The most guarded decision on any season of The Traitors happens before the game visibly begins: who gets tapped as a Traitor. On The Traitors: New Blood, the first all-civilian American season, host Alan Cumming chose funeral director Joe Vanella and pilot Tomica Adams as the original Traitors in the September 17, 2026 premiere, and the pair later recruited Katie Fites as the third Traitor. Executive producers Sam Rees-Jones, Rosie Franks and Mike Cotton have given multiple interviews since the premiere, and they reveal a surprising amount about the selection process. They also stop well short of telling the full story. Here is everything the producers have said on the record, presented exactly as they said it.
The Applicant Pool: 60,000 or 80,000?
The reported size of the applicant pool is one of the season’s genuine factual conflicts, and it should be presented as one. In TheWrap’s interview with executive producers Sam Rees-Jones and Rosie Franks, the outlet reported that “the nationwide casting call tallied up 80,000 applicants total,” narrowed down through an “extensive and rigorous” casting process to 22 Americans. But NBC’s own official materials tell a different story: multiple outlets citing the network, including Enstarz, Mac Observer and Bleeding Cool, say the 22 civilian contestants were chosen from “more than 60,000 applicants.”
No outlet has published a reconciliation of the two figures, and OpenThreadNews cannot resolve the discrepancy independently. The honest version is that both numbers appear in published coverage, attributed to different sources within the production and network apparatus.
| Source | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| TheWrap | 80,000 applicants |
| NBC-related material | More than 60,000 applicants |
The discrepancy is presented as attributed; neither figure has been reconciled on the record.
What the Producers Say They Look For
The clearest on-record rule about traitor selection comes from Rees-Jones, who told Variety: “We pick Traitors only if they want to become a Traitor, because it’s a hard job. There’s a lot to do, so they should want to become a Traitor.” That principle is longstanding. In an earlier interview with The Playlist about a prior season, Rees-Jones said producers “never like to go too much into why we pick Traitors,” but confirmed they would never initially pick someone who did not want the role, because the player has to relish it. Cotton echoed the point in the same interview: “We tell all the players that we can’t guarantee you won’t be a Traitor because anyone could get recruited.”
This season added a new wrinkle. According to the Variety interview, Alan Cumming sent formal invitations to the civilian players, and within each invitation was the question of whether they wanted to be a Traitor or a Faithful. Franks explained that Cumming always asks players in the premiere’s “gold chats” by the fire what role they want to play, but the written invitation made that preference an official RSVP. The season’s opening sequence of a raven flying across America and dropping invitations was, in her words, “their RSVP.”
Rees-Jones added the caveat every player hears: “What we always say to everyone is that once you enter the game, you could be made a Traitor at any point.”
The civilian cast made the decision harder, Cotton said, because the producers had no reality-television history to draw on. “It’s more difficult working out who those initial Traitors should be when they’re a cast of regular people who we don’t have a history with on a reality show or on television,” he told Variety. “That then comes down to casting, and really digging into who these people are and the characters that they are.”
How the Selection Was Staged
The producers have been open about the mechanics of the selection window. Cotton told Variety: “We don’t decide who the Traitors are until everyone’s arrived at the castle. So they’ve been on the train, and we’ve seen them interact. They’ve all sat down with Alan and had quite in-depth chats with him about whether they want to be a Traitor or not.”
The train matters more than it looks. TheWrap reported that the civilian cast boards a steam train through the Scottish Highlands to reach the castle, and Rees-Jones told the outlet that some of the factors in traitor selection “include how that initial train ride went and what’s said within the individual chats with Cumming.” The producers were, in effect, watching unguarded social behavior before anyone knew the game had started.
The on-screen ceremony, recapped in Episode 1, shows the players blindfolded at the Round Table while Cumming selects the Traitors with a tap on the shoulder. What viewers do not see is the deliberation that preceded it.
The third Traitor decision was deliberately handed off. Rees-Jones told Variety: “We picked our original two Traitors, and then we left it in their hands who they were going to pick as the third one.” Joe and Tomica chose Katie Fites and Xavier Scruggs as “Accomplices” who had to complete covert tasks in plain sight, then recruited Katie and murdered Xavier. Cotton told Variety he loved the choice “because they chose almost completely opposite people,” adding that their differences made the outcome “surprising and really thrilling for us when it happened.”
Why Joe Vanella and Tomica Adams? (The Honest Answer)
Here is where restraint is the point. When TheWrap asked directly why Joe and Tomica were chosen, the outlet reported plainly: “The EPs remained tight-lipped on why they picked those two.” The closest thing to an explanation is Franks’s remark that the producers hoped viewers “would like seeing those two get up to mischief” together, and Rees-Jones’s description of the core test: “The number one question that we ask is, ‘Do we want to see these people play as traitors?’ And for Joe and Tomica, it was a resounding yes from everyone.”
That is the entire on-record answer. The producers have not disclosed what specifically about the funeral director from Wantagh and the Boston-based pilot won them over, what was said in their individual chats with Cumming, or who else was under consideration. Anything beyond “a resounding yes” would be speculation, and this article will not supply it.
One thing that is documented is that both players wanted the job. NBC Insider reported that during Tomica’s interview with Cumming, she said she wanted to bring her competitiveness into the castle as a Traitor to take home the $250,000 prize. Joe told NBC Insider that “22 people arguing around the table is Sunday dinner,” signaling he had no fear of the roundtable. Both fit the producers’ stated rule: only players who want the role get it.
What Has Stayed Secret
The producers’ silence on the “why” is not an oversight; it is policy. As Rees-Jones told The Playlist during a previous season, “We never like to go too much into why we pick Traitors.” The New Blood interviews continued that tradition.
What remains undisclosed: the specifics of the deliberation, whether there was a shortlist, how the train-ride observations weighed against the one-on-one chats, and how many of the 22 actively campaigned for the Traitor role versus merely consenting to it. Also undisclosed is whether the producers had early favorites from the casting process itself, or whether the train and the “gold chats” genuinely decided it. Cotton’s statement that the decision is not made “until everyone’s arrived at the castle” suggests the latter, but the producers have not described the actual conversation in which Joe and Tomica were chosen.
The Katie Fites recruitment has one additional wrinkle worth noting for its honesty. Parade’s post-elimination interview with Xavier Scruggs revealed the losing side of the Accomplice trial: Xavier immediately tried to throw suspicion onto Katie, which put Joe and Tomica on edge about potential Traitor-on-Traitor violence, and they chose Katie. The producers ceded that call entirely, and it backfired on the player who campaigned hardest.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people applied for The Traitors: New Blood?
It depends on the source. TheWrap’s interview with the executive producers put the figure at 80,000 applicants, while NBC’s official materials, cited by multiple outlets, say more than 60,000. Both figures are on the record; neither side has reconciled them.
Do contestants get to choose whether they are Traitors?
Not exactly. For the first time, the civilian players received formal invitations asking whether they wanted to be a Traitor or a Faithful, and Alan Cumming asked each of them the same question in one-on-one “gold chats” by the fire. But the producers make the final call, and every player is told they could be made a Traitor at any point. The one firm rule, per Sam Rees-Jones: “We pick Traitors only if they want to become a Traitor.”
When is the Traitor decision actually made?
Not until the full cast has arrived at the castle, according to executive producer Mike Cotton. The producers watch how the players interact on the train ride through the Scottish Highlands and factor in each player’s individual conversation with Alan Cumming before deciding.
Why were Joe Vanella and Tomica Adams picked as the original Traitors?
The producers have stayed tight-lipped on the specifics. What they have said: the decision factored in the train ride and the individual chats with Cumming, and the guiding question was “Do we want to see these people play as traitors?” For Joe and Tomica, Rees-Jones said, “it was a resounding yes from everyone.” No further explanation is on the record.
How was Katie Fites chosen as the third Traitor?
That decision was delegated to Joe and Tomica. They selected Katie Fites and Xavier Scruggs as Accomplices, gave them covert tasks to complete in plain sight, observed their performance, and then recruited Katie while murdering Xavier. Xavier told Parade he believed his aggressive play against Katie made the original Traitors wary of him.
What do the producers refuse to reveal?
The specifics of the deliberation: whether there was a shortlist, how the selection criteria were weighted, what was said in Joe and Tomica’s individual chats with Cumming, and how many players actively wanted the role. Rees-Jones has said the team “never like to go too much into why we pick Traitors,” a policy that held for New Blood.
