Jonathan Bennett Talks Finding Mr. Christmas Challenges, Meet-Cute Game

Jonathan Bennett is one of Hallmark’s biggest stars — and a prince of Christmas — but he’s ready to pass the torch.

“We base challenges off the different tropes of the Hallmark movies that everyone’s come to know and love,” Bennett, 43, who is the host of Finding Mr. Christmas, exclusively told Us Weekly of the new competition series premiering on Hallmark+ Thursday, October 31.

The actor — who has been in six holiday features for the network — joked, “We love a meet-cute” so they created a challenge inspired by the rom-com theme.

“We found a way to gamify the meet-cute. We found a way to gamify the apology scene in every movie,” Bennett said. “If you’re going to be in a Hallmark movie, you got to shoot the poster. So there’s a photo shoot in there.”

He teased, “There is ice skating,” which is an activity featured in a lot of Hallmark romances. “We also have festive face-offs, which are our smaller challenges that … What do they test? Your holiday spirit?” Bennett said, asking contestant Erza Moreland.

“Yeah, definitely the holiday spirit,” Moreland replied. “Even kind of tested what the holidays mean to us in a sense of when we were growing up. Even traditions that you have with your family.”

He revealed that during the “high-pressure scenarios” where the men go “head-to-head,” that’s where viewers will “see the drama.”

Finding Mr. Christmas features 10 men battling for the title of “Mr. Christmas,” and the prize of starring in one of the 2024 “Countdown to Christmas” movies, Happy Howlidays, which airs on Saturday, December 21.

In addition to competing on festive challenges like pulling Santa’s sleigh or walking in an ugly Christmas sweater fashion show, the winner must embody quintessential traits on brand with a Hallmark hunk.

“The key qualities to being Mr. Christmas are none of what these guys portray at all. No, I’m just kidding,” Bennett told Us, before saying that the men have to fit into the Hallmark mold.

Bennett pointed out that viewers watch Hallmark movies for the leading man’s “charisma,” their “sense of humor, their wit” and their “kindness.”

“They’ve got to be funny and they’ve got to have a whole lot of heart,” he added. “Those are kind of the tent poles we were looking for when we [were] picking our contestants.”

While it sounds easy enough, the contestants learned firsthand that being a Hallmark fan-favorite is difficult.

“The [funny] thing is watching the Hallmark movies, I feel like it’s natural for most people to watch and be like, ‘Hey, could I do that? Or do I have that attribute?’” Moreland told Us. “That’s something that I was feeling even leading up to having a possibility to go for this. That’s what I was telling myself before I even knew I had a chance at it. We’re just going to go for it.”

Blake Kelley confessed to Us, “No, it’s not” easy to excel in these roles. “I’m a competitor. I came into it thinking, ‘I don’t want to just do good. I want to take his job,’” Kelley said with a laugh, which didn’t bother Bennett.

“I mean, if they were in Mean Girls, I’d be worried, but they weren’t. So I’m good,” Bennett laughed, referring to his role as Aaron Samuels in the hit 2004 movie in which Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) does take over as Queen B after Regina George (Rachel McAdams) gets struck by a bus.

While Bennett felt secure in his role as a Hallmark hunk, the contestants said they didn’t hold back when competing for their own chance at stardom.

Elijah Malcomb, who starred in Hamilton on Broadway, told Us that his background with the musical “definitely served me a little bit.” Although he said it’s a “whole different medium,” he’s used to having to “roll with the punches” after doing live theater so long.

“I was trying to take every day as it came, every competition as it came, and really just put my best foot forward for the day that I could,” Malcomb continued.

Parker Gregory, meanwhile, comes from the modeling world where he said “everything is stills” so that was a challenge.

“[There’s] not a lot of working cameras as far as video. But I wanted to go in and treat it like a camp,” Gregory recalled. “I was like, ‘I’m going to learn a lot.’ And I went in. I wanted to compete. I wanted to prove to myself I am here for a reason.”

Contestant Daxon Bloomquist revealed to Us that the “most challenging part” was “showing up in different areas” based on the different experiences.

“I was a Team USA athlete. I competed for Team USA and every meet was a challenge,” he said of his background, noting he was open to “getting comfortable and uncomfortable, realizing that you can be yourself in your character and just always moving one step closer to that.”

Despite the competitive nature of the show, the contestants told Us that they formed a “brotherhood” and Bennett was their guide.

Finding Mr. Christmas premieres on Hallmark+ Thursday, October 31.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi