Destination X’s Tai Lowry was one of the most strategic players in the game, but her elimination was apparently even more chaotic than it came off on screen. Throughout Destination X season 1, Tai was one of the most strategic-minded players on host Jeffery Dean Morgan’s luxurious bus. While she wasn’t always in the best positions in the game in terms of connections or alliances, Tai appeared to be covered on most sides as she moved through the challenges, proving she had a good understanding of how to navigate without any of her senses in the mix.
Though Tai had a good head when it came to the navigation side of the game, it was social connections where she seemed to struggle in moments. While she had a great connection with Ally Bross, things seemed off-kilter once Peter Weber of Traitors fame and JaNa Craig from Love Island USA came into the mix. After the last challenge, where Tai secured an advantage and got the chance to meet JaNa prior to the rest of the cast, things began to get a little shaky. While Tai did her best, she fell into the trap of believing bad intel.
Tai chatted with Screen Rant about her time on Destination X, sharing everything viewers didn’t get the chance to see when it came to her tough elimination.
Screen Rant: Tai, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. I am so sad to see you here! I was so bummed to see you in this episode between Rachel [Rossette] last week and you this week. It’s depressing.
Tai Lowry: Just cancel the show. Just throw the show away [laughs].
Tai Got The Chance To Meet JaNa Craig Early
She Was Part Of An Advantage
Screen Rant: It’s over. So, starting with your advantage in last week’s episode, you got to meet JaNa. It seemed like you knew who she was. What were you thinking when you saw her?
Tai: I was thinking this is a great opportunity for me, because my alliance was starting to feel shaky. Ally was getting too close with Shayne [Cureton]. And when I saw JaNa, I immediately liked her and I wanted to work with her. One thing that wasn’t shown in the episode is JaNa and I actually had a conversation on the bridge about keeping it secret that we met each other. I had this like big plan, you know, I just had all these ideas, but I wanted to use her to my advantage. I thought she was really nice. She seemed very just like confident and assertive and sharp. So I was like, I like this girl. She was also, you know, another Black woman on the show, on the bus. And I was like, hey, sis, you know, maybe we can work together! So I liked JaNa immediately, but I just wanted to keep her to myself.
Screen Rant: Oh, that makes so much sense. I was going to ask you why keep it a secret, but that makes a lot more sense that you guys spoke about it. In terms of this leg, you had that connection with Ally, but how’d you feel about your other relationships on the bus?
Tai: So my other relationships on the bus, this actually wasn’t shown either. I was trying to start a relationship with Rick [Sbazo] and it didn’t even come from a game or strategy perspective. It just came to me connecting with him as a human. Rick was very, very isolated on the bus and it just didn’t sit right with me. I’m an empath. So when I’m in, especially like a small closed like quarters with someone, I was feeling it. I actually like cried one night in my bed, just because I felt so bad for Rick. So I would like, you know, eat breakfast with them. They don’t show us eating, but I would hang out with him. We would have conversations. And I kept thinking, you know what, I hope this will, this might pay off and help me later. So I was thinking maybe Rick didn’t have much of a working relationship with Kim [Conner] and I always wanted Mack [Fitzgerald] out. So I was like, that was, that was never going to happen. So really it was just like, I was trying to make it work within my alliance. But the more that Ally and Shayne started having a relationship, that’s when I was like, okay, maybe Rick, JaNa, you know, Rachel was really going to be my new one, you know, it was really going to be Rachel. So I was heartbroken when she left.
Screen Rant: That Allie and Shane connection is getting too close for comfort.
Tai: And I warned her about that! Like at first when they were flirting and I was getting nervous about it, I’m like, well, you don’t really like him. Do you? I was like, just use him for information. And then she’s, you know, one day she’s like, well, we have a lot in common. And I’m like, girl, we can’t have this. She was not focused anymore on the game. And that I was like, this is going to be a mess. And it was, it was! She turned on me for Shayne.
Screen Rant: It was so hard to see. So obviously Biggy – that information that came from Biggy [Bailey] early in the episode. You giving it to Peter didn’t really work out perfectly. Talk to me about why you were looking to build that relationship with Peter. Obviously you’re always looking for new connections, but what about him was worth pulling into you?
Tai: Oh, it was JaNa. I knew that they were a pair. I knew that they were a pair. Cause at first when I met her, I was like, well, I love this chick. I want to work with her. And then we got a buzz and then they all came in and I’m like, okay, okay. They’re, they’re, they’re a package deal essentially. So I did start, you know, talking with Peter a little bit. And then the more I started talking to him, maybe cause we had like an aviation, you know, kind of background in common. I was like, he’s just kind of cool. And I did enjoy him on Traitors. He frustrated me a little bit, but you know, I’ve seen him on Traitors, I love Traitors. So I was like, you know, he’s all right. He was okay with me. And I tried to build a relationship with him, but that whole bus thing, you know, the reveal was so messy. It was like, nobody wanted to touch me with a 10 foot pole after that. I was very isolated after that.
Screen Rant: We saw you kind of struggling with whether you believed the information that was being given to you or not. Did you have any big sense that you shouldn’t trust Biggy or did you think he was just getting false information?
Tai: Okay. Yes. When they told me that clue with the three-place mess, number one, I almost threw that challenge. I kind of didn’t want to win because I had a feeling that they weren’t going to tell me the truth. I’m like, I don’t work with Rick. I’m nice to him, but we don’t talk game and Biggy was in my Alliance, but that like, that morning, that day he avoided me. And I tried to whisper to him and be like, Hey, I need to sit next to you on the bus. Like, you know, we need to talk and he wouldn’t sit by me. So I’m like, I almost threw that out. I kind of didn’t want to win.
When they gave me those three, you know, like they told me it was the three colors. I knew it was fake. I knew how specific the advantages were when you win clues, because I was in Alliance with Ally week number one. She told me the entire Roman numerals. She told me the Swiss helicopter. I’m like, I know how this game goes. So that night I actually went to Ally and I was like, girl, look, I think Biggy doesn’t trust me. He’s trying to set me up. I think he gave me this clue. I think it’s fake.
You’re in bed with Shayne, get the info and let me know, you know, if Biggy setting me up or not. And she just left me hanging. I know, but you want to know the craziest part? I mean, me and Shayne, we both lie. And after this wasn’t shown either, I came clean to the bus.
Screen Rant: We need like an unseen bits of the bus. I’ve heard so much.
Tai: We need a reunion. Cause I have some questions too. [laughs] We need a reunion. We need to all sit down again.
Screen Rant: We’re starting the petition right now.
Tai: Please, please. No, seriously, like change.org [laughs] Like we need a reunion. NBC needs to get it together. I’m the type of person, I love to call to action and organize anyway. I already had that idea, but yeah, I’m down, girl. If we’re going to do this happening.
Screen Rant: It’s happening. Who do you blame most from the cast of your elimination? Obviously you have to put your X there yourself, but if you had to pick one person, who would you blame the most for it?
Tai: Ally. I would pick Ally because like I said, right after like that whole, Biggy clue, she was obviously kind of lying. I sat next to her and I was like, girl, actually it was when Shayne and Peter, when that came out, nobody looked at me and she was like, tell me it’s not true. She was like, tell me it’s not true. Tell me it’s not true. And I was like, I said, it is true. I said, we weren’t allowed to tell you.
We also were told that we couldn’t tell the cast about Peter and JaNa. Yeah. So I was like, I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t want to tell them anyways, you know, for my personal reasons, I wouldn’t tell them anyways. But I was like, look, don’t be mad at him, you know, blah, blah, blah. And then I asked for her help when I knew that I was being set up by Biggy, and she still left me hanging there. After that, she told me that everyone was like really, really paranoid and not feeling good about me. And she was like, you need to keep your distance from JaNa so that I wouldn’t talk with them, with the newbies and get information. She told me to stay away from them.
Tai Is The Second Eliminated Player To Believe Rick’s Playing The Best Game
He’s Moving Sneakily Through Destination X
Screen Rant: My last question for you, who do you think is currently playing the best game?
Tai: At this point I would say Rick, I would say Rick.
Destination X airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on NBC.