page_title: The Contest
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: The Contest / Reception
caption_attribution_description: A very rare photo taken DURING the telecast, from the 5th row. The cast of Seinfeld had just won for &quot;The Contest&quot; and had left their seats (the empty seats you see) to go up on stage - They won for &quot;The Contest&quot; episode. I was temporarily filling an empty seat and sneaked out my camera to take this picture. (Photography is strictly prohibited.) The woman in white being photographed by the TV cameraman is Jerry Seinfeld's mother, Betty. He was sitting next to her in the audience. Photo taken at the 45th Emmy Awards 9/19/93 - Permission granted to copy, publish or post but please credit &quot;photo by Alan Light&quot; if you can
context_page_description: "The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The 11th episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longest time without masturbating.
  As NBC thought that masturbation was not a topic suitable for prime time television, the word "masturbation" is never used in the episode. The term "master of my domain", describing someone who has resisted the urge to masturbate, has since become a catchphrase in popular culture.
  The writer of the episode, Larry David, won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series for his work. The episode was ranked number 1 on TV Guide's 2009 list of "100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time".
context_section_description: "The Contest" is considered one of the best Seinfeld episodes, winning several awards and positive reviews from the critics. Many of the reviews were towards the episode's writing. David won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode. He also won a Writers Guild of America Award for his work on the episode. Director Tom Cherones won a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series for this episode. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing. TV Guide ranked the episode #1 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
  "The Contest" received a Nielsen rating of 13/19, meaning that the episode was watched by an average of 13% of households and 19% of all televisions were tuned to the episode when it was broadcast. Approximately 18.5 million people watched the episode then. The first repeat of the episode gave Seinfeld its highest ratings up till that point, with a 20.1/30 Nielsen Rating. It also received only 31 complaints from viewers, despite the subject matter. There were worries from advertisers who did not want to advertise during the episode due to the topics that were being discussed. Most regular advertisers did not broadcast adverts during the show, because the series did not have good ratings at the time.
  The episode is considered by most reviewers as a success for being able to cover a controversial subject in an inoffensive manner. Jonathan Boudreaux for tvdvdreviews.com said, "The Emmy-winning script by Larry David introduced the brilliant euphemism 'master of my domain' to our lexicon and helped the series to truly become must-see TV. We know what the episode is about, but the script never explicitly says it. 'The Contest' effortlessly takes a potentially incendiary subject and renders it utterly inoffensive yet hilarious." He also said that "The Contest" was "one of the series' most infamous" episodes. Donna Dorsett from audaud.com commented on the refusal to use the word "masturbation," saying, "If the word had been used, even once, the show would not have been nearly as hilarious. The episode was totally inoffensive."
  James Plath from DVD Town said, "Estelle Harris, as George's mother, is hilarious." Although he himself did not appear in the episode, John F. Kennedy Jr. appeared to have had no problem with appearing as a character in the episode, with his role being played by an uncredited actor.
caption: Seinfeld cast on stage during the 1993 Emmy Awards.
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