After 10 excellent episodes, the European travel series has come to an end. Destination X saw the Final Three take on the final challenges. Of course, there could only be one winner, and that meant someone had to come in third place.
Christian “Biggy” Bailey was the man to come in third, and once he was up against the secret alliance of Rick and Peter, it was no surprise. However, he did play a good game, and there was almost a chance of getting a shot at the final. It all came down to one island!
Biggy took time out of his day to chat with us about the series and his research going in. For a man who has never been to Europe, he did extremely well.
Biggy talks the secret alliance and more in Destination X
GeekSided: I’m just going to ask. How much do you hate Venice now?
Biggy: It was wild! A lot of feelings were left in Venice that I’ll probably never go back, to be honest with you.
GS: One island!
Biggy: What are the odds? Seriously! What are the odds that one island, and not only that, but just being on such opposite ends of the spectrum? Peter guessed 27 and me guessing 210? I still think about that every day, Alexandria, every single day, and I had to watch it back last night. It was a dagger to the heart.
GS: I was Googling it while watching and then doing the math. I was shocked.
Biggy: I said 210 because I knew there was a lot, and Peter said 27. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m in the clear. I’m good.’ I just forced a sudden death. This was meant to be. It was my moment to make it through to win $250,000. Then Jeffrey says 118, and I’m like, ‘Well, that’s somewhere in the middle. Now I’m not as confident.’
It was tough because just to get to that point was so hard. So much stuff had to be done, so much gameplay, and just being on the bus doing all these challenges, you know, for five weeks in a row. Just about every day, and then to be off by one was brutal. But at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
GS: And it was an amazing experience. What was your favorite challenge to do?
Biggy: My favorite challenge was probably the mountaintop challenge in the Alps in [Destination X] episode 2. It was so physically demanding. It did not seem like it, but when I tell you that there was no oxygen up there, my lungs were on fire. I’m pretty sure they buried those crates the day before, and guess what happened overnight! They got frozen solid! It was like ice, so we’re punching, scratching, I’m dropping shoulders into it.
But when our goggles went clear, because it probably took two hours to get to the top of that blindfolded, we had no idea what we were doing and we walked out and I felt snow. Our goggles clear, and we’re on top of a mountain in the Alps. It was gorgeous. It was unbelievable.
It was also pretty cool being able to sleep in a dungeon. The sleep itself was terrible, probably the worst night of sleep I’ve had in my life, to be honest. I think I slept maybe five minutes.
All the challenges were unbelievable, especially as a guy that’s never left the U.S. To be able to experience all that in all those countries, zero complaints about anything.
GS: That’s the thing. You’ve never traveled to Europe, so you didn’t have experience to build on. What type of research did you do going into the series?
Biggy: I had a heads up that I was probably going to be on the show about two months before we left. The one thing I know about myself is that I knew nothing about European geography, nothing other than that Italy looked like a boot. That was it. I did everything. I played Geo Guesser, I watched the Belgian version of the show, I bought college geography courses, I bought basic geography courses.
I went nuts just trying to study landmarks and famous people, because for this show, you have no idea where you’re going or what you’re going to see. There is no study guide, so I studied it all. I was proud with how it turned out in the game, because before that, I knew nothing. I’m pretty sure in high school I got maybe a D in geography class, so to be able to make it to the finale, I need to tell that to my teachers that gave me a D.
GS: If it wasn’t for the alliance between Peter and Rick, you’d have stood a better chance. Shayne, Mack, and Ally all realized, so did you really not?
Biggy: I think the reason I had my blinders on to Rick was because of how strong I thought my relationship with Rick was, especially because early on, you don’t really see any of it on the show, but after Josh kind of went in on Rick, I was the only person who would talk to him. I felt bad for him. I’m a compassionate guy, so I got very close with Rick.
Outside of Mack and Shayne, he was probably who I talked to the most for hours, every day and every night, because we were bunkmates. I think that’s why I had my blinders on to him, and I really didn’t know. Everyone else, outside of Shayne, I was a little bit, ‘I don’t know if I can trust you,’ but with Rick, I don’t know. I guess it was empathy.
It was my kiss of death. That’s why I got the dagger in the front and the back. But at the end of the day, that’s the game. It is what it is. If I get another opportunity to do something else, you can bet I ain’t putting the blinders on anybody. 100% don’t trust anybody. In real life, sure, but in a reality competition, trust no one. Except Shayne.
GS: Although Shayne was manipulating things at times.
Biggy: That’s right! Trust nobody! Don’t even trust me. You know what’s crazy is you know there can only be one winner. So, the chances are that people are probably going to do things that go against their word in order to better themselves in the competition, which is what happened. I guess I was just naïve. They tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t listen.
GS: So no hard feelings since it’s just a game?
Biggy: It’s just a game. Do I think about it every day still? Yes, but it’s just a game.
GS: So my last question is a two-parter. Would you do another show, and if so, which one?
Biggy: You don’t even gotta ask, Alexandria! Preferably, the number one choice is going to be Traitors. Traitors would be spectacular, because I do think the reason why I was able to make it to the finale in this game was the social game. Because just like my European knowledge, I didn’t have a ton of it. So I would love to do Traitors, or anything NBC. They kill it with reality shows.
But, I’ve been on a massive Survivor kick, so I would love to play Survivor. Also, I could shed a few pounds, something I think Survivor could give me.
Destination X is now available to stream in full on Peacock.
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