Latest news with #DestinationX.
Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
BBC Destination X stars given strict pooing rule amid bizarre scenes
Thirteen contestants go on the road trip of a lifetime across Europe in BBC's Destination X. But each of them had to abide by a strict rule on their tour bus along the way. Contestants in Destination X embark on an unforgettable bus journey - but producers of the new BBC show told them to abide by a strict rule. In Destination X, Rob Brydon whisks thirteen individuals across Europe and on a black-out bus, acting as both guide and gatekeeper in BBC One 's high-stakes new game show. 'In the first episode, there's a lot of 'we're a team, we're a team,'' he says, 'But give it time.' But it wasn't just emotional tension the production had to manage. Things got extremely tactical. 'No number twos on the bus,' producer Dan Adamson says. 'We had to create a system with a convoy behind the bus. We had a special car with a trailer that had a couple of portaloos on it. We had to find places to pull over, goggles had to go on and producers would chaperone them.' Even the food was disguised from start to finish. 'Everything had to be decanted out of any local containers,' Dan adds, 'We couldn't give them food that felt specific to the country.' And to scramble the clues even further, the team brought in three different pairs of twins. Logistically, the shoot was epic. 'We had a convoy of like 46, 47 vehicles around,' says Dan, 'It was a lot.' But the scale was part of the thrill. 'We had the opportunity to turn Europe into a board game,' Dan says. 'We take over whole castles, we run a train on the public network. We take over Cable Car systems. The scale just goes up and up.' Even downtime required precision - more particularly, camo netting and a lot of resourcefulness to create a small outdoor sanctuary. 'They could sit outside without knowing where they were,' Dan says, 'There was a whole team that made that happen.' A hybrid of The Traitors and Race Across the World, this adrenaline-charged format is based on Belgian hit, Bestemming X. The game is simple: contestants kick off their journey in Baden-Baden, Germany, where they board a coach with blacked-out windows that only clear for seconds at a time and a pair of goggles keeping them in the dark once outside. But they have no idea where they are going. Clues are dropped along the way and at every stop, the players must guess their exact location - or risk getting booted off the bus. Every decision could cost them the £100k prize. Rob's role was clear from the outset, but he still looked to The Traitors' Claudia Winkleman for inspiration. 'I love her lightness of touch, there,' he says. 'I didn't want to get in the way of the show. I wanted to be the bridge between the viewer and the contestants. They are the stars, their personalities really come out over the series.' One of Rob's biggest cheerleaders came from across the pond: The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who fronted the US version of Destination X. 'They shot theirs before we shot ours,' Rob says, 'He sent me a little message because a lot of our team worked on that. But I'm all about ours. I've loved seeing ours come together.' Though thrilled to front the show, Rob quickly discovered the job came with high-pressure challenges - namely, keeping secrets. 'When we are out and about on our travels, they are trying to keep players in the dark, so they aren't allowed to see anything,' he says. 'I remember once we were at a particular location and I knew that in a few days' time we would be at another location. I said to somebody in the production team: 'Oh I can't wait until we get to X' and then I suddenly realised one of the players was close. Luckily, they didn't hear me!' Still, he found subtler ways to communicate. 'There are often clues in what I'm wearing. Sometimes, it's region-appropriate with little flourishes,' he says. Each episode, contestants battle through brain-teasing challenges in pursuit of new clues, before bedding down in bunks aboard a night bus. While Rob wasn't crammed into the same tight quarters, he was never far. 'I did the journey, I wasn't on the bus or sleeping on a bunk,' he says, 'But I would follow them around and greet them at different locations.' It was only after filming that Rob got a full sense of the tension simmering behind the scenes. 'It's fascinating because I had no idea,' he says, 'As an actor, we are used to pretending to be something else. But you could see how uncomfortable that made them.' Despite not being around all the time, Rob still got the gossip. 'Sometimes I arrived the next morning, and we used to get a little printed out report of what had happened on the bus. It was like getting a really juicy newspaper each morning.' While players slowly adapted to the game's tricks and traps, things got personal as the prize loomed. 'Only one person can win the money,' Rob says. 'They started off as a team - but you can't win as a team. And it really takes some turns. There's some interesting behaviour as we get closer to the prize.' From mysterious journeys to the other side of Europe to secret alliances and toilet trailers - Destination X is one wild ride. And Rob Brydon is right in the middle of it.
Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Rob Brydon reveals behind-the-scenes blunder nearly ruined new BBC show
The Gavin & Stacey actor is presenting a new reality competition, Destination X. Rob Brydon has disclosed the moment his mistake nearly wrecked filming for a fresh BBC competition. The Gavin & Stacey actor, 60, is hosting a brand new reality show, Destination X. It features 13 strangers embarking on a secretive road trip across Europe, combining elements of The Traitors and Race Across The World. The participants are journeying on a coach with sensory deprivation, unable to see their location or track their distance travelled. Daily, they're challenged with working out their possible whereabouts after receiving a selection of peculiar clues for assistance. Only the cleverest will manage to distinguish the false leads from the genuine hints, with players gradually eliminated until one winner emerges (claiming a £100,000 prize) as they guess locations, whilst the participant furthest from their actual position gets knocked out. "It's the adventure of a lifetime, with one simple question at its heart: where in the world am I? Rob Brydon masterminds the high-stakes competition where nothing is as it seems...," the synopsis reveals, reports Wales Online. The intense series naturally only functions if contestants can genuinely participate without receiving any hints about the external world during their journey. Despite numerous production safeguards being implemented to guarantee this, Rob almost sabotaged everything. Discussing the show before its debut, the presenter confessed that although he was "very careful", he encountered one mishap. He said: "I won't say where we were, but we we're on a hillside, that's all I'll say, and we were about to visit a lovely location, and I was looking forward to where we were going next. "I was chatting to some of the crew and I said out loud, 'I can't wait to get to [the place]' and then I realised that just over there was one of the players and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Luckily they didn't hear, and I can be sure of that because of what happened next which told me that they'd not heard. That was the only one but it was a constant fear." Rob deliberately avoided revealing any specifics since, in an unusual twist, audiences can participate alongside the contestants, with their whereabouts remaining secret until each episode concludes. Executive producer Dan Adamson then revealed additional hazards the production team encountered and outside elements that nearly exposed the secret. He said: "We crossed a lot of borders and there was always a chance that we were going to have officials trying to board the bus, and so we had to have plan Bs, which we had fake uniforms that we would then do a second boarding of the bus to try and pretend it was just part of the room." Destination X was filmed across 32 days, demanding 190 crew members who required 7,000 hotel rooms spanning 30 hotels, whilst they journeyed 11,000 km throughout Europe. The coach itself contained 7km of wiring, featuring 46 cameras and over 40 support vehicles. Speaking about the grandeur of the show, Dan elaborated: "We had the chance to turn Europe into a board game, so we immediately thought that the way we bring scale to the challenges is we just get incredible locations and we take over whole castles, we run a train on a public network, we take over cable car systems, the scale just goes up and up and it's like, actually, what fun can we have with those toys? And how do we then lay clues through that? And obviously that was partly about the adventure and partly it's about thinking, how will then that drive the story? "It's rare you get a chance to turn the whole of Europe into a boardgame," he added. "We love the wanderlust of it, and we loved the play-along, the audience will genuinely play this game." Destination X premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Wednesday, July 30.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating
Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald knew they were in for the adventure of a lifetime when they joined the NBC reality competition show Destination X. But they didn't know they'd also find love, the pair tells Out in an exclusive interview. Destination X, hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, features a group of contestants who are transported around Europe while blindfolded. They have to use clues to guess where they are, and the person whose guess is farthest from the correct answer is eliminated. Even though the game was every person for themself, Bross and Fitzgerald teamed up on the show's first challenge after bonding over both living in Texas. However, when Fitzgerald won an advantage and almost saved fellow contestant Biggy instead of Bross, the two lost trust in each other. By the time Fitzgerald was eliminated last week and Bross this week, they were back in an alliance, but were nothing more than friends. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald smiling at each other on the Krosny/NBC In her intro on the show, Bross says she came into the game hoping to find Mr. Right. She was always looking for a husband, but she never got past a certain point when dating men. She had gone on dates with two girls she "kind of had crushes on," but when they weren't compatible, she assumed she must be straight. "But then I had so many relationships with guys where I just didn't feel that we could relate on an intellectual or emotional level. It almost was like, something's off here," she says. "And I only ever really wanted to be in relationships with men who I constantly needed to get approval from. It was like I was constantly working to be their idea of what a good girlfriend should be." "And yeah, every guy I met I did think was my husband," she says. "And maybe it was so easy to let go of all my husbands because I was going to have a wife." For a while, Ally did think she might've found Mr. Right when she began a showmance with contestant Shayne Cureton, and the two even continued dating for a short time after the show. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Shayne Pattaro/NBC After being on Destination X, Bross and Fitzgerald started hanging out simply because they lived eight minutes from each other in Austin, Texas. "I had found her Destination X water bottle on the bus, and I nabbed it. And I was like, 'I'm going to bring it back to her.' So I brought it back to her, and then we started hanging out a lot," Bross says. That first hangout included spending time eating crab rangoon and watching lesbian singer Chappell Roan's performances. Fitzgerald jokes that the sapphic pop "kind of put the seeds in" for their blossoming romance. Bross didn't fully realize her feelings for Fitzgerald until the two went on a trip together for a YouTube series they started together called Where the F Are We?. The series, like Destination X, features the pair taking each other on blindfolded journeys where they must guess their location. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald on Bross and Mack Fitzgerald (PROVIDED) On a trip to Finland, Bross says, her feelings for Fitzgerald solidified. "While we were in Finland, we were staying in this tiny little cabin that had just these two little twin beds. And I don't know if it's in the Finnish air or something, but I just suddenly had such a big crush on Mack," she says. "I was feeling like, 'Wait, this is way bigger than what it was before.' Before I knew I really wanted Mack to like me, I really wanted her around all the time. I was sad when she would leave my house. But it was really in Finland where I realized I had feelings for her." Bross reveals that it was a drunk airplane ride where those feelings were revealed. The two were separately filming content for their YouTube videos when she filmed herself "basically admitting my feelings for her" on camera. Bross had planned not to say anything, but when the pair started going through their videos together, her confession came up."I was so exposed," Bross says. "She watched it, and I was like, 'Oh my God, it's so embarrassing." Before dating Bross, Fitzgerald always identified as asexual and didn't believe in love. It wasn't until she thought about her feelings for Bross that she changed her mind. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and at a state fair.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) "Once that was put on my radar, then I kind of had to ask myself what all of those little butterfly feelings were and kind of confront that," Fitzgerald says. "Then it was like, 'Oh, this is what people are talking about, this is the butterflies.'" "And then it was all of a sudden all I could think about was Ally and all I wanted to do was talk to Ally," she says. However, before they did anything, Bross had to break up with Cureton. She flew to Indiana to break up with him, then went to her grandparents' for Thanksgiving before returning to Austin and Fitzgerald. As soon as she did, Fitzgerald kissed her ("it was very smooth, I'll say," she brags). "And then I felt like everything inside of me exploded in a way that had never happened when I'd ever kissed anybody," Fitzgerald says. "And so then I was just like, 'Holy shit, this is what people are talking about. Fireworks and butterflies and... I don't know.' I still can't stop thinking about it even though we're together." Fitzgerald says that for most of her life, she thought everybody was "making up being in love." She even said that "coming home and having somebody be there" was her "absolute worst nightmare." "And then it's just like after even just one kiss, really, I was like, 'Oh, I was wrong.' Love is real. It's really good. It feels amazing. I don't want her to ever leave." Once they started dating, they immersed themselves in sapphic culture, watching things like The L Word, Blue is the Warmest Color, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love. They bought carabiners in every color and love to share clothes. They also took part in another long-held lesbian tradition: Uhauling. "I kissed her and never left her apartment," Fitzgerald jokes. "Yes, she never left. And now I live in her house," Bross adds. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and hugging in front of a forest.[Amanda Kioko] (PROVIDED) Bross says that coming out to her family and friends was "emotional," but happened quickly for her. She has a gay great uncle who has been with his husband since before she was born, so Bross knew her extended family would be accepting, but she was still nervous. "I'm the only granddaughter, and I didn't really know what everyone was going to say," she reveals. "My family has met a plethora of boyfriends that I said were going to be my husband. And they would always be so shocked when I would break up with a really nice one." Bross came out to her family over a long text. Her father said he knew how open-minded she is, and he wasn't surprised. Her mother was more surprised, but "not in a negative way," Bross says. "All of my friends were like, 'This makes sense. Duh, you're bi or queer or pan or whatever. We've all known this about you.' I was like, 'Really? Because I didn't know that. This is news to me!" "Coming out in general, no matter how you think people are going to react to it, it's scary. It feels so personal," Bross says. "And I was still coming to terms with the reality of it myself and facing a lot of comphet and things that I didn't really know how to explain until I did a bunch of research. Like, why am I feeling like this, you know? So it was even scary just internally. Once I say this to my family, this is real, right? And the whole world tells you to be one way. And yeah, it's scary to think that maybe you're a different way. But now it's the most beautiful thing in the world." Fitzgerald says that before this relationship, she never felt like she "was really attracted to anybody else." She'd get crushes on guys, but when they started dating, she'd just want to be best friends. "And then girls, I never felt attracted to, which is why I landed on asexual, somewhere around that spectrum," she says. "But then this is obviously not asexual, and so I understand that there's a spectrum." "I don't really care to figure it out because I know how I feel currently," she adds. "And hopefully this is forever, so it's not like I'm going to need to figure that out. But yeah, I'm happy with just being in love with Ally and that being the whole story." While Bross and Fitzgerald haven't publicly discussed their relationship before, some fans online have begun to suspect they might be more than just friends. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald looking lovingly at each other.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) Fitzgerald says it feels "cool" to see people rooting for them, even if it's just "12 people on Reddit." It encourages her to see that the fans "are already accepting and supportive and excited about this." Bross understands where the fans are coming from. As soon as she realized her feelings for Fitzgerald, she was starving for sapphic representation, including "real-life examples of people who have maybe experienced what I feel like I'm experiencing." "So when we have young girls who are in high school DMing us on Instagram like, 'Is it true? Are you a girl kisser? Are you and Mack together?' It does make me really happy. Because even just the last eight months, anytime there's any mention of a queer couple, we're like, 'We got to watch that. We're watching that. I'm tuned in." Bross says that being part of the queer community has "been really liberating." Next up, the couple is going on a trip to Europe. When they get back, they're looking forward to attending Austin Pride and visiting some of their Destination X friends. They also have trips to Canada, Tokyo, and all around Asia planned. They'd love to go on another reality show, this time as a couple. "I have this fantasy pipe dream in my head that we could both go on Traitors at the same time," Bross says. "There was a couple (Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen on Season 2), so come on, NBC, I know you're listening!" This article originally appeared on Out: From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating RELATED Top 10 LGBTQ+ beach towns perfect for Pride and summer fun This LGBTQ+ Family Went Swimming with Whale Sharks Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Was Destination X Too Confusing to Follow? Grade the NBC Competition Hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Though he's fought off zombies for years, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is now facing something even more frightening: a group of globe-trotting reality-TV contestants on NBC's Destination X. But did the series miss the mark? Let's recap. Tuesday's premiere takes us on a winding journey as the Walking Dead vet turns Europe into a real-life game board. Here's how it works: Each week, players will traverse the continent in a blacked-out bus with the goal of figuring out where they are. After competing in challenges at unique tourist attractions, contestants will head to the Map Room where they must guess their exact current location. The player with the guess farthest away from the bus' actual destination has to leave the game, and loses the chance to win $250,000. More from TVLine TWD: Dead City's Jeffrey Dean Morgan Does His Damnedest to Plug a Massive Plot Hole TWD: Dead City Stars Tease Season 2's Higher Stakes, Surprising Moral and… What?!? 'I Won't Be in Season 3' The Handmaid's Tale Brings Back [Spoiler] in Powerful Series Finale - How Did June's Story End? But for a casual viewer, the game can be confusing. To start, you'll see contestants donning high-tech goggles from time to time, but they aren't virtual reality headsets. The eyewear functions only as a fancy blindfold — there is no VR component in this game. Next, hints are not necessarily directly tied to the destination. For example, Episode 1 grants two contestants an exclusive clue: access to an outdoor theater. The players stand in front of the ruins, which viewers learn are the ruins of Volterra in Italy. But this place is not Destination X. We're told it sits 200 miles away from the actual location — which remains unknown to viewers. The only hint the clue offers is it looks Italian, but that offers no help in deducing the city — especially since the ruins aren't even located in Destination X anyway. The bus continues on a journey to its official location, stopping for a team challenge, where players solve riddles to collect hidden coins offering secret clues. Morgan says the challenge takes place in Orvieto and features nods to the city's cathedral, rich olive oil and St. Patrick's well — all of which are meant to serve as additional clues for Destination X. The group didn't pick up on the hints, but even if they had, how does identifying Orvieto help anyone deduce where the final location will be? Viewers are told Orvieto is still 90 miles away from Destination X. In the end, the team that loses the challenge must enter the Map Room, risking elimination. After all the guesses are in, it's Big Brother vet Josh Martinez who places his guess farthest from the location, placing his 'X' on Milan. On his way out, we finally learn this week's official Destination X: Rome. (Though the group had spent no actual time there.) Apparently, the prior challenge's coins had featured clues hinting at the city's gladiators and the Vatican's Swiss Guard. What did you think of s debut? Will you stay along for the ride, or are you ending your trip early? Vote in the polls below and hit the comments with your thoughts! Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper
