Emmy-Nominated Reality TV Creators From ‘The Amazing Race,’ ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and ‘The Traitors’ Talk Keeping the Legacy Alive While Staying Relevant
variety.comDiego Ramos Bechara editor When your critically acclaimed, reality show is 37 seasons in, as with Phil Keogan’s “The Amazing Race,” it’s essential to keep your audience on edge while not deviating from the core format that brought the show its success in the first place. “We try to mix things up a little bit in terms of keeping everybody on edge,” Keogan says. “Being 37 seasons in, that’s our challenge constantly, to be consistently good and but not deviating away from the format, which at its core works.” Keogan stopped by Variety’s Virtual FYC TV Fest: The Nominees 2024 alongside Tom Campbell, executive producer of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and Sam Rees-Jones, executive producer of “The Traitors.” The trio spoke with Variety’s Michael Schneider about their work and the biggest challenges in the reality television space.
For Rees-Jones, whose “The Traitors” is only just kicking off as it heads into the production of its third season, he noted how “brilliant” it is that players have been able to craft more complex strategies as the rules of the game have become more established by the show’s airing and people’s exposure to it. “The Traitors,” which sees a group of guests try to solve a murder mystery game in an ancient castle in Scotland, is currently in the midst of its Season 3 production.
Rees-Jones commented on the shift he’s been able to see in his contestants’ adopted strategies between Seasons 2 and 3. “There’s something really brilliant about the players knowing more about the game because their strategies get more complicated, more complex, which is really exciting to watch,” Rees-Jones says. “So you have better faithful strategies, better traitor strategies.
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