Getty Rachel Reilly Villegas gave Heavy her thoughts on this season of"Big Brother."
Rachel Reilly is one of 10 reality stars competing on Peacock’s new competition show “The Traitors.”
Based on the Dutch series of the same name, the 10-episode series hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming will premiere on Peacock on Thursday, January 12, and will follow 10 reality stars and 10 “civilians” as they compete in a series of challenges in the hopes of winning a cash prize of up to $250,000.
But here’s the catch. Not every contestant is a team player. Three contestants have been coined “the traitors,” and their goal is to sabotage the other contestants and steal the prize money.
Heavy had the chance to chat with Rachel Reilly about the upcoming series, meeting Alan Cumming and filming in a remote castle in the Scottish Highlands.
Here’s what you need to know:
‘It Was So Epic,’ Rachel Reilly Says
Heavy: Can you tell me a bit about the concept of the show and how you got involved in the series?
Rachel: [The producers] called me and told me about it and they were like, ‘It’s gonna be like a whodunit, like a game of Mafia or Werewolf.’ I was like, this sounds right up my alley. This sounds like an amazing show that I need to be part of. I’m really excited to work with Peacock. I’ve had such a great experience working with NBC Universal, and I’m so excited to join the Peacock family. And I think so far everything we’ve seen from the [“The Traitors” trailer] to the video shoots to the like, you know, the pictures, everything is so glamorous, like, it’s so fun and magical.
We lived in a castle in the Scottish Highlands for this, which was, I mean, it was so epic. It’s so different than any other experience I’ve had on a reality show. It’s so glamorous. There [is] something about being in the Scottish Highlands that [is] just magical.
Rachel on Preparing for the Show
Heavy: There was a U.K. version of “The Traitors” that aired on the BBC. Did you get a chance to watch the U.K. version before filming, or did you go into the show totally blind?
Rachel: They filmed the U.K. version after they filmed the U.S. version but they had the Dutch version [the original version]. I, being the researcher that I am, I prep for these competition shows by doing everything I [can] think of. … Getting in excellent physical shape, doing puzzles, doing whatever. And then, for this one in particular, I watched as much as I could of the Dutch version, but they only gave us a few episodes in English. So, I found the episodes, and I didn’t know what they were saying but I was like, I get the idea. I know what I’m supposed to do but it did not prepare me at all for the experience.
Rachel on Working With Reality TV Stars
Heavy: You knew some of the other reality stars going into the game. You worked with Cirie and Stephenie on “Snake in the Grass” and Cody’s in the “Big Brother” family. Do you think knowing some of the stars before filming was an advantage or a disadvantage?
Rachel: You would think going into this that I would, you know, maybe have an advantage. Maybe it would be nice to see familiar faces, but you never know who you can trust. There’s murderers. There’s backstabbing. There’s treachery. There’s sabotage. So, to be honest, you think you can go in but it’s not the same type of game as “Big Brother” where you form these alliances and the alliances stick together. It’s so different. I don’t think I could have been prepared for what to expect.
Heavy: I was thinking [about] how the “Big Brother” and “Survivor,” contestants are kind of trained in deception whereas, “The Bachelor,” people maybe they’re not, but then you guys have like the stigma of, ‘Oh, those “Big Brother” people, you gotta watch out for them.’ So it’s like, there’s no way to really prepare.
Rachel: 100 percent. I definitely think that was a reoccurring theme in the beginning where people were watching out for the “Big Brother” and “Survivor” people. But it’s such a different game. I don’t think that my “Big Brother” experience prepared me for it, to be honest. I don’t think that I was prepared for this type of like sabotage and backstabbing.
Heavy: You worked with people from Bravo and “The Bachelor” this time around? Did you watch any of their shows prior to filming?
Rachel: Yeah, I was 100 percent a huge fan of all of those stars. Like Reza, are you kidding me? I was like, that was so surreal because I’m a huge Reza fan and “Shahs of Sunset” fan. I knew Kyle [Cooke] going into this. I knew Ryan [Lochte].
I haven’t talked about this in any other interview. I interviewed Brandi Glanville for my show [“Reality Relapse”] in 2014. I’ve met her probably, you know, a handful of times just in LA doing stuff. And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, Brandi, I’ve met you before’. She’s like, ‘I don’t recall. I meet a lot of people.’ When she met me, she’s like, ‘Oh, what do you do?’ because, you know, there’s like, reality people and there’s like non reality people. So she was like, ‘Oh, what do you do?’ And I was like, ‘I’m on reality TV too Brandi.’
Rachel on Working With Alan Cumming
Heavy: Alan Cumming is the host of the show. What was it like working with him? Was this your first time meeting him?
Rachel: Yes, this was my first time meeting him and he is amazing. He is made for this show. This is his home turf. He’s so fun. And he’s so funny. I felt like I was in a scripted series, being with Alan. I felt like he could have been hosting the “Hunger Games.” He made the experience so much more epic. I think everyone that watches the show is gonna love that about him. He makes it so fun.
Heavy: What can fans expect from “The Traitors?”
Rachel: An adventure. It’s very unique. It’s really fun. It’s a really fun, dramatic. There’s comedy. There’s drama. There’s competition. There’s sabotage and backstabbing. There’s crying, a lot of crying. I think it’s gonna be a show that people are gonna really enjoy watching, obviously, for the drama and the backstabbing, but also for the psychological experience because it’s a very psychological game.
Heavy: If you had to describe the show in three words, what would they be?
Rachel: Murder, treachery, and sabotage.
Watch our extended interview with Rachel HERE.