The second season of “The Traitors” is in the homestretch which meant bringing the producers and talent behind the hit Peacock franchise to the Television Critics Association Winter Tour to take a victory lap. Before the session began, Peacock noted that “The Traitors,” along with “Ted,” would be the first time two of the streamers originals made the top 10 originals on Neilsen’s streaming charts. The reality competition show has become a genuine phenomenon, dominating social media with memes and speculation as fans watch what is essentially an all-stars of reality personalities. Sheperding this chaos is none other than the keeper of this fictional castle, Alan Cumming.
READ MORE: Kate Chastain says the CBS Gamers underestimated the Bravo celebs on “The Traitors” Season 2 [Interview]
The Tony, Emmy and BAFTA Award winner is clearly having even more fun in season two as the “character” host he plays tries to keep the contestants in line and reveals more unexpected twists and turns in the gameplay. One twist during this season that fans though was producer intervention was in episode seven, where the cast oods and used fire torches (very “Survivor”-esque) to save some of their competitors from being “murdered” by the Traitors that night. “The Bachelor” star and “faithful” Peter Weber had been at the center of trying to eliminate a suspected traitor, “Survivor” winner Parvati Shallow, and was given protection (or “saved”) by fellow faithful John Bercow (yes, the former House of Commons speaker, but more on that later). Many fans thought this was producer shenengans trying to keep Peter in the game, but Cumming laughs at such conspiracy theories.
During our interview following the TCA panel he describes “The Traitors” production as bigger than any blockbuster film he’s ever made. He notes, “it’s just a huge, lumbering operation.” According to Cumming, that protection circle moment was always planned and Peter was just one of the benefactors.
Over the rest of our interview, Cumming discusses how surprised he was to see Bercow and why he thinks he participated, how potential contestants keep DM’ing him on Instagram trying to get on the show, how the “Real Housewives” and Bravo celebrities have outwitted many of the gamers from “Big Brother,” “Survivor” and “The Challenge,” so far, and much more.
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The producers come to you, tell you season two is happening, dates, everything. What surprised you the most about what they had planned for the new season?
Well, I mean, that the great thing about a new show like this is it’s sort of a sociological experiment. Nobody knows where it’s going, nobody knows what it’s going to be like. Of course, at the end of the first season, it goes out into the world. That’s never going to happen again. Everyone’s much more cognizant of the process and what to do. So, I think I came to season two expecting them to do these clever things to sort of pull the rug from under the contestants all the time. So, Kate coming back, only choosing two traitors, and… you know, things like that. There’s constantly… there’s a few more that will happen, too, and that thing last week with the [fire elimination].
Mm-hmm. By the way, people think that that was done just to save Peter.
Oh, really?
Yeah. Have you heard about that? Or was it always planned?
Always. Look, when people say like, “Oh, did they bring Kate back in just because they didn’t have enough…” I can’t remember if there was a reason, or one of the traitors went…These things take months of preparation. And so, these things were all planned. And then, actually, you saw me saying at the beginning “there’s 21 of you for now.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, there’s little hints. But, actually, I mean, I think the thing that surprised me most is it’s such a huge operation. I mean, it’s massive. I’ve been in big blockbuster films, and this is bigger in terms of the organization, and the number of cameras, and the mic crew. In one of the stables, there’s a control room that’s like NASA. It looks like NASA, and they’re like doing a moon landing. Seriously. It’s insane. And there’s so many hidden cameras everywhere. So, it’s just a huge, lumbering operation. Obviously, the things that change are little, interpersonal things. And of course, people dying or being murdered, and the group turning on people. But in terms of the changes they made at the beginning of the season, I was kind of expecting them. So, I was just really excited to find out what they may be.
The first episode of season two begins. You introduce the cast, they walk into the house, and they are already strategizing. They’re already teaming up and making alliances. That was quite different than the first season. Did you expect that because there were so many gamers this season, or was that sort of surprising to you, too?
That was surprising. And also, just when I go there, I’m just sort of catching up and understanding who these people are. And so, some of the people who had been in other game-y shows, I didn’t know what those shows were. Like C.T. and Bananas being on “The Challenge.” I’ve never seen that before. So, it’s actually quite good. And actually, what I suggested in the [TCA] press conference is you think it matters, you think someone who’s been on a game like that is going to be really good, and blah, blah. Yes, in certain things. But actually, this is a different beast. And there’s no logic to it. Like Johnny Bananas is great at all those things, and strategizing, and whatever. So what? Get out, bitch. And like Pilot Pete, he’s like the cutie boy of “The Bachelor.” He’s not supposed to be the huge strategist. Things like that. Phaedra going around throwing wine in people’s faces. Not that she does just that, but you know what I mean? Every time I think of The Housewives, it’s like, “Oh, how dare you,” and wine being thrown. You don’t expect people from that world to be a traitor, and being the sort of puppet master of the whole thing. I think people have to forget the notion that people who are gamers and from those sorts of shows are going to be better. That’s what I love about it. It doesn’t work like that.
After Dan Gheesling got eliminated he did this long Twitch and Instagram Live where he talked about that specifically. And how it was a much harder game than he thought it was going to be. And he’d been stuck in a “Big Brother” house for like two months.
Yes.
Could you tell, walking around, that the game was getting into some of the contestants’ heads, that they could not maybe handle the strategy or handle what was going on? Or were you always just surprised with the sequence of events?
I mean, last year with Cody [Calafiore], I just thought, “This man’s going to have a nervous breakdown.” You see people who have been in situations like that and played things like that before, but he was really struggling with the fact that he had to be a Traitor. You’ve got to lie to people and things like that. He was dying to get out, I think, because he was so upset about having to be so… It just didn’t sit well with him. And this time, I mean, I think the thing with Dan, I first of all thought, “Oh, he is really clever.” And everyone was saying, “Oh, Danny, he’s this big legend.” He f**king blew it.
He did.
He blew it. And then everyone was saying to him, “You need to speak more, you need to say more.” And his strategy, I could see he really went for it, but it was wrong, and he didn’t listen. I think that’s the thing, you’ve got to listen, and you’ve got to adapt, and you’ve got to be sort of slithery.
Does it make you excited for next year? Contestants tried so much strategy this time around that next year, some of these strategists may come in with even different ideas?
Yeah, I mean I guess the thing about the show that’s exciting, but also a challenge, is that we will have to constantly evolve, and pull the rug from under people in terms of their expectations of what it’s going to be like. And there’s going to be, obviously, I would imagine, more things like a kid appearing, or people like that. And it’s such fun, because for the drama and the theater of it. It’s a very theatrical, camp show. And I sense that may have something to do with me. But I think for the theatricality of the surprise element, I think that’s going to be an ongoing thing. And I love that. I mean, I just love it when they do this sort of montage with close-ups of people with their mouths agape.
Clearly, you’re there, you’re part of the show, but it’s not the same as seeing the room, and the cameras, and everything. Watching back this particular season, is there anything you didn’t realize at the time, in terms of where we are so far?
I don’t see all of the stuff when they’re in reality. I have a thing I can see, mostly in the morning I check in on it before I walk into the dining room. So, I missed a lot of the alliances and things like that. And because it’s just there’s so much going on. And a lot of the stuff, we don’t find til later, because it’s just they can’t all be monitored here. And in every corner of the castle, there’s some little room, and someone annotating what’s going on, just in case there are any sort of jewels that they’re missing for later. So, that’s what I like, is those little moments, and little opinions that people have about each other, and just sort of seeing how it’s going, how the wind is turning. And just the human nature of it. And the fact that they’re also obsessed. They’re completely in a bubble. Not with their phones and all that stuff. All they can think about is who are the traitors, what’s going on, and that game. And that’s what makes it so great, is that they’re as obsessed as we are, watching it.
Do you find yourself rooting for any of them?”
I mean, yes. It’s kind of pointless to do it because you have no control over it. I mean, sometimes the people that are less pleasant to be around are also the people who are better on television.
True.
So, there’s that. And there’s people that I was fond of in a way [and] then they went. But I actually think that that’s also what makes the game exciting for an audience member, is because you think, “Oh my God, my favorite person’s gone.” And then, now you have to find a new one.
The producers told you who the cast was before you got there, obviously. I know you knew some of them, you didn’t know other ones. How shocked were you that John Bercow was there?
Oh, my God. I was like, “Wait, what?”
And why did he get the call?
Well, that’s the thing. I asked him in the opening episode. I was like, “Why are you here?” And I really meant it. Like, actually, what the f**k? I love the fact that there are randos like that. And I sense in a way that he did it… I think his wife has done some sort of equivalent thing in Britain. I mean, what do you do when your political career’s over? What have you got to play in the game? You’ve got your fame, and you’ve got sort of an eccentricity. Maybe he was trying to slightly rehabilitate his image, because of some things that happened. All those reasons. And he said to me that thing about, “I want to step out of my comfort zone.” I thought, “Oh yeah, the old comfort zone line.” And obviously, they’re not doing it for free. So, there’s that, as well. I don’t know him. But also, I kind of admire the fact that he would step out of his comfort zone so much to come into a show with a bunch of very well-known people, and they have no clue who he is, and he has no status in that room. But he was used to having great status. I do admire that, very much.
You mentioned during the press conference that people have DM’d you hoping to get on the show. Do you not respond, or do you say, “Email this person, I can’t help you?”
Well, I said to [the producers], “Who do I say to people?” Because everywhere I go, people ask and it just was too many. I don’t always look. I sort of feel on Instagram, you don’t have to respond to DM’s.
Yeah, of course.
So, it’s sort of one of these things that because I don’t always look at them, and then they go away, you know? But I’m like, “Who are you?” And I kind of scan them sometimes, like, “Oh, O.K.” But now they told me the person, so I know who to say for the casting. Do you want the address? [Laughs.]
Editor’s note: We did not get the E-mail address.
“The Traitors” season 2 is available on Peacock with new episodes launching every Thursday at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET.