'The Anonymous' Executive Producer Stephen Yemoh Reveals the Driving Force Behind the New Reality Series

Studio Lambert has been behind some of the most popular new reality shows of the past half-decade. They've given us The Traitors , an amplified game of Mafia that tests trust at its core. They brought The Circle into the world, which showcases how interaction only through profiles can affect perceptions. And their newest show, The Anonymous ramps up that concept even more, as players test both their skills both in-person and behind the scenes.

The series, premiering with its first three episodes on USA on Monday, August 19 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT, features a group of 12 people. Half the time each round, they'll be competing in challenges for a prize pool of up to $100,000 and interacting with one another. But then they head underground into "Anonymous Mode." From there, they will don fake identities, interact with each other, and even vote for who should be eliminated. Additionally, they will all get the chance to guess the identities of the other players. Whoever eludes the guesses the most is the "Anonymous" that round. They can then choose from anyone who has been voted for to leave the game.

"We know what the possibilities are from The Circle in terms of, when you put people by themselves, and that people aren't sort of watching everything that you do, it brings out interesting character traits in people," Stephen Yemoh , Executive Producer at Studio Lambert, tells Parade . "And sometimes that's really funny character traits. Sometimes that's quite duplicitous. And that was really interesting. And we thought, if we took what we've learned from The Circle , but put it into much more of a competition, and, like you say, make everybody behind a profile, make everyone a catfish, what happens? And we sort of tried to hone it in and just really make a really interesting game where we ask the question, "If nobody knows that it's you, what will you say in order to win?"

Check out our full interview with Stephen Yemoh below. The Anonymous premieres with its first three episodes on Monday, August 19 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network.

Related: Everything to Know About The Anonymous

How did the concept of The Anonymous come about? On the surface, it seems like a take-off on The Circle , but with everyone playing a catfish.
Studio Lambert's always trying to do different things and new things. And we've had some really fortunate success with some of our formats, and our development team are always looking at what's the next big thing. But within that, of course, you learn from the shows that you've done before. And we know competition reality is really hot at the moment. There's some really great competition reality shows out there, and we know what the possibilities are from The Circle in terms of, when you put people by themselves, and that people aren't sort of watching everything that you do, it brings out interesting character traits in people. And sometimes that's really funny character traits. Sometimes that's quite duplicitous. And that was really interesting. And we thought, if we took what we've learned from The Circle , but put it into much more of a competition, and, like you say, make everybody behind a profile, make everyone a catfish, what happens? And we sort of tried to hone it in and just really make a really interesting game where we ask the question, "If nobody knows that it's you, what will you say in order to win?"

How long has this concept been in the works?
I think we've been working on a couple of years, working with the guys at NBC, to sort of really hone it in and make it the show that it eventually was when we came to taping. As with every idea, it starts as one thing. And then it starts to evolve and evolve and evolve before you sort of hit on, "This is our show. This is our tone. This is what we want to kind of do with it."

So, while the main point of discussion with this show is the anonymous mode, there are also portions where the players interact in person. Talk to me about the intention behind this hybrid format.
I think that was sort of the driving force behind it. Instagram versus reality is a big thing. What you put out to the world on the screen is quite different compared to what your actual life is, and how you'll actually behave in real life. And we found that quite an interesting area to look at. Would people be more reserved if people didn't know it was them? Would they be more overt? That gets different people to do different things with that anonymity. So we wanted to look into that and say how can we competition that and make it interesting, but also make it not mean? And that's what I think the thing about the show is, which is quite nice. Sometimes the Internet can be quite mean when people hide behind their handles. But I think everyone knew going into this that it was a game and it was strategic. You had to be clever, but we would make sure that it wasn't mean. I think that really comes across.

To that point about casting, you brought on two reality TV alumni in Big Brother winner Xavier Prather and Australian Survivor player (and daughter of Survivor legend Sandra Diaz-Twine) Nina Twine. How did they get involved? Were you purposely seeking out previous reality contestants for this?
Everyone wants an interesting cast, right? You don't have a good show without an interesting cast. And we wanted people that had a bit of a reason to be there, something in their background which would say why they'd be good at this particular type of show. And it is a game. And so, for the game, you need players that are going to play hard. And we looked at players that had played hard, and we thought that sort of gameplay nature of them would sit well into this show.

Xavier did really well on Big Brother . We'd heard all about "The Cookout" and the alliances that he brought in with that, and it was really, really interesting. But we knew that the great thing about this show is that you can never really trust an alliance. Because you don't know what anyone in your alliance is actually doing. There's no positive way of saying, "I know that this person who said they were going to do this is doing that." We thought that would test him, and that would be interesting. And someone like Nina, obviously, Sandra's royalty over there. Survivor is very much a social strategy game as well. And we thought this show does lead into the social strategy as well. So how would Nina react in that sort of circumstance? I think having brains like that will drive that strategy, which is good for viewers, and it's also good for the other players.

Speaking of other points of celebrity casting, I have to ask, how the hell did you get Andy King involved in this?!
[ Laughs .] Well, every show likes to have a bit of a splash about it. The great thing I love about reality TV is that it makes people understand people from a different perspective. Everyone knew him for his infamous work on the Fyre Festival. And we thought, even when you watched the Fyre Festival [documentary], he was quite a lovable character. Even with all the huge f--k-ups that were going on with that festival, he was still quite lovable. And even what he was prepared to say and do [anything] for that festival, you knew he had a kind heart. And I think every show needs people with warmth and kindness about them. But you could obviously tell that [though] the Fyre festival didn't work, he's been successful. And he has a drive and an intelligence about him to be successful. So we thought he would fit well into the show. And we spoke to him, and he was charming, and he was brilliant, and he was really up for the world seeing him in a different way and testing himself in this game, which was brilliant.

Related: The Traitors Season 3 Cast Announced

Let's talk about the structure of The Anonymous . Without getting into spoilers from the first three episodes, you have these challenges to help build the prize pool. But the challenges definitely vary, both in skills tested and when they come in the episode. Talk to me about that.
There are two things. I think an audience loves familiarity, and they like a rhythm to their shows. But they also like to be surprised. And I also think it's good for the players to not sort of always be on their toes. If they get too comfortable in knowing the rhythm of a show, I think they can potentially try and beat the game. So we wanted to sort of make sure that we were a step ahead of them. I think every producer that they would have talked to wanted to make sure that you're ahead of the players that are playing your game. And we varied it up a little bit and didn't get into too much of a rhythm, making the challenges slightly different every time. It would just keep the players thinking and keep them on their toes so they didn't get too comfortable and settle.

The titular concept of the "Anonymous" is an interesting one. Though everyone votes on who they want to get rid of, it ultimately winds up in the hands of one singular person. And they can completely go rogue with their decision away from popular opinion.
Yeah, you always look for things that make your show slightly different. And I think the great thing about reality shows is power. Who has that power and who can drive the game? And we were sort of interested in the fact that, if you gave somebody power, but they couldn't overtly tell everybody they had the power, how would they react? What is their social dynamic when you know I've eliminated your friend, but you don't know it's me? And how can I keep a straight face when I know that I'm the person running this game? We just thought it'd be an interesting thing for viewers and the players to sort of see that dynamic. When you're by yourself, it's just between you and DANI. What do you do in that sort of situation?

Speaking of keeping players on their toes, I will note that, from the episodes I've seen, they utilize more of an editing format of a show like The Circle . That is, to say, the episodes choose to end on cliffhangers rather than on an elimination every time. What was the intention behind that choice?
In all honesty, I think we're in the world of binge TV. People like to sit and watch shows. And, from personal experience, I love and hate that experience. When you're watching the show and you go, "Oh, for God's sake! I have to watch the next one now just to find out what's happening." I think it's I think everyone sort of knows that it's coming, and you just want people to be driven by your next episode. And I think [with] the characters that we've got on this show, you really invest in them quite quickly. So you actually want to know who's going to be surviving, who's going to be the Anonymous, and stuff like that. So I think we just wanted to make people just want more.

You choose not to reveal the identity of the "Anonymous" until after the elimination is done. Talk to me about that choice.
We always sort of played with it when we were in development of the show and talking amongst ourselves about where do you reveal this person? Obviously, the Anonymous is the big driver within the show, and we just wondered where it would sit best. We cut it a few different ways to see whether it's best to know who Anonymous is and wait on the decision. Or do you wait and do the elimination and then reveal the Anonymous? We kind of like the idea that you always got a bit of information to come, which I quite liked. And you were watching that elimination with two different things that you wanted to know as a viewer: Who was going to go, but also who committed the crime. And it just, it just keeps it fresher. I don't think many shows do that, so it's quite unique to this format. And it just keeps you sort of interested in not just who's gone, but who's still in the game, and their decisions and why they decided to do what they did.

Finally, what surprised you the most about watching these people play out The Anonymous compared to your initial expectations?
How quickly and how well the cast got the game. Obviously, people watch all these shows, and so they go into it and formulate strategies based on what they've seen before. We were really impressed with how this is a brand new cast of Season 1. We explained the game to them before they came in, but they really got the game as soon as they started playing. And they had all sort of their own strategies, which was really interesting to see socially. And when they're in the real world and in when they're in the hideouts as well, just seeing all the different strategies play out and then working out how to best play the game in order to try and suit them, that was really encouraging. I think that the game is simple enough in order to create a strategy on the fly and be able to be agile with that strategy as well.

Next, here's everything to know about the upcoming season of The Circle .