RealityTVWorld.com today announced the nominees for the second annual Reality TV World "Blowie" Awards, which are presented yearly to outstanding productions, performances and situations in unscripted television programming. Consisting of 22 award categories with a total of 164 nominees, the Reality TV World "Blowie" Awards range from the serious to the frivolous, providing an overview of the reality TV programming in the year gone by.

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Although the 2002-03 television season featured a creative mix of unscripted programming, five programs received the lion's share of nominations, and the top three were all broadcast by the CBS Television Network. Leading the way were the stunning 54 nominations recorded by the Emmy-nominated "Survivor," which had three editions included in the eligibilty period for the Blowies. CBS's summer success "Big Brother" received 20 nominations, while critics' favorite and Emmy-nominated "The Amazing Race" picked up 17. ABC's "The Mole," which aired both a celebrity edition and a regular edition during the 2002-03 season, followed just behind with 16 nominations, and Fox's Emmy-nominated sensation "American Idol" closed out the "Big 5" with 12 nominations.

In addition to the awards for outstanding accomplishments, the Reality TV World Blowie Awards also feature categories for worst mistakes and a heavy serving of humor in some of the lesser categories. For example, Flo Pesenti, co-winner of "The Amazing Race 3," achieved the dubious distinction of being nominated in both the Least Favorite Personality and Biggest Drama Queen categories.

The first annual Reality TV World Blowie Awards, which were announced in March 2002, covered reality programming broadcast during the 2001 calendar year. However, with the recent explosion in year-round reality programming, the Blowie Awards Committee (as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences once did with the Oscars) revised the end of the annual eligibility period to conform with the television broadcast season, which traditionally ends at the end of May sweeps each year. As a result, this year's award eligibility period began January 1, 2002 and extended through May 21, 2003 -- the end of the 2002-03 TV season. Thus, the second annual Blowie Awards covers an extended 17 month period instead of the usual year -- a period that began with predictions of doom for reality TV after the Sept. 11 tragedy ... and ended with America riveted to the final showdown between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken.

In nominations by network, CBS managed to garner more than half of the total: 91 nominations out of a total of 164, aided strongly by the fact that "Survivor" alone received more nominations than any rival network did. Although ABC and Fox were noted for all of the reality shows they introduced during the 2002-03 season, they still only placed second and third, with 29 and 24 nominations respectively. Cable networks MTV, with 6 nominations, and USA Network, with 5, rounded out the top five. NBC recorded a scant 3 nominations, while E!, The WB, and The Learning Channel each received two nominations and ESPN earned one.

Voting for the Reality TV World Blowie Awards will take place on the RealityTVWorld.com website from now through Friday, October 3, 2002 and is open to any member of the public. Voting information is available on the RealityTVWorld.com home page or by visiting the 2003 Blowie Awards webpage. The software used to power the balloting site is designed to prevent multiple voting and will discard any duplicate submissions.

The award winners will be announced by RealityTVWorld.com on Friday, October 10, 2003.


NOMINATION BREAKDOWN BY NETWORK

1. CBS - 91
2. ABC - 29
3. FOX - 24
4. MTV - 6
5. USA - 5
6. NBC - 3
7. TLC - 2
8. WB - 2
9. E! - 2
10. ESPN - 1

NOMINATION BREAKDOWN BY SERIES

1. Survivor (CBS) - 54
2. Big Brother (CBS) - 20
3. The Amazing Race (CBS) - 17
4. The Mole (ABC) - 16
5. American Idol (FOX) - 12
6. I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! (ABC) - 5.5
7. Joe Millionaire (FOX) - 5
8. The Bachelor (ABC) - 3
9. Bachelorettes In Alaska (FOX) - 3
10. Combat Missions (USA) - 3
11. The Anna Nicole Show (E!) - 2
12. Are You Hot? (ABC) - 2
13. Fear Factor (NBC) - 2
14. Mr. Personality (FOX) - 2
15. Nashville Star (USA) - 2
16. The Osbournes (MTV) - 2
17. The Real World (MTV) - 2
18. Trading Spaces (TLC) - 2
19. Boot Camp (FOX) - 1.5
20. Beg Borrow & Deal (ESPN) - 1
21. Dog Eat Dog (NBC) - 1
22. Making The Band (ABC) - 1
23. No Boundaries (WB) - 1
24. Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV) - 1
25. Sorority Life (MTV) - 1
26. The Surreal Life (WB) - 1

(Note: Half-nominations result from one individual being nominated for performances in two different series.)

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