Written By: Michael D. McClellan |
In 1965, Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) stepped into Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria and fell in love in The Sound of Music. Fifty-five years later, Garrett Marcantel and two others hope to do the same in 12 Dates of Christmas, streaming now on HBO Max. Marcantel, who is gay, stumbled upon this unique reality competition series at the perfect time, as he looked to pivot from a successful career in New York City real estate and pursue the next chapter in his life. Little did he know that his inbox would open a portal to a winter wonderland, one where three single leads meet potential new relationships and go on 12 “dates,” all with the goal of finding someone they want to bring home to their families during the holiday season.
To say that the experience has been a whirlwind for Marcantel would be an understatement. The handsome lead, who was initially skeptical about being cast in the show, was surprised by how quickly it all came together. The month that followed exceeded his wildest dreams.
“It was a fairytale,” he says from a flat in London. “I had no idea what to expect. They reached out to me and before I knew it I was in Los Angeles, meeting with the executive producers. They didn’t tell me where they were filming the show, only that it was abroad somewhere. Since it was HBO Max, I was sure that it was going to be someplace magical. It wasn’t until just before we flew out that I found that we were going to Austria, that I was a lead, and that people would be chasing after my heart. I didn’t know what to expect. In my mind I thought it was going to be like a gay version of The Bachelor, only on a Christmas show.”
Marcantel, like the rest of the cast, was understandably blown away by the show’s setting. Built in 1736, and surrounded by 17 acres of manicured grounds, Schloss Leopoldskron is located at a small, idyllic lake, and features majestic views of the mountains and the Hohensalzburg Fortress. That the show is Christmas-themed only adds to the allure, especially for Marcantel, a passionate skier and adventurer who lives for the outdoors. There are dates on the ski hill, karaoke nights, and ugly Christmas sweater parties. It’s a festive rom-com come to life in the best way. It’s also family-friendly; you won’t see any over-the-top, The Bachelor-style lip-locking here, only romantic pecks, and usually the person asks permission before they lean in. Marcantel can’t give the big details away for obvious reasons, but his time in Austria was a revelation.
“It’s more wholesome than other reality shows,” Marcantel says. “A lot of it has to do with the show being centered around Christmas. The people that were cast are good people. No one is really vicious. Everyone obviously has different personalities, but we all just wanted to find love for the holidays.”
Another thing that sets 12 Dates of Christmas apart from other reality dating shows: The producers have managed to cast a group of contestants that are diverse in every way – different sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, native languages, backgrounds, personalities, and beyond.
“It is definitely a breath of fresh air,” Marcantel says. “When they first contacted me I wasn’t sure they knew that I was gay. It turns out that they welcomed my sexual orientation. That helped make the decision to join the cast much easier for me.”
Marcantel’s time in Salzburg is almost as interesting as the build-up to it. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he knew from the jump that he wanted to explore the world, deciding to pair his love of skiing with his pursuit of a college education.
“We had Mardi Gras in Louisiana, and we would get a week off from school,” Marcantel says. “I would go with friends on ski trips to Colorado and New Mexico, which is how I fell in love skiing. By the time I graduated from my high school I knew that wherever I went to college, I needed to have access to mountains. I chose the University of Utah because it was the best university that was close to eight different ski resorts. That’s where I really fell in love with the outdoors.”
Marcantel majored in geology and natural resource management at the University of Utah. During the summers he worked as a park ranger, first at Timpanogos Cave National Monument, then Yellowstone, and finally the Grand Canyon area. He also got into trail running during this time, taking on the rough terrain with friends during his downtime. Next, he pursued his Masters in Climate Science and Solutions at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which happens to have some of the best running trails in the U.S. Marcantel and his friends would summit mountains or venture to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the weekends, bonding over the challenging runs and forging friendships that still stand today.
Following graduation, Marcantel moved to Hawaii to pursue research opportunities in the Pacific islands of Micronesia. He was based on the big island for two years, before spending six months in Norway on a research grant. It was here that Marcantel decided to shift gears.
“I love exploring different cultures and understanding how earth systems work,” he says. “But it was upsetting that the work was so dependent on whether or not the funding was approved. That’s what happened in Norway. I spent all this time putting together this big package and submitting it, only to learn that the funding didn’t get approved. That’s when I realized that I didn’t have a business skill. I didn’t understand Corporate America.”
Complicating matters, the job market in the U.S. for climate change in 2013 and 2014 was essentially nonexistent. Marcantel’s student loans were coming due, and he needed a steady job to pay the bills. On a whim, he applied to work for a recruiting firm in New York.
“I interviewed with them, and the guy was like, ‘I don’t think I should hire you. I don’t think you have the grit and determination to make it in New York.’ That floored me. I told him that I was an ultra-marathoner, and that I’d ran extreme distance races, and that I definitely had the determination and perseverance for the job.”
Not only did Garrett Marcantel land the job as a real estate recruiter, he excelled at it.
“I didn’t know real estate, which was the industry that I’d be recruiting for, but within a year I had built up a huge book of business. It was a crash course on real estate. I was learning who the major players were in New York City, what the economy was doing locally, things like that. And that’s when I thought about placing myself with a company.”
Marcantel networked his clientele and got a job as an assistant for two of the top brokers in New York City.
“One of my first projects was a project on Billionaires Row, which is on 57th St. and Columbus Circle. It broke all of the records for the most expensive condos ever sold. I was with that company for four years and worked my way up. I was living in Brooklyn and commuting via train to Manhattan. I was meeting all of these interesting, powerful, and influential people. Even though I was loving life and living the dream, I couldn’t stop wondering if I’d ever get back to using my master’s degree. At some point I knew that I wanted to pivot. I just didn’t know when or how.”
Then, one day Garrett Marcantel received a message in his Instagram inbox. It was from a casting director reaching out about a Christmas show, and she wanted to know if he might be interested in learning more.
“I thought it was spam,” Marcantel says with a laugh. “But then she somehow found my email address. That’s when I thought that this might actually be legitimate, so I decided to jump on the phone and have a conversation with her. We talked for a few minutes and I finally said, ‘I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m gay.’ She was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re casting gay people for this show.’ She explained that it was going to be on HBO Max. The more I thought about it, the more I was open to exploring the options to see how this would play out.”
12 Dates of Christmas has quickly developed a huge fanbase. For Garrett Marcantel, so much was unknown prior to filming because the producers kept everything shrouded in secrecy. When Marcantel finally arrived at Schloss Leopoldskron, his jaw hit the ground.
“I knew it was a castle, but I didn’t know anything about its significance,” he says. “When I arrived, they explained that this was where they filmed The Sound of Music. Then I went up to my room. I had this insane view of the Alps on one side, and a view of a fortress on the other side of the mountain. It was like stepping onto a movie set. That’s when it hit me: I was going to live in a castle for over a month. Never in my life did I think I would be living in a castle.”
Marcantel quickly learned that 12 Dates of Christmas wasn’t your ordinary reality hookup show.
“It’s a Christmas setting, so it’s not like being on some tropical island where everyone is focused on their physical looks and whatnot,” he says. “We went in not really knowing what the structure of the show was going to be. We just knew the people were going to be arriving for us, and we were told to keep an open mind – which wasn’t hard to do, because it’s such an incredibly romantic, wintry setting. You can’t help but get caught up in the moment. I mean, you are in the Alps. In a castle!”
12 Dates of Christmas has a “rom-com bubble” / “snow globe” vibe, and the setting can’t help but transport the viewer to seemingly simpler times. That the remote winter wonderland is outside of the cast’s comfort zone is all part of the plan. It helps them to focus on just what they’re there to do: To find love and find a connection.
“And these dates are so picturesque,” Marcantel says. “It’s like you’re watching a movie, and then, all of a sudden, you’re in it.”
Because it’s reality dating show first and foremost, it’s important for the leads to find out if they have chemistry with their dates.
“There’s an Advent calendar inside the castle, which is a replica of the castle itself. We would hear this jingle bell sound in the castle, and that was our cue. We would run to the Advent calendar, open the window with the light in it, and there would be a scroll in the window. Our job was to take the scroll out and read it. There would be instructions for us – clues about what kind of date we were to expect. It was exciting. Every time someone would arrive to the castle, they would arrive in a different fashion. You’ll see throughout the show that there are some really fun ways that they introduce people. Oh, and there were times when you’d be on a date in the snow and then someone else would show up. Then you would suddenly have two people that you’re dating at once.”
Another key ingredient in the show is the chemistry between the leads.
“We met each other for the first time when we were at the castle,” Marcantel says. “It was in the grand ballroom. The room itself is breathtaking – it has 60-foot ceilings and giant murals, and the dollar value has to be in the millions of dollars. I was the last to enter the room, and the two of them had already met. I’m like, ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Garrett.’ They didn’t know that there was a gay person coming on to the show, but they were completely cool with it. You’ll see that we have each other’s backs.”
As leads, Chad, Faith, and Garrett have an extra level of responsibility. They have to make decisions that culminate in an elimination ceremony, where one of three people who arrive at the castle are sent packing.
“It’s called the Gift Giving Ceremony,” Marcantel says, “and we only have two gifts to give. The person who doesn’t get a gift has to leave the castle. Before that happens we have these deliberation meetings, where we talk about the people that are in the castle for us. So we get really close, because there was no one else in the castle that really understood the pressure that we were going through.”
The added hook is that 12 Dates of Christmas is a show-within-a-show. Not only do the leads get to select that special someone, they get to take them home to their family afterwards.
“You have this time in the castle, and it’s like a fairytale experience,” Marcantel continues. “Then you leave this fairytale having made a decision, and you go back into the real world. That’s when it gets real. You’ve met this person in a foreign country, in a fairytale landscape, and now you’re bringing them home to meet your family. Suddenly you have to make the ultimate decision: Are you going to have a real world relationship with this person that you met in a winter wonderland?”
Garrett Marcantel has no regrets. 12 Dates of Christmas has been a game-changer, and an experience of a lifetime.
“It was so beautiful, and I have so many memories that I get to relive watching the show on HBO Max,”
he says. “I had never seen Christmas decorations like that before. The Austrian villages looked like they were straight out of the movie. I got to do some things that unfortunately didn’t make the final edit, like riding a horse. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Watching the show, it’s apparent that Marcantel’s love of the outdoors plays a big part in his quest to find love.
“I’m a big skier, so I really felt comfortable taking these people outside and seeing how they responded. In general, if I’m going on a second or a third date, I want to take them hiking. That’s super important to me.”
Ask Garrett about the biggest surprise the show has to offer, and he doesn’t hesitate when giving his response.
“It definitely made me more self-aware,” he says quickly. “In your normal, everyday life, I don’t think you’re being asked what type of person you’re into. The show forces you to think a lot about yourself, and the kind of life you want to live. You envision that life with someone else, and you genuinely ask yourself, ‘Is this the right person for me?’”
So, does Garrett Marcantel find true love?
“I can’t answer that,” he says with a laugh, “but you’re going to be very, very happy with what you see unfold this Christmas. The team that put this together is the best in the industry. I’m so lucky to be part of a project like this, because you see everyone really being vulnerable and really wanting to experience love, and I think that’s something that every human can relate to. We all want to find love. It goes beyond sexual orientation. It goes beyond race. As humans, we all deserve the opportunity to find love. I think the show really captures that.”
12 Dates of Christmas streams new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.