Alan Cumming on his role as presenter in ‘The Traitors’

For Alan Cumming, host The traitors is the reward in itself; his Emmy nomination for reality or reality/competition host is merely a bonus — one almost as coveted as immunity from elimination.

“I absolutely love doing it,” Cumming says of the hit Peacock series (which also earned a nomination for best reality competition show) that has become the streamer’s most-watched unscripted title. “I love that it’s connected to everyone in this way. Everyone is really obsessed with it.”

The traitorsan American version of the Dutch series The Traitors (which takes inspiration from party games like Mafia), sees a group of characters holed up in a grand Scottish castle, tasked with discovering which of the houseguests are in fact traitors planning to murder their fellow contestants (so-called “believers”) in order to win a six-figure cash prize. In each episode – after a grueling physical challenge to add money to the prize pool – the contestants gather at a round table to vote out a potential traitor. And if an innocent believer is banished, the traitors strike that night, “murdering” another believer until the playing field shrinks to a small group of contestants vying for the prize money.

Any darkness amid the betrayal and murder is undercut by an inherent joy and silliness — all heightened by Cummings’ performance as the host, flamboyantly dressed in a variety of dazzling fashions. Cumming admits that the performance wasn’t a given at first. The actor treats the character — Alan Cumming — like any other role, and the performance begins the moment he puts on his fabulous wardrobe. “When you’re in a movie, you get dressed in the morning, you put on your costume, makeup, hair,” Cumming says. “That’s really important to me, to understand who the character is.”

The show is also about performance: the only way to win the game is to deceive the others in the mansion, friendships and strategic alliances can go to hell. “We all lie, but we forget to see when people are lying or need to lie (to us),” Cumming explains of the show’s plot, especially for viewers who may not follow competition series like Survivor or The challenge“It’s a sociological thing. We’re a secret camera that can see people doing things that we normally never (can) see.”

The show’s competitors are also important pieces of the entertainment puzzle, which is why The traitors cleverly draws inspiration from other reality TV shows — and from culture in general. Where else would you find a Dancing with the stars executor and a RuPaul’s Drag Race alumnus taking on Michael Jordan’s son, or a team of Real Housewives taking on a former member of the British Parliament?

“That’s when the game works best, when people are in it and understand their role,” says Cumming, who prepares for an upcoming season by understanding the personal brands of the contestants. You might assume that the alumni of Survivor, Big brother And The challenge for example, would a former Bachelor or Real Housewives cast member, but Cumming notes that the latter characters are often better at deception. “The theory that gamers do better on this show … I think a lot of people underestimate (the Housewives).” (Real Housewives of Atlanta And Married to Medicine star Phaedra Parks deserves to be a favorite in a hypothetical Emmy race for best reality competition contestant for her scene-chewing work in The traitors.)

Cumming is also a producer and excels in presenting, and recalls his iconic role as master of ceremonies in Cabaretwhich won him a Tony Award, it seems like a perfect performance. That he earned his fifth Emmy nomination for The Traitors feels particularly sweet considering his four previous nominations: three for his role as Eli Gold in The good woman and one for co-hosting the Tony Awards with friend Kristin Chenoweth in 2016. “I act my socks off in The traitorsjust like i did on The good woman“And it’s a very juicy thing, like I would do in the theater or at the Tonys,” Cumming says.

The host is excited about a shocking third season, where he’s mostly silent — but he teases one player with a particularly sly roundtable performance. “I can’t wait (until you see) who it was, what it was — they lied so profusely and dramatically. They gave me a run for my money!” he says, recalling his producer telling him through an earpiece that even he lost his poker face. That technical detail — getting lines and instructions into his ear — is the biggest skill I’ve learned. “I like having a little earpiece in,” Cumming says, laughing. “I feel like Jennifer Aniston in The morning showbut with better clothes.”

This story first appeared in the August 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.