2026 Creative Arts Emmys Night 1 Winners: Bad Bunny and ‘The Traitors’ Dominate

The 2026 Emmy Awards are officially underway, and Night 1 of the Creative Arts Emmys handed out plenty of gold before television’s biggest stars gather for the main ceremony later this month.

Saturday night’s ceremony focused primarily on reality, variety and nonfiction programming, and by the end of the night, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show had emerged as the biggest winner with seven Emmys. The Traitors wasn’t far behind with six wins, while The Late Show with Stephen Colbert picked up five during its final season.

Bad Bunny Rules the Night

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny led all programs Saturday with seven victories, including Outstanding Live Variety Special.

The Super Bowl performance also collected Emmys for music direction, choreography, sound mixing, lighting design/lighting direction, technical direction and camerawork, while Hamish Hamilton won for directing the special.

The haul also gave Bad Bunny his first Emmy as a producer and performer, adding another major trophy to an already very crowded awards shelf.

‘The Traitors’ Continues Its Emmy Winning Streak

Apparently, the Faithful weren’t the only ones impressed.

Peacock’s The Traitors walked away with six Emmys, including another win for Alan Cumming as Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program. It marked Cumming’s third victory in the category for hosting the series.

The Traitors also won for directing, production design, picture editing, cinematography and costumes, giving the reality competition another strong showing with Emmy voters.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum earned three awards, including Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program. The series also won for casting and picture editing. PBS staple Antiques Roadshow took Outstanding Structured Reality Program.

Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Has a Big Night

One of the more notable stories of the evening belonged to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which collected five Emmys as the CBS late-night series heads through its final season.

The show won for writing, directing, picture editing, lighting design/lighting direction and technical direction and camerawork. Its digital companion series, Colbert Before Air, also won Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series. That gives Colbert and company some serious momentum heading into the Primetime Emmys, where The Late Show is also competing for Outstanding Talk Series.

Mariska Hargitay Wins Two Before Hosting the Emmys

Mariska Hargitay doesn’t have to wait until hosting Emmy night to have a reason to celebrate.

Her HBO documentary My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, about her late mother Jayne Mansfield, earned two awards Saturday. Hargitay won Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, while the film was also named Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. The victories come 20 years after Hargitay won her first Emmy for playing Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Apple TV’s Mr. Scorsese was named Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, while The Librarians won Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Tucci in Italy took Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.

The Muppets Are Emmy Winners Again

Disney+’s The Muppet Show revival also had a very good night, earning four Emmys.

The special won Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), along with awards for production design, writing and picture editing. The win came on the 50th anniversary of the original Muppet Show premiere, something executive producer Seth Rogen acknowledged while accepting the award. Sabrina Carpenter, who served as an executive producer and performer on the special, earned her first Emmy with the victory.

More Notable Night 1 Winners

Jeopardy! won Outstanding Game Show, while Jimmy Kimmel took Outstanding Host for a Game Show for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Octavia Spencer earned the Narrator Emmy for Investigation Discovery’s Lost Women of Alaska, and Desi Lydic won Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains.

HBO Max’s Inside The Pitt won Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series, while The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize earned the Emmy for writing for a nonfiction program.

Other winners included Ocean with David Attenborough, which earned two Emmys for cinematography and sound editing, and The Masked Singer, which shared the Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Programming award with The Traitors.

And this is only half of the Creative Arts weekend. Night 2 takes place Sunday, September 6, shifting the focus toward scripted television, including drama, comedy and limited series categories. The two Creative Arts ceremonies will be edited into a single special airing Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FXX, with streaming available on Hulu the following day.

The main event arrives Monday, September 14, when Hargitay hosts the 78th Emmy Awards live on NBC and Peacock.

See full list below:

2026 Creative Arts Emmys — Night 1 Winners