The Emmys have spoken: Jeff Probst (‘Survivor’) returns to reality host lineup for first time in 13 years

Emmy voters have re-lit Jeff Probst‘s torch.

For the first time in 13 years, the “Survivor” ringleader finds himself nominated in the Best Reality Host race at the Emmy Awards. Remember, he won this category four times in a row between 2008 and 2011 (the first four years of the category’s existence), but then he was strangely snubbed thereafter. In the time since, RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) has doubled Probst’s record by winning eight consecutive trophies for hosting. Can Probst now reclaim his time in the Emmy spotlight?

For this year’s contest, Probst and RuPaul are competing against Alan Cumming from “The Traitors,” Kristen Kish from “Top Chef,” and the six “Shark Tank” hosts: Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John. It’s the first host nominations for Cumming and Kish, and the fourth for the “Sharks.”

“Survivor’s” only other Emmy nomination this year is for Best Reality Cinematography, a category it previously won in 2010 for the popular “Heroes vs. Villains” installment. The other two historical wins for the long-running reality TV show are Best Non-Fiction Program (2001) and Best Sound Mixing (2001), both for the first-ever “Borneo” season.

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Gold Derby recently caught up with Probst on the red carpet at an Emmy FYC event for CBS/Paramount. He confirmed that the upcoming 47th, 48th and 49th seasons of “Survivor” will likely feature “new players,” and that Season 50 will be the highly anticipated returning season. “I mean, that’s the idea. Let’s make 50 that’s the first time that we bring people back so we can really lean into that and have fun with that,” he said.

Probst then added, “Deciding who’s gonna be on ‘Survivor 50’ will probably be the biggest decision we’ve made in our history of returning player seasons, because we’ve had 700 people play, and we’ve had a couple of hundred of amazing people that you could instantly put on the show. Then you have another 200 that you think, maybe we didn’t see enough of them — maybe we should bring them back. So there’s a lot of potential people.”

Season 47 of “Survivor” (yes, 47!) will debut on CBS on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. Click here for everything to know about the new season.

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