Tom Cruise is at the top of Celebrity Traitors bosses’ wish lists for the next series.
Tom Cruise is wanted for Celebrity Traitors
Stephen Lambert, of producers Studio Lambert, acknowledged that the show doesn’t need the lure of a “huge star” to attract other big names to be on board but admitted he’d love to see the Top Gun: Maverick actor sign up for a stint at Scotland’s Cardross Castle.
Stephen told Radio Times magazine: “Casting was simple. We didn’t need to tempt people onto the show with the promise of being alongside a huge star.
“The fact that so many famous people did it last year meant they all wanted to do it this year.”
Asked who he’d like to see on a third series, he added: “Tom Cruise, maybe. And we would like to have a big sports star. But if they are an active one, they have commitments.”
Stephen believes the key to the appeal of the celebrity version of the show is for viewers to see how “uncomfortable” the contestants become with not being in control.
He said: “Celebrities find it uncomfortable because they have so little control.
“It’s such an immersive game that people get caught up in it, and show how they really are. It’s very revealing of character, and celebrities care, a lot, how they come across.”
But the producer thinks the “stakes are higher” when it comes to the “civilian” Traitors.
He said: “Audiences already know most, if not all of the celebrities, which is different from having to get to know a cast of civilians.
“With civilians, we don’t know the relationships, so you can do things like bring on a mother and son unbeknownst to everyone else.
“Also, the prize money means much more. The stakes are much higher. It’s also exciting to find people who haven’t been on television before.”
Ultimately, audiences most enjoy the “dramatic irony” featured in the programme.
Stephen explained: “It’s the engine of The Traitors. It’s about the pleasure that we know more than the protagonists – we know who is lying. And it’s fun to try and watch people work out who the liars are.”
Meanwhile, the producer shed some light on the upcoming stage production The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal, which opens in London’s West End next year and admitted it is a “wholly mad idea”.
He said: “It’s all about how scripts can do what the unscripted cannot.
“We will have five different plays, with different versions of who is a Traitor and who a Faithful. Nick Mohammed is hosting. Each week, five entirely different plays will run, and then every Saturday, the audience chooses who is going to be a Traitor.
“It’s a wholly mad idea, and nobody has done it before. But London is a huge centre for theatre. And this show is profound and entertaining.”
