Destination X whisks contestants away on the journey of a lifetime as they travel through Europe and put their geography knowledge to the test in hopes of winning it all and taking home $250,000 – but where would the players be without their host?

Who Is the Host of ‘Destination X’?

The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan temporarily put away his trusty bat wrapped in barbed wire and took on the role of reality competition show host for Destination X.

While he is famously recognized as playing the leather-clad big bad Negan Smith on the hit zombie show – as well as in the spinoff The Walking Dead: Dead City – fans may also remember him as John Winchester in Supernatural, Denny Duquette in Grey’s Anatomy, The Comedian in Watchmen, and more recently, as Joe Kessler in The Boys.

When he’s not acting, he also runs a working farm with his wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan, in Rhinebeck, New York, where they live with their two kids, Gus and George Morgan. Over the years, Jeffrey has taken to social media to share sweet snapshots of farm life with his fans, including photos of the animals they’ve had, such as dogs, ducks, donkeys, alpacas, cows and an emu.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Makes a Little ‘Mischief’ as Host of ‘Destination X’

“Now I’ve got the reputation for being a bit of a mischief maker. This time, I gotta say, I have outdone myself,” Jeffrey told the contestants in the premiere episode, which aired on May 27, 2025. “I have turned Europe into the ultimate game board … All you have to do to win is answer one question: where the hell am I?”

Throughout their time on the show, the players live on a blacked out bus and often wear goggles to keep them from seeing things when they are taken outside as they use all of their geography and pop culture knowledge to guess where in the world they are. As host, Jeffrey gets to decide when and what all of the contestants see at any given time – and he is also the keeper of the clues. But be warned … he also might throw a few red herrings in the mix!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Wife Helped Convince Him to Host ‘Destination X’

Jeffrey confessed that he thought NBC had the “wrong person” when they first offered him the job.

“I’m still not actually completely sure how the hell this happened,” he told People. “I am not like a typical host. I’m not Ryan Seacrest — who I love, and I think he’s excellent at his job — but that’s not me. I’m a bit on the crass side and I’ve got a very sarcastic sense of humor, and I didn’t picture it.”

However, he said it was his wife who helped convince him to give the gig a chance.

“She came from the world of hosting,” he added, referencing her job work on MTV’s Total Request Live in the early 2000s. “She said — in a very nice way, but much more diplomatic than I’m going to make it seem now — ‘You’re not getting any younger. You’ve got this thing about you that it would be fun for you to be able to share that with the world, and you may have an opportunity to do that [by] hosting a show like this.’”

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Was Encouraged to Be Himself on ‘Destination X’

Despite initially not being sure he was host material, the Grey’s Anatomy alum said he was encouraged by producers to be himself on the show — “a little bit edgy, but a guy that maybe people want to have a beer with and the gals think is kind of entertaining.”

“I spent a month and a half in Europe being a weird, fun host, and it was great,” he continued. “I had so much fun being the ringmaster of the circus.”