Jane Lynch Takes 'Parade' Inside the 'Weakest Link' Holiday Special: 'Everybody Wept'

Jane Lynch on The Weakest Link special, How Jane Lynch Stole Christmas

T’was the holiday season again. It seemed to happen all in a blink. And this year called for something wonderful: A special holiday edition of the Weakest Link.

The beloved game show is kicking into holiday gear with How Jane Lynch Stole Christmas, a brand-new Weakest Link holiday special featuring contestants with Christmasy careers. The cast includes several Santas, Mrs. Claus, an elf and a Dickens caroler. They each put their elaborate costumes and Yuletide spirit on display to play the Weakest Link.

“This episode ushers in that Christmas spirit so beautifully,” says host Jane Lynch of the special that aired Nov. 27 on NBC. The special is available today to stream on Peacock. “These are the most lovely people who take Christmas seriously. And they devote their lives to it. It's their job and calling. They really shine in this episode which is full of such good spirit.”

The Weakest Link, which is based on the successful British show, has been a colossal hit in the United States. Lynch began hosting the revival series in 2020 they’ve since featured several themed episodes featuring drag queens, WWE superstars and twins. But this year's take on the Dr. Seuss classic is a first.

Related: How to Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2023

“I just find so much joy in the Weakest Link, which allows people to shine,” Lynch says. “The show is about trivia knowledge, which I love. We all learn so much...It’s a real joy to step up to that mic every day that I get to do it.”

What's something special about the contestants on How Jane Lynch Stole Christmas?

Our contestants are professional Christmas people who have their own outfits. That is their job and calling. We have a few Santas with their own beards, which they keep all year long. There’s a Mrs. Claus and a professional caroler. We have a man who is a professional elf.

For this particular episode, people are basking themselves in the Christmas spirit. And at the same time, they’re playing this game. It’s a lot of fun and very uplifting to have this usher in the holiday spirit this season.

The audience goes through a range of emotions because they’re wondering who might be voted off. What was that like with the holiday special? 

Because this episode is imbued with the Christmas spirit nobody wanted to vote anybody off. It was all of this, “How terrible I have to vote someone off. I'm so sorry it's you.“ It was really lovely that way. With other episodes, it can be cutthroat and people are strategically cutting the best person because they don't want to have to go against them in the final round. But that didn't happen in the Christmas episode. Everybody wept.

People really seemed genuinely concerned about voting others off. 

Because the game is so beautifully constructed, the personalities get to shine. We got to know these people even after the first round. We learned how genuine they are. They are not only full of Christmas spirit, but love for their fellow man. It was hard for them to let somebody go.

How involved are you in the questions, if at all? 

I’m not involved with the questions. We have a crack team of people who know how to do the question thing. And of course, these questions aren't all Christmas. They run the gamut. Some of them are easier than others. Some are very challenging. And it's always different levels of difficulty.

How do you think you would fare as a player?

I'm aggressive. My trivia knowledge is pretty good. But I guess what I'm saying is I don't know how good I'd be. That’s a big question mark.

Sometimes we've had people with tons of degrees, like rocket scientists, and they were voted off in the first round because they didn't know who the Kardashians were. They didn't know more pop culture stuff. So it would depend on the question and level of reference. So I don't know, is the answer of how well I would do.

If you were competing, are there certain categories that you feel that you could do better at than others? 

I'd be pretty good with politics and presidents, American history. And I think I'd be pretty good at celebrities.

What went through your mind when you learned about the possibility of hosting the Weakest Link? 

“Yes!” Went through my mind. Stuart Krasnow, our executive producer, and I had worked on some other things. He called my agent and said, “do you think Jane would be interested in this?” We went out to lunch and I said, "yes” right away. Right away before we even ordered our appetizer.

You are such a talented actress. What do you bring to the Weakest Link in terms of your skill? And what do you think is the most important skill to have?

I learned at the feet of the master, Anne Robinson. Not literally, but I watched how she did it. Of course, I'm not Anne Robinson, so I can't do what she did. She's totally about less is more. She had very few words but they were very well chosen words. She allowed the game to play. I'm not the stern school marm in the way she did it so brilliantly. But I did learn from her. It is about less is more. Let the game happen. Because hosting, and I learned this through Hollywood Game Night too, even though it looks like I'm yucking it up there, it’s really allowing it to happen.

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Sometimes it's herding cats. But most of the time it’s going in a forward motion, but without putting the kibosh on all the fun and spontaneity. We're a little more of a tightly run ship on the Weakest Link. It's really allowing that to go forward and letting the people shine. And also even though I say mean things every now and again, it's with my energy, supporting them, knowing I’m there for them. I want them to do well. And I think people pick that up.

Is it sometimes hard to deliver those zingers? 

Stuart is really good at this. Every once in a while he'll say something in my ear that he wants me to say to someone. And I say, “I can’t. I can't say that.”

Are there moments during the show where you have thought, “that is truly incredible?” Or you were really surprised? 

I don't want to give anything away, but in the Christmas special the first round was historic for me. I didn't even know what to do. The teleprompter didn't have the right thing. We had to stop and go back.

Do you have advice on how to be a good player?

What I would say is, “Relax. No matter what. Just relax and accept the fact that you might choke. You might leave early in the game. But surrender to the fun of the game and you'll play better too."

But if you're nervous and full of anxiety, that could get in your way. I mean, I love adrenaline. I count on adrenaline for stuff like this. Adrenaline's great. But once it moves into anxiety, no good comes of it.

What's fascinating is how there's this whole dynamic that you're playing to win the money. But also, you have to be a good team member. Contestants have to rely on each other.

That's the thing about this game, you’re for yourself for the most part. But then there comes a point in the game when you can work as a team and eliminate somebody because they're too good. Where you'll have a strategy together. Sometimes people say, “all for me and not for the team." So it's an interesting dynamic. But they have to make a choice at some point.