Craig Plestis knows reality programming. He is an innovator and visionary who has been at the forefront of the category since its inception. He is the brains behind the #1 New Show in America, The Masked Singer for Fox, which had the highest rated unscripted launch in 8 years and is the highest rated new show, regardless of genre. In addition, it is the #1 show on Fox and the network’s most streamed unscripted show ever. 

As the former head of Reality at NBC, he helped create and launch hits such as America's Got Talent; Deal or No Deal; The Biggest Loser; The Apprentice; The Singing Bee; 1 vs 100; Last Comic Standing; Nashville Star; The Chopping Block with Marco Pierre White; Dog Eat Dog; Fear Factor; The Contender; Grease, You’re The One That I Want; Thank God You’re Here; Three Wishes; and Treasure Hunters.  He took chances on controversial and socially important shows such as Baby Borrowers and Who Do You Think You Are?, just to name a few. In addition, he was in charge of the perennially popular Golden Globe Awards.

As head of Smart Dog Media, Craig was the executive producer of the NBC singing game show The Winner Is, hosted by Nick Lachey, in partnership with Talpa Media, producers of The Voice for NBC. He was also the executive producer of more than 70 episodes of the NBC hit game show Minute to Win It, hosted by Guy Fieri, which was the winner of the International FRAPA Award for Best Studio-Based Game Show. In addition, Craig executive-produced NBC’s Who’s Still Standing? a game show that featured contestants falling through trap doors after answering trivia questions incorrectly.

In 2013, Smart Dog Media launched Robot Combat League for the Syfy Channel, the world’s first giant fighting robot competition series. Craig also served as the executive producer of Syfy’s diabolical game show Exit, based on a popular Japanese format. Continuing his relationship with Syfy, he brought them Opposite Worlds, the English-language version of the popular Chilean format, Mundos Opuestos. Craig has also worked extensively with The Food Network, producing three series in the last few years. Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell recently wrapped its third season on the network. The series initially launched as Chef Hunter before being rebranded as a vehicle for the very popular TV chef, Anne Burrell. In addition, he created and produced Extreme Chef , which took seven of America's most fearless chefs out of their kitchens and dropped them into extreme locations. Additionally, Craig was the executive producer on two half-hour syndicated series for Tribune: Unsealed: Alien Files and Unsealed: Conspiracy Files, which are currently available on Prime Video. Plestis will be executive producing Cash Pad for CNBC this year.  

Speaking on: Case Study: The Masked Singer