Gavin & Stacey star Rob Brydon says he admires The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman’s “lightness of touch” on the hit BBC show as he prepares to front a new programme for the Beeb

(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/TwoFour)

Rob Brydon jumped at the chance to host new BBC1 adventure reality show Destination X – because he thinks it will be a big hit like The Traitors. And the comedy star admitted he has even tried to emulate Claudia Winkleman’s “lightness of touch” when it comes to his role as host.

In the show, 13 players set off to travel around Europe on a blacked out bus and are given clues and challenges to help work out where they are – along with red herrings. Each time the bus stops, they must guess their location, and the person furthest away is eliminated. The last one standing wins a cash prize of £100,000.

Rob, 60 said he greatly admired the way Claudia conducts herself on The Traitors. “I think she judges it just right. She doesn’t force herself to the front, she is there as a conduit, as a bridge for the viewer and you feel like you’re with a really good friend who is allowing you into this world.

Rob Brydon is hoping he has a hit on his hands with Destination X(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/TwoFour)

“I wanted to avoid going, ‘Hey, here I am, I’m going to do my thing now’. I wanted to be a nice pleasant way to bring people into the show with a nice comment here and there. You sometimes need to remind yourself not to dominate, but they are very strong characters. The relationships developed as they went along and you don’t want to get in the way of that.”

Dad-of-five Rob watched TheTraitors with wife Claire and their two teenage sons Tom, 17, and 14-year-old George, but said he didn’t think he’d be a fan. “I heard about The Traitors and thought, ‘Oh, that’s not for me’. And then we were away on holiday and we gave it a try and we devoured it. I loved it. It was one of the big reasons I wanted to do Destination X because I could see similarities.”

Filming on the big-budget, 10-part series for BBC1 took place across the whole of Europe for 32 days and involved an army of nearly 200 people who were responsible for driving the main bus, a toilet bus and a sleeping bus to the various destinations, plus keeping the contestants in the dark.

BBC bosses are hoping that viewers at home with join in with trying to work out where the players are in Destination X(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/TwoFour)

Rob, best known for playing Uncle Bryn in comedy Gavin & Stacey and for hosting panel-show Would I Lie to You, said he equally enjoys his different roles as actor and presenter. “I genuinely love the variety of my career, I enjoy having the opportunity to do different things. Some people who act wouldn’t be comfortable presenting – you’d be surprised how many actors wouldn’t like it if you told them they were going to do something without a script.

“But I consider myself hugely fortunate to be given opportunities. Ultimately, having a live audience is my favourite. And sometimes with Destination X I’d say a funny line and they’d laugh and that’s an audience. But you don’t want to dominate and do too much.”

Claudia hosts the hit series The Traitors(Image: BBC / Studio Lambert / Cody Burridge)

He says another reason for signing up was because he thought his teenage sons might just watch it. “What I love about this show is that it’s for the family. I love shows that you can sit and watch together, it is a thing to persuade your teenage sons to spend time in your company, which is no mean feat.

“I hope this becomes appointment viewing for a family. If you’re anything like me as a parent, you’re desperate for the stuff that can get the kids to spend time with you.”

The format originated in Belgium and now the gameshow has enjoyed three hit series there, and has also been a a big success in Denmark and the Netherlands. As with The Traitors, the British version was filmed at the same time as a US version, for NBC.

Rob said the two shows felt quite different. “A lot of the contestants on the American one are familiar reality faces and they are a lot more sure of themselves. They are performers in their own way and I’m told they were playing the game from the off, to win. That’s a very different vibe. With ours they start saying, ‘We’re a team’ – which can’t last. Ours is quintessentially British.”

But Rob said if he had to work out where in Europe he was based on clues and his directional skills he wouldn’t know where to start. “I’d struggle,” he admitted. “I don’t think I’d have a clue working out where we were.”

And his biggest challenge was deciding how to hold himself after years of sitting behind a desk on Would I Lie to You. “That first scene, walking into the airport, I’m thinking, ‘Right, OK, how am I going to be?’ he chuckled. “Because I’ve got a horrible walk – I walk like an ape. Not with my knuckles on the ground but I walk side to side. So I’m thinking, ‘Try not to walk like an idiot’.”