Blown Away is returning for another season, this time hosted by Nick Uhas. On July 22, 2022, Netflix launched the third season of the program. Nick Uhas also hosted the first two seasons of Blown Away, in which artists and participants compete in the Hot Shop to create unique masterpieces using glass blowing methods.
Nick Uhas is an Ohio-based scientific influencer and content maker. He has featured on several programs throughout the years and has his own popular YouTube channel with 692K followers. He comes from a broad scientific and media background. Uhas is a producer and on-camera performer at Nicholas New Media, a scientific and education production firm that develops content for several platforms and networks, in addition to hosting Blown Away.
Nick Uhas made it to the Judge
The 37-year-old YouTuber first emerged on television as a scientific competitor on America’s Got Talent and later as a Big Brother season 15 participant. Nick Uhas is an American YouTuber, scientific influencer, producer, skater, and TV personality who has featured on America’s Got Talent season 12, Big Brother season 15, NBC’s TODAY, Fox n Friends, and the Doctor Oz program. He was born in March 1985.
Nick Uhas first debuted on reality television as a Big Brother season 15 competitor, when he created The Moving Company alliance, an all-male alliance on the program. While he was voted out in the second week, his presence provided him with the visibility he needed before launching his YouTube channel. The Blown Away host made it to the Judge’s Cut on America’s Got Talent season 12 in 2017. During his audition, he gave the judges balloons filled with sulfur hexafluoride gas and asked them to breathe it in, resulting in lower vocals.
He also had judges Howie Mandel and Mel B execute a scientific experiment on stage, resulting in a massive cloud of smoke engulfing the stage. The Blown Away presenter has had an odd rise to prominence, but one constant has been his eagerness to learn. As a freshman, Nick Uhas attended Miami University. He traveled to San Diego as a sophomore to pursue professional stunt rollerblading and was offered a spot on the USA rollerblading team to represent the Midwest. He subsequently went to Ohio State University as a pre-med student.
Uhas attended an economics summer program at Yale University during his senior year, where he minored in theater and economics. The Blown Away host attributes his success to his education at Ohio State University. He said on the website of the College of Arts and Sciences:
“I host this program because of my history at Ohio State and my YouTube channel, which I can do because of what I learned at Ohio State.”
After his brief stint on CBS Big Brother, he relocated to Los Angeles and established Nicholas New Media as the channel’s production firm.
His material is largely about science, and each video is like a mini-lesson that needs prior study. Nicholas New Media, the Blown Away host’s production company, has previously worked with Fox Networks, Johnson & Johnson, Vayner Media, Comcast NBC Universal, and DreamWorks TV. The firm creates pop-science video material and offers services such as pre-production, production, and post-production.
Nick Uhas, the learner
When Nick Uhas was in sixth grade, his homeroom teacher also happened to be his science teacher, which sparked his interest in science. While in college and unsure of his professional direction, he was pulled to biology and medicine. After his freshman year at Miami University, he headed to San Diego to pursue professional stunt rollerblading, and he later represented the Midwest with Team Rollerblade USA.
He then attended Ohio State University, which his whole family had previously attended. Nick stated:
“I was born to be a Buckeye.”
He quit skating, though, when he understood how much time he needed to spend in order to become a doctor. The Blown Away presenter then began pursuing research under one of his professors and became a teaching assistant. As a senior, he started to consider alternative career options, taking a video production course and participating in an economics summer program at Yale University, along with minoring in theater and economics. One of Nick Uhas’ TAs at Yale was a YouTuber who invited him back to work on a feature film, which led to his working as a production assistant in New York. He stated:
“By my second year there, I was doing a variety of odd jobs to raise money while learning the ins and outs of the entertainment business, and I realized that I was pretty excellent at hosting.” It simply seemed easy to me, like skating — you just be yourself, and the camera rolls.”
How did Nick Uhas come to work for Netflix?
In 2019, the Blown Away presenter was working as a full-time producer for the Weather Channel when a Netflix official approached him about Blown Away, saying that they were searching for someone with expertise in reality TV and an understanding of science.
He stated:
“There’s a lot of science in glass, which we see a lot of in the presentation as the glassmakers work.” Glass is as dynamic as metals, if not more so. Most of the time, it’s transparent, yet it varies so much based on its impurities and structure.”
Season 3 of Blown Away premiered on Netflix on July 22nd and will follow the same pattern as the previous two seasons. Katherine Gray, a glass artist, and resident evaluator joins Nick Uhas in the program. The Blown Away participants want to develop distinctive artworks and compete for a $60,000 cash prize and a residence at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.