Where is 'The Traitors: New Blood' filmed? Inside the historic castle with secrets of its own.

The Traitors: New Blood is bringing a new group of contestants into the game of deception — and heading back to one of reality TV's most recognizable locations.

The NBC show, which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET, features 22 players competing for a prize of up to $250,000. Unlike previous seasons, which have become known for casting reality stars and other famous faces, New Blood has an all-civilian cast selected from more than 80,000 applicants, according to NBC.

While the "murders" and banishments are all part of the game, the imposing castle where they take place is very real. Here's where The Traitors: New Blood is filmed — and what really goes on behind the scenes.

Where is 'The Traitors' castle?

The Traitors: New Blood is filmed at Ardross Castle, a 19th-century estate in the Scottish Highlands. It has hosted every season of the U.S. and U.K. versions of The Traitors.

The historic castle sits in more than 100 acres of parkland beside the River Alness, according to the estate's official website.

The show's producers considered more than 40 castles before choosing Ardross. Executive producer Mike Cotton told the Los Angeles Times in 2025, "It's like a Disney castle that's got Gothic and dark undertones to it. We wanted something that had that feeling, but also had a Great Hall where we could house the Round Table. We needed a really big room for that."

Fellow executive producer Rosie Franks told the Los Angeles Times that the castle "has contributed so much to the identity of the show," adding, "We'd struggle to make the same show without it. It is a gift of a location because you don't need any TV trickery."

Previous contestants' missions have taken them into the Highlands. Locations used by the franchise have included Loch Glass, a short drive from the estate, while Ardross itself offers its grounds and the River Alness for filming.

Can you visit or stay at 'The Traitors' castle?

Anyone hoping to re-create the Traitors experience on their next Scottish vacation may be disappointed.

Ardross Castle isn't a hotel and doesn't rent individual rooms — although the estate is available for weddings and corporate events. It has been privately owned by the McTaggart family since 1983.

Do 'The Traitors' contestants actually sleep in the castle?

Host Alan Cumming said ahead of the first U.S. season that the contestants weren't sleeping at the castle. Instead, they stayed at a hotel at Inverness Airport, about a 45-minute drive from the castle. "How glamorous — you come to Scotland, and you stay in the Inverness airport hotel," he joked to the Daily Beast.

Producers have since declined to reveal exactly how the show's overnight arrangements work. That's because keeping contestants separated is essential to preserving the game, according to Cotton.

He said, "Keeping the traitors' identities secret is the No. 1 thing for us. For everyone to go to their rooms and go to bed, and then for us to get the traitors back out, is a military operation… The players are desperate to find out who the traitors are, and they'll go to any means possible to do it."

How is 'The Traitors' filmed?

There are about 50 cameras inside Ardross Castle, most of them hidden.

Cameras sit behind wood paneling built into the Great Hall, and in pillars throughout the castle, alongside actual camera operators. There are cameras inside the Round Table itself, capturing reactions as players are banished.

Much of the production team operates separately from the contestants in the castle's stable block. The team is "very hands-off with the game," Franks told the Los Angeles Times.

But not every part of the set was planned from the beginning. According to Cotton, producers didn't discover the castle's underground dungeon until Season 2.

Other secret spaces have been created or adapted for the show. For Season 3, a room hidden behind a bookcase was transformed into a wine cellar, Franks said.

Producers make relatively small changes to Ardross between seasons so it continues to feel like a real castle rather than a television set. "With all these big Scottish castles, they don't redecorate every single year, so we don't either," Cotton said.

Can players explore the whole castle?

Ardross is considerably bigger than the portion viewers see on television. Contestants can move through the areas being used for the game, but they don't have free rein over the entire building.

"What you see onscreen is a majority of the downstairs of the castle," Cotton told the Los Angeles Times. "The cast can roam free in our space, but obviously, we can't have them roaming free over the entire castle because it would be impossible to cover it."