Bye bye bye, rumor mill! Joey Fatone stopped by Us Weekly to chat about his new gig as host of Common Knowledge on the Game Show Network, and he also (finally) set the record straight on whether or not there was a real battle of the boy bands in the ‘90s between ‘NSync and the Backstreet Boys. See what he had to say in the video above!
No matter which Orlando pop group covered your teeny bopper bedroom walls, you couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the groups. So we had to ask: was there any truth behind the rumored rivalry?
“No. It was so funny, they kept it distant from us to even talk about whether there was a rivalry or not. Our managers were the same manager. At one point, our record company was the same record company,” the game show host, 41, explained to Us. “It was interesting because I’ve known the guys from Orlando. We got to know each other some way. There was no real animosity.”
But, come on, he must have been watching what they were doing, right? “There was never a rivalry, but it was always like, ‘Damn, they got to do that. Man, I want to do that,’” he reminisced. “I mean, ‘I Want It That Way’ is a jam. I don’t mind saying it.”
When it comes to dance moves though, Fatone stayed loyal to his group. When asked which dance is more iconic in his eyes: “Bye Bye Bye” or “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” he answered without hesitation: “’Bye Bye Bye’ dance, definitely, because everybody only knows that one thing from ‘Everybody,’ and everybody at least knows the whole neck thing. So, I would honestly say ‘Bye Bye Bye’ – not because I was in the song – because obviously if it was ‘Everybody’ I’d give props, but it’s not.”
For more nostalgia with the crooner – like what his first impression of Britney Spears was – watch the exclusive video above!
Catch Fatone on Game Show Network’s Common Knowledge’ weeknights at 5:30 p.m. ET.
