In an 2021 installment of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series, “Mystery 101,” called “Killer Timing,” Kristoffer Polaha’s character survives an explosion. According to Polaha, the scene was inspired by something that actually happened to him. On “The Grass is Greener with Paul Greene” podcast, the actor recounted how an idyllic day in New York City took a turn for the terrifying.
Polaha was an NYU student, aimlessly strolling the city streets with a friend named Katherine. At one point, Polaha decided to walk on the other side of his companion. “I said, ‘I don’t know why, but I feel better on this side of you,'” he recalled. Their meandering took them in front of a restaurant. “All of a sudden … the grate in the sidewalk blows open, we’re engulfed in a fireball,” he continued. The explosion came from the basement of the restaurant, but also blew its windows out, causing glass to fly everywhere. Katherine escaped without any serious injuries, but a piece of skin was hanging from Polaha’s face and he was bleeding profusely from cuts on his wrists and hands.
However, while taking a cab to the hospital, he requested a kiss from Katherine, which is what inspired his and co-star Jill Wagner’s characters to kiss in the show. Polaha believes that swapping spots with his companion could have saved their lives. “The one thing that the fire marshal said which stuck with me was, ‘You’re lucky to be alive right now. You should have been decapitated,'” he recalled.
