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Watch: Bob the Drag Queen Vows a 'Thirst for Blood' in New Trailer for 'The Traitors' Season 3
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The new season of "The Traitors" is coming, and a new trailer showcases the bloodlust and mayhem that's in store.
Among the trailer's highlights, Bob the Drag Queen evinces a "thirst for blood" and promises she will "stab you in the back" if that's what it takes to win.
The job of openly queer host Alan Cumming is to watch as the show's contestants interact in challenges and mind games. Most of the cast belong to the "Faithful," but a few of them are secretly "Traitors" who sow suspicion and discord in an effort to trick Faithful players into voting each other out of the castle where the show takes place. Upping the fear factor are nightly "murders," in which the Traitors decide on one Faithful player to be removed from the castle before the break of dawn.
The hosting gig is not a job Cumming is willing to surrender, even to someone as ruthless as Bob the Drag Queen purports to be.
"Hey! Back off!" Cumming orders in the trailer, when the "Drag Race" and "We're Here" alum expresses interest in taking the role for herself.
Earlier this year, Bob the Drag Queen promised Season 3 would have all the ingredients that fans of the show have come to love: "The manipulation, the lies, the gaslighting, the coercion, the collusion."
This season, "The cast of the reality TV competition includes stars of 'The Real Housewives' franchise like Robyn Dixon, Dorinda Medley, and Dolores Catania, and 'Big Brother' legends like Danielle Reyes and Britney Haynes," Deadline relayed.
"Other contestants include Britney Spears' ex Sam Asghari, and 'Survivor' alums Carolyn Wiger, Jeremy Collins, and Tony Vlachos."
The show's second season famously saw the only openly queer member of the cast, drag artist Peppermint, banished in the season's second episode, becoming the first Season 2 casualty of the show's trademark paranoia after she was falsely accused of being a Traitor.
Returning for the season's reunion episode, Peppermint drew unmistakeable parallels between how she was treated on the show and the suspicion and hostility that greet LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming people in the general culture.
Following Season 2, Cumming pushed for more queer representation among the show's contestants.
His efforts were not in vain. For Season 3, Bob the Drag Queen "will be rubbing shoulders with other queer icons like 'Selling Sunset's' Chrishell Stause and, randomly, King Charles' openly gay family member Lord Ivar Mountbatten," Pink News noted.
"Things are about to get murderous," Cumming hisses in voiceover, before appearing on the screen in another eye-popping outfit to add: "But only metaphorically... I hope."
Season 3 streams on Peacock starting Jan. 9. Watch the new trailer below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.