The hit reality competition series The Traitors is returning for its fifth season. As the show gears to debut on NBC in 2026, the big news is you can be a part of it - even if you are not a celebrity - and compete for the prize fund worth up to $25,000! Learn more below.
- The Traitor announces Season 5 with Alan Cumming returning as the host. The hit reality series will now air on NBC.
- Once again, the prize fund will be up to $25,000. The contestants will compete in the Scottish Highlands for the fifth time.
- The casting call is open now. The show has ditched its all-celebrity format in favor of featuring civilians.
About the Show
After debuting at the top of the year in 2023, The Traitors quickly became the top original reality series on the Peacock streaming service. The reality show is hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming, best known for his role as Eli Gold in the CBS legal drama The Good Wife, as well as Nightcrawler from X-Men, a role which he will reprise for the first time in 23 years in the highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe’s epic Avengers: Doomsday, that is set to release on the big screens in December 18, 2026.
The reality series is based on the Dutch television show De Verraders, which translates to The Traitors, and has aired for five seasons already. Besides the US version, De Verraders have spawned adaptations also in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Hungary, and more. The reality series is set to debut in even more markets in the future, including Ireland, India, Greece, and Mongolia.
About the Rules And Format
The inaugural season featured 20 participants, while the following one featured 21. The third season of The Traitors also started with 21, but - spoiler alert? - grew up to 23 in the second episode of the season. The fourth season of The Traitors featured 23 participants from the very get-go.
Despite being a United States-based reality show, all seasons of the series take place across the ocean, at the grounds of Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, Scotland. The participants of each season of The Traitors get to engage in a game that is reminiscent of socializing party games such as Mafia or Clue. The ultimate goal of every one of them is to win the cash prize, which can potentially be up to $250,000.
Each season of the reality series begins with the host Alan Cumming, unbeknownst to the other participants, selecting a small group, typically at least two of the participants, who ultimately become known as the Traitors. The decision about who will be Traitors is based on various personality tests of the participants, as well as their own wishes and Cummings' opinion on the matter. As a result of this, the remaining unaware participants become the Faithfuls.
The game continues with the Traitors plotting together to get rid of, or “murder” as the reality show puts it, one Faithful per night. The “murdered” participant then gets eliminated from the game, while the remaining Faithfuls discover it only the next morning, when one of them is missing at breakfast, and get increasingly paranoid about each other, all while trying to expose the Traitors. If a participant who is a Traitor is identified as such, the Faithfuls then take a vote to eliminate them from the game. This also allows chances for major plot twists - as a side effect of the exposure, the remaining Traitors gain the opportunity to recruit one of the Faithfuls to join their ranks. As the previous seasons have shown, the recruitment process does not always go smoothly for the remaining Traitors.
Ultimately, throughout the game, the participants must strategize and remain alert about each other, as each day “survived” builds their prize fund. There are also “shields” from being the victims of the Traitors, which protect the respective Faithful from getting eliminated, or “murdered”. In the meantime, from the Traitor and Faithful dynamic, all participants must also complete physical and mental missions and challenges during the day, which also adds to their final prize fund.
Finally, the game concludes once there are only four participants remaining. Then they vote to either conclude the game or banish one of them. The conclusion of the game requires a unanimous vote, while the banishment of one of them continues the game and repeats this decision-making process again until there is a final decision reached. If all the final participants are Faithfuls, they will have to equally share the final cash prize. But if at least one of them is a Traitor, this particular participant has the opportunity to “steal” the prize for themselves.
About the Casting Call
The announcement of the fifth season of The Traitors not only revealed the show's network move from Peacock to NBC, but also came with a very exciting update. Reacting to fan pleas to take a cue from its British counterpart, the show will move away from its star-studded celebrity cast format of the previous seasons, and the new season will feature only civilian participants.
Most importantly, you can apply to the casting call right now! On August 14, 2025, NBC announced they are beginning the lookout for the next Faithfuls and Traitors. All it takes to become a potential candidate is to be at least 21 years old and have a valid passport. The deadline for the applications in the casting call is March 10, 2026.
