From CofC to NBC: Alum Represents Charleston on 'The Traitors'

^{Above: Clyde Moser (center) with other contestants on The Traitors (photo credit: NBCUniversal)}

As millions of viewers tune in for the premiere of NBC’s reality competition series The Traitors: New Blood, Charleston residents may recognize a familiar face: Clyde Moser ’17 (M.A.T. ’23), theater director at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

One of just 22 contestants selected from more than 60,000 applications, the College of Charleston alum will join the cast in the show’s lavish Scottish highlands castle to compete for up to $250,000.

From Notes to Notability

On his laptop is a yellow sticky note that reads, “I will be on this season of Traitors.”

Moser has dreamed of competing on The Traitors ever since its inaugural season, which was the last time the cast included some regular American citizens (the next three seasons feature casts of reality show icons and TV personalities only). As fate would have it, NBC announced the first civilian-only edition of the series in August 2025. Moser knew he must apply.

And, throughout the application process, Moser continued to manifest his casting, writing, “I will be on this season of Traitors,” on a new sticky note every day.

The sticky notes – and perhaps charismatic personality – worked, and his dream became a reality – a reality competition show, to be exact.

The series’ challenges place contestants in positions that require acting skills (“You need to lie, but keep a smile on your face,” says Moser) as well as conflict resolution techniques – areas in which Moser knew he could thrive.

“I just felt like I had enough tools in my toolbox from both my education side and my theater side that, if I were to be on the show, I would be able to cover all my bases,” he says, pointing not just to his acting background, but to his teaching career, where dealing with students’ and parents’ conflicts is just par for the course.

Being on the show isn’t just a chance to show off his acting and interpersonal chops, though: It’s a chance to represent.

“It means a lot because, growing up I didn’t really necessarily see people like me reflected on TV, just being a Black queer man from the South,” he says, noting that he hopes it helps to “have that representation for maybe someone out there, even if they don’t necessarily relate to everything I’ve gone through in my life.”

It is, in other words, Moser’s big chance to bring positive representation – and perhaps a little Southern charm – to the screen.

Clyde Finds Himself in Charleston (Again)

When Moser arrived on the College of Charleston campus for Admitted Students Day and saw his first name already printed on a name tag, he thought, Oh my gosh, how do these people already know my name?

When he realized that “Clyde” referred not to him, but to CofC mascot Clyde the Cougar, he took it as a sign to commit to the College. (His worlds later collided when he wore the mascot costume himself while working New Student Orientation – though he jokes he quickly shed it because it was “so hot.”)

As an undergraduate, Moser immersed himself in campus life, joining the Call Me MISTER Program and performing in productions like RENT, The Addams Family and Spring Awakening.

After graduating from the College with a B.S. in Middle Grades Education and a B.A. in Theatre, Performance Concentration, in 2017, Moser moved to New York City, where he worked in the music industry until the pandemic shut down the city. With the lockdown in place, he felt for students who were stuck at home with no outlet to express themselves.

That empathy sparked a new calling: to help young people rediscover the creative spaces that had been taken away. And where better to make that happen than Charleston?

“It’s a calling that I really missed. I thought my presence back here in Charleston could create theater and help students get out of the darkness that was the pandemic,” he recalls. “And, honestly, it’s been the best decision ever.”

The Educational Foundation that Set the Stage

That calling also brought Moser back to his alma mater, where he earned a Master of Arts in Teaching in Performing Arts and soon stepped into the role of Wando High School’s musical theater director. His student’s performances have already earned national recognition, and Moser says the experience has been “so fulfilling – it’s everything I wanted.”

Moser credits his teaching and directing philosophies to his time at the College – which, he says, gave him “a nice network and foundation.”

“The education program at the College is so great,” he adds. “There was not a moment where I doubted that I was in capable hands.”

Three pairs of those capable hands belonged to Todd McNerney, professor of performance and associate dean of the School of the Arts, who “made me the director I am today”; Laura Turner, professor of theatre education, who “taught me how to be the theater teacher I am today”; and Nakeisha Daniel, assistant professor of African American theatre, who helped him “see my own vision for stories and put my heart in it.”

“Those three taught me everything at the College,” says Moser, who, even after graduating, “never stopped being their student.”

And it’s that combination of influential professors, theater background and educational foundation that led to him representing Charleston on the national stage that is The Traitors.

No matter the outcome of Moser’s time on the show, he hopes those rooting for him will be proud.

“I just want to be a positive representation of the city I love,” he says. “Yeah, that’s really special.”