Desperation is building with just three days and 40 kilometres left to reach The Summit.
With friendships, personal sacrifice and $693,000 still at stake, the game is about to get more brutal then ever before.
Stream every episode of The Summit for free on 9Now.
But not before an emotional phone call from home turns sour for Taylor.
Here are the biggest moments from Episode 9 of The Summit Season 2.
Taylor is left disappointed by his phone call from home
With the climb getting more brutal by the day, the trekkers are in desperate need of a pick-me-up.
And for once the Mountain’s Keeper is willing to throw them a bone, giving the trekkers an opportunity to speak to their loved ones back home.
Having gone 12 days with no contact, just the thought of speaking to their families is making the trekkers emotional.
Taylor is itching with excitement to talk to his partner. The couple have endured a difficult year after learning they couldn’t conceive naturally.
In Pictures
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Taylor has been pushing through The Summit in the hopes that any winnings could set himself and his partner up for the future, whatever it may hold.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long just to see her and hear her. I’m really missing her,” Taylor tells cameras.
But when he sits down for his video call, his mum answers. While there’s no doubt that Taylor is thrilled to see to his mum, he’s left visibly disappointed that his partner is not on the call.
As the call with his mum ends, Taylor is left shaken and the other trekkers can tell.
“He was really looking forward to hearing from his partner, and unlike all of us who get a bit of a pep I think the call has made his brain tick a lot,” Tiffani says.
“My heart just breaks for him. That was so sad,” Trish says.
Taylor tries his best to keep his sadness under wraps but he doesn’t stay composed for long.
He crouches by the river and cries and the other trekkers are quick to console him.
“I feel like a d–khead because this whole time I’ve been talking about her and how much I love her and want to have kids with her and she may not feel that anymore… and I can’t even do anything,” Taylor vents.
Taylor admits that him leaving for The Summit wasn’t ideal timing for the couple.
”We were in a weird place before I left and I was almost going to pull the pin. I just didn’t want to be away,” he says.
It’s a big blow for Taylor who admits his partner’s absence from the call has made it “hard to find a reason to keep going”.
“I don’t even want to be here,” Taylor sighs.
The Mountain’s Keeper asks the trekkers to make an unthinkable sacrifice
When a yellow duffel bag falls from the sky, there’s usually a game-changing message inside.
But as Mat Rogers races to the duffel bag first he says there’s “just food” inside.
That’s not exactly the case.
Mat his hiding a secret message from the Mountain’s Keeper inside his pocket.
The message warns that the group are moving to slowly and must leave one trekker behind by sneaking out in the middle of the night.
Mat lets his closest allies Taylor, Simmone and Charlotte in on the secret.
Mat thinks it’s an obvious choice to leave Tiffani, the slowest in the group, behind.
And while it’s a logical decision, Simmone and Charlotte aren’t sure that that Trisha can be trusted.
But Mat’s decision is absolute and as night falls the trekkers will have to abandon Tiffani.
EPISODE 8 RECAP: A trekker is left behind on the mountain and the group seek revenge on the Chaser
Tiffani wakes to find she’s been kicked off the mountain
The trekkers are torn as they are forced to leave good friend Tiffani behind in the dead of night.
“I can’t believe the game is making me do this,” Trisha utters to herself.
“This mountain is testing me, it makes you do things and say things that you wouldn’t usually do,” Mat admits.
While Tiffani is asleep, the five remaining trekkers sneak off under the cover of darkness.
Come sunrise and Tiffani wakes up to an empty campsite, and it’s not long before she discovers a note left by the group.
“It is not in anyone’s nature to leave a friend behind. This mountain makes us do crazy things,” the letter reads.
“We all think the world of you, you are not just a mum. You are an amazing strong person we know you have discovered the person you are looking for.”
EXCLUSIVE: Former Bardot pop star Tiffani Wood reacts to her savage elimination
Tiffani admits that it “cuts deep” knowing she’s been eliminated from The Summit but she’s learned a whole lot about herself along the way.
“I feel like I have conquered my own summit. I’ve definitely got a part of my sparkle back.,” she says.
The Summit airs Monday to Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Stream every episode of The Summit for free on 9Now.
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