“The Traitors” makes Alan Cumming feel 'like Jennifer Aniston in “The Morning Show”, but with better clothes'

"I act my socks off in The Traitors, just like I did on 'The Good Wife.'"

Not even reality television can stop Alan Cumming from showing off his acting chops.

The The Good Wife star, who once dazzled audiences as Eli Gold, now serves as the master of ceremonies for Peacock’s deliciously devious murder mystery competition, The Traitors. But despite starring as himself, Cumming treats the role as he would any other character.

“I act my socks off in The Traitors, just like I did on The Good Wife,” he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s this very juicy thing like I do in the theater or would do at the Tonys.”

And just like theater, the lavish and elaborate outfits are key when it comes to Cumming’s ability to get into character. "Being on a film, you get dressed in the morning, get into your costume and makeup and hair," he said. "That is very important for me, to understand who the character is.”

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Still, there are plenty of other differences that separate this reality TV role from prior narrative gigs. For one, Cumming has mastered the art of being fed lines and direction from producers whispering in his ear.

"I like having a little earpiece in,” Cumming noted. “I feel like Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show, but with better clothes.”

But where The Morning Show explores the unexpectedly cutthroat world of morning news, The Traitors whisks viewer away to a Scottish castle inhabited by cunning reality stars engaged in a Mafia-like competition that involves grueling physical challenges and unmasking the traitors amongst them for the sake of a six-figure cash prize.

Teasing the twists to come in the upcoming third season, Cumming said some of the titular traitors even outperformed him. "I can’t wait [for you to see] who it was, what it was," he said. "They were lying so profusely and dramatically. They were giving me a run for my money!"

Related: Where is The Traitors filmed? An inside look at the lavish Scottish castle

Cumming previously told Entertainment Weekly that when he signed on for The Traitors, he didn’t realize that his role would be more character than host.

"I didn't quite understand why they wanted me to do it," he shared. "But I met with them and I realized that it was because they wanted me to be theatrical and camp, to play this larger-than-life character, and create the mood of the whole show. Once I understood that, I was really on board."

The costumes, of course, were a bonus. "I think I've always been sort of comfortable with androgyny, or playing up my femi-side [on carpets and] doing shoots… I think it's really important, as someone in the mainstream, to challenge people's views of what a man of my age should wear. I like that a show like The Traitors, a reality competition show, is able to have big statements about, as you say, genderf---ness."

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