The Traitors season 3 is off to an explosive start with the first three episodes of the new season being released on January 9 on Peacock. Fans have already been able to see two murders, two banishments, and three surprise players come join them at the castle, proving that this season will be full of twists and turns and all kinds of surprises.
Similarly to the UK version of the show, the US version of The Traitors is filmed at Ardross Castle, a beautiful, sprawling castle in Scotland that gets used for weddings, events, and yes, the filming of a reality TV series.
The Traitors contestants don't actually stay in the castle full-time while filming
A behind the scenes fact about The Traitors that might surprise fans is that even though Ardross Castle has been fully decorated and decked out for the show with all kinds of little surprises and easter eggs, the cast doesn't actually stay there full-time while they're filming.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, host of The Traitors Alan Cumming revealed that the cast actually leaves after filming in order to stay in a hotel instead of sleeping in the castle overnight after filming is done.
"Spoiler alert: None of us stayed in the castle. None of us. They all stayed in the airport hotel in the Inverness airport," Alan Cumming told The Daily Beast. But, he went on to say that even though the cast had accommodations elsewhere while they were in Scotland, he did have a dressing room in the hotel that contained a bed and he would sneak naps in it when he could.
He told the publication, "But I had a room in the castle where I would get made up and dressed. It had a huge bed in it. So I did actually sleep quite often, but not overnight."
But, at their hotel, the cast members are split up into completely separate rooms and they're not allowed to talk to each other about the game at all until they get back to the castle to film. Even Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan, who were on season 2 of The Traitors together, weren't allowed to room together, despite being a couple.
They make sure the Traitors will never accidentally be caught during their meeting
Kate Chastain, who competed on the first two seasons of The Traitors, said that security on the series is tight -- and that's likely no surprise to fans. Considering a big part of the series involves the Traitors sneaking out in order to meet together and plan which of the Faithfuls to kill off, there has to be some serious security making sure they're not spotted.
She told Vanity Fair about her experience on the show and said the security was one of the hardest parts of being on the show because it meant every little thing that the contestants do is controlled by the production team and their rigid security.
She said, "They ran a very tight ship. There were security guards making sure you never left your room. And we had long days, from breakfast to challenge to banishment. By the time you got to your bed, you just wanted to go to sleep and sleep for eight hours because I knew it would be the big day the next day."
Mike Cotton, one of the producers of The Traitors, said that the logistics of renting out the entire castle for the contestants to sleep in would've also complicated things when it came to making sure the Faithfuls never spotted the Traitors sneaking off together for their meeting.
"We have to be really careful that the Faithful don’t know who the Traitors are. It’s a massive military operation each night to get the Faithful to bed in individual rooms and get the Traitors back out to have their meeting," he told Variety.
The Traitors streams exclusively on Peacock with new episodes dropping every Thursday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET.