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In the event you suppose Alan Cumming, host of the U.S. model of The Traitors, provides off “man who killed somebody” vibes, he’ll snigger — you’re selecting up what he’s placing down. It’s why, in episode 8 of season 2, when he despatched the contestants off on their mission, he gleefully turned to the digicam and mentioned, “They usually have been by no means seen once more.”
“I mentioned that many occasions, on each job,” Cumming admits. “I needed that to be my new catchphrase, however they solely used it a pair occasions.”
That is precisely why the crew behind Peacock’s hit actuality sport present needed Cummings within the first place, even when he didn’t perceive it at first. He met with producers, initially, out of confusion and curiosity.
“I couldn’t perceive why they’d need me to do it. Then I spotted they needed a type of character. And I mentioned, ‘Do you imply you need it to be type of like a James Bond villain?’”
The reply was an enthusiastic sure. And all of the sudden Cumming might see the entire persona: “He’s the type of Scottish Laird, and he’s type of Machiavellian, [and] brings all these individuals right here,” Cumming says. The look could be a type of “dandy” Scottish tartan. Cumming’s canine might even include, so the actor might menacingly pet her whereas staring down contestants.
“I actually love this character. And it’s humorous, life simply flings this stuff at you that you simply by no means would have seen coming. I by no means thought I might be internet hosting an enormous, profitable competitors actuality present in Scotland and a citadel with a bunch of actuality stars. I imply — you couldn’t make it up. However I clearly exit going via life open to sure issues. I’ve all the time been fairly eclectic. And this stuff come to me and truly, this one I actually, actually get pleasure from.”
And it’s a job he takes actually significantly. As he will get prepared within the morning he listens in on the gamers’ breakfast dialogue, watching on an enormous display so he can “actually really feel part of it” as he will get able to make his large entrance. “It’s good for me to grasp, once I stroll into the room, the temper of the room and the environment,” Cumming says.
Cumming is commonly across the citadel, however not with the contestants — after his breakfast entrance he normally has somewhat break when he can look over scripts for the subsequent day, then he and the gamers go to movie the mission. After that, the contestants hang around and Cumming has one other break (he says he’s normally consuming or strolling Lala the canine), however stays briefed on what’s occurring. “When the roundtable comes it actually does really feel like this large theatrical second as a result of all of them go in they usually play this scary music in actual life,” Cumming says. “It’s like these little performative spurts. And in between I’m attempting to regulate what’s occurring and attempting to get an understanding of how the wind is blowing.”
Even nonetheless, he’s simply as on the sting of his seat as the remainder of us. He likes to take care of a distance between himself and the forged (he feels his character ought to all the time have “fairly a stern, daddy demeanor” that leaves the contestants scared), and Cumming has been stunned by how issues went as soon as he acquired into the room. “That’s what’s nice in regards to the video games — there was an individual I believed was doing very well, a trustworthy, and was going to assist tear the entire thing aside. And other people turned on them. It was like hyenas going for a child elephant, it actually was. I used to be gobsmacked.”
Whereas he wouldn’t say who that was about, he would say a number of the contestants he’s most stunned by: Bergie (when he turned the MVP of the graveyard problem), Phaedra (he appreciates her showmanship and the way in which it supplies her cowl), and Parvati (he hadn’t watched Survivor, and he or she appeared like a “candy little factor with a hairband”).
However even with a better view, he’s simply as desperate to let all of it play out as the remainder of us. Effectively, type of — a minimum of the remainder of us don’t stay in concern about bumping the flawed shoulder when choosing traitors on the roundtable.
The Traitors season 2 (the U.S. model) airs new episodes on Peacock each Thursday at 6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST.
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