Natpe celebrates reality TV

Winners line up at the Natpe 2017 Reality Breakthrough Awards

NATPE: The Voice and Chrisley Knows Best were among the winners at Natpe’s third Reality Breakthrough Awards, which were hosted by comedian and Fuller House star Bob Saget yesterday.

The ceremony recognised innovative reality content and talent, honouring seven series that “broke through the clutter” in the preceding year to alter the expectations of what constitutes a reality programme, Natpe said.

The Voice, which airs on NBC, won best reality competition, coming ahead of America’s Got Talent, American Ninja Warrior, Dancing with the Stars and Top Chef.

Meanwhile, USA Network’s Chrisley Knows Best won in the best docusoap category for the third year running, beating shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Lindsie Chrisley, daughter of self-made millionaire Todd Chrisley, was on hand to accept.

Asked why she thought the show continued to receive so much recognition in the industry, Lindsie Chrisley told C21 that it was down to the family’s unique dynamic.

“Every day is a new beginning for us. Every day brings a new challenge and no day has ever been the same since we started in 2012,” said Chrisley.

Hollywood Game Night was named best gameshow, edging past rivals such as Celebrity Family Feud, Family Feud, Match Game and The $100,000 Pyramid.

HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was awarded best factual show, beating Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Vice, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Real Time with Bill Maher.

Elsewhere, OJ: Made in America beat Netflix’s Chef’s Table and Making a Murderer in best documentary, while Shark Tank and Hard Knocks won in the structured reality and unstructured reality categories respectively.

Ken Rodgers, coordinating producer at Hard Knocks producer NFL Films, said: “We’ve been on the air for 16 years now and we’ve finally broke through. I’d like to thank my bosses for sending me to Miami and really accept this on behalf of the memory of the founder of our company, Steve Sabol, who passed away in 2012.”

Singer and songwriter Blake Shelton was victorious over the likes of Bear Grylls, Caitlyn Jenner, Reza Farahan and Todd Chrisley in the reality personality category. In the reality hosts category, Steve Harvey beat off competition from Andy Cohen, Jane Lynch, Nick Cannon and RuPaul Charles.

The nominees and winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Chachi Senior, senior VP, original programming at Spike TV; Corie Henson, executive VP, alternative entertainment at 20th Century Fox Television Distribution; Denise Contis, executive VP, development and production at Discovery; Rob Mills, senior VP, alternative series, specials and late-night at ABC Television Network; and Russ McCarroll, senior VP, development and programming at History.