It's never easy going into a new reality game, especially if you want to remain true to yourself. Jonah Evarts went into Destination X not wanting to maliciously hurt people to win, and it cost him the game. However, he shared with us in our exclusive interview that he doesn't regret the way he played.
In fact, he's happy with the game that he played in Destination X season 1, episode 2. The experience was worth it, and he'd rather lose by being true to himself rather than win by forgetting the type of person he really is. This doesn't rule out reality shows in the future, and maybe he'll take on some of the advice Jeffrey Dean Morgan gave him while getting fondue in Geneva.
Jonah Evarts is happy with his gameplay in Destination X
GeekSided: I’m so sad that you were eliminated. How did it feel as you earned Ally lied about the location?
Jonah Evarts: More than anything, I was just surprised. I really never once guessed that she was lying to me. I’m not mad at her. I understand that we were playing a game, but it was shocking to me. I think you can see that in the episode.
GS: You went into this series not wanting to backstab people, so not really doing the reality show thing. Do you wish you had gone in and been a bit more devious, or are you happy with the game you played?
JE: I’m very happy with how I played the game. I don’t think I would change anything. I would rather lose than win by being someone I’m not; that’s just how I am. I very much am open and sensitive, and honest. That’s how I try to be in life. I fall short sometimes, but that’s my ideals, that’s who I am. I was just really hoping I could carve my own path that didn’t require me to be something like that.
I was still struggling to find my footing when I went out. Maybe I would have found it eventually.
GS: Jeffrey Dean Morgan said that he was going to give you some tips about reality shows. Did he in the end?
JE: Yeah, he said ‘you need to go in prepared to hurt people,’ which is just part of the thing; I didn’t want to be a jerk about it. I didn’t want to be happy seeing other people lose. I didn’t want to be gleeful that I was advancing and someone else wasn’t. I’m just not the kind of person.
So, I was prepared to, I guess, get in the way of someone else to keep myself in, but I didn’t want to target someone, and I didn’t want to do something maliciously.
GS: So, what was it about Destination X itself that stood out to you as the reality show to go on?
JE: I love traveling. That’s one of my big passions in life. I’ve spent a good chunk of my 20s traveling around, and I probably will for the rest of my life. It’s just a dream getting that experience, that adventure, to go travel somewhere I’ve never been before, to see the world, and to make a game out of it. I wanted to do that. By far, that was the thing that was most alluring to me about going on the show.
GS: Something that got me as an audience member was realizing that you weren’t actually ever in Destination X until the very end with the reveal. Did that throw you off in the game?
JE: Yeah, absolutely. I was very thrilled, but I thought I would see more and that I would have more to take in, but you play these short games, and you get back on the bus. You have to extrapolate a lot from those games, and a lot of the clues are very scattered, and some are meant to be red herrings.
I’m a textbook overthinker, so I’m in there, and my mind’s a hamster wheel going 'Well, what if this thing was not actually real. What if this is supposed to be the clue that I’m paying attention to?’ It’s a lot to be going over in your mind when you’re an overthinker.
GS: I bet! Did you have any notebooks or anything to help you formulate your thoughts?
JE: I had nothing. It’s literally all in your head, and I guess you can verbalize it to other players, but then you might have given something away that you figured out. So a lot is internalized.
GS: As well as not wanting to backstab, what was the strategy you had going in?
JE: I was really hoping I would find someone playing like me that wanted to play very honestly and straightforward. I didn’t really see that anywhere. I saw a lot of people who were not afraid to step on someone.
It was hard because I thought for sure there’d be someone else like me, and so not having someone immediately jump out to me as someone I could immediately align myself with felt like I was thrown in the middle of a thrashing ocean with sharks everywhere.
GS: You mentioned in the confessionals that you were glad that Shayne and Ally took you in. Do you regret saying that now?
JE: I think they definitely could have taken me in, and I do think that Shayne, at the very least, was being fully honest with me about what he knew in that moment. So, I’m definitely still really grateful that they came and talked to me, even if Ally ended up deceiving me. I really needed that in that moment. I was feeling very alone in the game, and very exposed and vulnerable, so even if it wasn’t necessarily what she knew, just the assurance that people came to me at all was very affirming. I was grateful for it.
GS: Let’s talk those VR goggles. How were they?
JE: Oh God, I hated them! They are like a brick on your face. They hurt so bad. I did not like them at all.
GS: How do you get moved from place to place, because we just see a snapshot of you putting the goggles on and then you’re dressed and ready for the next challenge?
JE: So, for the challenge on the mountain, we changed before we left. We put our clothes on and then the goggles. You put the headphones on, and there’s a whole team of people that escort you and walk you in a line with your hand on someone else’s shoulder. You’re shuffling along, and you can’t really do anything but accept that they’re taking you somewhere.
They’re like, ‘There’s a step in front of you. Watch out. Okay, put your foot there.’ It’s very disorientating getting up there, and it took hours, because you’re on top of a mountain range. You’re wearing the goggles the whole time, and they hurt! I was so glad to take them off every time.
GS: You got to do the challenge in the well and the one on the mountain, so two very different circumstances and elements being thrown at you. Which was your favorite?
JE: My favorite was the mountain by far, and not just because of the view. It was very physical. We’d been sitting a lot, so being able to run and really push myself to the limit was great.
But doing the challenges, I would always get so nervous beforehand, because the stakes are really high. You get a huge advantage if you win, and that was sort of like my only way to play the game was to get that advantage. That was when the game really came to life for me, so I was nervous, but also very excited every time.
GS: At this point in the game, who would you say has the best chance of winning?
JE: I still think Mack. She’s just so intelligent. She’s so smart, and I feel like she’s really got a level head on her shoulders. From day one, I thought she would win the whole thing, and as soon as we were on that bus and I heard her talking, just the way she is able to work through things mentally, she’s a genius.
GS: And yet, she got it wrong in the Map Room.
JE: We were three miles apart! I almost beat her. I can’t believe that! That was one of the reasons I was so shocked.
GS: What’s it like in that Map Room with the time limit to make your choice?
JE: The whole game is a pressure cooker, and then you go into the Map Room and it all condenses to that one moment. I went in there and my ribs were hugging me. I was so afraid, but because I’m a textbook overthinker, I knew if I spent too long scrolling, looking, zooming, I’d end up thousands of miles away from where I originally thought. So I was in and out in 15 seconds. I didn’t want to think too much about it.
GS: Would you do another reality show, and if so, which one?
JE: I would definitely do another reality show. I think I’m better prepared for it now I know kind of what I’m getting into. Honestly, I don’t know which one I would want to do. I feel like I could maybe do something like Survivor. I think there are more options in that game for a social game, with some people who play like me. I would love to do The Amazing Race. I think that’s the one I would most want to do.
Destination X airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.