Jonathan Wells and Blake Kelley Discuss Competing on Hallmark’s Finding Mr. Christmas

Hallmark’s Finding Mr. Christmas is looking to change the landscape of what it means to be a reality competition show. During its first season, contestants Jonathan Wells and Blake Kelley competed for the coveted prize of becoming Hallmark’s latest leading man.

Instead of encouraging the contestants to be against each other, the Hallmark series included competition challenges that encouraged teamwork and unity. In fact, because of this experience, Kelley and Wells found themselves creating a bond that will last a lifetime.

While neither was the final winner of Season 1, both men showed us they are still winning during their panel at the ATX Television Festival this year, which also featured Jonathan Bennett, Melissa Peterman, and Ben Roy. They shared even more when they sat down with us for an interview to discuss their experiences. (You can watch the full interview below.)

While on the show, both Kelley and Wells were up against 8 other contestants who were all vying for the title of “Hallmark’s Next Leading Man.” Despite it being a competition show, both commented on how they never felt as though they were against each other.

“Sharing a car with [Blake] gave me an opportunity to see who he was before we even knew what we were going to do,” Wells stated during the Finding Mr. Christmas panel. 

It was a sentiment agreed upon by the whole group on the panel. In fact, Ben Roy and Jonathan Bennett created the show in the hopes it would be more about healthy competition instead of “gotcha” moments.

“I’d been offered a few reality TV offers, but none of them ever felt right for me,” Kelley explained during the panel.

When it came time for us to interview Kelley and Wells, they had quite a few positive things to say about their experience.

“ I’m going to have to say the part where they surprised us with our family,” Kelley said regarding his favorite moment from Season 1.

“That became an instant part to where it’s not something that I got to just share with my family, like as a spoken word. It’s something that we cherished,” he added. “I mean, I wish you could have seen how the whole family was sitting around just showing off me and my sister to each other and just talking. It’s a memory that we will share forever.”

For Wells, it was a couple of moments that he remembers fondly. 

“One of the two best moments, right, was seeing them bring back Parker.  That emotional scene and being like, ‘man, you get a second chance’ and how happy he was and surprised he was,” Wells said.

“But also just acting with another guy on the show. I think that’s one of my favorite challenges is being able to create chemistry, but also compete, but like create great work as well,” Wells added.

When the discussion turned to what makes this particular reality show unique, both Wells and Kelley had a few things to say.

“ I wouldn’t be surprised if people start to copy this model. For me, I look at it like this is a combination of multiple reality shows that are out there, whether it’s America’s Got Talent, [The] Bachelor, The Voice; you’re gonna see a combination of all of it on this show. And to be able to do that and successfully do it, I don’t think people thought it could be done,” Wells explained.

While Kelley’s response to this type of discussion wasn’t during our interview, he did touch upon his feelings during the panel. He talked about how creating bonds with the guys made it that much harder to say goodbye when one of them inevitably was eliminated.

At the end of the day, it’s clear to see from both Kelley and Wells that the show was a positive experience. In fact, both have projects in the works that came as a result of their time on Finding Mr. Christmas. 

Watch the full interview with Blake Kelley, Jonathan Wells, Ben Roy, Jonathan Bennett, and Melissa Peterman:

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Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2 is set to premiere later in 2025 on Hallmark.

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