Why The Traitors Is Going In A Bold Direction With No Celebrity Contestants

"The Traitors" pits reality TV favorites and public figures against each other in a game of Mafia meets Clue. Can the Faithfuls successfully weed out the Traitors and save themselves, all while living together in a Scottish castle? Sometimes, but each season the Traitors get sneakier and more ruthless. 

The Peacock series has included popular contestants from shows like "Survivor," "Big Brother," and "The Real Housewives," along with iconic villains like Cirie Fields and siblings of famous actors like Dylan Efron. But series host Alan Cumming and several former players revealed on a panel at Televerse 2025 that a fully civilian season of "The Traitors," meaning one with no celebrity contestants, is officially in the works. It will appear on NBC, rather than the streaming service Peacock, marking a shift for the popular project.

Cumming says the cash prize, which can be as large as $250,000 depending on how much money is added to the pot over the season, will make more of an impact for the contestants. "The money will mean more to them," Cumming said at Televerse 2025 (via Yahoo!). "I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be a hoot."

Unlike other reality competition series, where a celebrity-filled season is the exception, not the rule, "The Traitors" was almost exclusively cast with celebrities from its inception. Part of the fun for audiences was that they had seen the competitors in other projects and knew their behavior on-screen, letting them predict how they would react to different scenarios because of that prior knowledge.

The civilian season, as it's being dubbed, is what viewers are accustomed to with similar shows: you get to know the contestants through their decisions. While audiences have come to know "The Traitors" for its celebrity lineup, often speculating which reality TV legends could appear next and if the more villainous individuals will be chosen as Traitors, the upcoming civilian season will change it up.

Though fans have come to associate "The Traitors" with only having celebrity contestants, the first season did have a combination of personalities and regular people. Alongside the likes of Cirie Fields from "Survivor," Olympian Ryan Lochte, and Brandi Glanville from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," was Azra the yoga instructor, Anjelica the hair stylist, and Quentin the political analyst.