Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!
The Traitors' Alan Cumming Reveals What it Was Like to Be in the Middle of All That Finale Betrayal
Host Alan Cumming gives his honest appraisals of the final three in the The Traitors second season finale.
Spoilers below for the Season 2 finale of The Traitors!
Let's all have a slow clap of appreciation for The Traitors Season 2 finale, which blindsided not only Mercedes "MJ" Javid but the entire audience with the shocking voting twists levied between long-time reality show buddies, Chris "CT" Tamburello and Trishelle Cannatella. The pair have a 20-year "it's complicated" history with one another as OG cast members of former MTV reality shows, and all that history and vulnerability showed up to party during the Fire of Truth.
RELATED: The Traitors Executive Producers & Alan Cumming Spill the Scottish Tea About Making Season 2
You know you've hit reality competition TV gold when even the producers are unprepared for what they capture on camera. As executive producer Sam Rees-Jones put it to NBC Insider, "We probably reacted in the same way that you watched it. And that's the joy of making this TV show. You're literally jaw open when Trischelle votes for him. So, as program makers, it's a thrill because you don't know what's going to happen. It's terrifying, but it's exhilarating."
Alan Cumming explains what it felt like to observe the emotional stand-off between CT and Trishelle
How deliciously awkward was it for MJ and Alan Cumming to essentially melt out of the frame as CT and Trischelle confronted one another about their Fire of Truth votes? Alan Cumming told NBC Insider that was a singular moment for him as the host and for the show in terms of finale melodrama. Having observed these people for weeks, Cumming admitted that his character in the show tries to remain "agnostic" at the moment, but not so much for the real Alan.
"Inside Alan, he's wigging out," Cumming admitted. "Sometimes they have to cut away from me, especially the last two [sequences] outside. One, where I have to fling [the powder]. Mercy! 'Give me your pouch. I will now come and collect your pouch.' So ridiculous," he said, laughing.
And then when his neck was ping-ponging between the tension-filled CT and Trishelle reveals? "Both times, they said they had to cut away from me because they couldn't use any footage of me at certain points because my poker face isn't as strong as I thought it was," he shared. "Obviously, I'm not a robot. I have favorites and people I like that I try not to show. But it's good because I'm playing a character. It's easier to do that."
As for what was said between CT and Trishelle, Cumming said he knew there were hurt feelings going back to the night CT didn't give Trishelle a shield, but he had no idea things ran so deep between them.
"I mean, that's what's great about the game and great about having people with these histories together," he said of the genuine feelings in the finale. "It feels like you're in a family drama, or kind of like a weird love affair but a platonic, beautiful thing."
Alan assesses MJ's blindside reaction
And then there's MJ, who made it all the way to the end but was wrong about everyone except when she saw through Dan way back in the beginning. She was clearly devastated by Kate's Traitor reveal and then essentially having no leverage to break up CT and Trishelle's win in the end. But Cumming doesn't have a lot of sympathy in the end.
"Like, hello, klieg lights? She couldn't see it coming and didn't," he joked about everything MJ missed going on around her. "I was kind of amazed. It's so interesting sometimes when people get caught up in the wake of different things. It was kind of amazing to me that she made it that far.
RELATED: Banished Traitor Reveals the Hardest Part of the Game: "The Most Stressful Experience of Your Life"
"Even last year with Quentin [Jiles], who was so authoritative. But so wrong and dopey. He didn't do a single thing right. Yet, he got to the final," Cumming said. "It was kind of a similar way with MJ. I really felt for her. But then I also thought, 'Oh, come on! It's called The Traitors!' It's a game called The Traitors. But that's what's great. Everyone forgets that."
Alan on what Kate Chastain brought to The Traitors this season
Last but not least, Cumming addressed the other biggest twist of Season 2: the return of Kate Chastain as a player. Asked if he thought that helped or hindered the chemistry of the season, Cumming offered, "It's about disruptions and the disruption of expectation in the game. Actually, in its very essence because it's about, 'Oh, no, they're not here anymore. We're moving on.' So to do the opposite by bringing someone in was such a clever thing."
RELATED: What The Traitors Star Peter Weber Thinks Went Right and Wrong with Season 2
Cumming also appreciated that Chastain already had a history with The Traitors and was a fan favorite.
"I thought last year she had a really fascinating arc," he shared. "She obviously wanted to go. She was just so pissed off and was behaving so badly, wanting to be murdered, wanting to be banished. And then she kind of came round and actually had a really lovely time.
"And so I liked that they brought her back in because she represents the whole sort of possibility of the game," he continued. "And the fact she went so far, I think it's great. I know that she said terrible things but I think she's hilarious because she is very witty. Also, very badly behaved sometimes. So it's actually this combination of great wit and great, just terrible behavior."
Watch all of The Traitors Seasons 1 and 2 on Peacock.
