The Traitors US host Alan Cumming championed Executive Producer Mike Cotton’s vision of replacing Real Housewives and public figures with civilians for The Traitors: New Blood.
Entertainment Weekly interviewed the Emmy-winning host regarding the twist fans are getting with civilians in the castle. Alan explained, “When they said they wanted to, I was delighted.”
The attraction to casting everyday Americans was simple because it creates a much different game. “Reality stars all come in knowing one another,” explained the show’s EP. “They all have preconceptions about one another. They’ve all done TV before. Whereas when you bring in everyday people, all the relationships are built there in the castle. They know nothing about one another before they come in. They can be whoever they want to be when they’re there playing that game. And I think to see that play out is really fascinating.”
Cotton continued, “It also can’t help but feel more authentic. Bravo stars who’ve appeared on The Traitors have often seemed to be playing for the cameras as much as playing the actual game.
Alan added, “They don’t come with their shtick already pre-prepared as the celebrities do. In celebrity seasons, you’ve seen people coming in with kind of an agenda.”
“The Housewives, for instance, sometimes think they’re going to bring the drama. It’s a mistake because the game is the drama,” continued Alan. “They don’t need to bring it. It’s already there. So it just looks kind of silly to be making more when there’s so much there already.”
Stripping all that away has put the focus back on the real intrigue afoot in the castle. “It’s a show about subterfuge,” acknowledged Alan. “So what we really hone in on, and what we desire, is authenticity and truth from the players.”
“They’re obviously more naive, in terms of the workings of a television film set. So they feel things more vividly.” Alan elaborated, “There was a really scary midnight torch procession going down to a graveyard. It got really intense. They were really scared and upset. And one person had me worried. I was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And he just walked over and vomited over the side of this little platform we were on. I was like, ‘Oh, God, what next?’”
The intensity was felt in other ways as well.
Beyond the amplified emotions and projectile vomit, there’s a more significant difference between the celebrity and civilian editions of the show: The stakes are now higher than ever.
“It got more heart-wrenching the more it went on,” Cumming says of filming. “Because you found out more about people and their reasons for doing the show, their hopes, and what they wanted to do with the money. And, of course, for most of them — that’s not gonna happen, darling. It’s heartbreaking.”
