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    • On the Hallmark reality show, Jonathan Bennet finds the handsome ‘Mr. Christmas’
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    On the Hallmark reality show, Jonathan Bennet finds the handsome ‘Mr. Christmas’

    Pabio Posted on

    Co-host Melissa Peterman’s holiday catchphrase, “You’ve got Kringled!” was ignored

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    It was the weeks before filming “Find Mr. Christmas” and throughout Punch headquarters, a pesky question persisted: What would be the elimination slogan for the programmer’s first reality show?

    Something like “You’re fired!” was too tough for a competition pitting ten muscular men ready to shoot a Hallmark movie against each other for the title of Mr. Christmas.

    “That line was a really big deal,” says creator and host Jonathan Bennett, which bounced around holiday-themed phrases with judge and co-host Melissa Peterman. “I wanted it to be so cheeky that people would laugh. It had the words ‘It’s over’ and ‘You’re on ice.’ Melissa kept suggesting this stupid idea…”

    “Oh, I got a great one,” Peterman said, interrupting excitedly, “‘Mine was, ‘You just got Kringled!’ Boom!”

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    There’s powerful Kris Kringle magic behind “Mr. Christmas,” premiering on Hallmark+ Thursday, which names a champion who automatically wins the gift-wrapped lead role in a 2024 Hallmark Christmas movie.

    The film has already been shot. The mysterious reality TV champ will star opposite Jessica Lowndes in Hallmark Channel’s “Happy Howlidays,” airing Dec. 21 (8 EST/PST).

    The reality show is the holiday-infused inspiration of “Mean Girls” star Bennett, 43, a Hallmark Channel staple (including the first LGBTQ+-led Hallmark Christmas movie, “The Holiday Sitter” from 2022″) who also starred in reality shows like “Dancing with the Stars” and “Big Brother.”

    “I was watching ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ at the time,” Bennett says of the moment the vision of “Mr. Christmas” danced in his head. “And it was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s like ‘Drag Race’ meets ‘The Bachelor’ meets Hallmark Christmas!'”

    ‘Happy’s Place’ star Peterman (star of 2022’s “Haul Out the Holly”), 53, immediately jumped aboard the sleigh that could shape Hallmark Christmases to come with the perfect, reality-tested leading man. After all, the network produced 46 holiday movies this season alone.

    “What a great way for a viewer to get invested from the start. They can see this chosen star, then in their first Christmas movie, then in their second and third,” Peterman said. “Fans can say, ‘I’ve loved him since ‘The Search for Mr. Christmas!'”

    “It’s Kelly Clarkson syndrome” ” adds Bennett of the first “American Idol” winner, turned singer and talk show host.

    The premise is sweeter than sweet plums. The contestants live together on a Utah ranch filled with tinsel, trees and stockings and happily participate in festive Christmas activities. Bennett, Peterman and a weekly guest judge gently remove a contestant – and a bottom – each week based on the competitions.

    At the premiere, a Star Quality Challenge involves a must-see Hallmark movie. The Christmas crew learns lines and performs a “Meet Cute” scene opposite a Hallmark actress. They are judged on the beauty of the fake first meeting. In the same episode, a weekly festive showdown involves an emotionally revealing ugly Christmas sweater showdown.

    “They have 30 minutes to make a Christmas sweater that tells their life story and helps us learn more about them,” Bennett says. “So you have 10 hot guys shooting glue and making ugly Christmas sweaters before modeling them on a runway.”

    Future competitions include a Christmas tree obstacle course in which competitors break a block of ice to retrieve a saw and cut down the tree lumberjack style. “It’s your muscle-man fantasy come to life,” says Bennett.

    At the end of each episode, a contestant removes their monogrammed stocking from the living room fireplace.

    “Whoever gets eliminated takes off their stocking and walks out,” says Bennett.

    The stakes could lead to frosty competition, but Bennett insists the Hallmark spirit shines through. “Ten men entered the house as strangers; they left as family,” he said.

    “We don’t show the worst side of people. We don’t need to tear people apart, especially in the run-up to Christmas,” Peterman says. “We wanted “Great British Baking Show” more than a train wreck.”

    Bennett says he was impressed by the abs, but also the heart, of the “Mr. Christmas” team, which includes actors, a firefighter (Isaac Ramirez, 28) and a former Navy rescue diver (Ezra Moreland, 31).

    “Everyone loves a good, handsome man at Christmas,” Bennett says. “What I didn’t expect was the vulnerability. That’s the secret sauce of the show. Fans will tune in for the fun and the Christmas and the warmth. But they’ll stay because ‘They fall in love with these guys.’

    And in a Christmas miracle, he even found the perfect elimination line to close each episode.

    “We thought, ‘I’m sorry, it’s wrapping.’ Because it’s like wrapping paper,” Bennett says. “And then I say, ‘It’s time to take your stocking. You’re going home…for the holidays.’ Boom! I hope this becomes a meme.

    “I’m still waiting for ‘You just got Kringled!'” Peterman says. “I will achieve it next season.”

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