June 10 (2013-06-10) – August 8, 2013 (2013-08-08)
The Winner Is is an American singing competition television series which aired on NBC. Hosted by Nick Lachey, the seven-episode series featured singers of all ages competing for a chance to win $1,000,000.[1][2] The concept of the show revolved around a series of "battles", in which two contestants compete for the votes of a jury consisting of 101 music professionals. The show premiered on June 10, 2013.[3]
The winner of the series was Katie Ohh, a nurse who won by a 57–44 decision. For her final song, she sang "The Climb". The runner-up was Sharde Bivans, a teacher, who performed "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" in the series' final battle. The other four finalists in the Final 6 were the performers Amy Showalter, Leah Grace, and the vocal groups Senior Sounds of Touch and The LaFontaines.
With a dismal 1.0 rating/3 share among adults 18–49, NBC announced its immediate cancellation on August 6, 2013, with two episodes remaining.[4]
Format
Each episode features six contestants, who may be a single performer or a group, and consists of three rounds.
Round 1
In the first round, the six contestants or groups are paired against each other and perform a song of their choice. After each of the contestants or groups have performed their song, each member of the 101-person jury decide who did better. The voting numbers are then revealed, but the contestants are not told which number is theirs.
The host then presents them with an offer of money, and asks them if they think they have lost or won the battle. If they think they have lost, the contestant will press the button to accept the offer - the first contestant to do so receives the cash amount but is immediately eliminated from the competition, with the win being defaulted to their opponent. If no contestants chooses to take the cash offer, the full results are then revealed, and the contestant with fewer votes is eliminated with no winnings.
The contestant with the highest number of votes, out of the three winners, automatically advances to the final round.
Round 2
In the second round, the two winners who did not receive the highest number of votes compete against each other in the same format as Round 1, but with a higher cash offer. The winner of this round goes on to the final round.
Round 3
In the final round, the remaining two contestants compete against each other, with a higher cash offer than in Round 2. The winner of the final round is declared the winner of the episode, and advances to the series finale.
Series finale
In the series finale, the six winners from the first six episodes (the Final 6) return to compete for the grand prize. The cash offers in each round are higher than those in the normal episodes, and the winner of the finale wins the $1,000,000 prize.
Contestants
Preliminary rounds
– The contestant won the round and continued in the competition.
– The contestant won the $1,000,000 prize.
– The contestant lost the round and was eliminated.
– The contestant took the money offer and was eliminated.
1Leah Grace and Gina Wagner tied for first place at the end of Round 1. Therefore, the 101 voters were asked to vote for who they would like to see "fast tracked" to the final round. The 101 voters decided with a 59-42 vote that Leah Grace would be "fast tracked". As a result, Gina Wagner was forced to compete in Round 2.
