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The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards are on their way, coming at you on September 17th. In preparation, Decider is going to make the case for one deserving winner in each of the major Emmy categories. Who SHOULD win? What are their chances? What’s the competition like? We’re giving a full-service endorsement. Today’s edorsee? RuPaul’s Drag Race in the Outstanding Reality Competition category.
Category: Outstanding Reality Competition Program
Who Deserves to Win: RuPaul’s Drag Race
The Case for RuPaul’s Drag Race
In the past year, RuPaul’s Drag Race has gone from a popular cult show on a little-watched cable network to one of the most talked-about reality competitions on TV, delivering two of its strongest and buzziest seasons. Drag Race was already the best reality show on TV, and you’d have been hard-pressed to tell anyone within its community of loyal fans that its reach was niche, but the show’s move from the Logo network to Viacom neighbor VH1 proved that the ceiling on television’s premiere drag competition was even higher. The show scored record ratings and was a massive hit on social media.
Of course, this is the Emmys, and “popular on social media” doesn’t always cut it with this crowd. But if Emmy voters actually watch the shows, it’s hard to believe they won’t come away very impressed by Drag Race. Though the show aired both All-Stars 2 and Season 9 during this year’s eligibility window, they only submitted season 9, which means that the pristine episode where Alyssa Edwards and Tatiana both fight their way back into the competition and then eliminate Phi Phi O’Hara will go sadly unrewarded. But it also means that voters will get to watch the bonkers bananas Season 9 finale, and by the time they get to Sasha Velour and the rose petals, they better be throwing Emmys up on that stage, honey.
The Competition
The other five shows nominated in this category are:
The Amazing Race (CBS)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Voice (NBC)
The Emmy Awards are a creature of habit, and nowhere is that more evident than in the reality categories. In the 15 years that this category has existed, The Amazing Race has won 10 times and has never not been nominated. Only three shows total have ever won this award, and they’re all present here: The Amazing Race, Top Chef, and The Voice, which has won three of the last four years. It’s honestly one of the most frustratingly rote categories on the ballot, and you sometimes get the sense that the TV Academy is embarrassed of reality and doesn’t want to take the time to get into the nuances of what makes a reality show good or bad, so they just blindly vote for the one or two shows they can stomach and call it a day.
But that seems like an attitude for another era. While not all of the shows nominated this year are working at their highest levels (both The Amazing Race and Project Runway are shells of their former selves), Top Chef, for instance, aired one of their best seasons in years, a new-chefs/returning-chefs hybrid season that crowned fan-favorite Brooke Williamson as champion. The combination of a pre-approved Emmy favorite plus a particularly strong season could prove tough to beat.
The Odds
It depends on how optimistic you’ll allow yourself to be. That it took RuPaul’s Drag Race nine seasons to crack this lineup is a testament to how stubborn these Emmy voters are, so it might be foolish to expect that Drag Race could pull off the win.
That said, momentum is definitely on Drag Race‘s side. Last year, RuPaul Charles himself took home the Emmy win for Outstanding Reality Host. And the show’s seven total nominations this year (plus another one for Untucked, the show’s web-exclusive after-show) were a big jump up from just two in 2016 and one in 2015. These are signs that the Emmy voters are connecting to the show more and more. The time may well be right.
Bonus Points
In a year when Game of Thrones is ineligible, Emmy voters can still find a way to honor a scene of shocking cinematic carnage in a different category:
