Season 01

[meep.meep]

I just hope when Dennis reaches the summit, that someone pushes him down the other side.

[Diana Berry]

Swoon Dusty lives to see another day .

[North of Eden]

Therron's histrionics are a bit much.

Producers must be manipulating to keep Dennis in so there can be a villain.

Jenneye is one of those people who are hot when you see her hair and not when you don't.

As for the above about it being boring. It started out with a bang but you can only watch people one by one climb up, down or across something.

and that bird flying through the valley was on so much it should have its own SAG card.

[Notabug]

46 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Therron's histrionics are a bit much.

Producers must be manipulating to keep Dennis in so there can be a villain.

Jenneye is one of those people who are hot when you see her hair and not when you don't.

As for the above about it being boring. It started out with a bang but you can only watch people one by one climb up, down or across something.

and that bird flying through the valley was on so much it should have its own SAG card.

They definitely need to stop with the height challenges. Give them a compass and a map and make them find a specific location, have them start a fire without matches, even put together a jigsaw puzzle with their next clue in it.  It has already been determined that everyone still on the show, even those afraid of heights, are able to climb ladders or cross valleys  on ropes on their hands and knees.  There is no tension when everyone can and does rise to the occasion and complete the challenge.  Especially when it's the same challenge every time.

[LakeGal]

Finally!

[Jaundiced Eye]

1 hour ago, LakeGal said:

Finally!

I haven't watched yet, but I assume they cut that cockroach loose.

[PaperTree]

1 hour ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

I haven't watched yet, but I assume they cut that cockroach loose.

Correct!  Woo Hoo!

[mertensia]

He was so annoying!

I'm glad they let whatsherface redo the zip line thingie. 

At least the kayaking was a little  different.

[seacliffsal]

I wish they had a double elimination-I would like to see Jeannie go as I'm so tired of her whining, underperformance, and alliance loyalty.  I really hope there are repercussions for keeping the weaker climbers.  I still miss Geoff.

But, kudos to these participants for not outright laughing everytime they have to say "mountain keeper" or see the helicopter fly in.  I find both of those ridiculous.  I think it's mainly because they sell the 'mountain keeper' as protecting the mountains for centuries but the mountain keeper comes in a helicopter.  Make it make sense...

I like Dusty and Punkin and hope they make it to the Summit.  I think Beckylynn thinks very highly of her 'strategizing' but don't see her a a mastermind.

Oh, and we spent another half hour on the zipline (I didn't as I fast-forwarded)?  I don't think the producers realize that the audience isn't sitting at home holding their breath during these unending heights challenges.

The scenary is beautiful!

[KeithJ]

How many episodes are left in this?  They only have two more camps to go (I think)?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it seems way to easy to make it to each camp.

I'm at the point where I hope Amy and Jeannie are two of the final climbers and they are the reason why the group doesn't make the summit.

Edited November 14 by KeithJ

[Tango64]

Guy in kayak: "I'm sure glad it's not another task involving heights! I'm tired of those and I'm sure the audience is too!"

Trapper Keeper voice-over: "The next challenge is ziplining over a 10,000-foot high gorge."

 

[HappyDancex2]

Why am I watching this?

every week I dislike these people more and I think it’s because of the premise and it’s ever changing rules.  And that slo mo helicopter.  And the open hands voting. And the bubbling cauldron of soup.  And please don’t put butter on my bread I’m lactose intolerant.  And thanks for the dehydrating beer at elevation.

[seacliffsal]

Okay, minor pet peeve, but the temperature is below freezing, they are all complaining about the cold, and none of them are wearing gloves/mittens...

[Tango64]

I was in the driveway cleaning the carburetor on my lawn mower yesterday when a helicopter appeared, hovering ominously close to me as I focused on my task. Thank goodness I was able to hang on and get the job done.

Edited November 14 by Tango64

[Madding crowd]

It was the lawn keeper watching to make sure you got the job done. I notice the “mountain keeper” always comes close to those that are the most scared-way to be a jerk. My husband always comments on them not wearing gloves-I wonder if it’s harder to grab onto things as they climb. Hope Becky JoJo goes next-her continued claims of running everything is annoying. 

[Skooma]

On 11/8/2024 at 3:51 PM, hurrrz said:

Very strange show that could be improved massively. 

Biggest improvement would be for it to be cancelled.

[Netfoot]

So the Korean Krablouse was eliminated before he could spread his wings and fly crawl up someone's butt-hole like krablice normally do. 

Therron, make up your mind once and for all:

1. Man up!
2. Wimp out!

I took one look at the knot on the end of that rope and said to myself, "That will fail!" And the service over the knot looked like it had been done by a four year old. They could have done the simplest of Wall & Crown knots

and skipped the service altogether.

You know, pretty soon they will be making their final push to the summit. They will leave camp and at the end of the day they will all keep the prize money in their backpacks or they will all lose it. Now, who do I want as my climbing partner on that day? Is it someone who, should I sprain an ankle, will out of sheer self-interest pick me up and carry me to the top so we can all win? Or do I want Amy? 

[HappyDancex2]

How does this show work in order for it not to be battle of the fittest males?  Working backwards there has to be a way to let the Amy’s of the world compete and struggle because her family needs the money.  If the show was 15 Dusty’s it would make even less sense.

it will be interesting to see how the final challenges equalize the fitness component.  I wonder what the participants are thinking as they watch the episodes now.  Are they embarrassed at the hokey helicopter and them shouting about a mountainskeeper?  

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, HappyDancex2 said:

How does this show work in order for it not to be battle of the fittest males?  Working backwards there has to be a way to let the Amy’s of the world compete and struggle because her family needs the money.  If the show was 15 Dusty’s it would make even less sense.

First of all, I don't care how much Amy’s family needs the money. The outcome of this (or any other) reality show should not be based upon a means test.

To prevent this from being a battle of the fittest males, the challenges should not all be physical. So far all we've seen are strength-based challenges. Just slogging up a mountain all day is physical enough. They should have challenges that are a test of brains, a test of ingenuity... challenges that are easiest for small, lightweight people to succeed at, and so forth. And choose contestants that have an advantage in at least some of those varied types of challenge.

But for that to work, production has to stop pushing the aggressive, combative idea that people should be eliminated if they are strong because that makes them a threat. Instead, try to instill the idea that people should be retained if they have have useful skills because this makes them valuable. This alone would make the show stand out from most other reality type shows.

[KeithJ]

If someone quits during the show, their money is lost.  I wonder just how late you can quit before the vote.  If you know you're going to be voted out, can you just say "screw you all, you're not getting my money" and quit?  Maybe you're not allowed to quit at camp?

[seacliffsal]

8 hours ago, HappyDancex2 said:

How does this show work in order for it not to be battle of the fittest males?  Working backwards there has to be a way to let the Amy’s of the world compete and struggle because her family needs the money.  If the show was 15 Dusty’s it would make even less sense.

it will be interesting to see how the final challenges equalize the fitness component.  I wonder what the participants are thinking as they watch the episodes now.  Are they embarrassed at the hokey helicopter and them shouting about a mountainskeeper?  

Amy is a bank manager so I truly doubt her family needs the money so much unless she and her family overspend.  She probably makes more than the others (Geoff was a doctor? scientist? so may have made more but they, IMO stupidly, voted him out long ago).

[Skooma]

11 hours ago, KeithJ said:

If someone quits during the show, their money is lost.  I wonder just how late you can quit before the vote.  If you know you're going to be voted out, can you just say "screw you all, you're not getting my money" and quit?  Maybe you're not allowed to quit at camp?

Once you reach the checkpoint the money is safe.  It is quitting along the way to it that loses the group money. 

Or, in the case of the older guy, just production cutting down on the prize money they have to fork over themselves by making them cut the rope bridge on him.

[QQQQ]

There really isn't enough variation from episode to episode to make me feel invested in the show.

[Diana Berry]

Dusty swoon lives to see another day.  

[lgprimes]

On 11/15/2024 at 5:28 AM, Netfoot said:

 

But for that to work, production has to stop pushing the aggressive, combative idea that people should be eliminated if they are strong because that makes them a threat. Instead, try to instill the idea that people should be retained if they have have useful skills because this makes them valuable.

My understanding is that IS what they were told? That they should try to get everybody possible up the mountain? I don’t understand AT ALL why these contestants keep sending home strong guys. Makes no sense to me.

[Haley17]

Is it wrong I’m only watching this show in the hope none of them make it? 

[lgprimes]

1 hour ago, Haley17 said:

Is it wrong I’m only watching this show in the hope none of them make it? 

I think this puts you and me in the majority at this point!

[cowgirlwen]

At this point, I think it's safe to assume we all agree that:

1) These contestants are all mentally inept, voting off the strongest players (who could potentially help them get to the top), and keeping the slowest/weakest players (who inevitably are holding them back and potentially keeping them from reaching the end on time).  Makes zero sense.  What is all this talk about "threats"?  What, exactly, does that even mean in the context of this show?

2) Speaking of threats... what in the H-E-double toothpick is the deal with the "Mountainskeeper"?  A big black helicopter that hovers over contestants as they take on challenges?  Is it really that scary?  And they keep referring to it as "her".  How do they know the Mountainskeeper is female?

3) Half of the contestants are afraid of heights, but will persevere and still complete the daunting challenge.  We get it.  We don't need to see 45 minutes each episode of them conquering their fears.  And let's get real... they're strapped in with safety harnesses and the production/camera team is right there to help with any potential issues.  For a chance at a large cash payoff, I think most people would take on those obstacles.

4) Why is "trust" in the context of the money even a concern among contestants?  (As in, "I don't trust him to carry the money across the chasm", etc.)  Do they really expect us to believe that one of the shady contestants is going to abscond off with the entire payout in their backpack, sneaking out of the middle of a reality show somewhere deep in the mountains of New Zealand, and nobody is going to notice?  And even if they could/did, I'm sure production would have an idea how to get ahold of them afterwards.  It's just ridiculous, and a bit condescending for them to expect us to fall for such baloney!  

5) The host, Manu, is not the rugged boogeyman that they want us to believe that he is.  It's almost laughable, the way he is constantly shown as this ominous character standing stoic as the Mountainskeeper looms in the background.  Sorry team, it's just not as terror-invoking as it's meant to be.  

I'm not sure why I even continue to watch this show, other than the fact that I'm not a quitter.  But with each passing episode, I find it harder and harder to stay awake to the end.  

Edited November 18 by cowgirlwen

[KeithJ]

14 hours ago, Haley17 said:

Is it wrong I’m only watching this show in the hope none of them make it? 

At this point I think that's most of us. lol

[MarylandGirl]

I wonder if the producers expected more people to drop out on their own? "Most of these people are afraid of heights. Let's just make the height challenges more and more terrifying. Surely someone will bail out and go home!"

I'm also surprised there haven't been more injuries that have kept players from continuing. Even the one with the bad-looking knee injury (Jennye?) kept going until she was voted out.

[Red Bridey]

I don't watch the show; it's on while I do something else like play games on my phone. Or fold laundry. I am very, very, very tired of the amount of crying and wailing and emotion from several of the climbers. They've managed to get this far without dying so SHUT UP AND DO IT.

Oh, wow, the Korean Cockroach finally was squished. Good riddance, but now we'll see another Criminal Mistressmind take his place. Oh, Beckylee, I can't wait to *not* watch you and your Machiavellian plots to dominate the game. 

Yawn.

Edited November 18 by Red Bridey

[MarylandGirl]

4 minutes ago, Red Bridey said:

I don't watch the show; it's on while I do something else like play games on my phone. Or fold laundry. I am very, very, very tired of the amount of crying and wailing and emotion from several of the climbers. They've managed to get this far without dying so SHUT UP AND DO IT.

Oh, wow, the Korean Cockroach finally was squished. Good riddance, but now we'll see another Criminal Mistressmind take his place. Oh, Beckylee, I can't wait to *not* watch you and your Machiavellian plots to dominate the game. 

Yawn.

I feel like I must be missing something when Beckylee keeps talking about being a mastermind. What is she even doing? Fully expecting her to get voted out as she sits there in shock because she's such a mastermind. In her own mind...

[Skooma]

19 hours ago, cowgirlwen said:

4) Why is "trust" in the context of the money even a concern among contestants?  (As in, "I don't trust him to carry the money across the chasm", etc.)  Do they really expect us to believe that one of the shady contestants is going to abscond off with the entire payout in their backpack, sneaking out of the middle of a reality show somewhere deep in the mountains of New Zealand, and nobody is going to notice?

5) The host, Manu, is not the rugged boogeyman that they want us to believe that he is.  It's almost laughable, the way he is constantly shown as this ominous character standing stoic as the Mountainskeeper looms in the background.  Sorry team, it's just not as terror-invoking as it's meant to be.

And it obviously isn't real money in the backpacks.  Just play money.  They wouldn't carry real money along with them for about a hundred different reasons.

Also just a terrible host and terrible "Mountainkeeper" concept too.  Was this show designed to impress an audience of 7 year olds?

[meep.meep]

I'm personally hoping to get a participation trophy if I make it to the end.  One with extra jelly beans.  They owe us completists.

It's the "Mountain's Keeper" - if that is somehow scarier.

[Tango64]

Good lord, these people are idiots. Do they not even want the money? “You’re most likely to haul our fat asses to the top, so I’m voting you out.”

[PaperTree]

Pathetic.  I hope they all end up with nothing.  But sadly I don't think production will allow that to happen.  This whole mess is already in the can.

Dusty should have dropped kicked Therron off the mountain.

Now he's gonna whine about Amy.

These idiots don.t understand the rules.

It's not Survivor.  

[PaperTree]

I've really come to despise Nick.even more than The Korean cockroach.

[PaperTree]

Now Therron is going to whine for us.  His behavior gives gay men a bad name.

[KeithJ]

I hate all of these people.  Therron did say one thing that kinda made me think for a moment.  He said something like if he’s in the final four and he’s perceived as the weakest, he will get voted off.  I guess I can understand that but you still have to get to the summit to win.

And here we are with all the drama about how tough the tasks are but, yet again, they had zero issues getting to the checkpoint.  I’m really thinking they made this too easy.

[Tango64]

7 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

And here we are with all the drama about how tough the tasks are but, yet again, they had zero issues getting to the checkpoint.  I’m really thinking they made this too easy.

Yes. They should just skip the boring “challenges” that everyone breezes through, but that would leave only the nonsensical yammering about who to vote out. The show is such an empty vessel. 

[PaperTree]

Clueless idiots.

[KeithJ]

Amy “That’s not fair!” when Therron questions her physical ability.  Was it fair when you voted for anyone else to leave?

Bye bye hypocrite. 

[Madding crowd]

I hate these people. One person calmly leads and helps everyone and his reward is to get voted off. Therron pretending he’s some fearless leader now is a joke. I guess I don’t mind Jeannie and Punkin but the rest can just go especially Becky Lee!

[Ellee]

Not Dusty too!  

[KeithJ]

6 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I hate these people. One person calmly leads and helps everyone and his reward is to get voted off. Therron pretending he’s some fearless leader now is a joke. I guess I don’t mind Jeannie and Punkin but the rest can just go especially Becky Lee!

I don’t see any way Becky Lee isn’t in the final three at this point.  She seems to have a good relationship / alliance with everyone left except maybe Jeannie.

[Notabug]

32 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

Amy “That’s not fair!” when Therron questions her physical ability.  Was it fair when you voted for anyone else to leave?

Bye bye hypocrite. 

For someone who thought she was perfectly capable of making it to the summit because she is just that tough minded; Amy sure did spend a lot of time bringing up the rear moaning and groaning about how hard it was while allowing someone else to carry her pack for her.  For her to not acknowledge that she was, in fact, the slowest and that this was unlikely to change which made her the weakest link in the push to get to the summit was just dumb.

As for Therron eliminating Dusty because, at some point, several eliminations from now, Therron might be the slowest and get eliminated made no sense at all either.  Maybe the lack of oxygen in the thin mountain air caused a brain cramp.  As long as there are people who are slower, there's no reason for Therron to have thought he'd be the next to go.  Except, of course, these people are all dopes who seemingly do not understand the nature of the game.

[Tdoc72]

I told my daughter I hope they all fall off the mountain on the last day. Almost all of them are so annoying for a variety of reasons. I think the only one I like is Punkin. She seems cool. 
 

I don’t know how none of them have told Manu to go F himself. He shows up (fresh out of a copter?) and then just hammers them about how slow they are when they are hiking and doing climbs/whatever activity the MK makes them do. I could listen to him read the phone book and maybe roll around with him in one of the yellow bubble tents, but he’s pointless otherwise. 
 

Also from a few week ago, it was totally unfair when they couldn’t go one day b/c of weather and then production counted thet against them and didn’t add a day on the end. 
 

I'm going to finish this season b/c I hate myself apparently but I’m not watching if this ever comes back. MK can fly over my house to scare me but I ain’t coming back. 

[Skooma]

3 hours ago, KeithJ said:

And here we are with all the drama about how tough the tasks are but, yet again, they had zero issues getting to the checkpoint.  I’m really thinking they made this too easy.

Yes I think the show was set-up for them to fail on the very first and much longer leg so we could get all the drama of losing money and no luxury of a checkpoint with food and better shelter.

But all the other checkpoints seem to be way shorter and a lot easier for them to reach in the time limit.  It seems all production-designed to be that way.

Why do these idiots keep talking about them "winning" the game like only one person will be allowed to summit?  (Yeah I know.  The 'idiot' bit I just typed).

I do like that the REAL Mountainkeeper is forcing them, production and production's stupid, corny, kiddie "Mountainkeeper" helicopter off the mountain for the next 24 hours.

When they return I hope an Abominable Snowman version of Jeff Probst greets them with "The mountain has spoken" and sends them all off it.

[seacliffsal]

Okay, we had absolute proof this episode that they think they are playing 'winter Survivor.'  First, Therron is imitating Jeff Probst by stating 'the fire represents your life and when your fire is gone so are you.'  Then, there was a LOT of talk about 'final threes' from almost all of the players.  So, for whatever reason, these players really do think they're playing Survivor and therfore need to target 'threats' instead of those who may actually prevent them from summiting.

And, if this is supposed to be a really challenging program, why didn't they just give the players some extra food and then wish them well for the big storm that is coming?  Why take them off the mountain?  That only feeds into the 'anybody can summit' mindset.  Oh, and I watch a ton of videos on the deaths and dangers of climbing Mt. Everest and this show just reinforces the idea that anyone can climb dangerous/challenging mountains.  But, even on this show, we see safety officers and other members of production (oh, and of course, the mountain keeper helicopter) so we know that they are not truly on their own. 

And Amy with her whiny nonsense "I deserve to go to the summit."  She then states how she has met every challenge-but has consistently needed help from the stronger climbers.  Really glad she's gone-I started fast forwarding all of her self-promoting ridiculousness.

Like others I will see this season through, but I really, really, really wish that nobody makes the summit (but, like others, don't think the producers would allow that).  However, I will not watch another season of this should there be one.

[Ellee]

I’m out of my element watching this show. Not even in my younger years would I have attempted this. 
 

Does anyone here think that if the majority of players that were sent home had played this game it would have been different?   Would focus have been on their abilities and skills?  
 

All I got out of this is …  yeah, I don’t know.