Emmys 2017: Why Gordon Ramsay, Eric Stonestreet, RuPaul Charles deserve Reality Host honor

Being an effective Reality Host is one of the most underrated tasks in the business. Do you have to be entertaining? Absolutely, but you also need to be adept at managing personalities and figuring out how to keep a show together. Without a good host, the show goes off the rails, or it doesn’t have a heart and soul. One of the reasons why some of the Emmy nominees in this category have been here before is because they’re accomplished at what they do. Their shows go on for a reason, and they’re a big part of it.

One of the things we strongly consider here is rather simple: Would the show be what it was if these hosts weren’t around? Our Emmy wishlist picks for Reality Host exemplify that perfectly.

The 2017 Emmy nominations will be formally announced on July 13. The results of all of our CarterMatt Emmy polls will be formally revealed on July 12 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific. They will officially close in the minutes leading up to that time.

Reality Host – Our Nominees

Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars (ABC) – It’s impossible for us to not include Tom in this category, and it’s been that way almost from the onset of it. He’s the perfect live TV host — he’s personable, funny, off-the-cuff, but also adept at managing time. He’s experienced enough in this that he can stop Bruno Tonioli mid-rant, and if there is anything that makes him worthy of another Emmy for the show, it’s probably that.

RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) – Try to say that there is anyone else who could host this show, and who knows when to have fun and when to take things seriously. Hosting Drag Race is very difficult, since you constantly have to tow the line between supportive, inspiring, constructive, and harsh. You have to manage the fun while coming up with fantastic soundbites. Somehow, RuPaul does it all, and makes it amazingly look easy and natural in the process.

Jeff Probst, Survivor (CBS) – Sure, there are always armchair quarterbacks who criticize and nitpick little things he does, but who credits him for managing Tribal Councils, for taking on touchy subjects, or for occasionally getting a great line in during the challenge? Technically, the Emmys already did, given that he’s won before, but it’s been a little while and we’re not sure that anyone has mastered the reality TV art of group conversation anywhere near as well as Jeff.

Gordon Ramsay, MasterChef Junior (Fox) – When you consider the billion or so shows that Ramsay hosts, he’s been fairly undeserved in this category over the years. Part of that may be that the stereotypical perception of his reality TV character is as this brash, angry guy who constantly demeans his contestants. Maybe that’s true sometimes on Hell’s Kitchen, but MasterChef Junior Gordon is kinder, gentler, willing to have a good time, but also tough when he needs to be. He delivers precisely what you would want in a cooking show for kids.

Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg, Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party (VH1) – There is zero reason why this should work. Yet, for whatever reason it does. Basically, the entire show is about these two and the crazy relationship that they have. It’s hilarious, somehow educational, and they manage to get impossibly famous people to take part in the madness. It’s wonderfully fun, but also wonderfully weird.

Eric Stonestreet, The Toy Box (ABC) – Sure, you can argue that the toy-themed competition show is very much about the kids, and that’s partly true. However, take Stonestreet out of the mix for a minute; who manages those kids? His deadpan delivery is both perfect for this show and genuinely hilarious. He understands precisely what the tone of the show is and his role within it, and that is very rare for a first-year reality show that has a fairly limited episode order.

Now, we leave it to you to vote!

Remember that to see some other Emmy categories posted throughout the month, be sure to visit the link here. (Photo: Emmys.)