Meet Jaymes Vaughan: the singer – who’s released a new album – is married to Hallmark star and ‘Gay King of Christmas’ Jonathan Bennett, and has a song in new film Season’s Greetings from Cherry Lane

Dec 21 , 2024

Mean Girls alum Jonathan Bennett has his own Hallmark romance with husband Jaymes Vaughan. Photo: @jaymesv/Instagram

Vaughan built a career in the music industry, then gave it up to turn to reality TV, where he met his now-husband – he’s back with new music and has a song in his hubby’s new film

Christmas is almost here, which means it’s time to binge-watch your favourite cheesy Hallmark classics again. The network, which has established itself as the leading producer of twee – and yes, formulaic, but who’s judging? – holiday films, has released a new style of offering this season with its first-ever unscripted series, Finding Mr Christmas.

Jonathan Bennett attends Hallmark Media’s 15th Anniversary of Countdown to Christmas event in Tarrytown, New York, in October. Photo: Getty Images for Hallmark Media/TNS

Produced and hosted by Hallmark mainstay Jonathan Bennett – who Out calls the “Gay King of Christmas” – the show pits 10 “hunks” against each other in a bid to earn a coveted spot in a Hallmark film. Bennett’s extensive experience with reality TV – he competed on Celebrity Big Brother and Dancing with the Stars, and judged RuPaul’s Drag Race – inspired him to create a “Hallmarkified” version of a reality TV competition show.

“We found reality TV with heart, even though it’s a show where men compete,” he told The Wrap, adding, “Ten men walked in competitors, but they left a family.”

Bennett wrote an emotional post on Instagram, describing the strenuous but passionate process of bringing the show to life while performing Spamalot on Broadway, and thanking his husband, Jaymes Vaughan, for his support. Calling him his “rock” and “biggest supporter”, the star of the Mean Girls Broadway show got candid about how him saying “I’m so proud of you” convinced him to extend the same courtesy to himself.

“For a split second, you’re actually proud of yourself. Which never happens, because you have impostor syndrome. But for that second, it felt nice,” he wrote, speaking about himself.

So, just who is Jaymes Vaughan?

Jaymes Vaughan has reality TV experience, too

Jaymes Vaughan and Jonathan Bennett at an event in May. Photo: @jaymesv/Instagram

Vaughan is best known for his appearance on season 21 of The Amazing Race, which he entered to help his father with his medical expenses after he had been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. He was working as a host at Chippendales at the time and joined the race with his colleague, James Davis. The two ended up coming in second.