Jeff Probst: Amazing Race should quit the Emmys
Survivor has lost the Emmy every year to The Amazing Race. And look who is none too impressed.
- Published by David Knox
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What the?
Survivor host Jeff Probst -who won his second Emmy as best Reality host- spoke about Survivor losing to The Amazing Race yet again. It’was its seventh consecutive win.
“Maybe Amazing Race should do what Oprah did and pull itself out of competition,” he said.
Poor ol’ Survivor has lost every damn one (and so has American Idol, Project Runway, The Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars etc).
And the reason it has won? Well you try producing a show that jets to far-flung places around the globe with only enough time to run from the airport to the hotel and back again. The logistics would be a nightmare, not to mention the language and cultural barriers that must abound. Unlike Survivor putting down its bags in a foreign land, TAR is producing on the fly.
Add to that the diversity amongst the casting on TAR. In the current season we’ve seen senior, African-American, Asian, deaf, gay contestants. Survivor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to its season in which it divisively divided into four racially-based groups some years ago.TAR has celebrated diversity since its inception.
But Jeff, we still love Survivor too. Take comfort in the fact yours is still the daddy of all reality formats, and it’s still kicking (thanks in part to many of the Aussies that work on the crew). We all wish it had a primetime screening on Nine, instead of belated seasons chucked onto GO! in an apologist move. The show’s format is a killer, and you’ve now got two Emmys under your belt as evidence of the fact that your hosting move facilitates storytelling and drama much better than Phil Keoghan’s (heck he wasn’t even nominated last year!). And he’s probably just as miffed about that as you are about TAR.
Maybe you guys need to do a swap?
Source: LA Times
23 Responses
tottally agree David.
samoa is so much better already since there is beaches….
water challenges are more better to watch aswell
@Richard-
If your interpretation of “best survivor” translates to physical prowess and challenge domination, then I’m glad the “best” survivor doesn’t win every season. As Kay alluded to, Survivor is about social interactions and manipulation, which is why the spread of winners across 18 seasons thus far have been so diverse, from Richard Hatch to Parvati, unlike TAR where it’s usually the young alpha couple who win. Todd (China) is a far better player than say, James (China, Micronesia) ever was.
Also, I think the theme song for Survivor won an emmy too, back in it’s day. Another area where Survivor excels over TAR.
We have to remind you Jeff that Survivor wasn’t even nominated this year. Just face it, TAR is the superior of the two. It is different each season because of location, tasks, and strategy. Plus, Keoghan was offered the Survivor gig before Jeff but he turned it down.
The first series of Survivor was won by a gay nudist, and had African-American contestants.
@ Matt: Yes TAR is not perfect the way they hold teams to keep them all together sometimes, but at least if you come first in a leg, you have done it because you were the best team on that day.
In Survivor, you are ultimately punished for being the “best survivor” and by winning challenges. You are seen as a threat and booted out. If this was a sport and you win all your games only to not be voted the overall winner, you would be pretty peeved.
TAR certainly has to be the show closest to actual reality, as it is so out there in the real world and the people on the show are so flustered and off guard that they don’t have time to be fake.
@richardw, survivor’s motto is outwit, outplay, outlast. The ultimate survivor is the one who has the brains and the skills to work both the physical and social aspects of the game.
And its the social chess that keeps me watching, I mean watching people run around in exotic locations doesn’t beat watching four women manipulate a guy into giving up immunity and the chance of a million dollars. Survivor is a human study, the amazing race is a postcard. And, personally, the best season of the amazing race was the one with rob and amber. I wish they’d cast more interesting people on that show.
That said, TAR deserves the emmy. Out of all the shows mentioned, I think TAR appeals to the widest demographic. Also, I wish Phil won best host, I’m tired of Jeff’s biased hosting.
Richard you hit the nail on the head, survivor somewhere cold. But yes no eye candy. So hey it will never happen. Hey how come if they are “Surviving” the girls always have lovely smooth legs and perfect waxed eyebrows, while the guys have a beard!
I stopped watching TAR after CBS decided to release the racecourse before each season. That and it became too repetitive.
Survivor on the other hand is getting better and better with each season. I don’t think this counts as a spoiler, but David if you like crashing waves, the ginormously collosal wave in the intro for Samoa should rock your socks off. Beats every wave ever shown on survivor combined.
PS-Siberia is beautiful.
I couldn’t disagree more about TAR and for the contestants having it all in their own hands. They always get the teams back spaced together again when they do flights or even some tasks where they have to sign in for certain times. Bit hard to try and be the better team when your constantly being put back with the back. It was actually one of the main reasons why i stopped watching TAR.
@ VMan: Yes I realise that the all reality shows are pretty much the same each year but what I should have said was that for Survivor, the “best” survivor doesn’t normally win due to being voted out by people who think they are a threat, its more about strategy not about being the ultimate survivor. This is also true for other reality shows with a voting system. However Amazing Race is one of a few shows where the “best” contentants usually end up winning because it is all in their own hands.
@Someone BBBA: Survivor owns The Amazing Race? Er, not according to the Emmy count it doesn’t…The score is 7-0…that’s zip, nada, none, zero.
“Problem with Survivor is that its the same old thing each year. ”
…..uh….couldn’t you say the exact same thing about TAR???
I do think that Survivor at least deserved a nomination for best reality. That’s really shifty that they didn’t even nominate but they still did best reality host. Probably trying to ‘spread the wealth’ but it’s not cool with me.
Talk about sour grapes. He got his win. So i say stuff him. Both shows are great and surely the people who vote for the winners takes each show on its merits. He just is a big sour puss. TAR is one of the best reality shows around. So is survivor but if i had to choose one over the other it would be TAR over Survivor but not by very much.
David: I agree with your every syllabul on this topic.
I was always ‘anti’ Survivor when it came out, but then a chance watching of Pearl Islands episode 1 had me hooked and I’ve been a massive fan ever since.
And I Still dream of Rupert being drafted in to ’emergency presenter’ in the absence of Jeff. He’d be the Only replacement they could consider.
there is nothing wrong with a show choosing to pull out, but not because their told to by others. besides the best show is supposed to win not the 2nd best because the first best wasn’t nominated, it just wouldn’t make any sense.
I’d’ve thought Ryan Seacrest and co. might have more reason to be vexed – after all American Idol is and has been the highest-rating show (by miles) in the U.S. for years.
Survivor is never quite the same when it isn’t on a beach, including Gabon. The crashing waves just add to the drama, like a huge metaphor. The stillness of inland lakes or vast deserts don’t translate as well across 22 episodes. It begins to feel a bit Siberia to me. it was Survivor’s escapist success that inspired Lost to capitalise on the same setting, only in drama.
As long as TAR keeps winning best reality show and Jeff keeps winning best reality host, it will guarantee more seasons of each, and that’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned.
Survivor wouldn’t be Survivor without Jeff (take Nine’s Australian version as case in point), and no one can philiminate like Phil (or eyebrow pop either!). So let’s just hope they both keep getting nominated forever.
Survivor owns The Amazing Race.
@ Richard, the issue of doing a cold climate survivor is something that has been considered, but they decided against it because it would result in a lot of boring footage of people huddling together indoors not doing anything. Then you’ve got the threat of hypothermia, which would mean more assistance would have to be provided to the contestants. It’s still something they might do in the future though.
It didn’t even seem like Survivor was in the running from the list I saw earlier here…?
Problem with Survivor is that its the same old thing each year. Plus the “best” Survivor doesn’t usually win because they are seen as a threat.
Why don’t they do a Surviour in colder climates? Would make it more interesting but I guess the reason they don’t do this is because they want to show a bit of eye candy.
sour grapes Probst, even if it was tongue in check.
The best show won, and will continue to do so!