Kathy Griffin has been dethroned as reality royalty.

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A&E's Intervention reality series won Outstanding Reality Program honors during Saturday's Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony -- defeating Bravo's Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, which had taken home the award the two previous years.

Intervention also defeated PBS' Antiques Roadshow, Animal Planet's Dog Whisperer, and Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters reality series in the category.  It was Intervention's first ever Emmy win.

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was also a big night for Fox's American Idol -- which claimed a total of three awards in the Outstanding Art Direction For Variety, Music Or Nonfiction Programming; Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series; and Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) For Variety, Music Or Comedy Programming categories.

The three awards represents the most ever received by Idol -- which had claimed one Emmy Award in each of the last two years after it had previously been shut out during its first four years of eligibility.

Project Runway also claimed its first-ever Emmy Award during the ceremony, with its editors winning Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming honors.

In addition, Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Discovery Channel's Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment also won their first ever Emmy Awards in two cinematography categories. 

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations claimed the top spot in the Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming category, while Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment won in the Outstanding Cinematography For Reality Programming category.

Fox's So You Think You Can Dance won two awards, with wardrobe winning in the Outstanding Costumes for a Variety/Music Program or a Special category and choreographer Tyce Diorio winning in the Outstanding Choreography category. 

Dancing with the Stars -- which led all reality shows with a total of 10 nods this year -- took home only one of the eight statuettes that were handed out in its nomination categories during Saturday's ceremony, winning in the Outstanding Hairstyling For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special category.

The show will compete against American Idol, The Amazing Race, Project Runway and Top Chef for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program during the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards that will air live from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on Sunday, September 20 at 8PM ET on CBS.  The Amazing Race has won the award in all six years it has been previously presented.

In addition, The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi and "co-host" Tom Colicchio, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron, Project Runway host Heidi Klum, and Survivor host Jeff Probst will also compete in the Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program category, which will be awarded next Sunday.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch lost in the Outstanding Nonfiction Series category to PBS' American Masters, which also defeated PBS' American Experience, the BIO network's Biography program, and Showtime's The American Life.

Despite receiving four nominations for the third consecutive year, Deadliest Catch went home empty handed. 

In addition to Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Fox's Hell's Kitchen, History Channel's Expedition Africa; Animal Planet's Whale Wars; NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice; and ABC's The Mole and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition also received one nomination each but won none.

An edited two-hour version of the 2009 Creative Art Emmy Awards, which was hosted by Griffin, will air on E! on Friday September 18 at 8PM ET/PT.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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