It's been a busy year for Rossford native Jonathan Bennett. After strutting his stuff as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars," the "Mean Girls" star has begun work on a slew of new projects, including hosting the MTV series "Copycat" and now a gig at the helm of the new Food Network series "Cake Wars," which debuted June 29. Quite a journey for the young actor who was first transfixed by acting during his days at Rossford High School. Toledo City Paper caught up with Bennett as he was on break from filming a new movie, "Modern Love," with Allison Hannigan.
"The best part about ‘Dancing with the Stars' is, it made people see the quirky, fun side of me that does funny facial expressions and just jokes around a lot. They got to see that on 'Dancing with the Stars,' and once they got to see that, it really translates well into hosting. And so, I decided to start hosting as well as acting.
"I'm just so excited to be part of the Food Network, and so excited to be part of such a fun show, that's just out-of-this-world, fun entertainment."
Can you explain what goes into the making of the show? How much effort goes into preparing for an episode?
"It's me talking for an hour long show, so there's a lot of work— it's a lot different than acting. In acting, there's a lot of 'hurry up and wait,' and waiting around. In hosting, it's me on set— all day, every day. So, you don't know exhaustion until you've hosted a show like this. By the time the show is over, you are completely drained."
Now, like many cooking competitions, the bakers on 'Cake Wars' aren't just showing off their skills— there are 'complications' thrown in, curveballs and so forth. Do you think those kind of things really do test their abilities when they're on a show like this, or do you think these things are really more to pump up the entertainment value for the audience?
"No— here's the thing. With this show, when we started, I thought we were going to 'create drama' for the contestants, but I was completely wrong. Drama just happens. You have four different teams of bakers, who have four hours to create amazing cake masterpieces— things go wrong. Things go wrong all day long. So it's really interesting to watch the contestants go through this process, with the added pressure of baking, and having to make it perfect, and do it in such a short amount of time."
As you hinted at, you've really started to stretch your hosting legs— between this show and the MTV show, "Copycat." In your own opinion, how does being on camera as yourself differ from playing a character as an actor?
"I always say, it's a totally different muscle that you're using. And what I like about hosting versus acting is, with hosting, you're being yourself, so you can't screw it up."
