Created by Geronimo, the award-winning team behind The Big Job Switch and Doctor Davy, the adventure reality competition show originated in Belgium in February 2023. It sends ten contestants on 'the road trip of a lifetime', but they are not informed of their location.

Once they are on the innovative Destination X bus, reality is tweaked to mislead them and those watching. They are given certain clues as to whether they can trust what they see, so they need to stay sharp to figure out where they are.

At the end of each episode, the contestant who marks their spot with an X on a map furthest away from the bus's actual location is eliminated, along with their chances of winning the cash prize.

The surviving participants will search for the location of the host, who only interacts with them from a secret command post.

In Belgium on commercial broadcaster VTM, Destination X is consistently winning the slot on Monday evenings with a 42% market share over the first eight episodes. As well as the 'mind-blowing and spectacular gameplay', the BBC reckons the online plot twist episodes, which are published immediately after the regular episodes, are driving engagement, as viewers can see what clues they missed and how contestants were misled by the producers.

Kate Phillips, who helped secure UK rights for the BBC as the Director of Unscripted, said: "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!"