Destination X Final (Spoilers)

I know what you’re dying to ask. Did the final of Destination X avoid giving me what I didn’t want to see? The answer is yes, by and large it did and to this extent it nailed the landing. Did it give me what I wanted to see though? That’s a difficult question to answer, partly because I’m not exactly sure I knew what I wanted to see.

What did we actually get, then? Well, Rob B’s observation early doors that we were going to the first city to have over a million inhabitants AND a shopping centre signposted Rome to me. Ah, but this was the final and so it was never going to be enough to just figure out which city they were in. In fact they didn’t even have to do that since it was revealed to them pretty much as soon as they got there. Prior to that, we had the obligatory challenge in Bomarzo’s Parco dei Mostri, or Monster Park. Basically the three contestants had to run around the park, and find questions relating to what they’d seen on their travels in order to win keys to boxes containing golden tickets. Pilot Josh won two, Marketing Saskia one, and Nuclear Judith, well, she didn’t get any.

So, when in Rome. . . well, when in Rome the players simply had to find Rob Bryden. Now, from the filmed instructions I could see that he was on the top of the Spanish Steps. Now, frankly from what we’ve seen all series it looked unlikely any of the contenders had figured this out but suppose one of them had? Would they have been allowed to short circuit the final? I doubt it. This final consisted on each one being given a chauffeured Vespa, and taken to three successive games. In each they had to figure which was the right answer, based on what they’d remembered from their travels. For example, they had to put all of the destinations in the order in which they visited them. Which was a lot harder for them than us because apart from Venice, they couldn’t’ be certain where they’d visited. Golden tickets could be used to buy clues.

Once they figured out the answers, then they got to construct an X on a map to mark the spot, then they got to race on their Vespas to the spot. Winner was. . . well, it was the one who didn’t have any clues. The one who had been wrong about the previous two destinations. Nuclear Judith.

Well done!

There’s a certain satisfaction that the winner was the one who worked out the final destination and got there quickest. With a reality show it’s very easy to find yourself hoping that one or the other doesn’t win, because of the way that they have been presented by the footage that is shown. I think it helps to remember that you’re seeing what the director and the editor allow you to see, and this can give you an unfair impession. So, as much as the BBC and the people who made Destination X might push The Traitors angle, this really has not been like the Traitors at all. There were only two occasions when some of the players’ fates were not necessarily in their own hands. I doubt very much that anyone is likely to take this on board, but for the next series the only tweak I would really like to see is the disposal of the moving X advantages. For me, these were a jarring note and I’m glad that neither of them came to anything.

Initial noises from the Beeb are that it will be back for another series, and I’m all for that. Whether it’s a game I’d ever like to play myself, well, the jury is still out on that one.

Destnation X Semi Final - Spoilers

Semi final stage. For me this episode threw into sharp relief the identity crisis that the series has undergone. It seems to me that all of those involved in the show think that it’s the Traitors. Not least the contestants. But it’s not. Last night’s show saw the 4 remaining passengers plotting with and against each other and agonising over the ways to behave towards their fellows. None of which made the slightest bit of difference to the outcome.

Divided into pairs the contestants faced a challenge to match pairs of symbols to gain an extra clue. “I have great problem solving skills” boasted Nuclear Judith. It may well be true, but they deserted her last night. Now, all four contestants did get to see a number of clues. First up we saw the Mona Lisa captioned with ‘she’s got company’. You got it? Mona + Co? Now, okay there was a red herring with the words ‘Ma say’ – Marseilles. But when all could see some hardhats, two of which bore the names Grace and Kelly, then that pretty much confirmed Monaco.

All four could have worked that out. Marketing Saskia and Pilot Josh won the challenge and received the clinching clue – a toy formula 1 racing car. So they knew it had to be Monaco.

This left Nuclear Judith and Taxi Daren to pool their knowledge and come up with, well, not a lot. Daren misremembered the caption on the Mona Lisa so plumped for the Louvre in Paris. We were only just over halfway through the episode’s run time, when SHOCK! Our heroes were ordered into the map room. Marketing and Pilot knew where they were going. Judtih thought about Paris, but then remembered how hot it had been during the challenge and plumped for the south of France. Taxi Daren, with nothing to go on apart from Mona, went for the Louvre.

Game over for Taxi D. then? Well, not quite. For the episode took one of the biggest swerves of the series so far. On their own each player would be asked 3 questions. For each one they would win distances, which they could either use to move their X closer to the target, or to move an opponent’s further away. They could stop after 1 or 2 if they wished. However if they answered any question wrong, then they would not have any distance to use.

Which is where my observation about the Traitors comes back in. For their was a clear opportunity for the other three players to conspire to banish front runner Pilot Josh.

Before I get to the outcome, I will reiterate that I don’t like these seemingly arbitrary offers of the ability to use what are essentially dirty tricks. I can’t help it, I think that the winner should be the one who gets closest to the destination. I don’t like the randomness of it. We saw Josh use the opportunity to move an opponent’s X 150 km away in episode 5 and I didn’t like that.

Thankfully skulduggery didn’t work then and thankfully it didn’t work last night either. For all of the hand-wringing and breast-beating about who was in an alliance with whom, about playing to win and no more Mr. Nice Guying etc. in every map room the player who placed their X furthest from the destination has been eliminated. Taxi D’s relative lack of geo-knowledge actually saved him last time out. Yesterday his inability to separate the literal from the cryptic did for led to an emotional farewell. Give our regards to Jackie P., Daz.

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So, the fact that I’ve written so much about the show is a sign that I’ve been enjoying it. I’m just hoping that tonight’s final can nail the landing. What do I mean? Well, in no particular order:-

We know everyone REALLY, REALLY wants to win. So please don’t show them sitting in the diary room reminding us that they do.

We know that each is playing for themselves and there can be no alliances now and each will be prepared to do whatever it takes to win. Likewise I don’t want to see them in the diary room banging on about this.

I really hope that we don’t see a silly challenge in which one contestant gets an unbeatable advantage. If one of them wins through being given a dirty trick in a challenge, then I’ll be honest. I will feel cheated.

Destination X Five and Six - (Spoilers)

If you’ve read my previous posts on Destination X you’ll know that I thought that I had a handle on the show and its mechanics – as I said this time last week ‘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.’ Well, it just shows how much I know, for in this week’s episodes five and six, that swerve is exactly what we got.

In episode five there was overwhelming evidence that the destination was Italy. But was it Milan or Venice? – we saw clues for both. In one challenge, which to be honest was more Jeux Sans Frontieres than Race Across the World- the contestants were required to hold trays with wine glasses. Drop them and you’re out. Each was asked questions. Get them right and you can give glasses to an opponent of your choice. Get them wrong and they go on your tray. Somehow it seemed natural that good old Economics Ashvin dropped his before even being given any more glasses. He’s come across as a really nice chap, but frankly never looked likely to find his name engraved on the winner’s trophy. Winner of the challenge, Pilot Josh earned, amongst other things, the power to move someone else’s X 250 km away from the destination.

For the first time we didn’t learn the identity of the ejected contestant at the end of the episode. But we saw that Pilot Josh saw Marathon Nick as his biggest competition and moved his X. So it came as a bit of a surprise when, at the start of episode 6 it was Economics Ash who was ejected. Had he placed his X on the Shetlands, or something? Well, the point of the episode was to allow the contestants to snipe and plot, so they were all allowed out in Venice to see some scenery and play a few games. To be honest it was a bit of a nothingy episode – or would have been had we not got to meet the hitherto unseen star of the show, Jackie P. It means she doesn’t get to join Mrs. Mainwaring/Mrs. Wolowitz/ Charlie Brown’s teacher as one of the great unseens of the world of telly, but there we are. Battle lines were drawn, but nobody went anywhere and nobody got ejected, so all in all there was an unmistakable feeling that this was all padding that might have been forced on the show by one of the original 10 travellers deciding to leave the bus long before the end of episode 1.

I’ll be honest, I’m not totally sure that I like the swerves that happened this week. When you get right down to it I don’t want the winner to just win because they were the winners of a couple of silly games along the way. But I’m still watching and I’ll doubtless have more to say about the show this time next week.

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.

Destination X Review (Spoilers)

Should we talk about the BBC’s Destination X? Of course we should. But it’s not a quiz? So what, it’s my ball and we play by my rules.

Okay, so it’s been inaccurately described as The Traitors v. Race Across the World. I will come to what’s so inaccurate about this a bit later. Now, I love both of these shows and if you’re familiar with both of them you’ll be aware that these are very different shows. Now, the danger of trying of combine the appeal of two very different shows is that you end up falling between two stools and when you fall between two stools you often just fall.

To briefly summarise what the show seems to be about, 13 contestants met in what looked to be a very small and rather fake departure lounge in Baden Baden airport. This was narrowed down to 10 contestants, who were helicoptered away to where 2 buses with windows (temporarily) blacked out– one for the day and one for the night awaited. On each show they were taken to a well-known European destination. On the way there were stops for clues. At the climax of each show, each remaining contestant had to put their x on a high-tech interactive map to mark where they believed they were. The one who was furthest away was unceremoniously ejected.

Does that sound in any way similar to The Traitors to you? There’s no voting, for one thing. Yes, the contestants don’t all get all of the clues, and so they can be sneaky about what they reveal to each other, but it’s all very tame considering how much the promotion for the show has been pushing this angle. As for Race Across the World? Well, both shows see people travelling a lot. That’s about it. In Race Around the World we do at least get a glimpse of the life and culture of the places being visited. There are chances for us to vicariously stop and smell the roses a little. Alright, to be fair we did get to see a little more scenery in episode 2, but there’s only so much they can show you without losing the play along at homeability. And in Race Across the World, an integral factor is players negotiating hurdles with transport. In Destination X, the transport is all laid on.

So, if you choose to watch because you’ve bought the hype about its similarity to those shows you may well be disappointed. Watch it with an open mind and judge it on its own merits and you may find, as I did, that you give it a cautious approval. The first two episodes did enough to make we want to watch episode 3 this coming week. You know me, I’m a bit of a misanthrope but for all that I do find some of the personalities on board to be quite interesting. Having said that, I could do without Nick – the one who has run a marathon in every country on Earth – continually being dragged into the diary room to tell us he is prepared to be ruthless when it is necessary.  Rob Brydon is a good old Baglan (area of Port Talbot) boy, so he will get no criticism from me and he does the job of presenting the show perfectly well. I think he realises that this is not The Rob Brydon show and that a relatively understated approach works.

It all comes down to the game play, though, and I felt that episode 2 did this better than episode 1. The destination of Episode 1 was Paris. I was pretty much certain it would be so after Mr. Brydon said that the destination was one of the first cities in Europe to be electrically lit. Then he gave us a list of European cities with copies of the Statue of Liberty and didn’t mention Paris. Admittedly there was a strange interlude in Alsace Lorraine, where, amongst some red herrings the contestants were given some clues that belonged in Sybil Fawlty’s Mastermind round on the Bleedin’ Obvious while others would not have been out of place amongst the prize clues in 3-2-1 (ask your grandparents).

I enjoyed the second episode more especially the set piece where the contestants were separated into two teams, put in cable cars which stopped at the same point, high above the ground, and then told to carry out activities to earn a clue. That was fun. Mind you, the big clue that the winning team earned couldn’t have made it a lot more obvious that we were going to the Matterhorn. I mean, it wasn’t quite the full Alpen box, but even so. Mind you, only Marathon Nick seemed to understand it.

Well, as I said there was enough to make me want to give it another go for episode 3. I have to say, though, normally when I like a reality game show, I’d like to play in it myself. In the last 9 years or so I’ve visited over 20 European countries. I love travel, and the idea of travelling all around Europe – and never seeing hardly ANY of it! – is something which just seems wrong.