Nick Lachey Hosts The Winner Is on NBC: A Singing Competition Unlike Any Other

On May 31, 2013, NBC Universal hosted a press call with Nick Lachey ahead of the premiere of The Winner Is, a new hybrid singing competition and game show. The series was set to debut with a sneak preview directly behind The Voice on Monday, June 10 at 10:00 p.m., before settling into its regular time slot on July 11. Lachey spoke about the show's format, the 101-judge jury concept, his ongoing relationship with NBC, the 98 Degrees reunion, his lullaby album, and what years of hosting have taught him.

A show unlike anything on television

Lachey described his attraction to the project in straightforward terms: "I've never seen a show quite like it, which really peaked my interest and got me excited to be a part of it." The format combines the performance element of a singing competition with the strategic decision-making of a game show. Contestants face off in head-to-head performances judged by a rotating panel of 101 music experts — producers, teachers, bloggers, and critics — who change each episode. After each performance, contestants must decide in real time whether to take a guaranteed cash payout or risk it all on the jury's vote. "It becomes this really walking the fine line between being confident in your performance and in yourself and also trying to take yourself out of the situation enough to be objective and say, should I take the money," Lachey said. "That's where the real drama comes into this whole thing."

The 101 judges — and the unpredictability of the vote

Lachey was candid about the jury's inscrutability: "I didn't necessarily agree with every decision they made, which is I think a little bit of the drama of it. You think you might be able to predict how the 101 is going to vote. But what I've found is sometimes there really is no way to predict." The jury considers not just vocal ability but charisma, stage presence, and audience connection. "There's quite a few different variables that the 101 considers when they make their vote. And there simply is no way to predict how they're going to vote on a particular artist." The first season ran seven episodes, with the final installment serving as a $1 million finale pitting the winners of the previous six episodes against one another.

Talent from every walk of life

The show's casting drew from a nationwide search across four or five cities, supplemented by online submissions. "These are talented people from every walk of life," Lachey said. "Everything from an emergency room nurse to a chicken farmer to a 10-year-old 6th grader." Contestants chose their own songs, which Lachey noted could cut both ways: "I've seen times when someone maybe picked a song that wasn't necessarily a great choice and maybe it did have an impact on the judges' decision. But I've also seen people make a curious choice — something like an aria — that at first you're like, this could be an absolute train wreck, but it turns out to be a brilliant one."

Blake Shelton, Clash of the Choirs, and the NBC relationship

Lachey's path to The Winner Is ran through a long history with the network: the Sing-Off, Stars Earn Stripes, and the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks broadcast. When a reporter raised the fact that both Lachey and Blake Shelton got their first taste of this kind of television on Clash of the Choirs — which Lachey won — he was characteristically gracious: "I'm sure if you asked Blake, he wouldn't admit that I actually beat him on Clash of the Choirs. That he gave up that crown. But Blake's a fantastic guy and I had a chance to work with him pretty early in his career and got a chance to know him and realize what a great character he is. So I couldn't be happier for all his successes."

The 98 Degrees reunion and the lullaby album

The call touched on two significant personal projects running alongside the new show. Lachey had released a lullaby album inspired by his son Camden, born in 2012 with wife Vanessa Minnillo. "The inspiration for the lullaby record was most definitely Camden," he said. "Some of the emotions you go through as a new father — music has always been a great way for me to express myself. To do a lullaby album just made a lot of sense. It was a very special and emotional way to go through that process." On the road with the 98 Degrees reunion tour, he described the logistical reality of new fatherhood: "When he gets up at 7:30, he doesn't care what you've done the night before. He's ready to eat." As for the reunion itself, Lachey credited his time on the Sing-Off with reigniting the impulse: "When I was working on the Sing-Off, all these great a cappella groups — 98 Degrees did a lot of a cappella, it's kind of how we got signed. So that in particular kind of gave me the itch to say, this really would be cool to get the guys back together."

On the craft of hosting

Asked what years of hosting had taught him, Lachey offered a candid assessment: "It really is like being a traffic cop. You've got so many things coming at you at once between dealing with contestants and prompter and producers and all this stuff. And if you can digest all that on the fly and make it seamlessly flow into one another, that's when you've gotten into the swing of things." He acknowledged learning early on from his then-girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo, who had years of live hosting experience. His advice to anyone starting out: "Make sure you get Lasik if your eyes are bad because there's a lot of reading involved. But more seriously — be as prepared as you possibly can. I don't think there's any substitute for preparation."

The Winner Is premiered on NBC on June 10, 2013, with its regular run beginning July 11. Nick Lachey hosted all seven episodes of the first season, including the $1 million finale.

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