Inside House of Villains' more 'cutthroat,' 'conniving' season 2: 'We're not playing by the rules'

"It's just like prison — can any of you relate to that?"

When House of Villains host Joel McHale asks the season 2 cast that question in the premiere before a jail-themed Battle Royale challenge, he's being incredibly sarcastic. Many of this season's reality TV villains have infamously served time, and the meta comedic series calls that out immediately. Richard Hatch, the first-ever Survivor winner who went to prison twice for tax evasion, quips, "Who pays taxes?" after McHale jokes about the $200,000 prize money getting taxed. Before putting on her orange jumpsuit costume for the challenge, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice deadpans, "I didn't wear a jumpsuit, I wore a two-piece," when discussing her own jail time.

It's the perfect way to kick off a new season of House of Villains, the wacky, unserious reality competition series that both celebrated and redefined the fan-favorite genre in its first season last year. The E! show is back again with an all new roster of the most iconic villains to have ever graced (or cursed) the small screen. But this time, it's going even bigger, funnier, and more villainous every step of the way.

"Last year it felt like more of a family, whereas this year, these guys are conniving," showrunner John Irwin tells Entertainment Weekly in March on the set in between takes. "They’re really trying to figure out how to win, and it’s more cutthroat. We have some louder personalities too. So far it’s pretty wacky. It’s a powder keg just waiting to blow up."

The fuse has already been lit by multiple cast members who built their careers on winning strategic competition shows. "I'm going to wipe the floor with these people," Hatch tells EW on set. "They're not even people in my mind. They're just participants in this thing where they've got to get the f--- out of my way. That's going to happen on a schedule that suits me."

The Challenge three-time winner Wes Bergmann loves to declare that he's not actually a villain despite being labeled one over the course of his nearly 20-year run on TV. But now on House of Villains, he's ready to play like the villain everyone already accuses him of being. "This is the apex of my reality television career," Bregmann tells EW on set. "I'm going to bring misdirects, humor, manipulation, lying, backstabbing, three-dimensional chess. I'm never going to see these people again, I'm never going to play this game again, so I'm basically going to play like my reputation for the first time ever. It feels so free."

Even returning cast member Tiffany "New York" Pollard is ready to bring the "strategy, strategy, strategy" this time around after her early exit last season. When the Flavor of Love alum first got the call that producers wanted her back for season 2, she thought it was a prank. But once she learned the offer was real, she got serious about winning immediately.

"This is a chance to redeem myself," she tells EW on set. "I never even knew I was a villain until the House of Villains came about, and I wear that title with pride. Right off the bat, I knew I needed to play it a lot cooler and calmer, because I went home way too early in season 1 because I was just being too straightforward, too blunt, and I didn't make enough alliances."

The showrunner confirms that New York has learned from her mistakes. "She’s digging in harder to try and figure out how to win this game," Irwin says. And he adds that the rest of the cast is bringing it too, from Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta's Safaree ("He’s already manipulating and playing chess — he’s a puppet master"), to Bad Girls Club's Camilla Poindexter ("Camilla is definitely a villain"), to RuPaul's Drag Race's Kandy Muse ("She has already been blowing stuff up in here"), to The Bachelor's Victoria Larson ("She is causing a lot of trouble in the house"), to 90 Day Fiancé's Larissa Lima ("She's crazy, and the best part is you can hardly understand her").

It's not just the cast who's bringing elevated gameplay this season. The showrunner reveals that the challenges are "more connected to villainy" now too. "We wanted to make them more fun and lean into the genre more," Irwin explains. Like the previously mentioned challenge that puts convicted felons Hatch and Giudice, as well as Lima, who was arrested three times, into prison jumpsuits. "Everybody knows what they’re signing up for," the showrunner adds with a laugh.

But what feels revolutionary about House of Villains is how everyone is in on the joke. Giudice laughs as she reveals she "didn't even wear orange" when she "went away," so this challenge represents a first for her. Big Brother alum Jessie Godderz — a.k.a. "Mr. PEC-Tacular" — can't stop doing push-ups in between takes. Every cast member is fighting to make a better TV moment than everyone else — some work, while others fall flat. But even the bits that fail might make it into episodes, like season 1's disastrous first attempt at an introduction that set the meta tone for the rest of that season.

"We lean into our mistakes," Irwin says. "At every turn this year, we’re amping it up and making fun of it. That is our show — the wheels are falling off all the time. We’re not playing by the rules as a show — Survivor can’t do that same thing and get away with it. The purists would be like, 'You can’t do that!' But it’s all about keeping things fresh and leaning into the comedy and being as self-deprecating and making fun of the genre as possible."

That's why House of Villains changed the set where all the "Hit List" and banishment ceremonies take place. Last season, the room was designed to look like a cave, but it's been revamped to look like a C-list movie supervillain's lair. "The cheesier the better, honestly," Irwin says. "This feels like the Dr. Evil lair, truly inspired from Mike Myers, and I like it so much better than last season’s cave. Just get ready to see the fallout from what goes down in here."

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The only thing missing? The perfect evil laugh. Just don't ask Giudice to help with that: "I can't do an evil laugh," she tells EW before attempting to do it anyways (and failing). "It's so bad."

House of Villains season 2 begins with a two-night premiere on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT that will air simultaneously across Bravo, E!, SYFY, and USA. It continues the following night on Thursday with a new episode airing at 10 p.m. ET/PT on E! After the first week, the show will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on E!