Destination X’s JaNa Craig Says She Lost with Purpose
The former Love Island contestant says she left Destination X on a high note: "I got my money's worth!"
This interview contains spoilers to Season 1, Episode 7 of Destination X.
It was a full circle moment on this week’s Destination X when game disrupter JaNa Craig had her own game disrupted by host Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s vague clues about Venice, Italy. The Map Room was not her friend and she was gon-dala girl with just three episodes left until the finale.
The Season 6 Love Island alumni joined the game with Peter Weber (The Bachelor, Peacock’s The Traitors) at the end of Episode 3. As the surprise competitors in the game, the two were treated as outsiders by the majority of the original players, but JaNa told NBC Insider that outcast label never got under her skin.
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"No, it didn't bother me at all,” JaNa shared in our exit interview. "Obviously, yeah, there was a target on my back. But I love a good competition. I love a cute, little intimidation."
JaNa was certainly a breath of fresh air in the game with her candid and funny confessionals, as well as her ability to adjust to the weird eccentricities of the game. We spoke to her about her alliance with Peter and Rick Szabo, the Map Room that embarrassed her, and what surprised her most about the Destination X experience.
JaNa Craig and Peter Weber: a dynamic duo as soon as they entered the bus
While fans of reality dating competition shows immediately knew who JaNa and Peter were when they entered the bus, JaNa admits she was not aware of her new co-star.
"I had no idea that he was Peter from The Bachelor, and I felt really bad,” she said. "But I was really grateful that it was me and him, because we became a really good, solid team — a dynamic duo — because we both were the outcast contestants. Nobody wanted to work with us, which I understood. It allowed us to build an alliance that got us really, really far."
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Once they read the room inside their travel bus, JaNa said they stuck together and quickly assessed the triangle formation of their alliance should be Rick. “Adding Rick was the best decision we could do because a lot of people underestimated him,” she said of the bias the rest of the cast had against him.
"That man is so smart. He studies birds,” she said of his birding expertise. "Just by looking at the birds that were near us throughout the challenges, he knew where we were, which is very, very impressive. But nobody wanted to work with him because from the beginning, it seemed as if he was not trustworthy. But [we] really had nothing to lose. I'm like, ‘We could either team up with him and he could screw us over, or we could team up with him and this could be really, really good. We took that risk, and it was a really, really beneficial risk to take."
JaNa on Moosham Castle: "I don't do ghosts"
While every locale and challenge had its up and downs, JaNa said that their stop at Medieval Moosham Castle near Salzburg tested her resolve the most, especially when she plunked in the dungeon full of spiders and unspecified noises.
"The only ghost I believe in is the Holy Ghost,” she deadpanned. “But as I'm sitting there, the windows just fly open. But it wasn't windy. And I said, 'Absolutely not. We’re not doing this. A ghost just walked in, or a ghost is mad that we're in his house, we should leave.’"
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However, none of her fellow competitors agreed. “Nobody,” she said. "And I begged. I was like, 'I gotta go sleep on the bus or something.’ So, I couldn't sleep that whole night. It was really creepy. But I'm very proud of myself because I don't do haunted. I don't do ghost. I don't do scary movies. I don't like thrillers or suspense. So for me to make it through that night, I was like, 'Oh, I'm unstoppable.' I learned so much about myself that night…but never again."
The alliance’s ultimate goal: “We wanted to get Rick to the end"
When Team Battleship (Peter, JaNa, and Rick), lost against Biggy, Shayne and Ally, they knew their alliance was going to crumble inside the Map Room; one of them was going home.
JaNa said she genuinely was uncertain about where they were, just like the rest of the players, but she was already content with an outcome where Rick was likely going to be one of their three remaining on the bus.
“Me and Peter promised ourselves that, after learning about Rick's story and the situation with his family, that we would do whatever it takes to get him to the finish line,” she said of their mindset heading into the final three episodes. "Obviously, $250,000 is a lot to win, but I think Rick was way, way more deserving of that than myself. So once we lost that [soldier] game, I already told myself, ‘Whatever it takes to get Rick to the finish line.’"
She did admit that she was sorry to leave Peter behind because they forged such an immediate bond. “But I think Peter and Rick were a better dynamic duo than me and Rick. Me and Peter were the best, obviously, but we wanted to get Rick to the end."
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While she was only on the bus for four legs of Destination X, she admitted how surprised she was at the friendships that were formed in such a short period of time. “You're on this bus for so many hours, you experience so much with these other people that you really kind of form a friendship,” she said. "I really viewed Peter as a big brother and I viewed Rick as that uncle that just deserved better in life. I was more honored that it was me [leaving] than being sad. I was like, 'It's fine. I can go visit Europe tomorrow.’"
In fact, the biggest sting was not figuring out they were in Venice, Italy from all the clues provided. She said that everyone on the bus assumed they were on a boat because of the bobbing feeling, but they didn’t put together that they were on a ferry outside Europe's city on the water.
“When I get out, I see that I'm in Italy and I'm livid because I'm like, 'Well, this is embarrassing. Now, America thinks I don't know my basics,’” she said of her geography skills and knowledge of Venice. "But I was also so honored because it was my first time in Venice and it was so beautiful. I got to stay there for three days. I don't know why they gave me three days, but I was super grateful. I roamed around with my chaperone. I got my money's worth!"
New episodes of Destination X premiere on Tuesday nights and are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
