Did The Summit’s players crush the cockroach or stick to slow climbers?

Five days remain in the hike to the summit and the end of The Summit, and the endgame is on the players’ minds. I’m glad about that, because I’ve been trying to understand their decisions.

Manu, as usual, mentioned to the players they should think about “who it is that’s going to help you get to the summit.” But what does that actually mean? The default answer has bee—from players and viewers—to keep people who are physically capable.

However, few of the challenges have actually required strong people to help weaker people. The last two people voted out, Jennye and Pati, were the slowest, but that never caused the group to fail to make a checkpoint.

So maybe help you get to the summit is about people who help the group’s morale? That’s clearly not how the players are thinking, though, especially keeping a self-described villain like Dennis around.

“We don’t know how the game’s going to end, who’s going to get to the summit,” Amy said. So maybe people are making guesses?

Later, Therron offered the best articulation of that I’ve heard this season: “Who do I want to be next to that I would feel comfortable splitting the money with, or at least having a better shot at getting the money with?” He’s thinking about the possibility of both splitting money and facing a vote to see who gets money—and those outcomes represent two very different kinds of players.

Beckylee and, behind her, Dennis, paddle across a lake on The Summit episode 7’s start (Image from The Summit via CBS)

The episode six Amy vs. Nick fight—if we can call it that—ended with Nick telling us that the confrontation did not bother him. “Honestly, it was perfect, because I needed a reason to turn the target on Amy because I think she should be next,” he said.

Amy knew this was a possibility, and so did Jeannie. The next morning, they bonded over their vulnerable positions. “Whatever happens, it’s me and you,” Jeannie said. Amy, though, wants to take out Dennis.

At this point in the season, I’ve stopped thinking that will ever happen, because 1) players know he’s playing a duplicitous game and 2) don’t care and/or want to keep him around as an endgame shield.

Dennis told us he woke up to the “best alarm clock, which is Amy talking smack about me, telling Jeannine to turn on me. But I’m the Korean cockroach, and I’m going to somehow slide out of this.”

On the 10th day of climbing a mountain while being chased by a sentient helicopter, the players/climbers woke up to 26 degree weather and are covered in frost. In other words, a perfect morning to go for a swim.

Manu showed up to tell the cast that “today the push toward the summit really begins.” And what have they been doing for nine days? Warming up?

He told them they’d reach the snowline; afterwards, “you’ll be in the snow for the remainder of the climb.” Okay, I guess snow does make things more difficult.

Manu pointed to the other side of the lake, where they needed to go, and said, “I’m not going to ask you to swim that far.” How nice!

So the Helicopter of Dread showed up and dropped canoes into the water, because why drop them on land when you can make someone swim out to get them?

“Those rafts aren’t going to paddle themselves to shore,” Manu said, helpfully.

Nick volunteered to go into the 33 degree water and lose sight of his testicles for the next week. He said there “definitely was some strategy involved in that decision. I guess we’ll find out how well it worked.”

Once Nick arrived at the boats, Beckylee yelled, “Nice! Now bring ’em back.” What did she think he was going to do, swim them to the other shore? Climb on top and take a nap?

Eventually, two to a canoe, the players took off, paddling, with Therron and Jeannie going in literal circles. Therron said that he was thrilled to do “something that does not involve heights.” Oh, just wait!

As they paddled:

• Punkin took a moment to appreciate the natural beauty, which is, as I keep saying, one of the highlights of The Summit for me. “I have never seen anything as beautiful as this,” she said.
• Beckylee, in a canoe with Dennis, said, “I feel really bad for Dennis” who is “a messy player,” but not for Amy, because “the more this game progresses, the more nervous she makes me because she is good with everyone.”
• Dusty reflected on his dad, who “held me to a very high standard in life.” He shared this story—and I suggest you turn the lights on before reading it, that’s how scary it is: “I struck out in Little League, and I started crying. He kinda grabbed me by the chest a little bit, and my jersey, and he said, ‘Don’t ever do that again. Grow up, don’t cry, make sure you’re being a good teammate.” What about making sure you’re begin a good parent, Dusty’s dad? Fuck your toxic masculinity, sir.

In a small miracle, they all made it across the lake without falling into the water. And that’s where they encountered a climb up, and a zipline down.

Nick tackles The Summit’s latest obstacle: a gravity line (Image from The Summit via CBS)

Therron was thrilled. “They want me to die,” he said. “We walk, we do heights, we walk, we do heights” Therron told us this is affecting him more than it seems; he’s “physically upset” and “honestly wish[es] I would have been the person voted out yesterday” because “I’m, like, mentally at the end of my rope.”

Good news, Therron: a rope to dangle off the end. The producers/editors are great with metaphors.

The note told them they each had to go across the “gravity line” and “each fall will cost precious time and have consequences at the next vote.”

The good news is that this just required hanging on, and the group eventually figured out this was just for 15 seconds. The bad news was they had to hang from a literal rope, a scraggly, knotted ball that looked like a scratchy mess.

I first thought this looked fun, but between that Rope and Nick saying, “this is all upper-body strength,” now I think it looks like middle school gym class, just with a canyon below.

Therron and Punkin had a great conversation beforehand—and especially great to hear her reaction to fear after the story of Dusty’s father. “How many times can my brain go through this up and down wave?” Therron said. “Why can’t I overcome this?”

Punkin told him, “I don’t think the more you do it, the less you’re afraid of it. I don’t think that’s how that works. I think overcoming it is knowing the fear is still doing it and accomplishing it.”

Yes! I am not going to pretend that I’m good at that, but I now know that things like fear and anxiety don’t go away, you just try to learn how to move through them instead of letting them stop you. But you aren’t hear for a mindfulness lecture from me.

The exact consequences of falling weren’t clear. Dusty guessed that, if three people fell, they’d have to vote three people out.

Nick went first, tracked along the way by a drone. The other players made it across, and then came Jeannie’s turn. She was struggling, and Amy said, just “walk off the cliff”—easier said than done for sure.

Jeannie, however, let go of the rope while she was still on the cliff, so she just flew across the canyon, dangling.

Amy was last, and made it all the way across—and then with literal feet to go, dropped.

But, as Therron said and the editors showed us repeatedly, “the rope ripped.” Yes, it wasn’t Amy’s fault, but the knotted ball of rope held together by some string that broke.

As the cast sat there, the show broke the fourth wall to show us the “safety officer” show up and tell Amy, “You have a chance to go again.”

I’m glad the producers acknowledged this was not Amy’s fault, but also: she made it. Going would be more than anyone else had to do, because holding the rope is the challenge. Why not just give her a pass? If I did a half marathon and got to the end and the race coordinators were like, Oops, sorry, we didn’t get your start time! You can run it again! I’d barf and collapse.

Amy, to her credit, went again, and held on the entire way. Double money for Amy!

During this challenge, we learned that there are two alliances of five:

• Dennis, Jeannie, Nick, and Therron
• Amy, Beckylee, Dusty, and Punkin

Punkin asked Dusty, “How long we going to keep this going?” Dusty said it was time to “get rid of the cancer,” i.e. Dennis, because “we risk some sort of random surprise.” Also, everyone knows Dennis is fake, and the editors illustrated that with a montage of him saying “bro” to people.

Nick, however, wanted to keep Dennis, while Beckylee thinks Jeannie is a wildcard and “Amy’s dangerous, too.”

However, Beckylee acknowledged that Dennis was still an issue: “at some point you can’t stick your head out too far for him.”

But Dennis was confident. “It is so hard to kill a cockroach,” he said. Can we end this metaphor now? No, it is not. I am not an entomologist, but as someone who lives in Florida, I can assure you they are easily stomped on, vacuumed up, sprayed with non-toxic cleaning spray, or flushed down a toilet.

The hard part is a cockroach infestation. They come out one at a time; where they live and why they live there is the hard part. But one roach? Easy.

Helicopter of Doom showed up with their consequence for Jennie’s fall: chopping up Jeannie with its blades. Oh, never mind: just another yellow bag.

Inside was a note; I guess the helicopter can’t just send an e-mail. They learned the person who fell is nominated and does not have a vote; the group can nominate two more people.

Losing a vote? Is Jeff Probst in that helicopter?

They arrived at their camp, where Manu offered his usual warmth and congratulations, calling this “the beginning of the end” and pointing out lots of avalanches happened in the area behind him. Ray of sunshine, this guy.

Jeannie was nominated, so who would the other two be? Dennis told us Amy “might be the most dangerous player here” because “kindness and being the most liked in this game is also the most dangerous.” Why? I guess he’s assuming there will be a vote at the end for the nicest player?

Nick said that Amy was the obvious target. “That’s just the way the game’s gonna go,” he said. But bro, your alliance has just three votes, so maybe not.

Dennis casts the one vote that was not for him to leave The Summit’s competition (Image from The Summit via CBS)

At the Circle of Doom, Amy nominated Dennis, who nominated Amy. Jeannie was still nominated, but appeared safe, and indeed got zero votes.

Manu’s vote roll call started with Amy, who received Dennis’ vote—and no one else’s. Everyone else voted for Dennis, even his alliance.

In defeat, Dennis told us, “I respect the blindside” and added, “I wanted the game to get dirty; I wanted to stay and make it a little bit dirtier.”

He also said “it’s okay to be misunderstood,” and I’m not sure anyone misunderstood him—that’s why he was voted out. Then it was time for one last roach metaphor: “He’s been stomped before he can spread his wings and fly.”