Peacock‘s The Traitors is up for four Emmy Awards for its second season, and host Alan Cumming opened up about what he loves about the reality competition.
“I really just love this show. I love being at the castle. I love everybody there. It’s such a fun thing to do,” Cumming said on the virtual panel for Deadline’s Contenders TV: The Nominees. “What was great the second time around is we’re back all in the swing of it a bit more. And everyone was a bit more confident because we’d done one already, and the show had been a success. And now we really kind of hit our stride.”
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Cumming — who is nominated as Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program, his fifth career Emmy nom — said “it felt really good to come back,” adding: “It’s great when you do something new, but you always worry you’re not going to get a chance to make it better and to improve upon it. And that was what was so great about doing this second season. It really felt we had a chance to sort of tinker with things. I think the show improved because of that. And it’s always nice to be in Scotland.”
For the second season of the competition, which was renewed for Season 3 in February, producers opted to go with a full cast of celebrities and reality stars. Executive producer Toni Ireland said the “biggest benefit of having a whole celebrity cast is it’s a completely level playing field.”
One of the standouts for the season was The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks. Many of the contestants known for being in competitions underestimated her due to the type of show she is famous for.
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“I think all Housewives are social gamers, right? They know how to play the social game,” executive producer Mike Cotton said. “I think the Housewives do have the skills. … They can be social manipulators, and they can play that side of the game. There’s many different ways in which you can play it.”
Ireland added: “That’s why Phaedra was so successful. Because to be a successful traitor, you have to have a social game. You can’t just be a strategist. People have to like you and trust you, and that’s why she was so brilliant.”
The Traitors also is nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program and Outstanding Reality-Competition Program.
Check out the panel video above.
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