‘The Summit’ Winner Punkin Jackson on Playing ‘Honest and Loyal’ on CBS Competition Series (Exclusive)

The Summit’s first season finale on Dec. 4 saw three remaining trekkers making it to the top of the Summit, including Punkin Jackson, and the 33-year-old Air Force captain spoke to PopCulture.com about her time on the series. Jackson was known to be straightforward with her choices throughout the journey, including who she wanted and didn’t want to take to the Summit.

While the show was certainly unpredictable at times, her strategies ended up working because, along with Nick Morgan and Therron Pittman, Jackson made it to the top after a two-week journey. She shared what was going through her mind during the climb, how confident she was, and just what kept her motivated. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity).

PopCulture: Did you ever think that you would actually make it during the whole two-week journey when you found out that that was what you were going to be doing?

Punkin Jackson: I knew I was going to do whatever it took to get to the Summit. And when they told us that we were climbing around, I was like, I’ve never climbed around before, but I have heights. So I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure I’m one of those people standing at the top of the Summit.

PC: Was there ever a time where you almost gave up or truly thought that you were gonna be eliminated?

Jackson: Honestly, the only time I got a little scared was when Geoff went home because, at that point, they hadn’t realized how close me and Geoff were. And so I was like, “Oh shoot, okay, they’re obviously trying to break us up. If Geoff goes, maybe I’m the obvious next vote to go home.” But once I survived that and I got brought into an alliance, I was like, “Oh, I’m good as long as I keep my head down; I play pretty honest and loyal.” I feel like I’m good in this game, and, honestly, I made it through the whole time without being nominated or scoring. So progress. It was great.

PC: You did play a very honest game. Do you think that any other strategies played in your favor?

Jackson: Yes. I think being able to keep my military experience to myself played in my favor because you just never know with the military. Some people love people in the military, and some people don’t. So, you never really know where people lie in their thoughts with people in the military. And also, when you say you’re in the military, people already have these preconceived notions of what they feel like it is you can do and this training that they feel like you’ve had.

And so I didn’t want any of that to judge or become a judgment of who I am as a person. I wanted people to get to know me first, and then if they found out I was military, that was an extra addition. But I didn’t want it to be my whole being and people to be like, “She can do this. She can do that. She probably did this. Oh, we’re gonna get her out.” It might have been the case, but you know what I mean? I didn’t want them to think that was just because of me getting into the military.

PC: You were always so determined and hard set on who your allies were, who your enemies were, and who you wanted to take to the Summit. How did you make those choices?

Jackson: I feel like I’m a very good judge of character and so that was easy. That’s why me and Geoff bonded so quickly. We kind of had a similar background and we both were big siblings, and so we were doing this for our younger siblings. And so I kind of had a good judge of character in that. And then when Beckylee came and was like, “Hey. Do you wanna work together?” I was like, “Absolutely.” Because me and her had been talking since Day 1. So that was just very easy for me to try and navigate. Also, I’m a listener. I didn’t talk a whole lot on the mountain because I did way more listening than I did talking, and so I was able to kind of see and hear what was going on and kinda judge people and understand, like, “Okay. You’re being a little shady. I don’t know.’”

And when Nick was coming for me, you saw we were kind of coming for each other on the mountain. No one had ever once told me Nick was coming for me. It was just an intuition that I had, and so when I would bring it up, they were like, “No, no, no, no, you’re good.” So, watching it back, I was like, “I knew it!”

PC: Kind of going off of that, what has it been like going back and watching the series and seeing how everything turned out?

Jackson: It’s been interesting because we’re watching it along with everyone else. And so it’s like, “Was what I was experiencing on the mountain, was that real life? Or what was happening? Was I there, or was I not there? I don’t know.” But a lot of it, I did know what was going on. The only thing that was really, really shocking to me was the Geoff vote. I knew it was coming. That day, I found out, obviously, but the people that were actually behind, leading the vote, was a shocker to me. And so that was really the only kind of blindside I had on the mountain. But to hear and see some of the other conversations weren’t privy to play out on TV was very interesting.

PC: Is there anything that you regretted during the whole journey?

Jackson: I don’t think so. The only thing that I wish could have been different was it would have been me, Beckylee, at the top of the mountain, and then she would have stayed. But I don’t regret anything that happened because I feel like everything happens for a reason, and everything plays out the way that it’s supposed to play out. And who knows? If Beckylee stayed, maybe I would not have been one of the winners at the top of the Summit. So regret, no, but things that I wish happened differently, yes.

PC: Other than the cash, what motivated you to keep going?

Jackson: My family. Definitely, my family motivated me. My wife and I wanna start a family. IVF is expensive. And so, that monetary prize is absolutely a motivator, but just being able to play as myself and be an honest person, a loyal person. Because a lot of times, people come into these games and think you have to be a snake or you have to be deceitful and conniving. And I wanted to show people especially, people that look like me, you can do these types of things, but you can also do it while being yourself. You don’t have to turn into this character on TV. Be yourself, and yourself will get you to the end, and you might be a winner. So I just thought that was very inspiring and motivating me to continue to play the way that I was playing and to make it to the top and also win that money.

The first season of The Summit is streaming on Paramount+.