Ahead of the premiere of Destination X — NBC’s new reality competition series that takes players on a continent-spanning adventure — series host Jeffrey Dean Morgan is giving audiences a taste of the chaos to come. Sitting down with the hosts of TODAY, Jeffrey teased the exciting series’ concept as well as the many players who will attempt to answer the all-important question that could net them the final $250,000 prize: “Where the X are we?”
“The bus is pretty cool — it’s very much a rockstar kind of bus. So we’re not totally killin’ these people right off the bat,” Jeffrey told the hosts.
He is, of course, referring to the Destination X Bus, a blacked-out luxury tour bus that acts as both transportation and home base for the players throughout the season.
For a closer look at the Destination X Bus, check out our tour on NBC Insider.
As amazing as the Destination X Bus is, it does have its points of frustration for the players: limited space, zero privacy, and — most importantly for the game — no visibility. But, as Jeffrey said, some of the “smarter” players found a sneaky workaround and used their surroundings to their advantage.
“The problem is they don’t get to see out the windows. We will show them glimpses for like 10 seconds,” Jeffrey explained. “And so you see the smarter of them will start trying to track where the sun is because you can see kind of light through the windows, but nothing specific, and then they’ll track the sun to see what direction we’re going.”
Many of the players used a variety of “tricks” to their advantage. Some are world travelers with encyclopedic knowledge of history and geography, others are charmers who can play into strong alliances, seasoned reality show vets, or, in one special case, an avid bird watcher who can identify local fauna and pinpoint their exact location.
Check out our cast explainer for a full rundown of the Destination X Season 1 players and their (sometimes secret) strengths.
Take Biggy Bailey, for example.
“Biggy had never been outside of the United States,” Jeffrey said. “Biggy is from Kentucky. But the thing about him was, he had done a lot of homework and was very prepared going into the game. Most of the players had done a lot of homework, and it’s a really good group of contestants. I think the audience will fall in love with some and hate others, which is kind of what you want.”
Jeffrey Dean Morgan helps and hinders the players on Destination X
Destination X‘s dynamic host is known as something of a mischief-maker, so playing with the players’ heads seems to come naturally.
RELATED: Watch the First 20 Minutes of Destination X, a Wild New Travel Competition Series, Right Here
“We travel through all of Europe and they have to do challenges along the way, which may or may not give them clues where we are. I throw a lot of curveballs,” Jeffrey said. “I can be their best friend and I can be their worst enemy, it sort of depends on what side of the bed I woke up on.
“Alliances are formed right off the bat, and whether or not those worked was pretty fascinating to watch,” he teased.
Destination X premieres on May 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock.
