Finding Mr. Christmas Is Hunkier, Bolder, and More Elevated In Season 2
From creator and host Jonathan Bennett comes another season of Hallmark Channel’s Finding Mr. Christmas. Each season we’re introduced to ten holiday hunks competing for a chance to star in a new Countdown to Christmas movie. After crowning Ezra Moreland the winner of season one, the show returns to find our next leading man. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado sat down with host Jonathan Bennett, judge Melissa Peterman, and contestants Craig, Jake, Davey, and Gabe about the festive new season.
Season one of Finding Mr. Christmas captured all of our hearts, but how has the competition evolved this season? “The hunks are hunkier, the challenges are bolder, and the acting is even more elevated,” Bennett told me.
While the contestants had the luxury of seeing the first season play out, Peterson shared “they can't really prepare for it.” “We really, in a good way, try to go, ‘Nope, we need to see you and who you are,’” she said. “We want to know who these guys really are. We want to know what they can do in a scene, how they are as an actor, but ultimately, to be a Hallmark leading man, we need to see the essence of the guy and who he is and his heart.”
“I created challenges that are going to push the guys even farther than we did in season one,” said Bennett, “because, as a Hallmark leading man, you have to be prepared for anything.”
The first episode throws the contestants on skis in a scene with actress Janel Parrish. “As a viewer of season one, I kind of had an inkling of what to expect and it took it much farther than that. Starting off with a bang with our very first acting experience, I was on a pair of skis. I've never been on skis in my life. I've never acted before. I didn't know what blocking was. And then you have this four-page script that I thought was actually two separate scripts that I was going to hand over to my partner,” said Davey. “So I had this like hit the panic button immediately. Like do I belong here? I think we all had that inner dialogue with ourselves at some point during the show. For me, it was right off the bat.”
“The challenges were really creative and I think that they bring the best out of each one of us. But obviously you have to dig deep in order to win anything,” said Gabe, with Davey adding: “They're so multifaceted. Some of them have more of a psychological component because they're very physically oriented. I like those ones better. You can expect the unexpected. That's for sure.”
Jonathan Bennett calls the contestants of Finding Mr. Christmas “the most courageous ten men in Hollywood.” “It is the most vulnerable thing to walk into a room and audition and put yourself on the line,” he shared. “Not only is it hard to do, [but] these guys did it in front of the whole world for everyone to watch. They're taking the hardest thing, that's the most vulnerable, and then they're making that the most vulnerable it can possibly be. It's like we're not asking you to audition. We're asking you to audition in front of 70 million people who watch Hallmark every month. The world is going to watch you do it.”
“It's like when I went on Dancing with the Stars,” laughed Bennett. “I learned that I wasn't a good dancer in front of 25 million people at the time on live national television. So to do this… actors are courageous, but my ten boys are the most courageous of the courageous.”
The winner of Finding Mr. Christmas gets to star in a Countdown to Christmas movie, but who’s their dream co-star? “Lacey [Chabert]'s just like… she is Hallmark,” said Craig, with Jake adding: “Tyler Hynes would be awesome. They've been in so many great things. They are Hallmark. They are Christmas. It would be pretty fun to be able to co-star with someone like that.”
While they couldn’t share much about the movie the winner stars in, Bennett told us about his new Hallmark movie A Keller Christmas Vacation. “It is a [film] that I helped write and produce and create. It's basically me, Brandon Routh, who is Superman to everyone, and Eden Sher, who is Sue from The Middle, who is like my favorite character on TV. The three of us play siblings that don't get along,” he revealed. “My dad would take me and my brother and sister on a houseboat trip every Labor Day because he's like, ‘If I put you on a boat, then you have to talk to each other.’ ‘Cause me and my brother and sister are like, ‘I don't want to talk. I don't want to hang out with Lisa.’ So my dad would force us to go on this houseboat trip ‘cause he's like, if you're on the boat, you can't go anywhere. You have to hang out with your brother and sister and talk.”
“It's hilarious and over the top and ridiculous. It's one of my favorite movies ‘cause it's based on my real life,” he added.
Not just an actor, Bennett is producing, writing, and creating projects that speak to audiences including The Holiday Sitter and The Groomsmen trilogy. “Here's the thing. You have to create work for yourself. It is 2025 and the industry is insane. The reason I create all these is because I like to work,” said Bennett. “And if I love what I do and if I create the jobs for myself, then I'll keep working.”
The second season of Finding Mr. Christmas premieres October 27 on Hallmark Channel, with new episodes airing every Monday.
