Interview: Alan Cumming on ‘The Traitors,’ his Reality Literacy, Favorite Show Outfits and Games He Loves to Play

During a panel at the NBCUniversal Winter Press Tour in mid-February, Alan Cumming, host of the massively popular reality series The Traitors, revealed that he’s not so good at keeping secrets. In fact, he once volunteered to his hairdresser the then-upcoming death of a major character on The Good Wife. That personality certainly doesn’t match the mysterious, hilariously intimidating nature of the version of Cumming that audiences see on The Traitors, someone he describes as a character he’s playing.

We had the chance to sit down with Cumming shortly after that panel for a one-on-one conversation about his own interest in games and how he approaches his role as host. The very Scottish actor shared what he enjoys most about the show and described his own scrappiness and how he might fare if he were to become a contestant, something he wouldn’t necessarily want to do but could probably succeed well at if given the opportunity.

Abe Friedtanzer: Did you grow up playing games like Mafia or One Night Ultimate Werewolf? 

Alan Cumming: No, not at all. I mean, I’ve enjoyed Hammer House of Horror films and mysteries set in castles. But I missed the whole gaming computer-y thing, totally missed that. I mostly grew up in a country estate in the middle of nowhere so that’s one part that’s familiar to me in terms of the show, but not the gaminess. 

AF: Did you enjoy that now, or it’s still not something that you really do? 

AC: You know, once, years ago, I played Mafia with my friend Angus here in LA and I just adored it. I loved it and then so when they asked me to do this, I was like, what? It’s like that game I played! It’s not something I do often though. I love more of a board game. I’m hoping this gets made into a board game.

AF: What are some of your favorite board games?

AC: I enjoy Taboo. Love! I enjoy wordy, clever games. You can’t go wrong with a Monopoly or a Scrabble either. 

AF: Coming into this show, what reality shows did you really enjoy watching and how did that prepare you for this role as host? 

AC: Well, I would be very ill-prepared, because I don’t watch them. I think maybe on a plane sometimes I’ve watched the Kardashians or a Housewives show. I’ve never seen Big Brother. I’ve maybe seen a bit of Survivor. It’s just not my thing. Until a couple of years ago, I’d never really heard of some of these programs. The Challenge that C.T. and Johnny Bananas did, I had never heard of it. It’s just something that’s passed me by. So now I’ve had a crash course in it. 

AF: What surprised you most about the format and being on a reality show in general? 

AC: Well, in a funny way, I just look at it as a play. I come at it like an actor. When I sing a song, I think, I’m in this song like I’m in a play, and I’m a character in a song. With this show, I feel like that too. It’s the only way I can think of, even when I go on talk shows, I think I’m playing someone on a talk show now. Right now, I’m playing someone in a press day. You know what I mean? You have to find a way for you that makes it work. But I actually think my lack of knowledge about those shows kind of stands me in quite good stead. It’s interesting, because obviously, before we start filming, I research them very deeply and get to know everyone, but I don’t have favorites. I’m a bit like that man, I’m a bit like the host of The Traitors. I’ve just invited all these people and I’m very poker-faced about what I think about them.

AF: You did say in the panel earlier that you’re not a great secret keeper and so that’s been a challenge for you. How has that manifested on this show?

AC: Just that, whenever I see friends, they say, I don’t want to know! No spoilers! People on the street, I’ll be walking my dog, and people say, don’t tell me anything! So the word is out.

AF: It’s the opposite of Game of Thrones, where everyone wanted to know what happened to Jon Snow, and now people are like, please don’t tell me!

AC: I think also the enjoyment of it is the intrigue as a viewer, so I’m very conscious of not telling people, and then I actually forgot for a while! I remember I was in a voiceover session, and I went, who won again? Then I remembered.

AF: The line delivery is just so perfect. Do you have any input over these crazy things that you say? 

AC: Oh yeah, I help write it. In the missions and things, there’s stuff that’s improvised as well. I have Sam Rees-Jones in my ear shouting suggestions, and I make up stuff, but I always work with the writers on things. I think we all understand the character now, and the fact that he quotes Shakespeare and Plato, and all sorts. They didn’t have those in the first one. I had to push to have them in in the first season. Now they come with them, so it’s actually great. Everything has been augmented and heightened and more and more and more. Even my clothes, I suppose, as well!

AF: Let’s talk about those clothes. What kind of input do you have, and do you have a favorite outfit or several favorite outfits?

AC: It’s one of these things where I went to the stylist and told him the idea that I wanted to have with this sort of dandy Scottish layout. And again, in the second season, what I love is the idea of linking the missions to what I’m wearing. The feathery one, and the funeral one, which is actually my favorite, the veil, the cloak, and all sorts of stuff like that. I can’t remember what’s coming up. There’s a few good ones. I just love the idea that that’s become a part of the show. It’s so rich. It’s got such different layers to it. And this is me, someone who’s not got a great knowledge of this genre, but to me, what I really like is that there’s the intrigue. There’s the fact you know who the baddies are. The fact that this person comes on, you think, what’s he going to be winning this time? And then what terrible things, are they going to get wet? Are they going to… whatever. How exhausted and flustered they’re going to be. And then just as well, the kind of human nature of it. The Lord of the Flies of it, turning on each other. It’s great to feel like there are all these different compartments. So, this year, I felt we upped the ante of it. And they’re already talking about these things for the next season they might do. I won’t tell you about them. 

AF: You’re not supposed to tell me, but you can! Just kidding. Do you have a favorite mission?

AC: I like the ones when they get wet. There’s an episode when they have to jump along these little island things, these little floating things that wobble, and they all fall in. Phaedra did one, fell and came back. I could see she wasn’t encouraging other people and not going. I said, come on Phaedra, give it a go. Be a team player! And she went, you just want to see me get wet again! And I went, yes, I do! I do want to see you get wet. But I also think you should be a team player. So, I just love seeing them get wet. It’s interesting seeing people who you’re used to seeing being completely comfortable in their surroundings being utterly uncomfortable. It’s good fun.

AF: How do you think you would fare as a contestant, and is that something you’d ever want to do? 

AC: No, I don’t want to. But I’d give it a go. I think I’m quite good at it. I’m quite good in those sorts of situations. I used to love orienteering, but you don’t have that. What’s that called in America, when you run around with a compass in the woods, and you’ve got to get clues and things? It’s like a treasure hunt, but it’s called something else. You get a little map. I love all that. I’m quite outdoorsy. I think that I’d be pretty good. But everybody does, I suppose. 

AF: How do you think season three is going to expand on season two and season one?

AC: Well, I think the very nature of the show, when you do show like this, the first season is like this new sociological experiment. Nobody’s ever seen it. So, it’s all surprises for the audience as well as the contestants. I think the key is to keep surprising people and pulling the rug from under them, the contestants as well as the viewers. That’s what they did with Kate coming back and various other things like that, only having two treasures initially, all that sort of stuff. I think the key is to just constantly think of ways to confound and confuse, which is kind of the very essence of the game, at the beginning of it.

AF: Before we wrap, when I saw Kristin Chenoweth a few weeks ago and asked her about Schmigadoon!, there was still hope then and now it seems like there isn’t. Is there a possibility that it’s going to find a life somewhere else, and would you be involved in season three?

AC: I’d love to. It was so sad when they cut us. They did a table reading. I wasn’t there, I was in Britain or India or something. It was funny, because just before the strike, it was all going to go, so it’s kind of sad that they backed away from that. Show biz, that’s what happens. But I would love to. Maybe we’re going to have another read of it. But yeah, I really did enjoy it and I thought we were just getting into our stride. 

The season two finale of The Traitors debuts Thursday, March 7 at 9pm on Peacock. The show was previously renewed for season three.

Photo by: Euan Cherry/Peacock