Inside the rise of the professional reality TV star

When “The Traitors” executive producer Mike Cotton and his colleagues brought the first season of Peacock’s reality competition to American audiences, doing so with a cast of unknowns scheming for a six-figure prize seemed risky.So they mixed first-time reality TV contestants with a starry lineup of former “Survivor” and “Big Brother” players and alumni from Bravo series “Below Deck,” “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “Summer House” and “Shahs of Sunset” — plus Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.That experiment allowed producers to learn quickly how future cast members might play the game.

“There are already two sides of the game, the faithful and the traitors,” Cotton explains.“But then within our cast, it was really interesting how the former reality stars approached the games with the skills they brought with them.

We thought it needed to go one way or another.”And so it did.Embracing unscripted TV fame (and fandoms), “The Traitors” has become one of the central platforms for a very 21st century form of celebrity: the professional reality star.

Subsequent seasons have added past participants from “The Real World,” “The Bachelor” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a member of the British royal family, future Taylor Swift mother-in-law Donna Kelce and even returning “Traitors” players like Season 1 villain Kate Chastain.Of course, such casting gimmickry has been a mainstay in the reality competition space for years.As the “Survivor” phenomenon grew, producers not only began to flag potential returning players but also recognized the qualities that appealed to viewers: “Things like confidence, vulnerability, humor, resilience and the ability to reveal who you are when the pressure is most intense,” says “Survivor” host and executive producer Jeff Probst.

“Star players absolutely helped sharpen our instincts as producers.”The CBS series’ current 50th season boasts a lineup of 24 fan favorites, incl...