Yahoo Lifestyle Finding Mr. Christmas: Jonathan Bennett Previews Hallmark’s Search for Their Next Holiday Hunk
As far as Jonathan Bennett is concerned, “there are two types of people in the world: people that watch Hallmark movies and liars,” the actor tells TVLine.
Bennett has starred in his fair share of those Hallmark movies, often taking part in major LGBTQ moments on the network, and now he’s passing the baton, so to speak. As the host and co-creator of Hallmark’s first reality competition series, Bennett is hoping to discover the network’s next holiday hunk in Finding Mr. Christmas (premiering Thursday, Oct. 31, exclusively on Hallmark+).
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Below, Bennett breaks down what you need to know about the show and the eventual movie starring the winner.
THE IDEA | “Hallmark has become such a part of the pop culture zeitgeist in the entertainment industry that every single one of my actor friends are always asking me, ‘Hey, how do I get involved in the Hallmark Channel? How do I get involved in those movies?'” Bennett says. As a former contestant on Celebrity Big Brother and Dancing With the Stars, as well as a frequent host on Food Network, Bennett thought, “What if we took my expertise in the reality competition space and brought the audience in on the journey of finding the next Hallmark star?”
THE CHALLENGES | Each episode features a Festive Faceoff, like making an ugly Christmas sweater or building a snowman blindfolded, that tests the hopefuls’ holiday spirit while also allowing the judges and viewers to get to know the guys’ backgrounds and personalities. That’s followed by the Star Quality challenge, “where we take the tropes of each of the Hallmark movies and turn them into a different challenge and then we gamify them,” Bennett previews. “The first episode is the meet-cute, so we put them in a scene with a real Hallmark leading lady, and they have to perform a scene that they only had about 10 minutes to learn. But since it’s a reality competition, we have two guys in the scene meeting the girl at the same time and now they have to compete to get the leading lady’s attention.” Other Star Quality challenges feature the men having to learn the Christmas waltz and being put in the hot seat by an E! News reporter. “So everything that it takes to be a Hallmark leading man, from what you have to do on-camera to what you have to do off-camera,” Bennett notes.
As a Hallmark vet, Bennett gave the contestants some simple advice: “I said, ‘Just be yourself.’ It’s really about being yourself and letting that shine through, because at the end of the day, America is going to fall in love with who you are, and that’s exactly what they do with the Hallmark stars. The Hallmark stars pretty much just play versions of themselves. Like, I don’t go into a Hallmark movie and reinvent the wheel of who Jonathan Bennett is.”
THE JUDGES | In addition to hosting, Bennett serves as a judge alongside Reba scene-stealer Melissa Peterman. “I’m basically the RuPaul, she’s the Michelle Visage,” Bennett says. The duo are joined each episode by a guest judge, with the lineup featuring Hallmark mainstays such as Erin Cahill, Tyler Hynes, B.J. Britt, Nikki DeLoach, Rachel Boston and Brooke D’Orsay.
THE CONTESTANTS | When it came time to cast the potential Mr. Christmases, “the only really big rule was you can’t have been in a Christmas movie,” Bennett says. As a result, the contestants range from a marketing salesman with no acting experience to an actor from the touring company of Hamilton who’s never done TV or film. “We were just, literally, looking for people that had that passion for Christmas and being in Christmas movies, and the conviction and the enthusiasm to do something new.” For Bennett — an openly gay actor who’s been involved in many of Hallmark’s LGBTQ firsts — it was also “really important” that Finding Mr. Christmas feature a diverse group of contestants. “As long as you have the charm, the sense of humor, the heart, the kindness, and those characteristics that we’re looking for, then you’re totally up for being a Hallmark holiday hunk,” he reaffirms.
THE PRIZE | The eventual Mr. Christmas will star opposite Jessica Lowndes in the upcoming movie Happy Howlidays (airing Dec. 21 on Hallmark Channel) in a role that was handpicked for the winner. Following filming on the reality competition series in April, “Hallmark Channel went into development mode and looked through all the different movies they had on the slate to find the right puzzle piece that fits our winner,” Bennett shares. (Lowndes and the winner didn’t partake in a chemistry challenge on Finding Mr. Christmas because, just like the selected movie was dependent on who won, so was the movie’s love interest.)
There’s also the bonus prize of potentially becoming part of the Hallmark family for years to come. “You have to think of Hallmark Channel almost as a series versus a network,” Bennett says. “Each one of the movies are almost like the episodes, because they use the same talent, for the most part, in all the movies,” meaning the actors are like series regulars. “The consistent work is, like, the biggest blessing,” Bennett adds.
THE SURPRISE | Don’t expect to see the typical competitive fighting that often comes with this reality genre. “We had grown men having the courage to be vulnerable and talk about the things that scare them, talk about their fears, talk about things that make them uncomfortable and that they’re unsure of in life,” Bennett reveals. “They opened up and had those deep, hard-hitting conversations with each other, organically, in the house, and because of that, they became this brotherhood that we never expected. We always knew it’d be a bunch of fun guys looking hot in Christmas sweaters, doing silly challenges, but what we didn’t expect was the amount of heart and vulnerability to come through in these episodes. … There were moments when I said, ‘Can we get a take without them crying?’ because there was almost too many tears in some of the episodes.”
Christmas Time Is Here! Your Guide to 90+ Holiday Movies on Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix and More in 2024
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