‘The Traitors’: Stephen Lambert & Sharon Vuong Talk Differences In Casting Between U.S. & UK Versions – Edinburgh TV Festival

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Stephen Lambert, CEO of storied UK producer Studio Lambert, has delved deep into the differences in casting between the UK and U.S.

versions of The Traitors. Much has been made of the fact that the Alan Cumming-hosted Peacock U.S. version opted for several celebrities amongst civillians, while the Claudia Winkleman-hosted British version was 100% civillian. “A lot of American celebrities come from competiton shows in the States so they were good game players,” said Lambert, whose All3Media-backed outfit produced both versions. “They were more strategic and were willing to play devious.

That gave a slightly different taste and one suitable to the American audience, who are used to reality shows being strategic and underhand.” NBC’s Sharon Vuong, the network’s Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming, said she wanted to “take the pressure off of celebrities” by mixing them with civillians in what was one of Peacock’s first big reality shows. “Bringing these legends together so we had this beautiful ecosystem and mixing it with civilians made it suddenly like ‘Who knows what’s going to happen?’,” she added.

Some contestants in the Peacock version had partaken in immersive reality shows like The Traitors before but Vuong said the “fish out of water” celebrities who were new to the sub-genre were the most interesting to watch.