The Summit Australia 2023 delivered one final shock twist during the finale episode when Jans Andre, who had successfully made it to the pinnacle of the mountain, was eliminated at the final moment by Lulu Hawton.
Upon reaching the top, one last duffle bag was dropped by the Moutain’s Keeper, with the four remaining trekkers — Andre, Hawton, Brooke Kilowsky and Isaac Compton — rushing to get to it first and unfortunately for Andre, Hawton was successful in reaching it first.
“To be honest, the only regret I have of the whole show is that moment,” Andre told Mediaweek in an interview prior to his elimination. “Because I had a lapse in my brain. I was so mentally and physically exhausted.”
Thinking the yellow bag contained all of the prize money, Andre thought it was going to be “happy days”; however with Hawton touching it before him, it was ultimately his demise.
“I replay that moment in my head over and over again, going if I had got there first, how different it could have been,” he said.
Jans Andre, Brooke Kilowsky, Lulu Hawton and Isaac Compton. Nine
Jans Andre still believes Lulu Hawton didn’t deserve any money
While the ultimate goal was to get to the summit of the mountain, the Trekkers quickly realised that they would have to engage in strategy and gameplay to avoid elimination and for Andre, he stands by the fact that Hawton shouldn’t have received a cash prize.
“She didn’t deserve it because she played a very quiet game. She didn’t take any risks throughout the whole game whereas Isaac, Brooke and myself, really took big risks and played very loud. She kind of slipped through the cracks,” he said.
“I guess that was her strategy. That’s how she played it. But in my head at that time, I was like, ‘Oh, you didn’t put your body on the line and you just kind of sat in the coattails of Brooke the whole time, so why do you deserve anything?'”
Lulu. Nine
Jans was happy with his gameplay throughout the competition
There’s no denying that Andre was one of the most polarising contestants in the season, alongside his compadre Sam Molineaux; however, he stands by the fact that his “strategy” got him to the end.
When asked if he’d change how he played, he responded: “Maybe I should have made friends with a few more people earlier on, but my strategy got me right to the end. I know how to talk to people and I figured out how to manipulate people in the game and so I don’t think I’d change anything because I should have been there. So why would I change anything?”
As for his final edit on the show, Andre’s intention was always to play a “cheeky game”, opting not to show his vulnerable side until later on, which in turn, made him out to be the villain.
“I knew going into it that I was going to be extremely cheeky and play a very cheeky game,” he said. “And I wasn’t going to reveal all my cards as to how I was actually really emotional and vulnerable, and a very sensitive guy, so, I didn’t choose to play that until a little bit later.
“But as you can see, me choosing to play that card a little bit later, people had already made up their minds about me and that I was just a joke and was faking it. So, maybe I could have shown that card a little bit earlier. But then again, if I had shown that too early, maybe I wouldn’t have made it to where I did, you just don’t know.”
Stream all episodes of The Summit Australia 2023 season one on 9Now.