Twofour, Universal TV Alternative Studio take NBC towards Destination X full series

US broadcaster NBC has handed a full series order to an American adaptation of the Belgian travel adventure competition format Destination X.

The series pick-up comes a year after NBC and UK public broadcaster the BBC announced they had each taken the rights to adapt the format, which premiered on Belgium’s VTM in February 2023.

ITV Studios-backed UK production company Twofour is set to produce both the UK and US versions and will coproduce the latter with Universal Television Alternative Studio.

The UK and US shows will be filmed in tandem, replicating the model used by NBC and the BBC for their respective adaptations of Dutch format The Traitors.

The original Belgian version of Destination X was created by Geronimo and is distributed globally by Be-Entertainment. It has received several awards including the Rose d’Or for Best Competition Reality Series.

The format sees contestants embark on a road trip with no idea of their starting location or destination. Once they’re on the Destination X bus, reality is tweaked to mislead them, and they must use clues to work 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, losing their shot at winning a cash prize.

Kate Phillips, the BBC’s director of unscripted, said the tender process was “extremely competitive, but Twofour’s innovative and creative vision for the show means that we know we have the perfect producers to take us on this exciting journey.”

Executive producers on the NBC version include Caroline Davies and Andy Cadman, while the BBC show is exec produced by Saul Fearnley. Twofour MD Dan Adamson and chief creative director David Clews are exec producing both versions.

Shireen Abbott, Twofour’s director of production and operations, and Karen Hudson, head of production, will oversee production of both series.