RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Traitors have dominated the reality categories at the Emmy Awards over the past decade, but every empire eventually falls.
Is this the year that a new contender claims victory, or might Television Academy voters return to a show they haven’t awarded in years in honor of its landmark 50th season?
Reality Host
1.
Alan Cumming
The Traitors
2.
RuPaul Charles
RuPaul’s Drag Race
3.
4.
5.
Shark Tank Hosts
Shark Tank
Gold Derby’s Emmy odds for Best Reality Host currently have Alan Cumming (The Traitors) and RuPaul Charles (RuPaul’s Drag Race) nipping at each others’ heels at 99% to be nominated. Jeff Probst (Survivor) places third at 96%, followed by Kristen Kish (Top Chef) at 93%, and the Shark Tank hosts at 67%.
RuPaul won the host race a record eight times in a row (2016-23) before Cumming eventually took over, winning twice so far (2024-25). The original repeat champion in the contest was Probst, who claimed the first four inaugural statuettes (2008-11) and is back in the running again for Season 50.
Per our data, Best Competition Program will once again be a race between The Traitors and RuPaul’s Drag Race, as both enjoy 99% shots of earning bids. The other three projected nominees are Top Chef at 96%, Survivor at 95%, and The Amazing Race at 89%.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is a five-time series champion (2018-21, ’23), losing to the now-canceled Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls once (2022) and to The Traitors the past two years (2024-25). The category’s all-time record still belongs to The Amazing Race, which has claimed 10 trophies through the years.
On The Traitors, the impeccably dressed Cumming plays a heightened version of himself, a character he likens to both a “James Bond villain” and a “castle daddy,” he told Gold Derby. The Scottish entertainer is eligible for Season 4, which ended with a Traitor, Love Island‘s Rob Rausch, winning for the first time since the show’s inaugural installment.
Season 18 of RuPaul’s Drag Race was faintingly good (just ask Briar Blush), with Mama Ru crowning Myki Meeks in the grand finale over runner-up Nini Coco. “I have an even better understanding [after winning] of who I am and what I can do,” Myki told Gold Derby. Fan-fave Jane Don’t, a surprise pre-finale boot, was named Miss Congeniality, while Discord Addams’ stiff walk kept RuPaul laughing all season long.
Survivor celebrated its 50th season this year with countless twists and multiple celebrity cameos, including MrBeast. Probst seemed to be enjoying the game more than ever before, by participating in a challenge and even rapping for the contestants. “There are so many other good shows in the genre that I kind of thought we’d never hear from [the Emmys] again,” Probst told Gold Derby last year. “We’re still here!”
Kish is a two-time host nominee (2024-25) who is hoping to win Top Chef‘s first Best Reality Host Emmy following its prior losses for Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons. Kish told Gold Derby, “I certainly could have never imagined holding this [host] position,” particularly after starting out as a contestant in Season 10, which she won. Top Chef claimed Best Competition Program in 2010, and is now eligible for Season 23, set in the Carolinas.
The Amazing Race globe-trotter Phil Keoghan has yet to win any of his four nominations for hosting, but he did take home 10 as a producer. Emmy nominations are “incredibly rewarding … especially to still be part of the zeitgeist after 24 years,” Keoghan told Gold Derby last year. Season 38 brought a new twist as all of the teams featured players from Big Brother, including winners Jagateshwar “Jag” Bains and Jasmair “Jas” Bains.
The multiple emcees from Shark Tank and Queer Eye have already been nominated multiple times as hosts — five for the former, four for the latter — but have yet to win this category. This year, Shark Tank submitted Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Daniel Lubetzky, and Kevin O’Leary; and Queer Eye entered Jeremiah Brent, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness.
The 2026 Emmys nominations will be announced July 8.
