![Lochie Dornauf at his farm in 2019. Inset: Dornauf on The Summit. Pictures by Scott Gelston, supplied Lochie Dornauf at his farm in 2019. Inset: Dornauf on The Summit. Pictures by Scott Gelston, supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8mt7fPj3AeZSAF4grZ2EUc/e9c144b1-3914-43c2-9da4-ceafb10a2907.JPG/r0_0_1741_939_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Lochie Dornauf's run on reality TV show The Summit has come to an end.
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The 31-year-old former Deloraine football coach and Meander Valley councillor was voted off on Monday night's episode as he went head-to-head with Australian sporting royalty Mat Rogers.
As he and 13 others trekked up a New Zealand mountain in pursuit of a share in $1 million, Dornauf attempted to eliminate the 59-time dual-code Australian rugby representative.
"I've started to realise Mat has become a bit of a leader amongst the group," Dornauf said towards the camera early in the episode.
"He's playing a really strategic game and he's also quite social, he knows how to work people to his advantage.
"Mat's got way too much power for one person ... Mat the rat needs to get down from that pedestal and roll back down that mountain, and I'm the right person to knock him off."
With a contestant voted out each time the group reaches a checkpoint, it looked like either Dornauf or Rogers were going to be eliminated.
However, when the 10 remaining trekkers reached the checkpoint, they were met by host Jai Courtney, who revealed a twist.
Two duffel bags were dropped from the sky, one featuring the word "safe" and the other, "vulnerable", with contestants having to run evenly towards them.
It was unveiled that Dornauf's group received the "vulnerable" tag, meaning he and four others could be eliminated.
![Dornauf takes a spectacular mark in the 2019 representative game against NWFL. Picture by Paul Scambler Dornauf takes a spectacular mark in the 2019 representative game against NWFL. Picture by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8mt7fPj3AeZSAF4grZ2EUc/247c2a05-07ac-448c-b77b-60804fe0af22.jpg/r0_64_1019_739_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It's not looking good, this might be my last chance to save myself - if I'm going to go out, I'm going to go out swinging," he said to the camera before he made his pitch to the group.
"I don't think I'm any more deserving of being here than anyone else on this panel of five over here, I think we're all here for our own reasons.
"I think I've been playing the game in a trustworthy and honest state, my vote tonight was going to go towards Mat because of my trust issues [with him].
"With me, you don't have those trust issues, I look you straight between the eyes and I tell you how it is.
"I also think I can be a bit of an asset moving forward, I want more than one person to get to the top and you know that I'll help every single one of you."
Dornauf's elimination was not unanimous, with fellow competitor Charlotte saying she wouldn't vote for him "in 1.5 billion years".
Four other contestants received votes, with Dornauf getting the remaining five.
"I'm super gutted," he said following the elimination.
"There's a lot more to go in the game, I played my cards a little bit wrong.
"Matty certainly pulled his strings, he's knocked me off the mountain before I could knock him off and unfortunately I was beaten by a better player in the game."
Described as "highly chaotic, high energy and always on the move" on the show, Dornauf won the 2019 Hec Smith Medal as the best player in the NTFA premier division and coached Deloraine to the 2020 NTFA Shield premiership.