Authenticity in Reality TV

In the final edition of this season’s Hollywood Stories, Richard Rushfield got to talk about "The Traitors" — a show of which he is an unapologetic superfan — with executive producer Mike Cotton, the man who brought it to both the U.K. and U.S. Originally a Dutch format, Traitors landed in Cotton’s hands when he snapped up the rights and then “took that idea and helped supersize it for a U.K. and U.S. audience,” as he puts it. Cotton shares how the show’s contestants get sucked into the game, why his team takes a “hands-off approach” to let the drama develop — and what might lie ahead for Peacock’s breakout hit. “What I love about this show is it’s a really rich world,” Cotton says. “We can take inspiration from murder mysteries, from thrillers, from horror movies, and we’re constantly thinking of what we can do different.”

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