Wednesday, April 27, 2022
‘The Ultimatum’ Reunion: Nick and Vanessa Lachey Stopped Going Through Each Other’s Phones After....
Nick and Vanessa Lachey probably didn’t expect a hosting gig on Netflix to be a place they’d air their real-life marriage issues. But that’s exactly what’s happened on The Ultimatum.
After the success Nick and Vanessa had helping cast members find romances on Love Is Blind, they joined Netflix again for hosting duties on a second reality TV series. This time, couples aren’t trying to find one another. Instead, they’re deciding whether the love they already have is enough to get engaged.
The Lacheys guide the cast through the ups, downs, and steamy dramas. They also give some private glimpses into their own relationship.
The Ultimatum brings together a group of couples who all face the same problem: One half of the couple is ready to get married, and their partner is … not. The ultimatum that’s been issued is to get married or break up.
Adding a serious wrinkle to the experiment is the fact that the couples on the show will spend time living with another potential partner from the cast. The premise: They may get the opportunity to see that someone else is a better fit for their happily ever after.
The Ultimatum brings together a group of couples who all face the same problem: One half of the couple is ready to get married, and their partner is … not. The ultimatum that’s been issued is to get married or break up.
Adding a serious wrinkle to the experiment is the fact that the couples on the show will spend time living with another potential partner from the cast. The premise: They may get the opportunity to see that someone else is a better fit for their happily ever after.
The show’s first season wrapped in mid-April, bringing plenty of the promised drama as well as some unhappy participants who feel their portrayal onscreen was manipulated. It’s also generated tons of buzz among viewers.
April went through Jake’s phone and sparked a confession from Nick and Vanessa Lachey
The show’s first season focuses heavily on the relationship between participants Jake Cunningham and April Melohn. After dating for two years, April pulled Jake onto the series with an ultimatum to propose. But things did not go as planned.
As a Netflix article introducing the couples put it, “Just one year after leaving the military, Jake wants to travel and become financially stable before he proposes to girlfriend April. But April, who wants a family as soon as possible.” The experiment did not push him to propose. Instead, Jake ended up getting cozy with fellow participant Rae Williams. April and Jake decided to go their separate ways at the series’ end.
ong the way, however, there was a scene where April went through Jake’s phone while he sleptt. Playing the part of good co-hosts, the Lacheys brought up this violation of privacy at the reunion. Vanessa started the convo by saying, “You went through Jake’s phone when he was sleeping. I’ve got mixed feelings about that. There was a time in my life when I did it.”
Nick and Vanessa bantered back and forth, joking about how they cracked one another’s passwords before Vanessa got real about therapy: “Honestly, I remember we went to a therapist and she was like, ‘If ya’ll are going through each other’s phones then you shouldn’t be together.'” Ultimately, Vanessa agreed with the therapist. They broke the habit for the sake of their marriage.
Canadian Country Star Brett Kissel Makes Sweet Harmonies Alongside 98 Degrees on New Single 'Ain't the Same'
On a red carpet at an award show in Toronto, Brett Kissel met 98 Degrees, and they shared a dressing room. And that was where their story could have ended.
"It was sort of like, 'How are you guys doing?' and then we moved on," explains Kissel, 31, during an interview with PEOPLE. "They introduced me on stage that night too, but that was about it."
But as fate would have it, the country singer from Canada and the pop group from the States would ultimately find themselves in a room together as they collaborated on Kissel's new single "Ain't the Same."
"It was the quickest collab that has ever happened in my entire life," laughs Kissel, who has made quite the career for himself in Canada with 15 top 10 radio singles, 4 No. 1 songs, and a slew of gold and platinum plaques. "Within three days of talking to them about this song, they had their vocals on it."
Certainly, the collaboration was a bit of a no-brainer for the men, as both Kissel and the members of 98 Degrees — Jeff Timmons, brothers Nick and Drew Lachey and Justin Jeffre — find themselves making their way into the country genre here in the States.
"You look at the demographics of 98 Degrees fans who have followed their band since the beginning, and you will find that those fans today are country fans," says Kissel of the continuing appeal of 98 Degrees, who are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary year since they formed. "So, we actually share a lot of the same fans. And if you strip down some of their biggest hits, they are in fact country songs."
The men of 98 Degrees couldn't agree more.
"People have been pushing for 98 Degrees to do country for quite some time," explains Timmons, 48. "For us, it's always about the song and if the song will allow us to showcase our harmonies and abilities and such. So, to us, it just felt like it was the right time and the right song and the right person to do the song with."
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"What separates a country song from a pop song is the production," adds Drew Lachey, 45. "You take a certain keyboard sound out and you put a slide guitar in there and now it's a country song. I'm simplifying it, but I think there is a lot of room in that middle area where you can kind of go back and forth between different genres that are appealing to you."
The song itself is about that age-old topic: everything one experiences in life is better when you are doing it alongside someone you love.
"It's sort of like if you don't have sun, the beach kind of sucks," Kissel chuckles of the song that he co-wrote alongside Karen Kosowski and Tim Nichols. "Within about an hour and a half, we had this song done from start to finish. Then we decided that we were going to go celebrate and have a cocktail."
And yes, the cocktails were also flowing during the video shoot, as Kissel and 98 Degrees reunited to not only have some fun and create music, but bond over their shared love for their respective families.
"When you put my family, especially my little kids on camera, you never know what you're going to get!" says Kissel, whose wife Cecilia was pregnant with their fourth child during the filming of the music video, which is set for release in May. "Actually, we all talked about our families when we were together, about how we all really love what we've been able to accomplish in their careers, but we still obviously love spending time with family and friends. We were really connected over that both as men and as parents."
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"I played 'Ain't the Same' for my wife and immediately she was like, 'Do whatever you got to do to convince the guys to get on this one," remembers Timmons. "And fortunately for me, it didn't take much convincing. But yeah, my wife was instrumental in pushing me forward with this one."
Everything about this collaboration seemed to go smoothly, except for one thing.
"A tree almost killed Nick," Kissel recalls of the near-miss caught on a special behind-the-scenes video premiering on PEOPLE. "I'm not embellishing that. That's 100% true story — if Nick didn't duck, he would have fallen two stories. This bus we were on had no business going down some of those streets, but the director wanted more scenery and palm trees," he says with a laugh. "We got the shot and Nick survived!"
Country Singer Brett Kissel Talks Collaborating With 98 Degrees on ‘Ain’t The Same’ [Exclusive]
Brett Kissel is a romantic at heart. The country singer, who refers to his wife as “so kind, so beautiful,” really does feel life ain’t the same when she’s not around. So was born his recent collaboration with 98 Degrees. The JUNO Award and Canadian Country Music Association winner sat down with Showbiz Cheat Sheet to discuss the single, “Ain’t The Same,” and what it was like working with the pop and R&B vocal group.
How Brett Kissel came to collaborate with 98 Degrees on ‘Ain’t The Same’
According to Kissel, “Ain’t The Same” was a quick song to write. It came easy to him and co-writers Karen Kosowski and Tim Nichols.
“We really just talked about all the great things in life that are maybe even better when you’ve got the person that you love beside you, and how if you take that person away from you, it really ain’t the same,” he tells Showbiz. “And that instantly became our title. And we didn’t spend much time on the song because it fell out. Sometimes you can write days for a great song, sometimes it’ll take you all day and hours and hours. This one, I think we wrote it in two hours and went and had a few cocktails and an early lunch.”
Around the time that Kissel, Kosowski, and Nichols wrote “Ain’t The Same,” there were “rumblings in the industry that said” 98 Degrees was interested in making a country record. Kissel’s manager presented the song to the group and they loved it.
“When that country record idea kind of fell to the wayside, Nick Lachey and Jeff Timmons reached back out to my manager and said, ‘We still love the song, but do you think Brett would actually like to do it with us?'” explains Kissel.
The “Ain’t The Same” music video is slated to come out in May.
“It wasn’t until the music video that we really got a chance to hang out in LA,” says Kissel. “And these guys are, obviously extremely famous — there were paparazzi, cameras, and fans waiting outside the studio to see and catch a glimpse of Nick Lachey and the band. But they’re the nicest guys.”
The country singer calls 98 Degrees “the four nicest guys I’ve maybe ever met in this business.”
I’m just grateful they said yes to doing this collab and that they added their tender, sweet, silky, beautiful vocals to make this song ever better,” he says.
As for what the video will entail, Kissel says it’ll show 98 Degrees showing him around Los Angeles, California.
“And all while I’m seeing the great sights of LA, The Hollywood Sign and going on a double decker bus, all that great stuff, I’m FaceTiming my beautiful wife and my kids and saying like, ‘It’s really great that I’m here, but it really ain’t the same without them,'” he says. “And then we do a concert at the end of the video where we’ve got a sold out show at one of the great theaters in LA and my wife and kids end up surprising me at the show. So catching that footage is really special.”
Brett Kissel on Nick Lachey’s ‘Love is Blind’ and ‘The Ultimatum’
“Nick Lachey is probably counting his money as he sees that it’s the number one show on Netflix in America,” Kissel says of his collaborator’s Netflix projects. “I’m really proud of his success and they really are very unique shows.
At the time of our interview, Kissel had watched both seasons of “Love is Blind” and was making his way through “The Ultimatum” with his wife of 10 years
The country singer is “happily married.” But was there ever a time he would have gone on a show like “Love is Blind” or “The Ultimatum”?
Monday, October 25, 2021
Nick Lachey Talks Celebrating 10 Year Wedding Anniversary With Vanessa Lachey In Hawaii As 98 Degrees Makes Sizzling Summer Comeback
Nick Lachey reveals the secret to 10 years in a happy Hollywood marriage.
In his case, it helps having surpassed his silver anniversary in another key relationship – with his band 98 Degrees.
“The Masked Singer” winner is preparing to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with actress Vanessa Lachey and noted the parallels between married life and band dynamics during an exclusive interview with ET Canada.
Nick, 47, and Vanessa, 40, tied the knot during a stunning ceremony at Sir Richard Branson’s private Necker Island in the Caribbean on July 15, 2011. Ten years later, they will mark their anniversary in another romantic island paradise, thanks to Vanessa’s new role on the “NCIS” spin-off airing on Global TV this fall, “NCIS: Hawai’i”.
“My wife just got a job in Hawaii, so we’re going to celebrate there,” Nick shared, sitting down with bandmates Jeff Timmons, Justin Jeffre and Drew Lachey to chat with us at Los Angeles’ Le Parc Suite Hotel.
“You can’t be quitters,” he added, about how he and Vanessa maintain a strong relationship. “It’s just like a [musical] group – you’re going to have tough days, but you’ve got to be committed, invested and communicate, so that’s what we do.”
Nick, who has three children with Vanessa, noted that everyone’s different and it’s important for couples to find what works for them. “We certainly don’t know the ins and outs of a happy [marriage] – we just do what works for us,” explained Nick, who started dating Vanessa after she starred in the music video for his 2006 solo single, “What’s Left of Me.” “Everybody’s different and for us we’ve learned how to communicate well and have a lot of pride in what we’ve built as a couple and as a family. We protect and cherish that.”
Cherishing family time is exactly what Nick has enjoyed since the coronavirus pandemic enforced more time at home after 26 years with 98 Degrees.
“The time with the kids is so special,” says the dad to Camden, eight, Brooklyn, six, and Phoenix, four. “The pandemic taught us to appreciate what we have. You don’t truly appreciate something until it’s gone, then you realize, ‘Wow, we took that for granted.’”
Nick’s brother Drew has also relished the pandemic’s “silver lining” of more time at home. Drew has two children – 15-year-old daughter Isabella and 11-year-old son Hudson – with his wife of 20 years, Lea.
“The best thing has been the time with family,” says Drew, who also keeps busy with “#DrewItYourself” DIY endeavours, which he chronicles on Instagram. “We were still touring and spending time away from home, so I missed my daughter’s plays and dance recitals and my son’s gymnastics meets. This year, even though those things weren’t happening, we had uninterrupted time to discover [our children] and spend time with them.”
Drew, 44, adds that the pandemic gave him greater appreciation for the role Lea plays keeping home life ticking along while he’s traveling with 98 Degrees.
“You definitely have a new perspective when the kids aren’t at school and you’re homeschooling and trying to figure out the virtual thing!” he says. “The past year either made people’s relationships stronger or broke people, so I feel fortunate it made my relationship stronger.”
Extended periods at home also allowed the musicians to pursue interests they previously had little time for. Drew learned guitar, while Nick sharpened his booze knowledge.
“I learned a lot about bourbon,” Nick jokes. “And, about red wine.”
“He learned he can’t tell the difference between a good bourbon and a bad bourbon,” quips Drew.
For father-of-five Jeff, the extra time allowed him to delve into business ventures and acting projects. Having previously starred in Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter’s boy bander-filled 2016 movie “Dead 7”, Jeff has wrapped portraying a pastor in romantic comedy “Baking Up Love,” releasing via Pure Flix on 1 September. He’s now preparing to shoot a Christmas movie.
“I’ve been spoiled in the past because we could be with our families during the week and go be pop stars in weekends,” says Jeff, 48, who’s been married to wife Amanda for 10 years. “But the last year gave me the opportunity to hang with my family more – although they might say it was enough before! – and get into other things I never had time to explore.”
Of course, like everyone, the singers faced difficult moments throughout 2020, with Justin, 48, struggling with extended periods at home following more than two decades of frequent travelling.
“There wasn’t much anyone could do – you couldn’t spend time with friends and family, go see shows or travel,” he says. “Normally, if I knew I was going to have time off, I would’ve planned a bunch of stuff, but we just couldn’t.”
Which is why Justin and his bandmates were thrilled to reunite in Las Vegas to record their first new non-holiday music in eight years. The foursome, who released their album 2.0 in 2013, followed by Christmas record Let It Snow in 2017, safely formed a “bubble” at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, recording in lavish suites which hosted late Elvis Presley during his Las Vegas residency days.
The new songs include summer banger “Where Do You Wanna Go,” which drops on July 9 and will be followed by a music video later in the month. The group also remixed old favourites like “The Hardest Thing” for an upcoming remix EP, Summer of 98.
The releases are part of the group’s 98 Days of Summer campaign, which features new photos, music and footage being rolled out daily, including fun throwbacks from the band’s early days. It was an era during which they were frequently compared to other boy bands like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, but the group felt different to their peers and feel any rivalry between the acts was generated by fans.
As for whether Nick and Drew felt any brotherly rivalry, Drew cracks: “I think he just knows I’m better than him.”
“We got to do a lot of cool things with the band, so the fact I got to share those experiences with my brother, who’s my best friend – you couldn’t have scripted it better,” offers Nick on a more heartfelt note.
“We’ve always been really close,” agrees Drew. “And these two chucklebutts became like brothers too, so it wasn’t like it was just me, Nick and these two other weirdos. The four of us became brothers, so the same nonsense and competitiveness I feel with Nick – whether it’s playing basketball or beating him at
Madden – we felt between all of us.”
“Don’t feel bad,” adds Jeff. “I lost to [Nick’s] son in Madden, so badly I was getting angry!”
As well as new music, the band will perform at the Great New York State Fair on 21 August and are scheduling further concerts. Nick, who was unveiled as the musician behind the piglet costume when he won The Masked Singer in May, says that after being forced off the road by COVID-19, he has new appreciation for the ability to jump on stage for fans.
“It’s hard to have that taken away and be told, ‘You can’t do this,’” he says. “The pandemic taught us to appreciate what we have and the freedom we all take for granted.”
98 Degrees Return to Pop Music After 8-Year Break With Fresh Perspective on ’90s Boy Band Struggles
For Jeff Timmons, it barely took a second to recognize his bandmate Nick Lachey’s voice behind the piglet costume on “The Masked Singer.”
“I knew as soon as I heard it – then went right down to The Strip and bet!” laughs the Vegas resident. It’s no wonder since Lachey’s was the same powerful, masked voice that first wowed Timmons as he searched for potential vocal group members while forming 98 Degrees 26 years ago.
Sent a tape of a track by Lachey’s band with Justin Jeffre, The Avenues, Timmons knew he’d found a special vocalist. “I heard Nick’s voice and without seeing what he looked like, I went, ‘I gotta get that guy.”
“That’s the only reason I made the cut — there was no picture with the tape,” cracks Nick Lachey.
“I was on the recording too, but he was not impressed!” adds Jeffre, who was later recruited by Nick Lachey.
Eventually joined by Nick’s brother, Drew Lachey, the boy band would sign with Motown Records, release chart-toppers like “Because of You” and “The Hardest Thing,” collaborate with Mariah Carey and go from having Janet Jackson posters on their walls to opening for the icon.
More than two decades on, the Ohio natives are back with their first new non-holiday music in eight years, starting with the summery, up-tempo single, “Where Do You Wanna Go.” “We recorded a couple of other songs too and they’re something different for us, but still fit with the 98 Degrees sound,” says Jeffre, sitting down alongside Timmons and the Lachey brothers in Los Angeles. “We always want that balance of music that’s relevant to today, but won’t make our fans go, ‘This doesn’t sound like those guys.’”
Recording new music was partly initiated by the pandemic, with Nick Lachey chuckling that the band members, “were bored.” Getting serious, he adds” “No, we’ve always wanted to do new music, but being unable to do anything for a year gave us all a new perspective. It made it so exciting to finally get back together. And, we had a great song submitted to us, which we all loved and wanted to record.”
Rather than work virtually, the quartet headed to Vegas and formed a recording “bubble” at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.
“You don’t really think, ‘I’m going to Vegas to be safe,’” says Drew Lachey of hitting Sin City amid the pandemic. “But it worked out well because we were at the Westgate, where Elvis used to play, so we had that throwback Vegas vibe, which made us even more excited to put out new music.”
In addition to recording new tracks, the foursome worked with producers like DJ Lux to remix heyday hits like “The Hardest Thing” and “Invisible Man” for upcoming remix EP “Summer of 98.” It’s all part of the band’s 98 Days of Summer campaign, which features new photos, music and throwbacks.
While the campaign celebrates the ongoing nostalgia for ’90s boy bands, the singers note making music today is more enjoyable than during that era. Bursting onto the scene alongside groups like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, they faced pressure to be like their peers.
“It was tough because we were expected to be a certain way with our label and had the pressure of being compared to these groups, while struggling to find our own identity,” says Timmons. “We had to find an identity and separate ourselves from Backstreet and *NSYNC, which was hard because they were well-oiled machines.”
“And it seemed like everybody was trying to push that narrative [of rivalry] onto us, but we saw ourselves as a different kind of group,” adds Jeffre. “There was only four of us, we weren’t dancers, we were all about the vocals and we were on Motown, so weren’t part of that same machine. But it was to our favor that we were compared to what became some of the biggest bands in history.”
One way the band did set themselves apart — albeit unintentionally — was becoming known as much for their physiques as their music. Timmons notes that staying fit came naturally given their sporty backgrounds, so they never anticipated such attention.
“We were all athletic guys, but when we’d get with the pop photographers — and back then there were only a few — they encouraged us to take our shirts off,” says Timmons. “It’s not like we got out there to flex, but it did become part of our image, so then you have to live up to that image because the second you slipped, someone would remind you you’re getting pudgy!”
Today, the group aren’t fazed by outside pressures and expectations. Nick Lachey notes they’ve also stopped taking themselves too seriously. “In the late ’90s, there was so much pressure and we were on this rollercoaster, so never stopped to smell the roses,” he says. “We have a better perspective now and know this is something we’re blessed to do 20-something years later. It’s like, ‘Let’s work hard for it, but let’s also enjoy the moment.’”
“Everything was riding on 98 Degrees when we were younger,” adds Timmons. “Now we have other jobs, kids, families, girlfriends and we’re able to go out there and just have a good time. We have the best rapport we’ve ever had and our fans seem more exuberant and excited than ever.”
Making music that would form that lifelong fan base is exactly what Timmons dreamed of when he moved to Los Angeles. But after the pal who introduced him to Nick Lachey and Jeffre dropped out of the group, the trio had to find a replacement, with Timmons’ brother Michael briefly joining the band.
Although family members may have seemed an obvious avenue to explore — New Kids on the Block has brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, while Backstreet Boys have cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell — Nick was reluctant to suggest Drew.
“I, of course, thought of him, but didn’t want to appear to have an agenda,” he confesses. “[Justin] actually suggested Drew because I felt uncomfortable doing it.”
Jeff says as soon as Drew joined, 98 Degrees’ sound “snapped” into place.
“Life got so much better for everybody,” Drew quips.
Among the standout moments of their early days, the band performed backstage at a Boyz II Men concert, worked with Stevie Wonder, recorded a No. 1 hit “Thank God I Found You” with Mariah Carey and opened for Janet Jackson in Hawaii.
“The spectacle and grandness of that production was amazing,” recounts Nick Lachey. “We were early into our career and had only played clubs, then suddenly we’re on stage in a stadium full of people. We grew up on Janet Jackson. I had the Rolling Stone cover hanging in my bedroom so it was like, ‘Wow, now we get to share the stage with this amazing woman.’”
It’s returning to the stage they’re excited for, starting with playing the Great New York State Fair on 21 August. Additional dates are expected to follow. “The opportunity to tour and perform – none of us will ever take that for granted again,” says Nick Lachey. “We’ve missed it a lot.”
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