New ‘The Traitors’ spinoff with non-famous players to air on NBC

The Traitors is getting a new spinoff, featuring an all-civilian cast of Faithfuls and Traitors, to air on NBC. Given that NBCUniversal is the same parent company for Peacock and NBC, there is no change of plans regarding the original show featuring reality TV stars — which will continue on Peacock. According to a statement, Alan Cumming will also host the new NBC show.

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This unexpected announcement has been launched with open applications for non-famous contestants to join the cast of The Traitors on NBC, even though the new spinoff still has no premiere date on schedule (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The first U.S. season of The Traitors on Peacock received mixed reactions due to its cast being made up of both celebrities and civilians — which made the stakes feel lopsided between contestants who needed the money for their health and wellbeing in a competition against reality TV stars who didn’t necessarily need the money that much.

The official casting announcement on the platform for applicants (seen below) reads:

“In this brand new version for NBC, you do not have to be a celebrity to play!

We are looking for smart, strategic everyday people to compete in the ultimate game of trust, and treachery.

Are you a FAITHFUL or are you a TRAITOR?

Apply now for a chance of winning up to $250,000!”

The spinoff is another production between NBC and Studio Lambert — the existing partners of the Peacock series.

At the bottom of the announcement, a warning indicates all applicants must be “at least 21 years of age and have a valid passport.”

Casting announcement for NBC’s The Traitors.TheTraitorsUS.com

The news of an all-civilian edition of The Traitors airing on broadcast television coincides with increased ratings and audience engagement for CBS reality competition shows such as Survivor and Big Brother. The latter, airing its 27th season on CBS, has seen a surprising increase in ratings all season long, as reported by Variety.

NBC doesn’t have any existing IP at the moment to compete with that category of shows, and moving Love Island USA to a broadcast network would be a huge risk given that the first three seasons of the dating show did not meet ratings expectations for CBS, and most dating shows on broadcast TV are currently in a decline. Even the crown jewel of dating shows, The Bachelor franchise, continues to drop viewership, as reported by Collider. The state of Bachelor Nation has only gotten worse this summer, with The U.S. Sun reporting wildly disappointing numbers for the grand premiere of Bachelor In Paradise last month.

In contrast, reality competition series on broadcast TV like Big Brother, Survivor, and even The Amazing Race — all of which air on CBS — continue to maintain an audience, and some of them are even growing in ratings. Netflix has also been mimicking that success with shows like Squid Game: The Challenge and several seasons of The Circle.

NBC dominated the reality TV genre for a few years with the introduction of The Voice as an antidote to the formula of shows like American Idol. As of 2025, however, The Voice is the one losing viewers by the season — to the point of even reducing its annual output of two seasons per year to only one season per year.

This new Traitors spinoff on NBC — not involving famous cast members — would mimic a show like Big Brother. And, either way, it appears that the company will keep betting on Peacock’s The Traitors. The cast of season 4 was recently announced, and a fifth cycle of the show has already been guaranteed to follow.

This story is still developing…