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Does it really matter that Survivor doesn’t win Emmys anymore?

By Cheryl Wassenaar

"The Stakes Have Been Raised" - Jeff Probst on SURVIVOR: Game Changers. The Emmy Award-winning series returns for its 34th season with a special two-hour premiere, Wednesday, March 8 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Notably, the season premiere marks the 500th episode of the series. Photo: Timothy Kuratek/CBS Entertainment ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
"The Stakes Have Been Raised" - Jeff Probst on SURVIVOR: Game Changers. The Emmy Award-winning series returns for its 34th season with a special two-hour premiere, Wednesday, March 8 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Notably, the season premiere marks the 500th episode of the series. Photo: Timothy Kuratek/CBS Entertainment ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. /
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Now that The Voice has won yet another Emmy in reality TV, it’s time to ask the question: Does it matter that Survivor doesn’t win any longer?

Survivor, according to its official page on the Emmys website (yes, that is a thing), has been a presence at the Emmy Awards since 2001 — the year it was first eligible for any Emmys. Every year since, including 2017, it has received nominations, and it has seven Emmy Awards total.

However, curiously enough, the show has not earned a nomination for Outstanding Reality Program since 2006, which means that it missed out on any nominations for, say, Surviving Tribal’s best season, Heroes vs. Villains. Meanwhile, Jeff Probst himself actually hasn’t gotten a nomination for Outstanding Reality Competition Host since 2011 (when he won his fourth Emmy … in a row).

Now, rumor has it in the Survivor fandom that the show does not get submitted any longer. One of my Surviving Tribal co-experts even actually mentioned this to yours truly. That led to some research. Let’s boil it down to two salient points.

First, Survivor actually had some Creative Arts Emmys nominations this year (for casting, cinematography, and editing). That means it’s eligible for nominations. It did not win any of them. Second,Variety pointed out prior to the nominations that Probst’s work on Game Changers had gone particularly well for him. In the same article, Probst confirmed that that bit of fandom lore is not true, so he just didn’t get nominated.

However, does Survivor not winning any of the big Emmys for reality TV really matter anymore? The simple answer is that it probably doesn’t. The show can still bill itself as an Emmy winner. In fact, it does, on Probst’s profile and the introduction to the show, both on the CBS website. Sure, it stings a little to see The Voice win again, as it did last night. However, the show has long since made its mark on pop culture.

Besides, in terms of the overall ratings, last year, Survivor was in the top 25 of total viewers and within the top 20 in terms of share, according to Deadline. Additionally, with all the money the show gets from filming in Fiji … costs do count for something, you know?

Next: Probst's take on the S35 cast

Essentially, don’t read too much into the show not winning any Emmys. It’s a nice trivia point, but what’ll keep the show around is its ratings, and those remain pretty strong for a show closer to its 20th birthday than its 10th.

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