The Summit star reveals surprising details about the show: 'Shocked'

The Summit Australia’s Phillip Kuoch has opened up about his experience on Channel Nine’s brand new reality show and revealed surprising behind-the-scenes details.

The action-adventure series follows a group of 14 contestants working together to reach the top of a mountain and win $1,000,000 while completing various tasks along the way.

Phillip, a 29-year-old doughnut bakery owner who was sent home on Monday night, tells Yahoo Lifestyle the contestants had “no idea” what to expect when they began filming the show because this is the very first season.

“What’s special about the show is that it's never been done before and none of us really knew what was going to happen,” he shares.

“It's not like Survivor, for example, where you can go back and watch the other seasons and you kind of know what to prepare and what to expect. They literally told us nothing.”

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Phillip adds that the ‘trekkers’ were completely unaware there would be eliminations throughout the season.

“We just thought we’d have to work together to get to the top,” he says.

“But at every single twist and every single turn, we were genuinely surprised and shocked because we literally didn't know what the format was going to be like. And those emotions that you see, us crying and being surprised, that’s all real.”

'How the hell did they get this approved?'

Speaking about his decision to apply for the show, Phillip says he wanted to test his limits and learn more about himself.

“I’ve pretty much dedicated the last eight years of my life to helping my family and starting the family business,” he details.

“I was 21 at the time, so I missed out on a lot of things. I watched my friends go on all these adventures, travelling overseas, doing all these crazy, amazing things, and by that point I was like, I just want to do something crazy for myself for once. So when it came up I was like, yeah let’s do it.”

Phillip went on to say that what he found most surprising about The Summit is how different it is from every other reality show on TV.

“There were moments where it just felt unreal,” he remarks. “Like the helicopter chasing us down that run, I was like, how the hell did they get this approved? Surely this is an OH&S issue?

“There were moments like that where it felt like you were filming a Hollywood movie, so I felt really special to be a part of that.”

The Summit airs Sunday 7:00pm and Monday-Tuesday 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now

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