Destination X's Josh Martinez Explained Why The Show Was Torture That He Absolutely Loved [Exclusive]

On May 27th, 2025, the new reality show that is hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Destination X, will premiere on NBC. Easily one of the most anticipated new shows of 2025, Destination X has a fascinating concept that could make it become one of the best reality shows. If the show's host and concept weren't enough, Destination X also cast several reality show veterans, including JaNa Craig from Love Island and Peter Weber from The Traitors and The Bachelor.

Of Destination X's reality show veterans, the former Big Brother winner and The Challenge competitor Josh Martinez has the most relevant experience. With that in mind, it is fascinating to know that Josh exclusively told TheThings that filming Destination X was like torture for him. However, Josh also explained why he still loved filming Destination X.

Josh Martinez Explained What Part Of Filming Destination X Was "Complete Torture"

In May 2025, TheThings journalist Matthew Thomas exclusively interviewed Josh Martinez about his experience filming Destination X. During that conversation, Josh was asked if traveling for hours on a bus with blacked-out windows and not knowing how long they would be driving for felt like torture. Without skipping a beat, Josh stated that being driven around on Destination X's bus felt like torture for him.

It was complete torture.

After agreeing that traveling on the bus was very hard, Josh had something fascinating to say about Destination X's host, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. As soon as he confirmed how hard traveling on the bus was, Josh stated that he believed Jeffrey enjoyed watching Destination X's competitors being tortured. "I think Jeffrey loved that." To be clear, however, Josh also told TheThings that Jeffrey was a truly great guy.

After revealing how hard it was for him, Josh exclusively told TheThings why traveling on the bus felt like torture.

"I think everybody expected me, because I was a veteran, to just be in there and be chill. What I realized about my stuff is that I don't do well with confined spaces, and I like my own personal space. I'm very friendly and social, but things comes to a point where you need to recharge. And there was no space, I mean, you couldn't run anywhere. You were trapped on a bus sitting next to people who, at this point, were complete strangers.."

As a former Big Brother winner. Josh had already experienced being in a confined space with people. Despite that, Josh told TheThings how much it freaked him out when he realized he was going to have to spend days traveling on the bus with people who were strangers at the time.

"So it was it was pretty tough. And once that set in that this was gonna be my reality for the next few weeks, that terrified the s*** out of me. Sorry for my language. I was like, 'Oh, s***. This is this is gonna be hard, dude. And it was, it was pretty intense, man. It was pretty intense, but, I mean, I guess you're just gonna have to see how that all plays out. But, yeah, instantly, like, five hours in, I crash hard."

From there, Josh was asked by TheThings if the Destination X competitors were told anything each time they got on the bus. In response, Josh confirmed that they had no idea how long they would be driving since they weren't given any information each time they got on the bus. 'Nothing at all." Then, Josh explained that it was the lack of information that really felt like torture for him.

"That's where it starts to set in, where your mind goes crazy. And that's something that I've learned with these games to control. Your mind will play so many tricks on you. Listen. NBC and the producers of this show and Jeffrey and the whole production staff were geniuses of how this show was designed because you truly had no idea. When I say that you were in the unknown and in the dark, you truly were. You had no idea. We did that challenge. We stepped on the bus, and we were on the road from there on out. And we had no idea where we were turning or where we were going."

In a truly fascinating moment, he also exclusively told TheThings that having all of his control taken away during Destination X changed Josh.

"You would kinda follow the sun. So you would see the sunset on one side and then set on the other, and then we knew we were going up and down mountains, but you had no idea. And it was nine, twelve hours of that. Then we would stop, sleep, go back on the road for another nine, twelve hours. So it was brutal. And that whole time, your mind's just playing tricks on you. Like, 'Where the hell could we be?' Dude, that was tough. That was really tough. I think that this experience definitely, definitely, humbled me. It did. I like having control and not being able to have it is something that I'm not good at."

Josh Martinez Still Loved Filming Destination X

After Josh Martinez explained how arduous filming Destination X was to TheThings, it may seem like he didn't enjoy filming the show. However, while talking about Destination X, Josh's love for the show practically radiated off him. In fact, Josh showed his arm on camera during the interview while explaining that even talking about Destination X gave him chills.

"I've been getting chills, but it's because I really do feel like this show is gonna be so good. And it's completely different from anything you've ever watched, but it has a little bit of everything."

If that quote wasn't enough to prove that Josh still loved filming Destination X despite everything, something else he said made that completely clear.

After talking about how great Destination X is, Josh exclusively told TheThings that he wants to return to the show in the future.

To be real with you, I wanna do it again.

Fans will get the first chance to see Josh compete on Destination X when the show premieres on May 27th, 2025.