Destination X, Episode One Recap: Turns Out We Were in Rome?

I talk goggles, regrets, Rome (or not), and why no one got to see my heel click over a cat.

Hey, what’s up — it’s Mack.

Okay, episode one of Destination X has officially, fully premiered. Let’s get into it.

First things first, let me just say: it is so weird watching myself on TV. I’m having outrageous voice dysmorphia. I feel like I sound like a nasally rodent. Someone please for the love of any god tell me my voice doesn’t sound like that in real life. Alternatively, you may tell me that you like the sound of rodents. Also, my sentences just sound weird. I don’t know how to describe it, but hearing myself speak feels so out of body. Also, just watching me sit and exist feels….horrible. I do, however, love seeing myself on TV in a narcissistic way. Both things I think can be true. But, either way, it’s super weird. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it. 

Second things second, this is so cool. Never in 30 years did I imagine I’d be on a reality TV show. I’ve watched a few here and there, but never really had this as a goal. I feel like I really kind of stumbled into this and boy am I glad I did. This is so insanely cool. I feel like my life has changed in so many ways since filming this (more on that later), and it’s so cool having this show as a visual benchmark for when things shifted. To be clear, the show was a catalyst for the shift, but in many ways had nothing to do with the shift. But in another sense, it had everything to do with it. This will become clearer later. Just trust me for now. Anyway, this is the coolest thing I have ever done and it is such a wild experience to have stumbled into, and I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity. 

The Goggles

Okay, let’s talk about the episode now. Up first, those goggles. Horrible. Very cool looking! However, very heavy and uncomfortable. The strap was not strong enough to hold them up and the cushions busted immediately and the plastic would just dig into our faces. ALSO, the shots from inside the goggles scare me. I am begging the producers to not include any more of those. Truly terrifying. Also, I did not bring tweezers along in my bag, so this is soon going to be a disaster. 

I’ve seen a lot of discourse online about ~what’s going on with the goggles~. People wondering if there’s a VR element. People wondering why we are even wearing them if we just take them off. People wondering. The goggles were used to transport us from the bus to the challenge location, ensuring we saw nothing other than what Jeffrey wanted us to see. On the bus, everyone would put on a pair of goggles (plus a sleeping mask, ear sticky tack, and noise-cancelling headphones), and then one by one we would be walked off the bus to the challenge locations. Because we were blind, we would typically have one hand on a cast member in front of us and one hand on a producer or other crew member to our side. The producer/crew member would give us directions (step here, turn here, slow down, etc.). Imagine a group of children being walked down the hallway at school with a hand on a rope. That’s about how it happened. 

On that note, even when we had the goggles off, our sights and such were still curated. I’ve seen people asking why Ally and I didn’t turn around and try to read license plates or why Biggy and I didn’t just go up to people and ask where we were. We weren’t allowed to do those things <3 Hope that clears it up!! Ally and I were only allowed to look forward and Biggy and I would get yelled at for going off course. This was a game with rules. Before we did anything–get off the bus, do a challenge, etc.--there would be a big off-camera conversation about everything that was about to happen and what all we would be allowed to do and what the rules were generally. We weren’t just let loose and up to our own devices. 

The Tarmac & Partnering Up (with a dummy?)

You may be wondering why I partnered up with Ally. You may be thinking it had something to do with my “I’m going to partner up with the dumbest person here” comment. That is not why I partnered with her. That was not even on my mind during that challenge. If it had been, Ally would not have been who I chose. The TRUTH is: Ally was standing next to me. That’s it. That is the whole reason. We had just been chatting about how we were both “from” Austin and had a quick bond over that. Then, JDM rolls in. Ally pisses herself. Jeff gives us the rules. We all have about 7 seconds to make a strategy as we walk to the starting line. Actually, if you want to get technical, Ally started strategizing with me first, saying we should help each other out. She had the idea that if either of us were struggling we would just yell “Austin” as loud as possible and the other would come to the rescue. (We did attempt this during the challenge). Then, I pitched the share tags idea. So, one could argue she actually picked me. Anyway, it was a strong choice. We won. She brought me in on the clue.

The Roman F*ckin Ruins

I’m still pissed about this. I saw Roman ruins. Ally and I both knew pretty much immediately–these are Roman ruins. Absolute no brainer. HOWEVER, all that told me was that we were not in Rome. Why? I watched the European versions of the show. This was probably the worst thing I could have done to prepare for the show. The European versions of the show were dramatically more difficult and had way more red herrings. It is absolutely on me for not thinking our show would be catered to an American audience and accordingly dumbed down. But, I saw Roman ruins and immediately ruled out Rome as the destination. That would be waaaay too obvious. The European versions would never have done something like that. That’s on me. 

I actually never even fully believed we were in Rome until we finished filming everything and I got confirmation from a producer. I thought there is absolutely no way that those clues were pointing to Rome. I’m also still pissed about that. Columbus? That’s Genoa. Romeo and Juliet? Verona. Pinocchio. Tuscany. I thought the gladiator hand was a Mickey Mouse hand. I have no memory of Jonah even saying that. I was thinking maybe there was a Disney World in Italy that I didn’t know about. Roman wine? What’s that about? In my brain, nothing pointed to Rome. Yeah yeah yeah Roman numerals, I don’t want to hear about it. 

“Orvieto” K.

Anyway. The second challenge. That was an absolute blast. I have no idea why my team chose me to be the one to run around and have the ability to see, but boy am I glad they did. Unfortunately, as I just mentioned. It did not help me at all. I knew we were in Orvieto. I knew that was in Italy. That is where my knowledge ended. 

What I am most upset about as it relates to what was not included in this episode is two things:

1. While I was running to the pinocchio shop, I jumped over a cat in the street and did a really cool heel click in the air. It was so sick. Pisses me off no one got to see how cool of a maneuver that was.

2. I had to run up that clock tower. There were so many flights of stairs and I was dripping in sweat and panting so hard only for them to include none of that. Disrespectful. I’m pissed. I’m not over it. 

My Second Biggest Regret of the Show

As we close out that challenge, it was up to me (ultimately) who to save. As we see, I chose Ally at the last second. However, I initially was planning to save Biggy. I thought that was the smarter move strategically and my team agreed. Word of this decision got back to the other team. Everyone was pissed at me. Ultimately, I chose to save Ally at the last second because I knew if I didn’t I would be going to the map room and I had no idea where we were. My decision to almost not save Ally was the second worst decision I made on the whole show. Even though it was corrected at the last second, I ruined a budding alliance and never lived it down (we are good friends now and it still comes up). Truly, my second biggest regret of the whole show. I would kill to go back and stick with Ally from jump because I think that would have made for a really strong alliance. But alas. We’ll have to wait and see how that decision all shakes out.

Josh then leaves because Rick told him Milan. I’m still not sure if Rick thought he was helping or if he was trying to get in Josh’s head. Our team truly discussed Milan almost exclusively. However, I didn’t fully buy Milan. I’m not sure Rick did either. We might have both just been going along with it for self-preservation. Who knows! We may never. Whatever. Sorry Josh. 

Looking Ahead

I’m pumped for the rest of the season. While filming, everything felt so cool even though we couldn’t see any of it. I’m so glad it was edited well, and the trailers for the upcoming episodes look insane. It’s so crazy seeing shots of all of these places we technically visited but never saw. I can’t wait to see what happens. 

It’s wild, too, having lived this but still not knowing what is going to come out. I’m on the edge of my seat wondering what all happened and what all I missed. It’s a weird sensation having experienced this, yet having it all distilled down to a certain story only ~50 minutes long. I wish there was a way to have 72-hour long episodes, so I could re-live every second in full. Maybe next season they will do this Big Brother style. Surely. That would be sick.’

Outro Stuff

Anyway. Tune in next Tuesday and the eight Tuesdays following that at 10/9c on NBC (Peacock next day) to see the rest of the show! I’m so pumped. This is the craziest thing ever.

Also, let me know if you have any questions about anything about the show and, if possible, I will answer it all!

Also also, I have some cool things coming out on Youtube. 

For now, I’ve got a video version of this (more chaotic) that can be found here.