Being married to a Hallmark Channel superstar has its perks, but for singer-songwriter Jaymes Vaughan, who wed longtime Hallmark actor and producer Jonathan Bennett in 2022, it comes with some unique challenges, too.
Vaughan has long been Bennett’s biggest supporter, accompanying him to movie sets, on ad shoots, and at fan events. But in the spring of 2025, when filming began on the second season of “Finding Mr. Christmas” — the search for Hallmark’s next leading man, co-created and hosted by Bennett — Vaughan indvertently landed his riskiest and funniest supporting role yet.
“I’m the guinea pig,” Vaughan told EntertainmentNow, revealing that Bennett and the production team enlisted him to try out each physical challenge before they put the 10 contestants to the test. Proving he’ll do just about anything for his hubby, the assignment meant Vaughan wound up in all kinds of precarious situations, from hanging upside down in mid-air to sliding down a Crisco-covered hill.
Jonathan Bennett Explains Why Hubby Jaymes Vaughan Was the Perfect Guinea Pig for Each Physical Challenge
Ahead of the new season of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” airing Monday nights on Hallmark Channel, Bennett told EntertainmentNow that he was pumped to up the ante on each physical challenge that the 10 contestants faced, including a photo shoot that required the hunks to be suspended in mid-air, which is part of the new season’s hilarious second episode, airing on November 3.
“Like three or four days before filming, we have to test every challenge to make sure it works,” Bennett told EntertainmentNow. “I can’t test it because, God forbid, something would happen to my face or I get hurt and can’t film the show.”
Vaughan quipped, “So make Jaymes do it!”
“Well, if you look at our guys,” Bennett explained, “they’re all like 225 pounds of muscle and, you know, Davey and Drake are six-four. Like, what are we going to do? Who are we going to get to test it? And I
look around and go, ‘Well, Jaymes, is that size! Jaymes, can you do it?'”
“I’m as tall as the tallest guy and as heavy as the heaviest guy, so that’s why it works,” Vaughan confirmed, adding, “But, also, that stuff is really fun. So I’m like, ‘I want to do it!'”
Jaymes Vaughan Was Hoisted in Mid-Air to Try the ‘Reindeer Games’ Challenge Before Contestants
HallmarkIn the November 3 episode, the remaining nine contestants are each assigned to portray a different member of Santa’s reindeers — complete with brown leather pants, evergreen vests over shirtless chests (of course!) and antlers — while being hoisted in mid-air by a crane.
With Bennett and fellow Hallmark stars Melissa Peterman and guest judge Heather Hemmens watching their every move, the contestants have to strike a pose for two celebrity photographers snapping away. But before they arrived, Vaughan went up first, figuring out what worked — and what didn’t.
“Everybody’s standing around watching me, and I looked a little ridiculous the first time I went up,” Vaughan laughed about testing the “Reindeer Games” challenge.
“The way they had put the harness on at first, you would completely just fall forward, no matter what you did,” he continued. “And, you know, the guys are gonna want to flex their abs up there. We moved the belt, played a bit with the harness. I was falling forward anytime I tried to, like, flex my abs and pose. But then I got it. So you knew it was gonna be difficult for the guys, but doable.”
Jonathan Bennett Says It Was Also ‘Hilarious’ Watching His Hubby Film Upcoming ‘Slippery Slope’ Challenge
HallmarkThe toughest challenge of the season, in Vaughan’s opinion, comes in the third episode, when the contestants have to climb a “Slippery Slope” that’s covered in grease.
“I couldn’t do it,” Vaughan told EntertainmentNow. “I spent 15 minutes on it trying to get up the thing. And it’s like, the longer you’re on it, the slipperier it gets, so it just gets harder and harder to get up. Think about it, your feet are covered in Crisco. Covered!”
“It was hilarious,” Bennett laughed. “Jaymes was even trying to crawl up! And all of the producers are standing there watching. There’s like, one guy with a stopwatch, and they’re like, ‘Okay, how long
is it gonna take them? Okay, that’s too long, we have to use less grease!'”
“You know, we have these crazy ideas for the challenges,” Bennett continued, “but we don’t know what’s really going to happen until we actually build the challenge and Jaymes goes through it.”
Vaughan finally figured out a way to make it up the hill, so producers knew that they could move forward with the challenge. But just as hard, they later realized, was how long it took to get all of the grease off afterwards in the shower.
“It literally took 30 minutes to get all that off,” Vaughan marveled. “Just think about it! You’re covered in Crisco and baby oil or whatever it was. But again, it’s so fun because, like, I got to do it all. I’m very happy to be the tester!”
The next episode of “Finding Mr. Christmas” airs on November 3 at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and will be available to stream on Hallmark+ the following day. Featuring many of Hallmark’s top stars helping Bennett and Peterman judge the competition as they face acting and physical challenges, the goal is to find the network’s next leading man, who will appear in a 2025 Countdown to Christmas movie.
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