Destination X Is The New Must-Watch Reality Show With Its High Stakes And Unique Game Rules

NBC has dropped reality TV fans into a brand new game where a simple X marks the spot. Ten players start the competition, totally blind to where in Europe they are. They must use every hint they can get to figure out their location. If they guess wrong, they are out. It is a simple idea, but it is part of why Destination X is already grabbing viewers as NBC's big new summer series.

Players ride in a fancy bus with blacked-out windows. They travel to a new spot each round. Destination X becomes a twisted game of luck, trust, and how much you know. But it is that "one and done" rule that has fans talking. When you get picked to go into the Map Room, you have to lean on all that luck, trust, and knowledge. You hope your finger lands on the right X. If it does not, you are gone. This means being very exact is important. If your gut feeling is off or you trust what a rival tells you, your game could be over in a moment. Just ask former Big Brother winner Josh Martinez.

How Destination X Forces Players To Trust Their Gut And Watch Out For Traps

The Unique Elimination Rules Keep Everyone On Edge And Make For Exciting Television

The game started with 10 players. Jeffrey Dean Morgan welcomes them as they start an international trip of a lifetime. The show blends reality television styles, skills, and betrayal. In the first episode, viewers saw just how tough Destination X can be. The main goal of the game is to stay in it. The only way someone can be eliminated is if they go to the Map Room and place their X the furthest away from the real spot. This means being very precise is key. Josh Martinez, who won Big Brother and was on The Challenge, was the only well-known name at the start. You might think years of experience would help him. But he told Collider he was shocked how hard the other players were going right from the start. Mack Fitzgerald quickly became a leader. Rick Szabo downplayed his lawyer background. Josh was up against some smart players. This was not just a free trip to Europe. It was a serious business trip for a quarter of a million dollars.

First, Mack helped Ally Bross win a luggage tag challenge. This earned them both their first clue. Then Mack helped her team win four coins. These coins let them send four players from the losing team into the Map Room. Each player had limited knowledge of the clues. How they chose to share information with others would decide how those sent to the Map Room would pick their X. So even with what he knew Jonah Evarts was sure their location was Milan even though hints pointed to Rome. Rick caught on to that wrong place. He passed it to Josh before Josh’s trip to the Map Room. The reality star ended up trusting someone he did not know over his own instinct. One bad guess and he was out.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who hosts the show, has said he would never want to be a player himself. He told The NBC App "there’s no way" he would ever be a contestant. He knows how hard the game is. He said, "I mean, it's brutal, so I'm happy to be hosting it." This tells you how tough the game is. It is not just about knowing geography. It is about understanding people and handling stress. This is what makes it so gripping to watch.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Unexpected Role As Host Of Destination X And His Unique Style

The Walking Dead Star Opens Up About Taking On A Reality TV Hosting Job

Fans know Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a villain we love to hate. So hosting Destination X might have felt a bit strange, even to him. The well-known actor told People about NBC asking him to lead this one-of-a-kind competition. He admitted he thought the network "had the wrong person." Of course, this real-life motorcycle lover proves he is leading the show, and the blacked-out bus, as players are whisked away to unknown places for a chance to win a big cash prize. But it almost did not happen.

"I’m still not completely sure how the hell this happened," he told People. "I am not like a typical host. I’m not Ryan Seacrest — who I love, and I think he’s excellent at his job — but that’s not me. I’m a bit on the crass side, and I’ve got a very sarcastic sense of humor, and I didn’t picture it."

Morgan, best known for his work in AMC’s zombie series The Walking Dead and its spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City, explained why he did not think he was the right person to host Destination X. "I live on a farm, and I kill zombies, and I’m a dad, and I’m kind of a pain in the a--," he told People. Morgan lives on a farm in upstate New York and owns a candy store when he is not playing bad guys.

Morgan told People he was having trouble balancing his work as The Walking Dead’s popular character Negan Smith with his father’s declining health when he was contacted about hosting Destination X. "There was a bunch of stuff going on in my life," Morgan said. "My dad was passing away in the middle of shooting, and I was a bit of a mess. I wasn’t sure how I was negotiating doing anything well at the time."

It was thanks to Morgan’s wife, actress Hilarie Burton Morgan, that Morgan agreed to the job. She once hosted MTV’s Total Request Live. She knew best because "she came from the world of hosting." "She said — in a very nice way, but much more diplomatic than I’m going to make it seem now — ‘You’re not getting any younger,’" Morgan remembered. It made sense that Morgan took advice from The Traitors. He and Traitors host Alan Cumming had acted together in The Good Wife. Both shows also had the same creative team. So Morgan was happy to "watch a couple of episodes."

"Alan is amazing. He’s a showman — and I’m not that either," Morgan said. "He’s created this whole persona that’s amazing." Morgan did say he had "so much fun being the ringmaster of the circus." He spent over a month filming around Europe for Destination X. The show is the American version of a Belgian series. Morgan knew it was best to be himself and not copy the original. "The host was this very slick kind of James Bond-y guy," he said. "I kept saying, ‘That’s not me, either.’" As he put it, NBC producers wanted an edgy guy "maybe people want to have a beer with." So far Morgan is certainly making his mark. He is leaving his mark on the map, both in real life and in the show. He is the right host for this wild ride.

Why Viewers Love Playing Along From Home And The Future Of The Hit Series

The Interactive Nature Of The Show Makes It A Fan Favorite And Promises More To Come

Destination X is more than just a game about a bad guess. It is much more complicated than that. It takes social skills to make alliances to keep your name out of the Map Room. It requires years of learning about geography, history, and culture. You must pay attention to every detail. If you do not get to be on the ground in a small Italian village, you still have to look at the coins you get in challenges. You hope to pick up something so you are not in the dark if you go to the Map Room. Josh played a safe game. Instead of using his reality celebrity status to make a big fuss at the start, he played like a beginner. He regrets this move. But his elimination shows that Destination X can knock out even experienced players.

The fun of Destination X is that we, as viewers, get to play along with the players on the bus. Just like the players on the bus, we know as little as they do until their VR goggles show reality. We are in the dark. While we are not physically there with them, we are playing as if we are. It is exciting to go along on the journey to see if we would do well or if we would be out of our league and off the bus. The first season takes players on a tour of Europe. This is a great game board because there are geographical and building similarities between places. It is never super easy to find "Destination X" right away. Just like the players in the game, we were given enough information that should have told us they were in Rome. So did we guess Rome? I certainly did! I am calling it now: this is the best reality guessing game since The Masked Singer and Claim to Fame!

Destination X is airing on NBC. It joins shows like The Amazing Race in the travel competition genre. Other similar shows have been canceled after one year. However, Destination X seems very popular and has a strong chance for a second season. The ratings are usually the best way to tell if a show will stay on air. Higher ratings usually mean a better chance of survival. While these numbers do not include streaming views they are a good sign of how a show is doing. There can be other reasons for a show's fate but usually popular shows get renewed. I hope we get many more seasons of this thrilling show. It is a fresh take on reality competition.