TV & Showbiz

Brits baffled at Americans pulling Christmas crackers in Netflix film

WHAT HAVE I JUST WITNESSED.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 28th December 2024

If you’ve immersed yourself in all things Christmas in recent weeks, whether it’s eating non-stop festive food or binge-watching anything with a bough of holly on the cover, you might also have felt the simmering rage induced by A Kindhearted Christmas.

This typical Hallmark movie, starring 90210’s Jennie Garth, follows its lead character as she spreads festive cheer around her picturesque town through anonymous gifts.

While she hopes to remain the town’s well-wishing Secret Santa, she risks exposing herself when she starts to fall for a local news anchor.

So far, so tacky (which is exactly what a Christmas film should be).

But it’s not the wishy-washy script or woeful audience reviews (27% on Rotten Tomatoes) that has sent Brits into a fiery rage.

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It’s one particular scene of A Kindhearted Christmas, about an hour in, when the starring couple pull Christmas crackers together.

But rather than the traditional way, where you share a cracker with someone else and tug it to see who wins the bigger half, usually elbowing someone in the head in the process, they… pull the crackers by themselves (?!).

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In the scene, lead character Jamie is having a romantic dinner with Scott (Cameron Mathison), when he presents her with a pair of novelty Christmas crackers.

“These are Christmas crackers from England,” he tells her.

“Typically, you open them before the meal, but my parents always used to make us wait until dessert. 

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“I’m gonna show you how to do it.”

Americans pulling Christmas crackers in A Kindhearted Christmas. Credit: Netflix
Americans pulling Christmas crackers in A Kindhearted Christmas. Credit: Netflix

Strap in guys because he’s about to explain exactly how NOT to pull a Christmas cracker.

“So you go in here and you find the little tab,” (here he shoves his fingers into the hollow handle of the cracker), “And I’m gonna show you right here why they call them a cracker.

“Make sure you squeeze them hard, and then on the count of three, everyone pulls at the same time.

“There it is, you see, isn’t that good?” 

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The sight of two people pulling Christmas crackers on their own might be the most bleak thing we’ve seen all season – and of course, other viewers have agreed.

When one person shared the clip on TikTok, Specsavers replied: “What have we just seen…”

@mlouise1981

#akindheartedchristmas #netflixmovies #netflixfail #hallmarkchristmasmovies #christmasmovies #christmas #christmascrackers #christmascrackerjokes #ukchristmas #netflixx #cheesychristmasmovie #romcoms

♬ original sound – Louise Ft Bailey the Pugalier

Someone else said: “Hang on America doesn’t have them and this is how they think we open them. I’m confused about where they got this info from.”

One comment reads: “The whole of England is so confused right now.”

Someone shared: “‘We should add a scene with British Christmas crackers!’ ‘OK, but how do you open them?’ ‘Who cares!'”

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One person said on X: “So the scene with the christmas crackers in A Kindhearted Christmas is just ridiculous. It just shows that absolutely zero research was done at all. I can not believe the movie was released with that scene left in. I hope the director is embarrassed.”

Someone else said: “I’m watching A Kindhearted Christmas and they’re trying to claim you pull Christmas crackers with yourself… Nooo the whole point is it’s a fight to the death”

Another wrote: “Thank you for the nod to the British tradition of Christmas crackers, but you broke hearts everywhere here by having them pull their own!”

And someone posted: “Watching A Kindhearted Christmas on @NetflixUK. Do Americans really not know how to pull Christmas crackers?” (Technically, they are Canadian).

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Featured image: Netflix

TV & Showbiz

Bolton-born celebrity makeup artist claps back at ‘nasty’ and ‘evil’ Katie Price comments

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Bolton-born celebrity makeup artist Made By Mitchell claps back at ‘nasty’ and ‘evil’ Katie Price comments

Bolton-born celebrity makeup artist Made By Mitchell has hit back at social media users who criticised Katie Price’s appearance, describing some of the comments as ‘so evil’ and ‘downright rude and nasty’.

The makeup artist, whose real name is Mitchell Halliday, was responsible for Katie’s glam for a recent red-carpet appearance at the NTAs, with the pair opting for a bold and distinctive look.

While thousands of people took to social media to share their opinions on the reality star’s makeup and outfit, Mitchell said he was comfortable with people disliking the look – but was upset by the personal nature of some of the comments aimed at Katie.

“Thousands and thousands and thousands of people have given their opinion on the glam and outfit,” he said.

“A lot of it is positive and a lot of it is negative as well, and that is so okay – everyone is allowed to have their own opinion.”

While Mitchell said he was not bothered by people criticising his makeup, he admitted that some of the reaction left him upset.

He said: “I was genuinely a bit upset by some of the comments and what I was reading, and not because people didn’t like my makeup, that is so okay, it’s literally fine, again my client was happy and that’s all that matters to me.”

Mitchell said it was the comments directed specifically at Katie that affected him most.

“How people were speaking about Katie just really got me to be honest,” he said.

“It was so so evil. So many evil comments.”

He questioned why users felt the need to leave such harsh remarks rather than simply moving past content they did not enjoy.

“What is wrong with people? Just scroll on. Scroll on,” he said.

He also defended the decision to create a more dramatic look, arguing that it reflected the style Katie and Mitchell had set out to achieve together.

“This is a Katie Price and Mitchell glam,” he said.

@madebymitchell

can we all just be abit kinder pls… is it realllllly that hard??? 🫢 #madebymitchell #katieprice #makeup

♬ original sound – 🇬🇧MADEBYMITCHELL🇬🇧

“If Katie asked me to go and do her makeup for a red carpet and she asked me to do ‘please just do a really soft clean girl look’… really? I would’ve said ‘why have you brought me all the way down here?'”

Mitchell stressed that he was not trying to prevent people from having their say, acknowledging that social media users were entitled to their opinions.

“Opinions are so valid, I’m never gonna stop someone from giving their opinion in a comment section, that’s completely fine especially on my page,” he said.

“However, you don’t need to be nasty about it. And some of those comments were just downright rude and nasty.”

He added that he did not want his social media platforms to become a place where people could target Katie personally.

“Some of the comments about Katie were just so uncalled for and my page is not the place for that,” Mitchell said.

His message to those commenting on the look was simple: “Just be a bit kinder, it’s not that hard.”

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Featured image: TikTok, @madebymitchell

TV & Showbiz

A TV channel playing Christmas films 24/7 is now back on air in the UK

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Do you think it’s too early for the ‘C word’? Never mind, you’ve already clicked on this article.

Sure, we may only be into our second full week of September, but given the fact the weather these past couple of days hasn’t exactly screamed summer, it already feels like the festive season is around the corner – but whether or not you think it’s too early to be talking about Christmas, it’ll soon be too tricky to escape from.

Especially not when the famous TV channel showing festive film favourites non-stop is now back on air in the UK.

Yes, you heard that right – Christmas films, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

If you’re ready to wave goodbye to summer, and in welcome autumn and winter with open arms, then there’s arguably no better way of getting into the festive spirit than with the long-awaited and highly-anticipated return of the TV channel that’s charmed audiences for over half a decade now.

GREAT! Christmas the UK’s biggest seasonal channel, and it’s now live on Sky, Freesat, Freeview and Virgin Media.

You can expect almost four months of back-to-back seasonal movies.

The 24-hour feel-good and free-to-air channel will be bursting with non-stop Christmas spirit, and will be showing a heartwarming lineup of festive films – including some absolute fan-favourite classics that make it to screens every year without fail, alongside some cheesy Hallmark classics, new channel premieres, and so much more.

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Viewers will find GREAT! Christmas on Freeview channel 51, Sky 319, Sky (Glass/Stream) 317, Virgin channel 424, and Freely channel 47.

The channel will run until early January.

Featured Image – Freestocks (via Unsplash)

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