Philippine Idol, he worked as a Customer Marketing Manager for Unilever Philippines where he worked since February 2003. However, he never told anyone that he actually wanted to become a singer. Philippine Idol Following his dream of becoming a professional singer, and through encouragement of his friends, Nieto auditioned in the Luzon Main Auditions held in Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay. It was his first time to have tried out in any singing contest. He sang "Limang Dipang Tao" (A Five-Dipa-Long Queue of People), a composition of Idol judge Ryan Cayabyab. His audition was not shown until the show's tenth week, which featured special segments about the Final 3. Several people who knew Nieto were surprised that he tried out for Idol, including actor Alfred Vargas, who was once his classmate. He landed on the Top 4 during the Men's Semi-Final Round and became one of the 12 Finalists. During the competition, he offered fellow finalist Ken Dingle—who at the time was based in Baguio—a place to stay at his house. Dingle, who taught Nieto how to sing in R&B style, resided in the Nieto household even after his elimination. He also volunteered, with the help of his mother, in helping fellow finalist Pow Chavez recover from her asthma during the Women's Semi-Finals. The judges often compared Nieto (who studied in Ateneo de Manila University) with fellow finalist Gian Magdangal (who studied in a De La Salle school), calling it "the new Ateneo-La Salle rivalry". They are also compared to the rivalry between Filipino singers Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano during the 1980s. Entertainment writers even predicted that Nieto and Magdangal would vie for the title. One of his performance highlights was his rendition of Nievera's "You Are My Song" during the Final 6 Round wherein the songs were chosen by another finalist. In Nieto's case, it was Magdangal who picked the song. Nieto admitted that it was a difficult song because of its wide range and some of its high notes were beyond his normal range. Eventually, he was surprised with the judges' positive reactions. Nieto landed at the Bottom 3 twice and on the Hot Spot once, when there was no official Bottom 3 or 2 announced. This happened for three consecutive weeks before the Finale. He was often criticized during the competition that his performances were stiff, inorganic, or not note-perfect. However, the judges noted that