TLC’s Chilli returns to a dating show — but this time as a host

Atlanta’s Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC has been in the public eye for more than three decades. On the personal front, she had son Tron with vaunted producer Dallas Austin in 1997 and dated R&B legend Usher in the early 2000s.

In 2010 and 2011, she spent two seasons fruitlessly dating men on a VH1 show “What Chilli Wants.” In 2014, she tried Bravo’s “Millionaire Matchmaker” to no avail.

Since then, the R&B star has had zero appetite to try a dating show again. Fortunately in 2022, she fell in love with actor Matthew Lawrence (“Boy Meets World”) without TV assistance after meeting him on a flight to Atlanta. They now have a steady bicoastal relationship and appear very content.

As a result, Hallmark producers offered them a co-hosting gig on new reality dating show “Second Chance Love.” Five former couples gathered for two weeks at a resort in Sardinia, Italy, in June 2025 to see if they could rekindle a spark.

“The crux of the show is whether you can get closure and move on or find true love with the same person at a different point in your life,” said Chilli in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Since this is Hallmark, the tone of the eight-episode show is gentle, the conflicts mild. The couples range in age from their 30s to their 70s. Most had previously dated. A couple who grew up in Atlanta had kissed once but not seriously dated.

The oldest couple, Leslie and Paul, last dated during the Reagan administration when she was a model and he was a photographer. After two years, he broke it off without a clear explanation. Leslie wanted to see if a more mature Paul could settle down now.

“They’re like ‘The Notebook’ couple!” Chilli said. “Watching Leslie shows me age is just a number. You can still get those butterflies no matter what your age is. That’s human nature.”

Real-life loves Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Matthew Lawrence host a core workout class during the sixth episode of “Second Chance Love,” shot in Sardinia, Italy. (Hallmark+)

Chilli and Lawrence are not just hosts but also amateur therapists for the couples, offering relationship advice and prodding couples to open up. Chilli, known for her aggressive physical training regimen, also hosted a core workout class that exhausted everyone.

“I haven’t had this much fun since polio,” cracked 71-year-old Peter, whose last name is not revealed on the show.

Chilli said this was a perfect job for her and Lawrence since they love to travel together. (They recently vacationed in Costa Rica and Madagascar.)

“We had so much fun, and everything flowed naturally,” Chilli said. “All the couples were lovely. It didn’t feel like work at all.”

“We really got to like the couples,” Lawrence added. “We couldn’t help but root for them.”

Hosts Matthew Lawrence and Chilli oversee a flower making challenge for the five couples on the beach in Sardinia, Italy. “We really got to like the couples,” Lawrence says. “We couldn’t help but root for them.” (Hallmark+)

They tried to guess which of the five pairs would leave Italy as true romantic couples once the two weeks were over, but didn’t always guess right.

In the end, two of the couples ultimately fell into the dreaded “friend zone” while three decided to move forward.

Chilli said in Lawrence, she has finally found the guy who fulfills key attributes on the lengthy “list” of wants she provided on her VH1 show 15 years ago. She wanted — among other things — a man in good shape, who loves Jesus, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t eat pork and is well-endowed.

“Every once in a blue moon, someone still asks me about that list,” she said. “The list still lives. It’s etched in stone. It’s not going anywhere.”

Host Chilli speaks with the men during “Second Chance Love,” a new dating show that debuted in January. “The crux of the show is whether you can get closure and move on or find true love with the same person at a different point in your life,” Chilli says. (Hallmark+)

And the bicoastal relationship works for them.