Destination X review: Rob Brydon's star vehicle is a bus
It has been called the new Traitors, but what hasn't? The BBC hit has generated so many wannabes, I half expect Songs of Praise to be next for a Traitors makeover. In the meantime, here's Destination X, a blend of game show, coach trip and geography lesson. What will they think of next, sighs the viewer.
Rob Brydon took the Claudia role, welcoming the 13 contestants to an airport in Baden-Baden. After a Traitors-style quick fire elimination round, the ten remaining were introduced to the luxury coaches that will be their home for the duration. Though kitted out nicely enough, a coach is a coach (with an inevitably small, shared toilet). Not quite The Traitors HQ at Ardross Castle.
Players are given a series of clues and at the end of each episode have to guess where they are. The person furthest away is sent home. Whoever is left at the end of the ten weeks scoops a very nice £100,000. Take that, Race Across the World with your measly 20 grand.
It sounds easy enough given a basic knowledge of geography, but there's a catch. Of course there is. Producers control what the players see via goggles that go on and off and coach windows that switch from opaque to clear.
There's some faffing in a big box besides, plus shoals of red herrings, and a dash of Traitors-like skulduggery. To be fair, Destination X, a hit in its native Belgium, is not just The Traitors on wheels. There are so many other competitive reality shows referenced, from Race Across the World and Coach Trip, to Big Brother and Challenge Anneka, it would be wrong to single out just one.
Every reality show relies on a few 'characters' emerging from the mix. Among the contenders here are a London cabbie who has climbed Kilimanjaro and rowed the Atlantic but who took 14 years to do The Knowledge; a nuclear engineer; a pilot; a historian; and a multiple-marathon runner. No Scottish accents in case you were wondering.
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Deborah the crime writer, 62, was looking good till it emerged she doesn't like lying. Once the friendliness of the first week is over, that could prove a drawback. Dawn, a 34-year-old care assistant from Northern Ireland, whose prep for the series was buying a children's atlas from TK Maxx for a fiver, could be one to watch.
It wasn't much of a vote of confidence in the show when one of the younger contestants, Mahdi, quit because he was missing his home-cooked meals back in Tottenham. Will there be others?
Not if Brydon has anything to do with it. Though sporting a navy blazer, the Gavin & Stacey star went full Butlins Redcoat early doors and did not let up. He's a naturally friendly sort, so there are no mountains of likability to climb. How different it would be if the producers had opted for Steve Coogan, Brydon's oppo in the sublime The Trip. Now that would be a trip.
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