It may only be January, but we already have a strong contender for best reality TV show of the entire year: The Traitors U.S. season 2, which returned to Peacock with the force of a thousand suns and a thousand fabulous Alan Cumming tartan outfits.
If watching Real Housewives and former members of U.K. parliament (yes, really) run through the moors has piqued your interest about the Scottish grounds themselves, you're not alone. The website Places To Travel even reports that searches for "flights to Scotland" jumped 159 percent thanks to the series. Walking through the grounds where a chorus sang "here lies Johnny Bananas" next to his mock-grave, it's easy to be swept away by the beauty and brutality of it all... and I can confirm it firsthand.
Last fall, Peacock invited me and a group of fellow journalists to The Traitors filming location in Scotland to get a behind-the-scenes taste of murder and mayhem in the Highlands. Here's what the castle set is actually like IRL.
Where The Traitors filmed
Both The Traitors U.S. and The Traitors U.K. film at the grand Ardross Castle, a 100-acre property on River Alness (near Loch Ness!) in the Scottish Highlands. The enormous structure—of which the show only uses about a quarter—was built more than 170 years ago and sits at the center of sweeping grounds, where Peacock producers and designers have built the intricate challenges contestants conquer each week.
Walking around the property felt like leaving the real world and entering a fairytale: greenhouses, turrets (perfect for Traitors meeting at nightfall), and forests abounded, all surrounded by moors and tucked away from prying eyes.
The castle is owned by the McTaggart family, who bought it in the early '80s, and it primarily hosts the murderous cast and characters of The Traitors U.S. and U.K. series, along with the occasional wedding and private event. (Yes, you can say "I do" on the very grounds where Cirie Fields banished Arie Luyendyk Jr.)
How Peacock turned a 19th century castle into a filming location
Taking a centenarian structure and creating a safe, TV-friendly filming experience was an exciting challenge for the Peacock team. To maintain the storybook feel of the property, the set designers behind The Traitors thoughtfully removed themselves from the equation as much as humanly possible when setting up cameras.
There are no wires cluttering the floors or gathering spaces. All rooms are designed to conceal filming, with cameras embedded among everyday objects. For roundtables, the producers play "The Hanging Tree" from The Hunger Games to set the mood. Even the type of cameras used on set allowed the show to film without producers having to physically be in the room with the cast themselves. Because of this, it's easy to forget there are cameras anywhere—let alone everywhere—and that's the whole point.
Watch 'The Traitors' Season 2
"We try to be as hands-off as possible," season 2 producers Mike Cotton, Toni Ireland, and Sam Rees-Jones told me in a group interview. "Their daily routine is the same every day, so when the cogs bong on the grandfather clock, they know that it's time to go to bed because a murder is about to happen. They know it's time for a roundtable when they hear that music. All of that helps create this environment for them. It's almost like a ritual. The roundtable feels like a space that isn't even a TV set, because there are no producers in there at all. Alan's in there, but he doesn't ever lead the conversation, so it's a distant player space. Our team will stay back and just watch."
What changed about the filming location for season 2
While most of the rooms—the roundtable, the Traitors turret, the infamous breakfast room—will look familiar to viewers again this season, there are a couple new additions to The Traitors filming locations: a mini kitchen/scullery and a gazebo-like area outside called the folley.
Alexandra Whittaker
Alexandra Whittaker
"You can get two or three people sneaking out there, and you get these brilliant conversations," the producers said. "So you go from grand rooms like the bar to these tiny corners, and for me visually, that's the beauty of the series. You can have two people in a corner just having a sneaky conversation caught on fixed rig camera, but then you go outside on the main campus and we're further back. It's sort of layering in the beauty of a castle in Scotland with amazing treatments. It is a real challenge. But a real pleasure as well."
Peacock//Getty Images
Taking on this challenge has paid off. The show is only five episodes in, and it has already become the #1 unscripted series in the U.S. across all streaming platforms, according to Nielsen. It also won an Emmy. (NBD!) And it continues to delight its viewers with twists and turns (hi, Kate Chastain!) along the way, giving the fans a window into this group of reality titans' game of Mafia from the comfort of our couches. What does this all mean for the future of the show, and the castle? More murders, probably. You can thank Peacock for that.
New episodes of 'The Traitors' are available to stream every Thursday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock here
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