BBC AND NBCUNIVERSAL HIT THE ROAD WITH ‘DESTINATION X’
The new adventure reality format ‘Destination X’ is already writing history. BBC and NBCUniveral confirmed their respective commissions in the UK and the US before the first Belgian series finished its full series broadcast.
‘Destination X’ crosses fantasy with reality in this larger-than-life adventure competition. Ten contestants embark on the road trip of a lifetime but they have no idea where they are. All they need to do is work that out. Once they're on the innovative Destination X Bus, reality is regularly tweaked to mislead them as well as the viewers at home. Every bit of information comes with a number of clues designed to help the contestants decide if they can trust what they see. They need to be on top of their game at all times to figure out where they are. At the end of each episode, the contestant who places their X on a map furthest away from the bus’s actual location has to leave the game and loses their shot at winning a cash prize. The surviving participants search for the location of the host, who interacts with them from the secret command post. Mind-blowing and spectacular gameplay will keep viewers engaged and playing along on all screens.
Destination X was created and produced by Geronimo, the award-winning team behind 'The Big Job Switch' and 'Doctor Davy' and launched in Belgium on February 20th on commercial broadcaster VTM. It is consistently winning the slot on Monday evening, with an impressive 42% market share over the first 8 episodes (18-44, Consolidated). Whilst the show is clearly a hit in linear viewing, Destination X is also drawing eyeballs to VTM’s AVOD platform VTM Go. Immediately after the regular episodes on VTM, viewers can see in the online plot twist episodes what clever clues they missed and how contestants were misled by the production crew.
Kate Phillips, BBC Director of Unscripted, says: “Following the must-see success of The Traitors, I’m delighted that once again we’re partnering with NBCUniversal on another very smart, very addictive and very innovative competition show. With countless red herrings and brain-teasing clues, we were gripped from the start. It promises to be a hugely challenging adventure for our ten brave contestants, with plenty of play along for all BBC viewers, as everyone hopes they’ve got the ‘X’ that marks the spot!”
Corie Henson, Executive Vice President, Unscripted Programming, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming added: “‘Destination X’ is a big unique format that pairs spectacular adventure travel with the ultimate guessing game. ‘The Traitors’ instilled confidence that big formats are back, and ‘Destination X’ is incredibly ambitious. We’re thrilled to have the perfect traveling partners in Universal Television Alternative Studios, BBC and, of course, Be-Entertainment, for this one-of-a-kind immersive gameplay set among stunning locations.”
Gepke Nederlof, MD of Be-Entertainment said: “It’s amazing to see how Destination X has literally taken off since its launch! It’s a true adventure both in and outside of the Destination X-bus and we could not be more proud than to partner with two of the leading content companies in the world in such an early stage of our international journey.”
