Destination X - 3 and 4 - Spoilers

Well, being as I don’t have a Mastermind preview to post today – last week’s still stands – I thought I’d give you an update on Destination X. Yeah, I’m still with it, although not necessarily for the reasons the producers might hope.

Well, in this week’s two episodes we did get to see, I suppose, some of the treachery we’d been promised. Although I will have something to say about that. In episode 3 the first stop was a railway station, presumably in the middle of nowhere. The players were split into two teams and then given three challenges. Now, every member of both teams got to see several clues, one of which was a ticket to the Oktoberfest. There were others, but that was the most glaringly obvious clue seen by everyone. The team that completed the challenge got the other glaringly obvious clue – a magazine with an article about Harry Kane.

Now the three players who won this final clue, Nuclear Judith, Marketing Saskia and pilot Josh (my nicknames, no offense intended) decided to use a bit of disinformation and told the others they had seen people dressed in Borussia Dortmund kit. Before the map room there was a distraction when the three original dumped players returned, to face a challenge with the others or a place on the bus. Judith, Josh and Saskia as challenge winners were all exempt, and could pick one other player to go through. Liverpool James, who had an alliance with marketing Saskia, confidently stood in anticipation he’d be the one thus pardoned but Pilot Josh was having none of it and burst out with Taxi Daren’s name. (I was tempted to call him Jackie P’s husband, but I do find his constant references to her as Jackie P rather endearing). Saskia protested but to no avail.

Now, the challenge saw the three newbies each teamed with one of the old hands. The challenge actually required knowledge of places, or sheer luck. Liverpool James gulped apprehensively, and rightly so. Two by two the others claimed their places on the bus until only he and Economics Ashvin remained. In the short time he’s been with us Ash has seemed pretty much on a par with James as regards Euro cluelessness, but he won the challenge anyway.

So on to the destination and the map room. The three newbies were safe for now, while the others had to digest the fact that all the clues everyone has seen that they have been able to decipher point directly to Munich. Only Josh and Saskia now claim to have seen anything relating to Dortmund. Marathon Nick goes correctly with the body of evidence. Surf School Ben in his own words ‘ignores his gut feeling’ and goes for Dortmund. Ben is forced to leave the bus but at least gets to join in with some Bavarian dancing, and the majority of the audience at home are left to ask – how the hell did he not know it was Munich? Well, I have an idea about that which I will come to.

So to episode four. Now, it’s not clear whether Taxi Daren had also gone for Dortmund – but it looks likely. Still, he pushes the idea that the old hands must stay together and work against the three newbies. Challenges make it crystal clear that the destination is connected heavily with the film The Sound of Music. History Chloe-Ann doesn’t know where it was filmed. Taxi Daren strongly suggests they’re going to Vienna. No, says Sergeant Claire, it was filmed in Salzburg. Once in the map room, it looks as if Economics Ash is plumping for Vienna. However History Chloe-Ann definitely does, and she is the furthest away. Like Ben before her she laments not going with her gut.

Okay, observations. On the Traitors, when a majority of the remaining players decide to get you out there is nothing you can do. On Destination X, unless there’s some new rule or rule change that we haven’t foreseen in a upcoming show, nobody forces you to make the specific location choices that decide whether you stay or go. Let’s be clear on that. Thus far your fate has been in your own hands, and no amount of ‘treachery’ can change that.

So far, the destinations have been pretty clear if you ignore all of the white noise and concentrate only on the clues you yourself have seen or heard. Alright, we don’t all have the same amount of Geographical knowledge, to be fair. But if we take Ben’s case, he said he should have gone with his gut. I take a little issue with it. You see, all the knowledge he had, all of the primary evidence he’d seen told him it was Munich. I’d argue that it was his ‘gut’ that told him to go for Dortmund. Likewise, all the clues in episode four didn’t just point to The Sound of Music, they screamed it out in capital letters. Sergeant Claire even told Chloe-Ann it was filmed in Salzburg. Alright, maybe Chloe-Ann has never seen the film. Well, neither have I. But come on – the hills are alive with the sound of Music. Well, there ain’t many hills that are alive with the sound of music in Vienna. But Chloe-Ann still went for Vienna. She claimed she should have gone with her gut. Again, I think she did go with her gut – her gut feeling that Daren, with whom she had shared the prize for winning the first challenge, was telling her the truth, the gut feeling that made her ignore the facts as they were. I suppose you could claim that this is a form of confirmation bias.

So I shall watch the show again this coming week. Not for Rob Bryden, although he does his job perfectly well. Not for the challenges, although these are proving to be quite fun. Not for the minuscule amount of scenery we get shown. Not for the players being sneaky to each other. No, I am primarily interested, I will admit, in just how obvious the destinations will continue to be and just how players continue to convince themselves to plump for the wrong one. Which I suppose is schadenfreude. Well, I don’t have to like myself for watching it.