Mario Lopez Stars as KFC’s Sexy Colonel Sanders in Lifetime ‘Mini Movie’

Mario Lopez is somehow the perfect choice to play hot Colonel Sanders

In the stuntiest of stunts, KFC and Lifetime are releasing a “mini-movie” (read: extended commercial) starring Mario Lopez as a buff, salt-and-pepper-haired Colonel Sanders.

Appropriately named A Recipe for Seduction, the Lifetime original will premiere on December 13. Judging from the trailer, it looks like the Colonel — hired as a household’s new chef who walks around in a tight shirt and jaunty ascot — will be involved in some kind of love triangle (or quadrangle?). The phrase “secret recipe” is uttered at least three times within five seconds. Other Lifetime hallmarks that are shown include an illicit affair, someone holding a knife threateningly, and a tied-to-a-chair-with-duct-tape-over-the-mouth situation.

This portrayal is the latest in a long line of sexy Colonel Sanders depictions. Take a walk down memory lane with me: there was anime dating simulator Colonel, CGI influencer Colonel, and shirtless Chippendales Colonel, among many variations. The real Harland Sanders was “often said to be a womanizer,” according to journalist and Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom author Adam Chandler.

If anyone can pull off playing a hot, cringe version of the man, the myth, the legend himself, it’s the equally hot, cringe actor Lopez. Now to sit back, relax, and wait for him to say the words “finger lickin’ good” at some point.

And in other news…

• Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé have been named top plastic polluters for the third year in a row by Break Free From Plastic’s annual ranking. [Guardian]
• The Trump administration’s Farmers to Families Food Box program is supposed to end on December 31, but it’s winding down early in some areas due to funds running out, coupled with huge demand for the food boxes. [WaPo]
• José Andrés on the need for the government to fight the hunger crisis. [WaPo]
• An estimated 10,000 restaurants could close in the next three weeks, according to the National Restaurant Association. [CNN]
• Orders for plant-based meat alternatives spiked on Grubhub this year, according to the delivery app’s year-end trend report. [VegNews]
• McDonald’s is changing franchise fees, in some areas increasing them in order to reallocate more funds to restaurant employees. [NRN]
• Pizza Hut’s triple-decker treat box returns for the holiday season. [BI]
• Coffee shop proprietor and TikTok-er Nick Cho is working with another TikTok-er to create a coffee blend named after TikTok duets. [Instagram]
• Small Publix recall on holiday cookie platters in some locations due to undeclared pecan allergens. [Publix]

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