Hallmark's Finding Mr. Christmas season 2: 'It's The Great British Bake Off with abs'

Inside a gorgeous mountain lodge nestled at the foot of Utah's Wasatch Range, nine telegenic men are preparing to show off their sexiest reindeer poses.

We're on the set for the new season of Finding Mr. Christmas, Hallmark Channel's reality TV competition that follows a group of aspiring actors as they compete for the chance to be the network's next Christmas movie star. As host and co-creator Jonathan Bennett just revealed to the assembled hopefuls, today they'll each be portraying one of Santa's reindeer in an Entertainment Weekly photo shoot — all while dangling high off the ground from a crane.

After suiting up as their respective reindeer — complete with antlers — the contestants mill around inside the lodge, nervously waiting for their moment in front of the camera. Some practice getting into character, while others do sit-ups and pull-ups to make their muscles pop. Downstairs, Bennett is watching the preparations on a monitor when a contestant named Angel, portraying Vixen, strides onto the screen in a long green vest and snug-fitting black leather pants.

"Can he move in those?" someone wonders aloud.

"Who cares?" Bennett shoots back. "Look at him!"

Indeed, it's all part of the Finding Mr. Christmas recipe: Handsome men, holiday spirit, tongue-in-cheek humor, and heart.

As Bennett explains, "It's The Great British Bake Off with abs."

Premiering last year as Hallmark Channel's first-ever reality competition series, Finding Mr. Christmas generated so much festive furor among Hallmarkies — as the brand's die-hard fans are called — the network quickly renewed it for a second season. And this time around, the show has graduated from streaming on Hallmark+ to airing on Hallmark Channel, which means more eyeballs, a bigger budget, and higher stakes.

"We're asking a lot more from the contestants right out of the gate. I haven't even unpacked all my shoes yet and there's a crane outside," jokes FMC judge Melissa Peterman. "It speaks to the fact that season 1 went well, and they're willing to put a little more money into season 2 and let Jonathan use his imagination in a big way."

While many of the contestants in season 1 were new to acting, the group competing on Mr. Christmas this year have a lot of experience in front of the camera, both as models and actors. Some even have IMDb pages, with credits including General Hospital and How I Met Your Father.

"In season 1, we couldn't even tell the people who were auditioning what the show was. It was all top secret," says Bennett. This season, "We were able to source people that were more specific to what the show was versus just finding guys that liked Christmas movies."

With more actors in the mix, "the competition is definitely harder in season 2 than it was in season 1," Bennett continues. "These guys can handle more than we think. We're throwing things at them that make them think on their feet, so they're never comfortable."

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The Mr. Christmas miracle

Jonathan Bennett is a popular Hallmark star with multiple holiday movies to his name, so it's not surprising that the network said yes when he and Finding Mr. Christmas executive producer Ben Roy first pitched them the idea. But Bennett says he could sense that the execs weren't quite sure how the Hallmark audience would react to a competition reality show — even one with such a holly jolly premise.

"We were like the little show that could. As we were shooting the first season, in my head I'm like, 'This is a hit.' And everyone [at the network] was like, 'Can't wait to see how it does!' But I had the quiet confidence, like, 'You'll see.'"  

That confidence only got louder as the Hallmarkies started sharing their reactions to Finding Mr. Christmas, both publicly and one-on-one with the show's creators.

"I've learned that Hallmark fans are very passionate," reports Roy with a laugh. "My DMs have been very active. Some of the podcasts started like, 'Maybe we're going to hate-watch this,' and then after an episode or two, they were like, 'Wait a minute. I think I like this? Is this great?'"

Peterman recalls getting a call from her aunt, a major Hallmark fan who had Mr. Christmas viewing parties with her neighbors.

"After she finished watching the entire season, she put me on speakerphone, and I had to do a Q and A with them. They wanted to get the dish on every contestant," says the actress, who also stars on NBC's Reba McEntire sitcom Happy’s Place. "But I also got a lot of feedback from people I didn't think were the Hallmark demographic — tweens, teenagers, twentysomethings. One of my wardrobe people on the sitcom, her daughter just loved it, and they watched it together."

As the buzz grew and a special airing of the first two episodes pulled in impressive numbers for Hallmark Channel, Bennett started to hear rumors that the show was not only going to be renewed, but also promoted from streaming to Hallmark Channel proper. When that news finally came, the actor/producer/host admits he felt vindicated.

"I told them from day one, 'I think we need to air season 1 on linear.' They said, 'We're going to put it on streaming, but we're going to put the first two episodes on linear.' I said, 'Well, that's better than nothing.' But yes, when I found out that it was coming to Hallmark Channel, I was like, 'Told you so!'"

Challenge accepted

The photo shoot challenge is just minutes away from starting. But before the men can be hoisted into the air to live out their reindeer dreams, production needs to test the crane-and-harness setup. Enter Bennett's husband, Jaymes Vaughan, a singer and TV host who Bennett calls the "official unofficial test dummy" for FMC's physical challenges. Crew members strap Vaughan into the harness, attach him to the crane, and lift him off the ground as Bennett films the whole thing on his cell phone.

"Give us reindeer poses!" Bennett calls to his hovering husband, who first appeared on TV as a contestant on The Amazing Race. "Your name is Queenie the reindeer, so be as gay as possible!"

Watching from the sidelines, Peterman marvels, "I can't even get my husband to smell the milk!"

With Queenie's test complete, one by one the men get hoisted up into the air to play this reindeer (photo shoot) game, as Bennett, Peterman, and guest judge Heather Hemmens (Christmas Under the Lights) cheer them on from below. Bennett offers guidance and direction from the ground, and when a contestant strikes a perfect pose, the host's enthusiasm is uncontainable.

"That's it! That's f---ing it!" he shouts, literally jumping up and down. Later, he admits, "When I get real excited, the f-bombs drop. Ultimately, Davey (a.k.a. Blitzen) is crowned the winner. (The final composite photo of all the guys — with Bennett as Santa, of course — is featured at the top of this story.)

To absolutely no one's surprise, fans of Finding Mr. Christmas season 1 really enjoyed seeing the hunky contestants compete in physical challenges. To that end, Roy says they're making the games even more "epic" in season 2. Think giant inflatable hamster balls and a massive slingshot for flinging Christmas presents.

The guys will also compete in a slip-n-slide footrace that is bound to get messy, if Vaughan's account of his test run is any indication: "I had so much Crisco in my butt crack!"

The acting challenges will be considerably tougher too — minus the Crisco. In the season 2 premiere, contestants had to perform a scene opposite Hallmark star/guest judge Janel Parrish while skiing downhill, and they'll also have to act on horseback alongside another Hallmark Channel favorite, Alison Sweeney. And later this season, contestants will have to step behind the camera to block and shoot a scene themselves.

"We're showing you how we make these meet-cute scenes, how we shoot the end-of-the-movie kiss, how we shoot the date scene," says Bennett. "You're seeing all that now, with the biggest stars of Hallmark and the new crop of talent."

The contestants say they're ready for anything. Some — including Angel, 38, and Drake, 27 — did their homework by studying season 1 closely.

"I played football, and I feel like you've always got to study film," notes Drake.

And Robbie, a 35-year-old acting teacher from New York City, came into the competition with a secret that he thinks will give him the edge.

"I am a Hallmark superfan — but I'm not sharing that with the rest of the guys," he reveals. "I don't want them to know that I have this advantage of loving Hallmark Christmas movies and seeing what so many leading men have done throughout the years."

Superfan strategies aside, this is Hallmark Channel, so the competition on Finding Mr. Christmas always comes second to heartfelt bonding between the guys. This year's crop of contestants has a variety of emotional backstories — one lost his mom when he was 23; one saw his family lose everything due to his father's gambling addiction; another's mom is currently battling cancer — and there have already been plenty of tears shed on set.

"It's always been our hope to have a competition show where 10 men come in the house and compete, but they're also going to show heart to each other, because that's what Hallmark is," says Roy. "We're pushing them to share their stories, and unfortunately, that's not a thing that's really celebrated in our society, for men to be vulnerable. Once you open people up, it changes the conversations and the relationships."

Adding to the warm fuzzy factor this season is the fact that two contestants — Gabriel, 32, and Davey, 34 — came into the show as good friends. They met four years ago on a modeling shoot, and now they're going head-to-head for a career-changing gig.

"Having Davey here has brought out emotions to me that I didn't even know were there," admits Gabriel. "If one of us were to go home, then we'd be separated, and that's horrible."

Davey agrees: "It’s tough, but I'm rooting for him. I know he's rooting for me. And either way, we're going to get a lot out of this."

Now if that doesn't warm your heart, you might be the Grinch.

Finding what's next

Production on Finding Mr. Christmas takes place in the spring. And once a winner is chosen, Hallmark Channel execs get to work finding a perfect holiday movie for their new star.

"Finding Mr. Christmas has no involvement in picking the movie for the winner," explains Bennett. "Our goal is to find someone that has all the qualities that you need to be a Hallmark star, who can grow with the brand. America fell in love watching his journey. Now let's grow him into the Hallmark star that he deserves to be."

The FMC team still stays in touch with the season 1 cast, not only winner Ezra Moreland, who starred in the 2024 Hallmark movie Happy Howlidays and will next appear in Christmas on Duty.

"The show isn't just for the winners — it's for all the other guys to find success as well," says Roy. "We're so excited because Blake from season 1 booked a big Toyota commercial. He texted me and Jonathan, 'I've got something to share with you...' It almost makes us tear up because that's what this is about. It's about all these guys getting a chance and giving them a platform."

For Roy and Bennett, the plan is to make the Finding Mr. Christmas platform even bigger in the future. Both are optimistic that the show will grow its audience when it moves to Hallmark Channel — which could help them to get the green light for FMC spinoffs. Roy would love to launch Finding Miss Christmas, while Bennett is thinking even bigger.

"When Finding Mr. Christmas comes to linear and is a huge hit that I hope that it is, I'm hoping to do the summer version: Finding Mr. Romance," he reveals. "It takes place on an island or something tropical like that."

Well, if any reality TV concept has the potential for year-round appeal, it’s "The Great British Bake Off with abs."

Finding Mr. Christmas airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel.