Nancy O'Dell on FOX New Year's Eve Live 2011: "I Really and Truly Believe — If You Lead Your Life the Right Way, Things Come Back Around"
Emmy Award-winning TV personality Nancy O'Dell — who spent 13 years at Access Hollywood before departing to join Entertainment Tonight — hosted FOX's New Year's Eve Live on Friday, December 31 (11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET live) from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, featuring performances by Travie McCoy and David Archuleta. Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNaughton spoke with O'Dell about finally getting to see the ball drop after a decade of early New Year's Day parade calls, her co-hosting role on Oprah's new OWN Network show "Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star," and the scary decision to leave Access Hollywood two years before her contract ended.

Emmy Award-winning TV personality Nancy O'Dell — who spent 13 years at Access Hollywood before departing to join Entertainment Tonight — hosted FOX's New Year's Eve Live on Friday, December 31 (11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Premier Guide Miami sat down to find out what that means — and what comes next.
Emmy Award-winning TV personality Nancy O'Dell hosted FOX's New Year's Eve Live on Friday, December 31 (11:00 PM-12:30 AM ET live; CT/MT/PT tape-delayed) from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, with FOX cameras also capturing the Times Square ball drop in New York City. Musical guests included multi-platinum recording artist Travie McCoy and American Idol finalist David Archuleta. The special was executive-produced by Bob Bain, produced by Paul Flattery, and directed by Michael Dempsey.
On what she was most looking forward to: "I think, literally, about seeing New Year's Eve come in. I say 2011 seems like a great year career-wise for me because there are a lot of things that I'm getting to do that I've always wanted to do — like hosting a New Year's Eve special was one of the things on my career goal list. When FOX called me to host it, I was like, 'You're kidding,' because it was really one of the things that I really wanted to do, in addition to doing a show with Oprah, which I get to do, and Entertainment Tonight. I've been in bed by 7:00 or 8:00 for the past 10 years on New Year's Eve."
On her New Year's resolution: "I have the same resolution that I do every single year. Mine — and I think it actually lends to a much more healthy life than going with some diet — is to say: I'm going to look at everything with the glass half full, not half empty. Positivity is just something that I tell myself at the end of every year. To really try and look at everything in a positive light and not the negative light, and not go woe is me, but go, yes. Look at everything that we get to do in the New Year. That seems to have worked in the past years for me in having a healthy and happy life because it's so much about attitude."
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On co-hosting Oprah's new OWN Network show: "It's called Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star. One of my career goals that I've always wanted to do was work with Oprah, so when I got the phone call that Oprah and Mark Burnett want you to host this show on her new network, I was like, 'Oh, my gosh. You're kidding me.' I honestly didn't really care how much they paid me. I was like, I just want to do the show with Oprah. Whoever wins the competition will have their own show on her network — not a bad way to start out."
On leaving Access Hollywood two years before her contract ended: "Leaving Access after 13 years when I still had 2 years left of my contract was one of the scariest things that I've ever done in my life, but it just didn't feel like the right fit anymore. I honestly believe that if you try and lead your life in the right way, and you treat people really well, then things come back around. I had no idea when I left Access that Mary would, several months later, announce that this was her final season, and that that job would even be a possibility for me. It's just wild how things happen the way that they do."
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