While “Survivor” was unsuccessful in its journey to land three of its 2025 Emmy nominations at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy ceremonies, the longrunning CBS series still stands a chance to take home the award for Outstanding Reality Competition Program when the 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards continue on Sunday, September 14.
Though “Survivor” will face tough competition en route to Sunday’s ceremony – facing off against series like “The Amazing Race,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “The Traitors” – the show might be the favorite to take home the top prize in reality TV after a new report showed that “Survivor” celebrate more viewers than any other Emmy-nominated series in 2025.
‘Survivor’ Named Most-Watched Reality Series of 2025
According to Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, “Survivor” racked up more than twice as many viewing hours as any other show nominated in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category.
CBS/GettyWithin that window, “Survivor” aired its 47th and 48th seasons, both of which helped the longrunning series return to Emmys consideration after more than a decade off the Awards radar. Now, according to Nielsen, the back-to-back seasons also helped the competition reality show celebrate as many as 462.4 million viewers over the year-long eligibility period, which ranged from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025.
By comparison, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” boasted the second-highest viewership in the Reality Competition category, garnering 139.1 million viewers for its 17th season, which aired earlier this year. CBS’s “The Amazing Race” ranked thrid with 132.7 million viewers while “Top Chef” celebrated 94.1 million. Surprisingly, last year’s Outstanding Reality Competition Program winner – NBC’s “The Traitors” – ranked last out of the nominated series, with just 93.2 million viewers tuning in for its third season.
Actually, ‘Survivor’ Outranked EVERY Emmy-Nominated Series This Year
In addition to beating out its in-category competitors, “Survivor” similarly celebrated more than twice the amount of total viewers than any program nominated in the categories for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Liminted or Anthology Series during the 2025 Emmy’s eligibility period.
Nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, “The White Lotus” celebrated the second-highest viewership of any Emmy-nominated series with 210.7 million fans tuning in for its third season. Ironically, the Hulu original series was penned by former “Survivor” star Mike White, who is set to return to the jungle on the cast of “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” next February.
In the Outstanding Comedy category “Abbott Elementary” was the most-viewed according to Nielsen, besting competitors like “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Bear” and “What We Do in the Shadows” with 184.1 million viewers.
Finally, the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category had the least viewership collectively when compared to other categories, unsurprising given their short format. Within the category Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story” brought in the highest number of viewers with 149.5 million, less than a third of the viewers garnered by “Survivor” over the same period of time.
While the Television Academy doesn’t take viewership data into consideration when awarding Emmy Awards, the news marks a significant turning point for “Survivor” after the series reported a dip in ratings in recent years.
“Survivor” fans can tune into the 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, airing live on CBS this Sunday, September 14 from 8:00pm ET, to see if the series will renew its Emmy-winning status yet again. The series’ longtime host Jeff Probst will similarly make an appearance at Sunday night’s ceremony as a presenter.
