Kiwi star Manu Bennett showcases NZ’s beauty in new US reality show

Manu Bennett will take 16 strangers into the unknown in a new CBS show, The Summit. Photo / CBS
The sky’s the limit as Manu Bennett shows New Zealand off to US viewers. The Kiwi star tells Ricardo Simich what to expect from the new show.
Next week millions of American prime-time viewers will see the beautiful, mountainous South Island in new US reality show hosted by our own Manu Bennett on CBS’ The Summit.
Bennett will take 16 strangers into the unknown because contestants did not know what they were signing up for, and many of them have no previous climbing or camping experience.
The contestants, who are from various walks of US life, have backpacks containing an equal share of $1 million; the group must traverse an exhausting distance in only 14 days to win the cash they are carrying. Make the summit, win the cash.
Bennett tells Spy he was super-proud to be the host and the guide for the special visitors to Aotearoa.
“There’s a dynamic in the world and shows like this are a social study in behaviour, so as a world traveller and a Māori, I took on the responsibility of being a guide on both a physical and spiritual level,” says Bennett.
To emphasise how extreme the locations are, Bennett explains for the first season producers used the same location where Sir Edmund Hilary trained before taking on Mt Everest.
Bennett credits his good fortune to host the show to the good people at CBS and Endemol Shine, who were fans of his work on Spartacus, The Hobbit, The Shannara Chronicles and Arrow, the first three of which were filmed in New Zealand.
“Being a Kiwi was of course influential in securing this role, specifically being Māori gave me the ability to advise the showrunners over some matters such as acknowledging Ngāi Tahu as tangata whenua during the opening scene of the show,” he says.
When Bennett first arrived at production and looked up at the mountain, he thought, “How is anybody going to do this?”
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“Fortunately in our crew, we have some of the most experienced mountaineers who know this world intimately.
“The reality is, though, that the mountain has the last say.
“Weather conditions were always turning on a dime and when you’re dealing with slippery vertical rock, ice walls and unstable seracs, there’s always a high level of danger.”
Bennett says the closer the group gets to the top, the more linked they need to be together, but it’s also more likely somebody is going to get pushed off a ledge.
Kevin Lee, executive producer and showrunner for The Summit, tells Spy that from the start, producers wanted to find a host who had a visceral connection to the terrain and mountains of New Zealand.
“When we first met with Manu, he talked about the land with such knowledge and passion that we knew right away he was right for the series,” says Lee.
“It turned out to be a great decision because Manu was able to help the American contestants appreciate the specialness of the location in a way that an American host would not have been able to.”
Lee says the Southern Alps are the most beautiful mountain range in the world, but without a doubt, the thing the crew and cast most loved about filming in New Zealand were Kiwis themselves. “Their generosity and sense of humour was what really made the experience special,” says Lee.
He says the cast and crew were welcomed with open arms by many local stakeholders in New Zealand. “In particular, our filming would not have been possible without the help and co-operation of the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Film Commission.”
NZ Film Commission chief executive Annie Murray is proud to have provided support for The Summit.
“With New Zealand’s unique combination of diverse landscapes and specialist production expertise, we’re thrilled to play a part in bringing such ambitious projects to life on the global stage, made possible through the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate,” says Murray.
The Summit is based on the original Australian version, which also filmed in the Southern Alps and screened on TVNZ+. It is hoped the US version, too, will become available to stream to local audiences.
Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy editor. Based in Auckland, he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.