Big Brother winner Josh Martinez says he ‘lost it’ while confined on Destination X bus

He’s baaaaaack! Everyone’s favorite reality TV meatball is ready for another serving of reality TV glory. Josh Martinez first burst onto the scene back in 2017 on Big Brother 19. His go-to move was banging pots and pans while walking through the house singing circus music and calling everyone else in the house a meatball. It sounds crazy, but Josh rode that act all the way to victory, winning the season along with the $500,000 that went with it.

But Josh was just getting started. He has since appeared on seven different seasons of The Challenge along with the holiday-themed Big Brother Reindeer Games. And now he has a new destination for his reality TV talents: Destination X.

Josh is one of the cast members for NBC’s newest realty competition series, which premieres May 27 and is hosted by none other than Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Josh is one of three reality TV veterans (along with Love Island USA‘s JaNa Craig and Peter Weber of The Bachelor of Traitors fame) who are competing alongside a cast of otherwise all-new players.

But imagine Josh’s surprise when he saw no other reality all-stars once able to look outside of his specially modified Destination X goggles. (Not unlike Dr. Will Kirby on Deal or No Deal Island, or Derrick Levasseur and Wes Bergmann on The Traitors, JaNa and Peter will make a later entrance into the game.)

We caught up with the Big Brother champion to find out about his latest (bus) journey, in which players are dropped off in a mystery country and need to figure out where they are. And it seems the colorful character struggled with more than just the gameplay and other contestants.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, how did you want to handle the question of whether to tell the rest of the cast about your reality TV past on Big Brother and The Challenge?

JOSH MARTINEZ: Going into it, especially in the beginning, I was expecting for there to be more TV vets, and I was very shocked when I took off my goggles and I was like, “I don’t recognize anyone!” So I was like, “Damn, I guess it’s me right off the start.”

I didn’t want to go into a game where there’s already so much unknown with a huge lie of my past and my experience. So I thought even if they did or didn’t recognize me, I thought just being honest was best. I wasn’t going to say that I’ve done multiple shows, but I was like, “I have experience in this.”

But I just thought with my friendly demeanor and my goofy ways, it would be chill. I think some people instantly gravitated towards me and kind of liked my energy and my vibe, and some people saw me as a threat, but I think for me personally, it was the best approach to just be honest because it’s such a big part of my life that I don’t know how I can hide that.

A few of them — I think Kim and Ally — said, “Oh, you look very familiar,” and all this stuff, but I don’t think they had actually watched. So I was really happy about that. It kind of gave me a clean slate and I was like, “All right, cool. Nobody came in with premeditated opinion on me.”

Give me your take on living, sleeping, and showering situation on the bus.

Once I saw the bus pull up and Jeffrey said that’s where we were going to be living, I was instantly excited. And then once we hit the road for about six to eight hours, it had set in that this was going to be my reality for the next few weeks or months, and I went absolutely crazy.

I realized on this show that I don’t do well with tight spaces, and being confined or controlled, and that was really hard, dude, if I’m being honest with you. That was really hard for me. That was a really big struggle and just not being able to run. If Rick ignored me or if somebody was annoying me, or if somebody had bad odor, you couldn’t go anywhere.

So very quickly you had to get comfortable with these people. Which I’ve done before, but never while stuck on a bus. So the living conditions on the bus was extremely hard for me.

The sleeping seems especially brutal in that tiny space.

Oh, dude, I struggled. I struggled so bad. I didn’t fit in my pod. Even right now, I’m getting claustrophobic thinking about, I’m like, “Holy s‑‑‑, that was really tough, dude.” NBC did a great job at trying to make us feel comfortable, but the reality is, this is what we signed up for.

It’s part of the game, but a few hours in, I start going crazy. I start screaming at production, “I need some air!” I lost it. And that’s what made the game way harder for me. If I’m being completely real with you, I think just the living conditions on the bus made the experience a little bit tougher for me.

Did you know who Jeffrey Dean Morgan was when he showed up as the host?

 Of course, dude! Obviously from The Walking Dead, but what’s wild is that before I went on the show, my brothers and my cousins had been watching The Boys, and they’re like, “You need to watch this show The Boys!” I watched a few episodes and I was like, “Holy s‑‑‑!” I freaked out. I’m pretty sure all of us did.

And the guy’s just an absolute stud. Such a great guy, so nice, so down to earth. Obviously he’s the mastermind of the game and he’s tormenting us and giving us hell, but outside of that [he’s a] really, really good dude. But also has a villain energy. I would see him and I would be terrified and like, “So what the f‑‑‑ is he going to throw at us now?”