Axed Destination X contestant exposes truth behind 'feud' between players

Claire Tidy, a contestant on Destination X, has spoken out about the alleged "feud" among the participants.

The 51-year-old retired detective sergeant becamethe latest victim of Rob Brydon's BBC gameshow after failing to correctly identify their location.

Destination X, a thrilling blend of The Traitors and Race Across The World, sees13 strangers vying for a £100,000 prizeas Europe is transformed into a gigantic board game.

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With no clue of their location, the contestants travel by bus, deciphering clues and red herrings to guess their whereabouts, with the furthest off being eliminated.

Despite a shocking twist in the first episode that saw her return to the game, Claire's journey on Destination X ended in the episode that aired tonight (Thursday 21 August) reports the Manchester Evening News.

Reflecting on her time on the show, Claire enthused: "I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was absolutely fantastic. I can't think of a bad thing about it, I had the best four weeks of my life."

She also highlighted meeting the other contestants as a key part of the experience, despite apparent frostiness between some of the remaining players.

As the game unfolded, alliances and divisions emerged, with Saskia and Josh on one side, Nick and Daren on another, and Claire teaming up with Judith. This led to rising tensions on the bus as accusations of gameplay resulted in arguments and tears when contestants lied and manipulated each other.

Host Rob had previously confessed: "The great thing is watching how the relationships alter and shift and how trust is sometimes misplaced between contestants."

However, Claire has now spilled the beans that there was actually no animosity between them.

She clarified: "We come across on the show that we don't like each other, and it's all gameplay and stuff, but we did sit and chill out for a bit and talk and laugh and have a lot of fun.

"There was no bad blood at all, no bad blood between anybody. What you see on the television is obviously gameplay but between takes we all got on pretty well."

She went on to say: "The only thing that doesn't come across and it is a bit sad that it doesn't come across, is the fact that we all do have a laugh. We do laugh and giggle and mess around with each other a lot.

"Obviously, the show is about the game, which is absolutely what it's supposed to be about, but it's edited a lot where it looks like we're not having fun and getting along.

"We all laughed together all the time between takes, so it's just a shame that doesn't come across a little bit more, that we all actually have a laugh and that we're great friends."

Alongside two other contestants, Ashvin and Chloe-Anne, Claire was booted from the game in the first episode after losing the initial challenge, before being brought back in a Traitors-style twist.

Missing the initial part of the competition threw her strategy "out the window", Claire confessed, finding it "difficult" to reintegrate into the game when alliances had already been established.

"When I went back on the bus, they had already formed their massive alliance with each other and clearly didn't want us around, they didn't talk to us very much, it was really difficult going on.

"I had to work out who I could trust, who had been devious, who had been working against me when actually all of them were apart from Judith which I later found out."

Upon returning home from the show, Claire admitted she "missed everybody dreadfully" and was "gutted" to have been eliminated.

The retired detective sergeant from West Sussex decided to participate in the show (having previously wanted to apply for Race Across The World) following a life-altering near-fatal car accident that required four ambulances and five fire engines to rescue her.

She wanted to demonstrate her bravery and courage by participating in the gameshow and its challenges despite suffering from mental health issues, having previously stated: "I have got PTSD and the reason I'm doing this show is to say to the world that even though you might have mental health issues, you can still do it."

Reflecting on how the horrifying accident altered her perspective on life, Claire stated: "Life is for living, and I just thought, 'yes I've got this illness and I have been through awful things in my life' but life is for living, let's get out there and show the world Claire Tidy and that's exactly what I think I did."

Destination X continues next Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One and is available to watch on iPlayer