CarterMatt Awards 2015: Sawyer Fredericks, ‘Johnny Mac,’ Kelley Wentworth up for Reality Star

The Best Reality Star category is a personal favorite that we do every year for the CarterMatt Awards, mostly because it’s one that other awards-shows ignore other than a couple of broad, sweeping categories that focus on the show rather than the individual. While producers and crew members work tirelessly to make their shows great, would they be popular without great cast members, performers, artists, and so on? It’s hard to imagine so.

If you’re new to the awards, head over here to read up on some of the other categories and when they / the results will be announced. We’re thrilled to say that over 150,000 votes have been cast within the past week alone! The Reality Star winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 29 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Past winners – This is the fourth straight year we’ve done this category, and past winners have all come from different shows: “Ink Master” (Emily Elegado), “The Amazing Race” (Marie of Tim & Marie fame), and “Big Brother” (Dan Gheesling).

Sawyer Fredericks, “The Voice” (NBC) – Sawyer was an interesting case of a reality-show winner who was extremely dominant through most of his season, but somehow felt still like an underdog. Maybe it was the earthy, heartfelt music he sang, his humble personality, or his roots growing up on a farm that gave him that small-town feel viewers love to root for. He was a fantastic performer on the show earlier this year, and it seems like he’s well on his way to making great stuff in the real world. Check out his new EP!

John “Johnny Mac” McGuire, “Big Brother 17” (CBS) – We really enjoyed this past season of “Big Brother” for the most part, and it would’ve been wrong to not recognize someone from the show. The big challenge here came in singling someone out since there were a lot of big personalities. We’re going with Johnny Mac mostly on the basis of providing exceptional entertainment, which is what you really need if you are going to commit three nights a week for more than three months to watching a single show. He made some moves, would openly challenge Vanessa, and produced the best Diary Rooms on the show in years.

Matt O’Baugh, “Ink Master” (Spike TV) – We like to nominate people in this category for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it is because they were enormous characters, sometimes they are great in their ability, and sometimes they’re just really likable. Matt was a combination of the three on this past “Masters vs. Apprentices” season. We still feel like he was robbed in the finale after his master canvas wasn’t judges after 36 hours of work and we feel that he deserves a win somewhere. He also gave us one of the most touching moments in a series that is mostly defined by being a bad ass, one in which he helped a artist with Down syndrome create a drawing for a Flash Challenge tattoo.

Jade Roper, “The Bachelor” / “Bachelor in Paradise” (ABC) – The whole purpose of the “Bachelor” franchise, beyond of course the drama and the snarky commentary on it on social media, is of course to find love. Therefore, it was very easy to root for Jade over two seasons. She was one of the most likable and relatable of Chris Soules’ contenders, and then she went on to have her own story on “Bachelor in Paradise” leading to her engagement to Tanner Tolbert. It was a circuitous route to love, but sometimes doesn’t that lead to the best rewards? This list would not be complete without Jade on it.

Justin Scheman and Diana Bishop, “The Amazing Race” (CBS) – Yes, we know that they are technically two separate people, but since “The Amazing Race” chooses to treat teams in some ways as a single entity, we figured that we may as well do the same thing here (a slight change from our stance in the past where we nominated Marie solo). Justin & Diana were super-polarizing to many fans, but that is precisely why they’re perfect for recognition here! They made the season fun. Basically we feel like Justin was the human embodiment of the passion many “Amazing Race” fans would have for being on it, and he and his fiancee were extremely entertaining in their willingness to play hard and stir the pot if need be.

Kelley Wentworth, “Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance” (CBS) – Obviously Kelley wanted to finish higher than fourth place, but she probably had the biggest surge in popularity out of anyone during this season. She went from a relatively quiet player (at least in the edit) and an early boot on “Survivor: San Juan del Sur” to a non-finalist who actually received a full highlight package in the “Cambodia” reunion, complete with props from Jeff Probst! She found two idols, played hard, made moves, and was one immunity away from either winning the game or very close to it. She proved she was not just a great player, but someome who was compelling to watch on TV.

Now, we turn this over to you! Vote for your favorite below, and head over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.