Alan Cumming “Feels Like A James Bond Villain” Hosting Hit US Reality TV Show

Scottish actor Alan Cumming says hosting the US version of The Traitors makes him feel like a “James Bond villain.”

Cumming, who previously appeared in 1995 Bond film GoldenEye, told the BBC that the show’s producers asked him to “camp it up” and portray a flamboyant character within the show. Cumming said his strong Scottish accent is “me playing Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek playing Alan Cumming.”

He said he feels like a James Bond villain when he watches on hidden screens the interaction between ‘the Faithfuls’ and ‘the Traitors’ on the hit reality TV show, and that he even volunteered to bring his own dog to set so he could be filmed stroking her menacingly, channelling 007’s famous adversary Ernst Blofeld with his cat. Cumming’s dog Lala will appear in the second season of the hit show.

Cummings, who has enjoyed a long film career in dozens of films including Spy Kids and X-Men 2 as well as his starring role in the TV drama The Good Wife, has long been based in New York.

Cummings told the BBC the US show differs from the UK version – both filmed at Ardross Castle in Easter Ross in Scotland – because the US version includes contestants who are all celebrities, or reality TV stars, unlike the British version which recruits members of the public to take part. The host said of the US variation, “It heightens the drama, they understand how to do drama.”

The UK version of the show has become one of the BBC’s biggest hits of the past two years. The US version airs on Peacock.