The Host of 'The Ultimatum: Queer Love’ Is No Stranger to TV — Here's Where You Know Her From
May 22 2023, Published 6:10 p.m. ET
After a stellar first season on Netflix, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On expanded into reality TV spinoff territory with The Ultimatum: Queer Love. Like its predecessor, this iteration follows multiple couples at a standstill over whether their relationship will end in marriage or just end altogether.
Queer Love focuses on the romances between couples made up of women and non-binary partners. Before the show’s premiere on May 24, 2023, Netflix’s execs said they intentionally gave Queer Love its own identity with a brand-new host.
Instead of tapping The Ultimatum Season 1 hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the streamer called in someone else whom many TV watchers may already know and love. Let’s meet The Ultimatum: Queer Love's host — JoAnna Garcia Swisher!
'The Ultimatum: Queer Love’ host JoAnna Garcia is “passionate” about the all-queer series.
In November 2022, Variety reported that actor JoAnna Garcia would be swapped in for Vanessa and Nick on the Ultimatum spinoff. JoAnna, a Tampa, Fla. native, has been acting since the '90s.
Many early 2000s TV watchers likely remember her as Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery on Reba, or from flicks like Not Another Teen Movie, though she is still in the game.
In 2020, the Gossip Girl actor returned to the small screen with a starring role as Maddie Townsend on Netflix's Sweet Magnolias.
The Ultimatum creator Chris Coelen told Variety that JoAnna’s established connection with Netflix influenced his choice to make her the show’s host.
“She’s in the Netflix family, and I think she did a great job,” Chris said of JoAnna. “She really was passionate about doing it.”
JoAnna Garcia Swisher said she isn’t opposed to a necessary “ultimatum.”
While JoAnna had some big shoes to fill as a solo host, she said in a Netflix teaser that she was “excited” to bring “queer relationships” into the forefront through the show’s couples.
The As Luck Would Have It star also said she couldn’t wait for fans to see how “vulnerable” the stories from The Ultimatum: Queer Love are after the show premieres. The host then shared if she had ever had to threaten to leave a relationship like the couples on the Netflix show did.
JoAnna said she’s never given someone an ultimatum, but the TV darling isn’t above doing so, depending on how high the stakes are.
“I have never given an ultimatum in my own life,” JoAnna claimed. “But I would if I felt like I was at a crossroads and felt like I needed that jolt to get me to the other side.”
JoAnna and her husband, New York Yankees player Nick Swisher, have been married since 2010 and have two daughters — Emerson and Sailor.
Why are Nick and Vanessa Lachey not hosting ‘The Ultimatium: Queer Love’?
Those who enjoy partaking in Netflix’s dating shows know that the Lacheys have dominated the hosting spot on multiple shows, including Love Is Blind and Perfect Match. But after the first three seasons on LIB, the couple, who wed in July 2011, were heavily criticized by fans for the somewhat cringe and seemingly biased advice they gave the engaged couples on the show.
Although Nick and Vanessa returned for Season 4 of Love Is Blind, the demand for them to leave as hosts escalated after the Season 4 reunion. In 2023, a viewer created a Change.org petition demanding the couple be removed from LIB’s future seasons.
Despite the petition reaching over 40,000 signatures, Entertainment Tonight confirmed in April 2023 that the Lacheys will return to Love Is Blind Season 5.
