In Monday’s season opener of Rock the Block, inside designer and TV character Taniya Nayak shares how a lot she fangirled when advised her associate on the HGTV sequence was 98 Degrees musician Drew Lachey. However, as the pair sat down for an unique chat with Country Living, Taniya couldn’t assist spilling that it’s one other boy band—Boston’s New Kids on the Block—who’ve all the time had her coronary heart!
“Look, the truth is I grew up with New Kids on the Block,” she laughs. “That doesn’t mean I wasn’t a fan of 98 Degrees. I am. But I’m also a Boston girl, so in all fairness, it just is what it is.”
“See what I have to put up with?” retorts Drew.
But Drew, 49, needn’t fear. After seven weeks working with Taniya, 53, in Sin City, he has gained over the Battle on the Beach star. “My fandom has shifted towards Drew,” admits Taniya. “He’s now my number one. Sorry New Kids!”
The duo are going up in opposition to musician and design agency proprietor Brooke Hogan (paired with Scott McGillivray), Super Bowl champ Vernon Davis (paired with Mina Starsiak Hawk), and former Survivor stars Chelsea Meissner and Kim Wolfe in season seven of the sequence. Premiering Monday, April 13, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, the groups may have $275,000 to remodel 4 equivalent properties into fabulous Las Vegas houses.
Drew and Taniya crammed us in on which of their opponents took them without warning, the parallels between music and development and the recommendation Drew obtained from NKOTB’s Jonathan and Jordan Knight, who previously competed on Rock the Block.
How a lot had been you into arts and crafts as youngsters?
Drew: I wasn’t. But once I was in highschool, I began stepping into set design and constructing issues for performs and musicals. Then as soon as I grew to become a house owner, I began getting taken benefit of by contractors, or needed to vary issues with out paying for it, so I began figuring it out on my very own.
Taniya: I used to be very artsy—all the time drawing, sketching, doodling, and taking artwork courses or drafting courses. My father’s an architect, so I grew up going to his workplace and watching him draw blueprints. That’s the place my love for design got here from.
Taniya, has your Indian heritage influenced your artistic eye?
Taniya: India’s so wealthy and colourful, so individuals anticipate that might be a part of my aesthetic. But my dad was a really fashionable structure man, so we grew up with that—clear strains, white partitions. I’m a very monochromatic particular person.
What designers or manufacturers have influenced your type?
Drew: Bob Vila and This Old House! I’m joking. My design type’s primarily based round following Taniya round. Or I’ve one thought of what seems good, then my spouse [Lea Lachey] has the proper thought of what seems good and that is what we go along with.
Taniya: That’s not true. He has such a very good eye! For me, in speaking about my dad, I understand the profound impact he had on my design aesthetics. He was a first-generation Indian coming right here, in order that they did not have cash, however he made issues look lovely with out some huge cash. Drew and I carried out that into our construct. We did issues that had been inexpensive, however had a high-end look. I believe that is influenced the whole lot I do, so shout-out to pops!
What had been your first impressions of one another coming into Rock the Block?
Taniya: Even with the complete New Kids fan factor, I used to be very starstruck by Drew. He’s an enormous deal. He’s so proficient; not simply with 98 Degrees, however with Dancing with the Stars and his different DIY reveals. I assumed, ‘I wonder if this guy’s going to be a nice guy given all his fame and success and fans wooing over him.’ He really could not be a nicer human being.
Drew: She’s such a liar! Taniya has fingerprints over so many reveals, whether or not it’s The Great Christmas Light Fight or Battle on the Beach. Being the design present and HGTV junkie that I’m, I felt comfy understanding she’s my associate. And we get alongside effectively, which makes the hectic hours and initiatives go extra easily.
Which contestant shocked you the most?
Drew: Brooke caught me off guard. I did not know she had her personal inside design firm, so Brooke was an enormous shock to me. And it is arduous to look previous the mountain of Vernon.
Taniya: Vernon was very stunning. You’ve acquired this soccer participant who’s an enormous, however he is this mild large. And he is an artist. He paints and he even designed the garments he was carrying.
Drew, what parallels have you ever discovered between the music business and the design and renovation world?
Drew: That I do not perceive both of them! I deal extra with our dwell present, set design, and imagery—constructing out a full imaginative and prescient. And it is the similar with constructing an album. When we had been speaking about the home, I used the analogy of how every problem or room is sort of a track. You do not need a one-hit surprise. You need all the songs to work collectively. So, we targeted on ensuring the rooms all labored collectively and felt cohesive.
Also, music is about layers, harmonies, and items, and Taniya taught me about the layers and textures in design. Quite a lot of the similar phrases utilized in design are utilized in music.
Have you spoken to Jon or Jordan about their expertise on the present?
Drew: Yes, I went to the New Kids’ residency after we had been in Vegas.
Taniya: Drew didn’t need to go along with me!
Drew: Going out with Taniya is an entire totally different degree. I don’t know if I’ve the stamina to dwell at that degree.
But you additionally went, Taniya?
Taniya: I did go to the show, however not with Drew as a result of Drew thinks he can’t sustain with me. But he simply didn’t need to see me fangirling over these guys greater than I fangirl over him.
Exactly. He did not need to get jealous! Did you meet them?
Taniya: Yes, I truly know them. Jordan and I are each from Milton, so we see one another at Starbucks!
Did they provide you any recommendation for Rock the Block?
Drew: They mentioned to consider the massive image and keep in mind it’s for TV, so just be sure you’re nonetheless entertaining and being good TV personalities. They’re superior guys—down-to-earth, cool and chill.
Drew, which of your individual bandmates is most definitely to ask you for development or DIY recommendation?
Drew: I’ve helped Justin [Jeffre] with various things, like I redid his pool for him. Nick [Lachey] undoubtedly asks too. I do not know if Jeff [Timmons] has ever picked up a hammer, but when he did, he is acquired the muscle mass to swing it. We’re all aggressive although, so no person needs to confess they do not know something!
Do you could have something arising with 98 Degrees?
Drew: We’re taking most of 2026 off. My spouse and I wrote a musical that we’re taking off-Broadway. We have a performing arts nonprofit we’ve been operating for over a decade, so an offshoot of that was creating this musical. It’s referred to as Label•Less and might be at The Duke this summer time. I’m the head carpenter and scenic designer, so I’m taking my renovation and design abilities and placing them on the stage.
Are you starring in it?
Drew: No, I’m placing proficient individuals on this one! I’m author, creator, producer, and the whole lot else. So that was my focus this 12 months—rocking the block then taking the Big Apple by storm. Then we’ll do some 98 Degrees stuff in direction of the finish of the 12 months.
Leena Tailor is an award-winning Los Angeles-based journalist with greater than 20 years expertise overlaying leisure, life-style and journey for retailers round the world. Originally from New Zealand, she was lured to the infinite sunshine of California in 2010 and has since interviewed a few of the world’s greatest celebrities for retailers together with Rolling Stone, Hollywood Reporter, InFashion, Billboard and Entertainment Tonight. Leena’s love for seashores, boy bands, live shows and cocktails has taken her from Mexico to Germany, along with her journey and life-style options showing in Travel and Leisure, Vinepair and Vogue.
