Exclusive Interview
Inside the ‘Finding Mr. Christmas’ Finale: A Winner Is Crowned, But We All Won
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Finding Mr. Christmas finale.]
Mr. Christmas has been found! More importantly, Hallmark+ found a way to give us a reality competition that’s engaging, imaginative, funny, and mercifully free of that toxic tone so many of them are draped in these days! For the past seven weeks, the adorable Finding Mr. Christmas has honed down a stack of handsome aspirants vying for the lead role in a Hallmark original movie with playfully clever holiday-themed games and acting challenges.
It’s been a damn delight, all thanks to the sweetest contestants ever, the holiday spirit, and series co-creator, executive producer, and host Jonathan Bennett.
Photo Credit: Damian Holbrook
Along the way, we got shirtless photo shoots, ice-skating snafus, a talent show, puppies, and enough open-hearted discussions to make it impossible not to fall for all of the guys. And not just for their looks (which are off-the-charts, by the way), but also for their willingness to be both genuinely vulnerable and legitimately supportive of one another. Even Bennett was blown away by what he saw unfolding across production.
“Creating this show was one of the most difficult and thrilling things I’ve ever done in my entire career and life,” the Gay King of Christmas told us during the filming of this week’s finale on the show’s Utah set. And by “set,” we mean a sprawling, Hallmark-drenched ranch surrounded by snow-capped mountains outside of Park City, where Bennett and husband Jaymes Vaughn’s dog Brad held court with a crowd of journalists when we weren’t getting weirdly emotional watching this week’s elimination. “I knew we [had] something special, but it wasn’t until the first day when all of 10 of these beautiful human beings walked into the house that I realized how special this show was,” he said.
Throughout the season, the show somehow morphed from tinsel-covered competition to therapeutic social experiment as the men slowly opened up about their own insecurities, setbacks, failures, and hopes for their futures. Every one of them was the type of guy viewers would either want to be, be with, or become. Kind. Funny. Optimistic. Honest. HOT. And, based on their brotastic interactions during several press junkets, interviews, and our set visit last spring, they’re also big fans of each other. By the time we got to this week’s finale, with finalists Elijah Malcomb, Ezra Moreland, and Hayden Maher, it was clear that the freshman class of Mr. Bennett’s Hallmark Hunk Academy had bonded for life.
Photo Credit: Damian Holbrook
“Tonight, seeing Mr. Christmas crowned and thinking of how all three of our finalists grew over the past few weeks, the journey they let us go on with them and watch them learn about themselves, to heal broken parts of themselves, to develop as not just actors and performers and people in the industry, but as humans, they’re all coming out of this [connected],” said Bennett. “I mean, it felt like I was watching my kids grow up. It was like I was at graduation with my kids. And to see them on that stage, I had flashes of all the things they’ve done these past few weeks and ways that they’ve surprised me…they’ve taught me so many things from this show, they made me a better actor and a better person by being able to be around them.”
“Starting out, I didn’t anticipate making it this far,” Malcomb admitted, the energetic theater vet with the gazillion-watt smile who was awaiting the August birth of his daughter during filming. “My goal was to just show up and take every day as it comes and learn from each challenge that we were faced with, then hopefully apply those tools to the next challenge and just keep going day by day.”
Off camera, he said the vibe “was exactly the same” as when they were rolling. It probably helped that they had the most decorated house ever to hang out in. “We were just ourselves all the time. We would laugh and joke and Ezra was teaching me, Parker, and a couple other guys how to play chess all the time. It was a blast,” Malcomb revealed.
“Everybody’s so close,” agreed former Navy rescue driver-turned-model Moreland. “And it’s so funny…everybody’s good looking, talented, passionate, and at the same time, shout out to this team at Hallmark that gathered us because we’re all so different.”
“I don’t know how it happened,” echoed Maher, a golden retriever of an Aussie kids entertainer who entered the competition fresh off a painful divorce. “Ten guys, no egos, no animosity. These were 10 genuine people who wanted the best for each other. And it showed every single day, we were trying to help each other as much as possible with learning lines or if we went out and something happened that we weren’t expecting, we’d come back and go, ‘Hey, be prepared because this has changed.’ We were just helping each other.”
Hallmark+
Having helped one another to the final episode, the trio was ultimately tasked with nailing a classic Hallmark movie moment: The kiss. Lending them a hand (and lips) was fan favorite Nikki DeLoach as their scene partner, while Mother Nature pitched in as production designer. Yes, in a wild display of Hallmark magic, it actually snowed in May—heavily at times—as the guys shot their front porch exchange with DeLoach and directed by another Hallmark all-star, Ali Liebert.
In between takes, DeLoach would ease their nerves with encouragement and insight into the technical part of locking lips, while Bennett, his unsettlingly hunky executive producer Ben Roy, and lead judge Melissa Peterman observed the action from a bank of video monitors several yards away. All three delivered their own delightful versions of the scene, but in the end Bennett, Peterman, and DeLoach announced that it was Moreland who locked it down and took the crown of Mr. Christmas.
“One of my favorite moments of the show is after Ezra’s crowned, just looking right at him and saying, ‘Welcome to Hallmark, buddy.’ It was just such an emotional moment because he fits right in with what Hallmark is,” noted Bennett. “And I know that his light is going to shine so bright on that network, and I’m so excited to teach him the ropes, teach him what a ChristmasCon is, all the things that we get to do…it is just so exciting.”
For Moreland, the win means even more than a movie role and fan events. “There’s so many emotions that are clashing right now, and it’s kind of a crazy feeling,” the strapping San Diego resident revealed shortly after his big win. “But overall, it’s just joy. I’m so proud, and I just can’t wait for my family to see this. I just hope that the journey I’ve been on is inspiring, in the sense of promoting vulnerability and people coming together.”
Hallmark+
Similarly, Maher and Malcomb feel like they’ve won something that can’t be secured by a contract. “I have learned that confidence for me is key,” Hayden shared after Ezra’s win. “I’ve spent the last few years of my life dipping in and out of being confident and kind of sabotaging myself, and that might’ve happened in a microcosmic level here as well. But I’m leaving with so much, and I know now that breeds success. I’m happy with how my future’s going to turn out.”
“I feel like I’m definitely leaving this competition more confident, a lot more ready to take on every opportunity as it comes, and really grab it by the horns and give it my all,” agreed Elijah backstage, adding that he knows this is not the end of his newfound Finding family. “I’m excited to see where everyone goes. I’m excited to be in a room with all those guys again. I literally was just talking to Ezra and Hayden about it today. What I’m excited for is all of us being on set again. It is just going to be a party.”
Until then, we have Moreland’s Hallmark debut in the December 21 original, Happy Howlidays, opposite Jessica Lowndes and two pooches (not Brad?!) and, fingers crossed, a renewal or even spinoff to find Ms. Christmas. And, of course, the gift that Bennett & Company have delivered in the form of this festive ode to goodwill toward men.
“The hope I had going to this competition is that we would entertain America and have a family-friendly reality show that everyone could watch together over the holidays,” Bennett noted. “And what I got from it was a lesson in courage, a lesson in vulnerability, a lesson in being able to be open and unapologetically yourself. Watching these guys, these grown men, be so vulnerable and open was so inspiring because now I know that they’re inspiring our viewers.”
Finding Mr. Christmas, Now Streaming, Hallmark+
