2024 Emmy nomination predictions: Reality TV contenders

Real talk: The Emmy categories for reality TV programming could use some fresh blood.

Will 2024 be the year that voters finally recognize the Real Housewives or Bachelor franchises? Can The Traitors break through after just two seasons? And who will have the honor of losing to RuPaul in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program category? Read on for answers.

Reality Competition Program

RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
The Voice (NBC)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Traitors (Peacock)

There’s generally very little movement in this category, though a newcomer can occasionally break through. (See: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls in 2022.) Recent awards momentum for The Traitors (including four wins at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards and a Television Critics Association Awards nomination) bodes well for its chances.

Also in the mix: Survivor (CBS), The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge (Netflix)

Deserving dark horses: Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix); The Golden Bachelor (ABC). One featured a brutal competition that left a single winner standing; the other was an unscripted version of the hit Korean survival drama. Both were riveting TV.

Host for a Reality or Competition Program

RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Queer Eye (Netflix)
Kristen Kish, Top Chef
Alan Cumming, The Traitors
Nicole Byer, The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge

Also in the mix: Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank (ABC); Jeff Probst, Survivor

Structured Reality Program

Shark Tank
Queer Eye
Love is Blind (Netflix)
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Food Network)
Antiques Roadshow (PBS)

Deserving dark horse: Finding Your Roots (PBS). A similar celebrity genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are?, earned five nominations in this category. Why aren’t voters giving props to Finding Your Roots, which continues to make headlines in its 10th season?

Unstructured Reality Program

Welcome to Wrexham (FX)
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked (MTV)
Selling Sunset (Netflix)
The Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show (HBO)
Below Deck Mediterranean (Bravo)

Untucked, Sunset, and last year’s winner, Welcome to Wrexham, should earn repeat noms. Jerrod Carmichael's Reality Show is also gaining traction, with wins at the Gotham TV an Webby Awards, as well as Critics Choice Real TV and Television Critics Association Awards nominations.

Also in the mix: Deadliest Catch (Discovery), Project Greenlight: A New Generation (Max), Love on the Spectrum (Netflix)

Deserving dark horse: The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (Bravo). Come on, voters! Give the Vanderpump Rules slot to the wild fourth season of RHOSLC. You want Scandoval-level drama? These ladies have it all: Receipts! Proof! Timeline! Screenshots!

Nominations for the 76th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced on Wednesday, July 17. The ceremony will air live on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on ABC.

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