‘Destination X’: [Spoiler] Goes Home With $250K in Season Finale
The Destination X crew has reached their final destination. In the July 29 season finale of NBC’s newest competition show, the remaining three contestants found themselves in London, where they had to decipher clues that took them to some of the U.K. city’s most famous landmarks. The lucky person who cracked the final riddle first went home with $250,000. But was the big winner professional bird watcher Rick Szabo, sports bettor Christian “Biggy” Bailey, and The Traitors and The Bachelor alum Peter Weber? Keep reading to find out.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead for the ‘Destination X’ season finale.]
Rick, Peter, and Biggy compete in the ‘Destination X’ finale
Rick, Peter, Biggy have all survived multiple eliminations in this country-hopping game, in which contestants are dropped in various locations around Europe and then challenged to figure out where they are. But there’s no question where they are when the episode begins: London.
“The clock is ticking down to the end of my game,” host Jeffrey Dean Morgan says at the beginning of the episode. “So I’ve brought my finalists to Greenwich, the place where the world learned how to keep time. The big question is, did my players make every second count? Only time will tell you.”
Morgan challenges the three remaining players in a trivia contest where they have to answer questions about places they’ve previously visited on Destination X. Answer a question wrong, and a player moves further away from a chance at making it to the final two. Answer correctly, and they can either move themselves forward or send another player back.
Rick’s secret alliance with Peter soon comes into play. He wants Peter, not Biggy, to accompany him to the finals. A stunned and “mind-blown” Biggy quickly realizes he’s at a major disadvantage in this game. But he puts up a good fight, strategically moving Peter back. (It helps that Peter also gets a few questions wrong.) In end, Rick comes in first in the contest, with Peter and Biggy forced to answer a tie-breaking questions about the number of islands in Venice. Luck is on Peter’s side, and his out-of-thin-air guess is one closer to the actual number of islands than Biggy’s. A devastated Biggy exits the competition, leaving just Peter and Rick in the running for the $250,000 grand prize.
Peter Weber and Rick Szabo race across London in the ‘Destination X’ finale
Rick and Peter’s alliance helped get them to the final challenge. But now, it’s each man for himself. They have to decipher a series of clues that take them to iconic London spots like the Bank of England, the Shard, and the London Eye.
The competition is neck-and-neck as they both confront the last clue in Morgan’s elaborate scavenger hunt. Each has just 90 second to figure out the meaning of an hourglass, a picture of Queen Elizabeth II, and a $100 bill.
The tension is thick. Rick desperately wants to win the money so that his family, who hit a rough patch during the pandemic, can get back on their feet financial. Meanwhile, reality show vet Peter hopes to prove he has what it takes to actually win a competition.
Rick links the image of Ben Franklin on the $100 bill to Big Ben and heads to the clocktower. But Peter suspects the image of the Queen is pointing him to the Tower of London, where the crown jewels are housed. In the end, Rick’s deduction skills outpace Peter’s. He finds a suitcase full of cash tucked inside the massive clock, aka the Elizabeth Tower.
“I did it. I can’t believe … no way,” Rick says after he opens the case revealing the massive prize. “I won Destination X. This is going to be the start of something special for my family.”
Peter, meanwhile, describes his loss as “absolutely gutting”
“It was more than the money. I wanted to finally end on a high note,” he says, sadly. But he adds that he doesn’t have any ill will to his competition. “I really am happy for [Rick]. I really am,” he says.
The signs pointing to Big Ben as the final “Destination X” were there all along, Morgan explains, with various references to clocks and time throughout the competition. It was all part of the show’s theme of taking time away from phones and other screens to enjoy life and build connections.
“My magical mystery tour was so much more than just a game,” he explains. “Taking the time away from phones and laptops gave my players the time to look up and look around … with time, they proved themselves true heroes.”
Destination X is streaming on Peacock.
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