After decades of starring in scripted series, Alan Cumming is embracing his new chapter as host of Peacock’s “The Traitors” amid his Emmy nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.
“It’s surreal,” Cumming told TheWrap on Wednesday morning just hours after nominations were announced. “Today has made me realize what a bizarre turn my life has taken. I feel, when I do ‘The Traitors,’ I’m acting up a storm like I always do, but, of course, I’m in a different kind of structure.”
While Cumming admits the Peacock competition series had a “slow build” with its inaugural season, which included both civilians and public figures, its celebrity-filled second season captured the cultural zeitgeist as it debuted this spring, prompting “The Traitors” to break into the 2024 Emmy noms as a contender for Outstanding Reality Competition Program.
“It became a watercooler moment — they didn’t drop them all at once, so we had that great thing of the whole country all being together, finding out who was going to be the winner, week by week,” he explained. “I think that really helped … it’s such a well-structured show and really brilliantly produced.”
With a new buzzy list of cast members for its next installment, “The Traitors” hopes to hang onto its title as must-watch reality television for Season 3, which Cumming revealed just recently wrapped production.
Cumming also joins the ranks of longstanding hosts like face of “Drag Race” RuPaul Charles — whom the actor calls a legend — “Survivor” host Jeff Probst — whom Cumming applauds as the “daddy of hosting” — alongside new “Top Chef” host Kristen Kish and the slew of “Shark Tank” stars. “It’s kind of awful that you kind of get pitted against people you really think are great,” he noted.
Below, Cumming dishes on all things Season 3, including Tom Sandoval’s lost bags, changes from last season and shifting dynamics in the Scottish castle.
TheWrap: Has Season 3 finished production?
Alan Cumming: Yes, a few weeks ago. We finished about the 20th of June, or something.
Is there anything that will be different about this season? Will it still be in the same castle?
It’s still in the castle. I still look insane. It’s about 20 people, a lot of them have been on reality competition shows, a lot of crazy, random celebrities. I think the difference this year is that there’s a lot more twists. When you’re doing a show like this, and it’s relatively new, you want to kind of keep people guessing, because you don’t want them to sort of think, “Oh, I worked out how to do this show.” There’s a lot of twists, and some really insane things happen and a lot of celebrities get wet.
What can you tease about this season?
It got really intense in the middle of it. There’s a lot of big personalities, and a lot of alpha males and a lot of alpha females as well. It was quite an intense experience, but there was also more of a tender side of “The Traitors” we haven’t seen yet, of loyalty and friendship and all that stuff as well. It’s actually really moving in parts.
What can we expect from Tom Sandoval’s journey on the show?
Someone did a meme whilst we were shooting, which I didn’t really understand, but now I get it. It was a picture of me on the phone, and it said Alan Cumming calling the police “when Tom Sandoval comes to the castle wearing another Zara women’s suit.” I showed this to the stylist on set, and she said, “My God, tomorrow he is wearing another Zara women’s suit.” What was funny was his luggage was lost the first few days, so [production] had to dress him, so he’s got some great looks in the first few days. Definitely the first look he’s got is very good. He actually embraced tartan, embraced a kilt. I was very, very pleased and proud.
Last season, we saw the reality competition show veterans come together while the Bravo alums created more of a group. Did you see a similar divide this season, or were dynamics different?
A little bit not as much as last year. From someone who doesn’t watch those shows and doesn’t have a knowledge of them, it’s actually more clear to me that it’s a very leveling thing — “The Traitors.” If you’ve been on “Big Brother,” or the gaming ones like “Survivor,” it doesn’t really matter, because … those qualities don’t work on this one so much. Yes, you can scheme and you can do these things, and yes, there’s sort of tasks and missions to do, but actually there’s a very different set of circumstances you’ve got to do. This series especially proves my point. I’ll just leave it at that.
How long do you see yourself doing this? How long do you hope the show goes on?
I’m pretty happy doing this. Once a year I have a month of such fun … and lovely people. I’m game to go for a while. I’m about to turn 60, and it’s sort of one of these things, like, who’d have thunked that when I reach 60, I’m going to be doing this. That’s what’s great about life and getting older and saying “yes” to new things and unexpected things. Everyone seems to be loving it, and I’m loving it. So you know, let’s just do a few more.
The first two seasons of “The Traitors” are available to stream on Peacock.
