feeling doing the show with Was there sometimes where you're thinking, well, I could say that, but then I don't want to be looked to be too mean, Like what was the process and how did you feel about maybe dodging that villain edit?
Mmm, it came really natural. I don't really have a mean bone in my body. The entire show, I was playing with the assumption that we need to speed ever on up. So every single time that I was choosing someone that was slowing us down to make us move quicker, it was never a tactical move. It was more for me, quite a logical move, and I feel like that showed actually pretty well. I don't feel like I was mean
at any point. I feel like decisions had to be made, and when you're going through like rugged alpine terrain and doing some of the things we had to do, it was really necessary just to keep the momentum of the entire group going.
Would you say that this show, now that you've done it, it relies on brains or braun, because like when it starts out, you're like, well, Sam can get to the top of the mountain because you have the braun. But I'm not saying you don't have the brains. While I dig myself a very big hole, I think at this side of the experience, are we talking about how you negotiate your social game or whether or not it is the physical game.
Like looking back, look, there were some people that were extremely prepared for the social game and were playing from day one, and we see them go a long way in the show, and it definitely acts in their favor. I don't think anyone was prepared for how much social
game was going to go into this. People know that, like it takes three months to make Survivor, and we've got two two and a half weeks to create this show, So I think there was a little bit of urgency, but we see so much more gameplay come out, and it does end up being about your friends that you make, and your loyalties and how honest you are. People can see through you, especially when you're spending all your time
every single day with each other. If you're not being honest and being truthful and being yourself, people can see it, and that's when you can make the worst enemies.
I think that that was probably a bit of the downfall. Did you watch any Survivor or any other reality shows? Because your romance that you got with Jans, For me, as soon as I saw that developing, I was.
Like, oh no, I was like, this is not good.
Like you know, as soon as the two strongest people got together and very handsome looking blokes, of course, that is a huge target on both of your heads.
So looking back. I definitely shouldn't have had such a strong alliance with Chance. It definitely painted a massive target on our back, and that was clear from day one, and that's why I literally got put up for eviction every single time that it came around. I think I got very lucky at a lot of moments to keep myself there. I would play completely different had I got the chance, or have I get the chance to do it again, fingers crossed that that does get to be
another opportunity, because it was so much fun. It was so much more fun than I was actually expecting, and people are tactical. I have never watched a season of reality TV. I've seen episodes here and there, but nothing that has drawn me in so much. It has been really enjoyable to watch this, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing a lot more reality TV, hopefully on the adventure side through to the end, because it would take a lot more preparation if I were to do it again.
Well, I mean, the series is such an ambitious idea. I mean, do you think that the ruthlessness of some of these challenges were a bit harsh for audiences to get their heads around.
I don't think the challenges were ruthless enough. I'm honest, I wasn't actually challenged at any point.
I'm still recovering from the bridge shop in the first episode is so brutal, and I'm not afraid to say this. I had tears in my eyes when the bridge was It brought back all those memories of not being picked. You know, it's sport at school.
It seems so cruel. I mean seeing Steven's face drop and we were all in drop. We did not. I wasn't even watching as as I pulled that axe out of the bag. I was labbergasid. I did not know what was going on until I literally saw the bridge falling. It broke our hearts. It was gut wrenching to see. Luckily, he came away unscathed.
You've cut up with him for a beer, and he's not at the bottom of the mountain. For people who are watching Channel.
Nine, he's still okay in the red, still in that creek.
I want to ask you about the recovery process for this show, because I can imagine you would have trained usually because you're already a fit guy, but you know, mentally and physically coming out of this experience, how did you cope.
The scariest thing we did and the thing that probably stuck with me the most of the helicopter chase. That is one of the scariest things I've ever done, and it's because that helicopter driver was an absolute cowboy. There was one point where I had to jump out of the way of the rear rotorblades because he was about a meter and a half above us. As we're running underneath the helicopter, he decides to turn chase someone else.
I see those rotablades coming around, and I jump out of the way onto the ground and I honestly reckon I game like two or three meters close to those rear roaders and it is loud and there is so much wind. Terrified.
I want to know more about this helicopter because we can't see in so they've obviously tinted windows. But the Mercedes Benz of helicopters. But are you calling it to the mountain keeper as the mountain keeper the helicopter itself. I mean, I find it noticeable that they've even given them and keeper agenda, like she's the mountain keeper.
Yeah, she is the mountain keeper. Maybe it's a They then because the gender kind of changes as we go along. Like Jai calls the mountain keeper one thing, then calls them another. Who knows we never see the driver. They're just always watching and they well, I mean, guys, you know what's probably been the creepy one, just filling that person in through the entire thing, the absolute prick.
What's your relationship with him?
Like?
Because thing like that all the time?
Like, I mean, I don't clearly, as you can tell from be on the on the line with me right now, I do not have a masculine voice.
But he is.
Kind of this caricature. Are there moments where he breaks.
He We got to make him laugh a fair few times, and the longer the show one he would break character a little bit and then he would have to go back and be like, guys, stop making this laugh. By the end couldn't keep it together. It was quite funny seeing him break character a couple of times. We will never get to see that on TV. But I'm I'm completely Certainty is actually such a lovely, kind person. But man, he is smoldering and deceptive. On the show.
We'll talking about what we don't see.
You know, there must be so much footage that Endemol Shine Australia are collecting along the way. Is it harder for you guys to be ignoring the cameras and being authentic with your climb? I mean, do you get told off if you look at the cameras? Do do they take a couple of dollars out.
Of the prize money?
Like? What?
How is that dynamic going?
It's actually really impressive. The production company is so professional with it, like they put up these walls straight from the get go to not be engaged with the cameramen or the producers throughout. They're having very little in terms
of sway with what you say. They encourage you to vocalize how you're feeling and what of, so you get quite used to vocalizing yourself, expressing yourself a little bit more and I see, I guess that's when in reality TV you see people's personalities magnified more because you have to talk about how you're feeling the entire time. There was no scripting, which was actually really awesome. I can safely say the show is ninety nine percent accurate to
how it actually was. Annoyingly, they cut out my letter that I got from family and I had big tears, like my brother had just given birth to a newborn baby girl while I was on the show and named it Esne, and it was a really beautiful moment. And unfortunately, being the tough guy on the show, they cut it because they just couldn't have me probably in tears.
And I think when they know that, you know they're editing backwards, they know that you're going to go. You know, they can't have us be obsessed with you and then have you chopped from the show. It's hard for the viewers to kind of get their heads away. Your exit from the show was a shock to me. Who do you hold the most responsible for being eliminated?
Oh, you know what, I'm gonna hold Alex responsible for that. He put my hand up multiple times for eviction and seeing him jump into the water when we were already in the water in the previous episode. You actually hear me swearing the entire time because I see him jump into the water to get the bag and I'm like,
we are already doing all of this hard work. And as much as he says he's a team player, he absolutely shafts us on our side, and he already had his mind made up Sam was going home, and that was just very clear. Put anyone else in that position, they're probably going to go swimming for the bag anyway, everyone wants that option.
Well, I think Alex is quite popular. I mean, I'm watching this show and interacting with the fan base, and he's sounding very popular. But you know, the reason why I think he's popular is because if he's saying less, you get into less trouble. And he's really not humming across in the edit, like we're hearing too much of him. So you know, I think that's one thing. If you keep talking, which is my problem, you can hang yourself.
Yeah, personally, Alex is an absolute angel, and you see that, like he is a stand up citizen and he is a very kind, very fair person as well. So only when it comes to the TV show do I have beef with him, No other time. He's a wonderful human.
Well, the bag of money left out for you to go through seemed like a massive oversight from everybody. Things like that created for TV drama because it seems like maybe it's they're told to leave the money outside of the tent, or do you think it was a genuine mistake on their behalf to be leaving that kind of money lying around.
Man, I'm not too sure because so what happened when I was leaving. There was definitely one cameraman and director that was a chip above the rest. This guy has a lot of experience in a lot of years, and when we were filming that scene and when the bag was being dropped, he was with me and he said to me, we are going to have a lot of fun with this, and we played around with how we're going to do it. It was my idea to leave the note with them and to cut the bag open
with a stone. It was so juicy and so much fun. But we were actually ready to go into the tent and recover the bag. Now, when we went through at midnight to the campsite, we found the bag outside and we were like, why is it outside? That's going on? We didn't know what was happening either, but it made
a job very easy. I'm gonna blame the margaritas. They We got given margaritas at that checkpoint, and I had tour of those in about five minutes, and I was getting tipsy, and I know that they would have had a lot more drinks after I left around in that campfire. We had wine, we had beer, we had margaritas, and when the group becomes less and less, they're still supplying the same amount of stuff. So I reckon that people
might have had a few too many drinks. That bag was a little bit of an oversight because people are in the heat of the moment, there's a bit of drama going on, and then someone would have left it outside.
The others were furious that you stole the money. Everyone being cross about that to me was infuriating. I'm like, I'm sorry, every single one of you would have taken that money. Why are you trying to take the moral high ground at.
This Every single person would have taken that money. We've got a crewture going ever since the show, and every was like, Sam, why didn't you take more? Unfortunately, the Mountain people only let me take ten thousand. I was wondering. I was like, Man, ten thousand in the pool of two hundred and fifty K in that bag is not much. I wish I could have taken twenty or thirty, because that definitely would have rustled more feathers and made people madder.
But I can easily say that every single person that was left was shocked by the situation but probably loved it, and every single person would have taken more. I love when Jan said that he wouldn't have because he's trying to win people over. Mate. No one is believing that for a second.
No one's believing him at all.
I'm sorry, but you know what a load of shit like your ability to try and win people over with your emotional games.
It's holing flat. I mean, how does it land for you?
He goes really robotic when you tell it when you can see him not being honest, and I had to message him that, I'm like, dude, you turn into a robot when you're lying, because I can see it because I know him quite well from spending so much time with him. Now that I'm like, dude, you need to sort this out. If you want to lie as much as you do, you need to sort out this acting game of yours.
Come on, bro, He's not being asked to being on the New Neighbors, that's for sure. Maybe heven, well, what about your relationship with him moving forward? I mean, it did seem like there was a bit of tension created in that scenario, and unfairly you kind of being pitted against each other and that elimination would have been hard. Did you immediately pick the friendship up once the show was over or have things been a little bit sour between the two of you.
Nah, there's been no sound on us at all, Like when you were going to be one of our names was probably going home that night. I genuinely thought it was either going to be Fill or myself.
I know that you're saying that your relationship with Jens is obviously still great, but what about relationships moving out of this show? Do you have two people that you think that you would stay in contact with.
There's a few people that we're all really amicable, but Shemma, Isaac, and Chance I'm still really close with. They're all absolutely wonderful souls. And I've had a really good time catching up with both Isaac and Gemma. They've come to a couple of the viewing parties that I've been throwing here in Sydney, and I've caught up with Jans a few times.
I really just think Jan's got caught up in the game and the manipulation that sometimes these shows creates, and it shows a lot of inauthenticity, and it just doesn't show his strongest self, whereas like you see, Gemma and Isaac just be so true and honest and it's a testament to themselves how beautiful they are as people.
I love Gemma. I think that she when I straightaway is when she turned up. I was like, I would make friends with that girl right now. Once you were left, were you able to check in and see how every run was going? I mean, do they fly you straight home to Australia and tell you to wait to watch it on television?
I mean, what's that process?
Like? It was actually beautiful. After I saw that bag and got my ten k first thing in the morning, I got helicoptered back to Queenstown and while everyone else is looking for their bag, I'm having a hot shower and I'm licking my fingers without ten thousand dollars. But were to stick around until the end of the show for a twist that's coming up. I hope everyone gets ready because it is actually really fun and quite controversial.
I will say, but we actually have no idea of the final outcome until we see the last people pop out of the helicopter at the very end to announce who the winners are. From this point, we just see other people leave the mount and then come back to the hotel, and all we have to do is go, oh, you didn't make it. I'm so sorry.
Oh wow.
Okay, well that's a taste and that's an exclusive. So I appreciate that.
Thank you, You're welcome.
Would you have done anything differently?
The second last question for the pod is there anything now looking back that you think I probably should have changed one percent?
I should have kept my shirt on a little bit more. I should have put on more clothes, toned down my enthusiasm and excitement and all my strength even though also what you don't see on the show is how many hours of each other those days I'm carrying Kiddy's bag, I'm carrying isaacs bag, how much I'm pushing everyone and motivating people. You just hit the little snippets here and there,
but it doesn't really paint a really good picture. We made a lot of friendships, but I think being the type of person looking a certain way and having a strong mindset and also physique, it already paints the target on my back. You've got to hide those things whether you really want to move forward in a show like this, Sam.
Were you cold with no clothes on just before you go? I feel like it's the sub question, it's the deleted set. I mean everyone else was freezing, there was snow, the water looked like it was icy, and then you were not wearing any clothes while everyone.
Else was roped up? Was that?
Was it? Really?
I just want to do, were you cold or was it? What was the process?
I'm currently right now sitting here in shorts on my balcony and nothing else. Okay, correct, I've done fifteen minutes of ice bath today. I've been to New Zealand four or five times, and I in those icy lakes every time I go. I really like the cold, but you can train yourself to handle cold the more you do it. So the fact that I put myself into those really cold situations, your body can tolerate more cold without you
actually feeling cold. And so why with all the prep we've just come out of winter in Australia, we're creating this show. It is always snow in New Zealand, it is always cold, but I was there and there's some moments where you do feel cold when you're not doing anything, but when you submerg yourself in cold water. When you're putting yourself into those difficult situations, your body creates more resilience and I don't really feel the cold. Even to
this day. I have a freezing cold shower every single morning. It's invigorating, amazing.
And I always ask everybody who joins this podcast, what is something from behind the scenes, something that we won't see that the audience might appreciate as kind of a behind the scenes secret of what it's like to be in this production of the Summit gets that contract, Ficks, so contract?
What can I.
Say from behind? From behind the scenes. Some people don't really understand how TV is made, and I actually had to give some of the contestants a pep talk saying this isn't necessarily about you. This is bigger and network and production company is making this. So stop talking back and do the job that you've been given to get the platform that you're being given in the opportunity.
If you're going to do a show, lean into the brand, lean into the theme, because if you're making their job easier, then you're going to be on the show for a lot longer. If you're making it harder for them, they will find a way to have you disappeared down a hole.
I'll tell you that all right now, one hundred percent. You've got to be likable and you've got to have everyone on your side. It's not about a gottube, but people can see who you are as a person, and people either want to work with you or they don't.
Do we know if there's going to be another series like when you're making it, But they're saying, oh, well, we'll try and do something different from them too.
They didn't. They didn't give anything away. I've got no idea. I'm really looking forward to how they make the next perience. I don't think they can do the same location, but I'm going to be really excited to see what they make next.
Sam, I just want to say thank you so much for this chat. You've spilt so much tea. The cup is completely empty. I'm so excited about that. I'm pretty sure everyone who was listening to this now I feel like I have asked all the questions that the viewers would want from home. Thank you so much for your generosity with your time. You've been hilarious and insightful and a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for the time. I've really enjoyed this as well, and I'm hoping I can meet you face to face sometime in the near future.