Searching the country for the perfect “faithfuls” and “traitors,” casting director Erin Tomasello earned the first Emmy nomination of her career for Peacock’s freshman series The Traitors. The reality TV sensation took contestants from all walks of life and threw them into an enthralling competition that required them to compete for money all while trying to weed out any contestant that might be tryig to sabotage the group. With an illustrious career in reality television, Tomasello has utilized her excitement for the genre to champion diversity and inclusion making TV better represent the America that we live in.
Speaking with Awards Daily, Tomasello discusses her Emmy-nominated work as the casting director of Peacock’s The Traitors. Going into detail as to what it was like diving into a brand new show for American audiences, she describes her casting process and what makes a compelling contestant.
Awards Daily: For the general public, casting is often looked at through the lens of narrative / scripted casting, so I wanted to begin our conversation by discussing what your process is generally like working in reality television and how that might differ?
Erin Tomasello: When it comes to reality TV we truly are boots on the ground. We don’t have agent submissions or anyone sending talent our way. We’re looking for raw talent that has never done TV before and it’s our job to bring out the best in them.
We put out casting calls, spread the word, we make flyers, and overall think outside the box. Once we find someone great we’ll interview them over Zoom and eventually edit it all down to a two minute sizzle reel. That’s what we send to producers and production companies. Then we’ll do a final round over Zoom casually getting to know them. Our process often changes depending on the show and its specific needs. For The Traitors we played “Two Truths and a Lie” to test them and see how good they were at lying. There are a lot of fun ways we can test them. It’s quite different from the scripted world.
Because we are finding raw talent in this boots on the ground manner we need a huge team. I have three casting producers (Jazzy Collins, Holly Osifat, Moira Paris) who are nominated alongside me. On top of that we have our associates, editors, assistants, managers, and coordinators. I wouldn’t be able to do this without our entire team and it’s really important to me to get our unscripted team out there for everyone to see what we do.
Overall reality TV is no longer a fad. It’s some of the longest running TV in history and I’m so glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves. I scream it from the rooftops how proud I am of the work we do. My team and I focus on diversity, inclusion, and marginalized communities. We try to break boundaries and with unscripted television we have the world at our fingertips!
Awards Daily: While working on The Traitors, what kind of personality traits were you looking for in potential contestants, particularly the civilian contestants?
Erin Tomasello: First season shows are so interesting to me because it requires a lot of playing around and brainstorming to see what works and what doesn’t. My first discussion with my team was trying to figure out what qualities make a good faithful and what qualities make a good traitor. What jobs might these people do? For the traitors we kept thinking of private investigators, blood splatter analysts, retired judges. Then we had someone like Angelica who is a hair stylist. She is someone who is used to talking to people and getting them to trust them and getting their secrets out.
On the flip side of that we have the faithfuls. Are they priests or a preacher? A preschool teacher? Someone who is innocent, gullible, sweet, and couldn’t lie even if they wanted to. We had a lot of fun brainstorming where these job titles fit in. As well as where they live. I love scowering the United States for contestants. Michael for instance lives in a teeny tiny town and had never left his home state. It was so much fun to watch it play out.
Awards Daily: On the flip side of the “civilian” contestants were the reality TV show staples that played the game alongside them like Survivor legend Cirie Fields, Bachelor star Arie Luyendyk, and even Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte. As someone who has worked in reality TV for years what was it like seeing these major personalities be dropped into this new environment?
Erin Tomasello: I’m a HUGE reality fan and have been my whole life. I used to record original seasons of American Idol, The Challenge, and Survivor on VHS. It was incredible to see my idols like Cirie or personalities that I love like Kyle from Summer House. I was fangirling along with the audience.
Something very unique to The Traitors was putting Bravo stars like Kate Chastain and Brandi Glanville in the game who are not competition folks. Kate was such a star and here she is making great TV playing against someone like Cirie. Watching our civilians compete with that was so fun and it ultimately led to their demise. Contestants like Quentin and Andie were in love with Cirie and they believed every word that came out of her mouth. I haven’t spoken with them directly about it but I have to believe they had no idea what a cutthroat player this lady is!
Awards Daily: With any type of casting process you get to know the people you are auditioning and you begin to think of them in a certain way. Was there anyone that you cast that once they got on the show completely surprised you personality wise in a way that you did not see coming?
Erin Tomasello: I should have seen it coming but Christian. He is such a character with a larger-than-life personality. He’s ex-military with experience in acting and modelling. I thought he was going to go in there and just nail it. He wanted to be a traitor so badly from the very beginning. He ended up bringing the heat on himself. When he walked down that morning and announced to everyone that they tried to recruit him I was just screaming at my TV!
Awards Daily: The Traitors has been officially renewed for a second season and although you can’t say much, as a major fan of reality TV in general is there a star that you think would make the perfect contestant for a future season?
Erin Tomasello: My pick would be Jill Ashock who was a contestant on Netflix’s Outlast. This lady is casting gold! This lady was born to be on The Traitors and everyone needs to watch this show!
