The Summit gives a massive advantage to one player after a snow day

At the end of the fifth day of The Summit, 11 players remain, now that they’ve dumped Geoff.

Geoff’s exit is a little worrying to players like Dusty, who says “physically, I can do anything he can do—probably better,” so he decides his best strategy is to “be myself, which hopefully doesn’t bite me in the butt.” I guess that means be as arrogant as possible, then?

In shocking news, Dennis admitted to Dusty that he lied during the vote about not floating Geoff’s name, and Dusty told us, “I kinda felt like he had a hidden agenda.” Congrats, Dusty. Welcome to strategic reality TV.

Punkin, meanwhile, was “pissed,” while Beckylee floated Robert’s name, because Robert has been playing both sides and everyone knows it. Oh, and he’s also in grating camp-counselor mode, making sure everyone ties their shoes and wipes completely.

While Beckylee mentions him as a target, we see a delightful moment when Robert, spinning around in a tent for reasons that will remain a mystery for all time, kicks Dennis in the head—accidentally, but still. Hello, metaphors!

The Summit villain Dennis Cho (Photo by Sean Beale/CBS)

On day six, the players wake up to 16 degree weather and frozen product placement: yes, The North Face logo is icy, which means trouble.

Nick said that he “heard some things slapping the tent.” Oh now things are getting exciting on The Summit! Maybe the Mountain’s Keeper came for a little bedtime story?

Alas, it turns out what he heard was snow and wind, and the players are basically snowed in. Considering that the entire production traveled via helicopter, I’m guessing the producers couldn’t even fly in.

There’s some strategic conversation, like Beckylee saying, “it’s clear Amy and Pati are our slowest, so now we have to double book it.”

Later, Robert says, “We have to think what’s going to help us move at the right pace to get to the summit.” Gee, what could we have done about that?! Hmm?

Amy, who’s feeling “isolated, alone”, talks to Punkin, who says “I really don’t trust Rob right now” because he is “trying to play the middle of both sides” and is “not good at it,” ha. But they also don’t trust Dennis.

One funny thing that happens during this episode is when the edit cuts away to a player to share something about themselves versus when it cuts to Dennis. It’s like:

• Player 1: *horrible thing that happened*
• Player 2: *motivation for challenging themselves*
• Player 3: *source of deep-seated fear*
• Dennis: *sociopathic thing*

For example, at one point, Therron shares that, in fifth grade, a sibling died; later, his sister was killed by her boyfriend. “Losing her was the hardest thing I’d ever been through,” he said. And then his dad was murdered in 2020. Holy shit.

“That experience of losing people has compounded into the person that you see today,” he says, explaining his cheerfulness despite all that pain. “I am so grateful to be alive.”

Later, Pati tells us she got a call that her mom had been in a car accident, and had to drive two hours without knowing whether her mom “was dead or alive.” Thankfully, Pati says, “she survived, she is that brave, single mom, that one person that I’m going to be thinking about and that’s going to get me through this game.”

And here are some of the cuts to Dennis:

• “I need people to struggle.”
• “I’m out here to be a savage.”
• “Me just staying down low in the sewers, like a cockroach, it’s my best approach to this game.”
• “I need people to struggle and show they are weak because it gets the target off my back.”

After a chat with Pati, Dennis does admit he could do some damage control, and “maybe I came on too strong in the beginning.” You think? And just the beginning?

Pati later explains that Dennis “has lied, but his actions have spoken very humbly.” I do think that fits what we’ve seen: Dennis is more bluster than bite.

The Summit’s players discover their next obstacle/challenge on episode 6 (Image from The Summit via CBS)

After whole day snowed in, the players take off down the side of a mountain, descending 2,000 vertical feet into a valley.

But first, an obstacle/challenge/hellacious thing. They have to pair off, with one leader and one follower, to climb along and up a rock face. The pairs:

• Rob and Jennye
• Dusty and Therron
• Beckylee and Punkin
• Dennis and Pati
• Nick and Amy
• Jeannie and a helicopter

These are incredible challenges, mental and physical. My hands get sweaty as they attempt these things, and I’m just watching on TV.

I do wish the show would give us a better idea of these challenge areas, however. We see the start and the finish and the middle, but not how they all connect. Is this truly the route? Just a little side quest?

Jennye quits mid-climb, at the part where she has to go up. “No, I don’t want to do this,” she says. “I am not moving from this position.” I am right there with her, though at that point, what do you do? After a moment, Rob helps her up, and all is well.

Everyone makes it, though there are slips and scares and difficulties. The real difficulty, however, comes for Jeannie, who no one pairs up with, maybe because she’s scared of heights.

While everyone’s getting their gear on, Dennis tries to take advantage of Jeannie feeling left out, talking with her to try to convince her to vote with him. He says, “everyone’s coming for me” and says, “That’s why I need you to be on my side.” He floats Robert’s name.

Jennie has to cross on her own, and just to make sure she knows she’s an outcast, the producers send the helicopter to hover right next to her and threaten her with its blades. Actually, they literally kicked dirt in her face: “I’m trying to climb!” she yelled as the wind whipped against her. “I have dirt in my eyes!”

The Summit Manu Bennett on episode 4, as the Mountain’s Keeper chopper takes off to go threaten the players (Image from The Summit via CBS)

When she makes it to the top, everyone hugs her, as if they didn’t leave her for dead. But the Mountain’s Keeper will come to her rescue. It doesn’t happen right away, though. Right as I was thinking, Well, where’s the Yellow Bag of Doom? Manu popped up to say there’s “plenty of time for the Mountain’s Keeper to shake up their plans.”

Fine, fine. That happens at the camp, which the group actually makes it to.

They sit around and strategize, with Beckylee suggesting voting out Rob while also saying others should vote for Dennis “just to hide our numbers.” I loved Amy’s reply: “you gotta make sure you have that locked down,” she says.

The Mountain’s Keeper finally drops its cargo, and inside is a letter for Jeannie. It says, “On this mountain, bravery is rewarded,” and also includes some vaguely creepy/threatening language: “I watched you.” Can one report a helicopter to HR?

Jeannie gets a massive advantage. The group will not vote as one, but as teams: leaders and followers. And one team will vote off someone from the other team. By choosing a team, Jeannie decides which team is voting and thus immune, and which team is vulnerable.

How will she vote? Jeannie says “I have to do what’s right for me and my game,” and I thought that meant she’d go with the leaders. But no: “Since I’m closest to the followers, I’m going to pick the followers. Sorry,” she says.

The followers all convene, and Amy mentions they should “keep strength on the team until we get further up the moment.” As in: Let’s not do another Geoff vote, okay, dumb dumbs?

Punkin says she can’t trust Robert; Amy agrees but also points out that “Dennis lied to Manu” and “we know Dennis is a liar.”

As Therron says, the choice comes down to whether they vote for someone who’s being duplicitous, or “are we going with someone that we know has lied to our face”?

The answer: duplicity. Also camp counselory, which I don’t think is a word.

There’s one vote for Dennis, and the rest for Robert, who demands everyone sing a rousing version of “The Ants Go Marching” while making macaroni pictures of his face.

Actually, he says, “I wish you all would have weighed my heart”—and I was like, wait, what? Dissecting a player is an option?

Robert tries to encourage them to be warm and fuzzy and not strategic: “If you’re playing with your heart, it’s not too late to band together,” he says. I think that’s what Robert tried to do, though, and it definitely did not work out for him.