Taye Diggs Says The Real Full Monty Cast ‘Started Opening Up’ During Rehearsals About How Cancer Impacted Them

Taye Diggs says a lot more has gone into The Real Full Monty than he first imagined.

The actor spoke with PEOPLE about his work on the new two-hour special that will see “a daring group of male celebrities” strip down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research.

The event, inspired by the Oscar-nominated 1997 film The Full Monty, will be executive produced by Anthony Anderson.

“Embarrassingly, I thought I was just doing Anthony Anderson a favor and supporting cancer. But then once we got there and we really started to talk about these issues, everyone started opening up and we got to know each other on a different level,” Diggs says of the cast.

Along with Diggs, James Van Der Beek, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, and longtime Dancing with the Stars judge Bruno Tonioli are set to appear in the special, airing on Fox in December.

“That informed the performance, instead of it being this cute striptease with all these middle-aged men, it meant something,” Diggs continues.

According to a logline, The Real Full Monty will follow the six men as “they train and rehearse for the most revealing performance of their careers, culminating with a big strip-tease dance, choreographed by Emmy Award-winner Mandy Moore, where they will bare all in front of a live audience.”

“Leading up to the final disrobing, the men will push their limits of comfortability, modesty and brotherhood with a series of rehearsals and experiences, both private and public, designed to build confidence and remove them far from their comfort zone and strengthen their bond as a group,” the description reads.

All of this is designed to strip the stigma around prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer. Throughout the special, each celebrity will share their personal stories of how cancer has impacted their lives.

“That was one situation I didn’t expect, and I was more than pleasantly surprised,” Diggs says. “Another is that we had some real choreography, so it ended up being way more than I thought, but it’s something I’m really proud of.”

Another thing Diggs is proud of? His recent partnership with Lysol. On Saturday, Oct. 26, Diggs visited The Germ Zone experience in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in Champions Lane. The event, held at the Crimson Tide’s pregame fan fest area, located outside the northwest gates of Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, featured The Germ Booth.

There, fans sang their team’s fight song loud and proud, as VR technology depicted virus and bacteria droplets that are expelled into the air, and showed how Lysol helps kill them and keep sports fans safe.

“I’m a father and I’m getting older and my health is something that is very important to me. So this partnership kind of makes sense because it just is easy,” he tells PEOPLE.

Diggs shares a 15-year-old son, Walker, with his ex-wife and RENT co-star Idina Menzel.

“I know that I’m getting rid of a lot of bacteria, like 99.9% of germs, they take them away. And it sounds silly to talk about, but that stuff matters. I’m old enough now to see what happens when we’re not careful. And at my age, I like to live every day to be at most, when I’m stuck with a cold, nobody wins.”

This college football season, fans can enter to receive their own Germ Zone Essentials Pack by commenting with the hashtag #LysolGermZoneSweeps on content posted by @Lysol on Instagram.