DaMan: Hi, Ben. awesome to have you with us. How are you doing these days? Ben lawson:

Never better; thanks for having me.

i don’t know about it being my favorite moment, but what i will most remember is a scene that was added just before i went away for Thanksgiving. We had already shot the scene where hannah [played by Maggie Q] shoots me off a bridge and the producing director came up to me and said we have to add a scene where my character survives by crawling out of the river with a bulletproof vest. it was the last week of November and the show shoots in Toronto, which is not a city known for its mild winters. They put a wet suit under my clothes, which kept me somewhat warm, but my hands ended up being so numb from the cold. The more takes we took, the more water got into the wetsuit. Throughout the whole shoot, people on set kept coming up to me saying, “Man, i can’t believe you got into that damn river in November!”

As a foreigner myself, i can agree. i’ve learned a lot about American politics from “designated Survivor.”

kal Penn, who plays the press secretary on the show, actually worked in the White house. So, he is super interesting to talk to. kal says the one thing the press secretary cannot do is lie. They can be vague and evasive and frustrate the press with generalities, but they can never lie. This is significant because we now know recent real life press secretaries have done just that.