A brand new series, The Traitors, is coming to Channel 10 this weekend (Sunday 16 October), hosted by award-winning Australian actor, Rodger Corser.
Described as a game of “deception, suspicion and betrayal”, The Traitors is a nail-biting whodunnit with one rule: find and unmask the Traitors before they get you.
The show will see a group of 24 players, the “Faithfuls”, live together in a grand, mysterious hotel, where they must compete to win silver bars – which contribute to a prize pool of silver worth up to $250,000. This will prove to be a challenge, as some of the Faithfuls are actually “Traitors”, who will secretly conspire to “murder” Faithfuls out of the game.
Ahead of the show’s debut on Sunday, Glam Adelaide spoke to Rodger Corser about his role on The Traitors and, sneakily, how he found South Australia during his time filming McLeod’s Daughters in the early 2000’s.
Straight off the bat, Rodger shared that he had “a lot of fun creating more of a character” for his host persona, who doubles as the “owner” of this murder-mystery Art-Deco hotel.
“It’s new for me to jump into a presenting role! I think the only way that I could’ve done that is in a show like The Traitors,” said Rodger. “…It definitely has a whodunnit, Cluedo, Knives Out kind of feel.”
“We made it like it’s his hotel – that’s what’s inferred – and then when he starts to introduce a challenge, he references back to his family lineage, family history, and it’s all just ridiculous stuff… we just had a great time building this guy’s back story as we went!”
“There’s one challenge that’s done on an airfield with some World War II fighter planes and Top Gun was just out,” Rodger added.
After gathering what looked like a Bomber Jacket and some knock-off Aviator sunglasses, Rodger jumped on an electric motorbike providing by a stuntman to recreate a scene from Top Gun.
“It was all not planned and we all sort of did it on the fly, so we had a great time,” he shared.
Rodger says that he was inspired by Gene Wilder’s portrayal of Willy Wonka, in regard to the character’s eccentricity.
“You know how he [Willy Wonka] revels in the demise of the kids when they’re too greedy or selfish or they fail and he’s looking for the honesty – Charlie, in the end… This doesn’t look anything like Willy Wonka, but just how he [Gene Wilder] does that little rye smile when the greedy ones fail,” he said.
Speaking of Rodger’s new hosting/acting gig had us reminiscing over one of his earlier roles in fan-favourite, McLeod’s Daughters. When reflecting on his time in SA, Rodger says he had an “absolute blast”.
“…I wasn’t always required on set, but you were driven out to the property in Gawler […] and you’d have time to kill so they had all the horses and the wranglers on hand. You’d just go up to the wranglers and say, ‘can I go for a ride?’” said Rodger.
“They were teaching us how to ride and they said anytime you want to improve your skills please do it, so it was fantastic…”
Since “one of the boys” on set also worked at the Penfolds Cellar Door, Rodger recalled spending a lot of time there and “testing” the wine.
“I remember going to barbeques there [Penfolds] and he’d had to test the wine… so we’d be turning cheap Coles snags on the barbeque then washing it down with Grange, which I thought was pretty fantastic,” he said as he chuckled.
You’ll be able to catch Rodger Corser in his new role on The Traitors from Sunday 16 October. The first episode is set to debut at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10 Play.
To learn more about the cast, click here.
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