how i got cast on destination x

destination x is a travel competition on nbc and peacock, hosted by jeffrey dean morgan. you ride a blacked-out bus across europe with no idea where you are. the show feeds you clues, some real, some decoys. at the end of each leg you walk into the map room and drop an x. farthest from the real location goes home.

i was on season 2. i’m not going to spoil anything here, but i’ll tell you how it happened and what it did for me.

the casting

i didn’t apply to be a reality tv guy. i’m a surf creator with a brand. the videos were out there, the hurricane story was out there, and the casting side found me the way brands find me: through the content.

what i’d tell anyone who wants to be cast on anything: make the thing you’d make anyway, make a lot of it, and make it honest. casting people are looking for someone who is already someone. you can’t fake that on a zoom call.

playing it

the show is a geography game on paper and a people game in reality. you’re sitting next to reality vets and strategists who’ve done this before. my whole plan was to be the easy-going surf guy, let the big personalities collide, and quietly pay attention to every clue.

the bus teaches you something about travel. with the windows blacked out, you start noticing everything: the sound of the road, the smell when the door opens, the language on a passing sign. i’ve traveled a lot since, and i still catch myself playing the game.

what it changed

it put me in front of a different audience than tiktok. it gave me a line in the bio that brands notice. and it proved something to me about betting on yourself: if you say yes to the scary thing, you usually end up with a story.

that’s most of what the mentorship is about, honestly. say yes, then go do the work.

if you want to talk about the show, i’d rather do it on a call than in the comments. book one through the speaking page if you’ve got a room that wants to hear it.