In just a few short years, The Traitors has become one of the best reality shows on the air. The Emmy-winning sensation recently wrapped its fourth season for those with a Peacock subscription, hosted by the delightfully unhinged Alan Cumming. And the actor/host spoke about the "curse" of guarding its secrets, and one time that he nearly broke character in the castle.
Aside from Alan Cumming's wild Traitors accent, he's tasked with keeping the show's secrets until each new episode airs. While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Goldeneye actor spoke about the responsibility of knowing how each season ends months before it airs. As he put it:
It's a curse. Obviously I know because I was there. And we shot it last June and ever since I feel- and everyone says to me 'no spoilers!' like that.
Honestly, this does sound like a bit of a nightmare. Not only does he have to guard the show's spoilers while it airs, he has to keep The Traitors secrets while the episode is being edited together. And unfortunately for Cumming, he's not exactly great at keeping secrets.
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The Traitors Season 4 cast list broke the internet, and that was only the first secret that Cumming had to keep for the most recent installment of the beloved competition series. And guarding spoilers was a bit of a learning curve, as he went on to share:
There's a lovely comedian called Pat Regan who was on the bill for this Showtime show. And he said to me 'I heard you just did this new reality show with lots of reality stars.' And I went 'Yes I just finished it.' And he went 'I love reality shows and I hear Cirie from Survivor was on it.' And I went 'Oh, she wins.' His face fell and I was like 'Oh, sorry.'
Talk about spilling the beans. Cirie Fields was on some of the best Survivor seasons, and is currently on TV as part of Season 50. Her inclusion in The Traitors Season 1 was a big reason why I personally watched it, and if I knew she won before it even aired it would have been a serious bummer. Unfortunately that's exactly what happened for comedian/writer Pat Regan.
Lots of Survivor icons have competed in the campy competition series over the years, with the one and only Boston Rob being part of Season 3. Alan Cumming revealed that watching him make it so far actually caused him to briefly break character in the midst of filming. As he put it:
There was one time when Boston Rob whose this guy, he's a total legend. And he clearly was a Traitor. Like, duh. There was so much evidence against him, and he managed somehow with his straight guy mesmerizing ways to stop them voting for him. And there was one time when they voted Wes. So the people were voting and I thought 'Surely, they're going to vote for Rob this time.' And I saw somebody wrote Wes down and I have a little thing in my ear and all of a sudden I hear 'Alan, your face, your face.'
Honestly, this is relatable. Just like when he's on Survivor, it was maddening to watch as Boston Rob managed to evade elimination time and time again on The Traitors. And Cumming was all of us in the way he reacted to The Challenge's Wes going home before him. He continued:
I rolled me eyes, I couldn't believe it.
Same though. Luckily Alan Cumming had someone in his ear reminding him to put his poker face back on. Although now I'm curious about what other direction he's been given throughout the years.
The Traitors is streaming in its entirety over on Peacock, which is also the home of the international seasons. We'll just have to patiently wait for news about what's going to to down in Season 5.
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