Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2, Episode 5: “Gentlemen, Step Inside Your Balls”
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2, Episode 5 including who was eliminated.
Previously on Finding Mr. Christmas: it was wipe-out city in the Festive Face-Off, the guys strutted their merry little hearts out for Hallmark superfans and Angel was handed a Sophie’s Choice so emotionally chaotic it deserved its own hotline. Gabe went home (RIP to the sweet, hesitant soul who always looked like he was about to apologize for existing), and six contenders remain.
Balsam Hill House™: Powered by Cocoa and Vulnerability
We pick up outside Balsam Hill House™ with Marcus and Robbie having an unexpectedly tender chat over hot cocoa. Marcus opens up about his mom’s cancer diagnosis and how hard it was to leave her for the show. Robbie listens with the kind of emotional presence most therapists charge hourly for. They cheers their cocoa cups, and I officially ship this friendship harder than half the romances on the network. For a show that occasionally launches men into Christmas lawn games, this moment felt very real.
Inside the house, everyone’s buzzing. Rustin announces he wants to get outside and sweat, and someone jokes about “getting the jitters out,” which is a perfect callback to Angel’s jitter-shaking talent-show performance that still lives rent-free in my brain. Robbie tries to steer the conversation into something meaningful and asks what everyone’s bringing into the day. Craig says “vulnerability,” sharing that he came in swinging but now wants to explore a different side. Davey admits he needs more confidence and gives Rustin his flowers for having the kind of swagger he wishes he had. Honestly, after Gabe’s departure, it does feel a little like Davey inherited the show’s communal lack-of-confidence token. Rustin absolutely beams hearing that someone wants what he has. Craig tries to lighten the moment by pretending to pull “confidence” out of his pocket and hands it to Davey. Robbie sums it up perfectly: all of them could use a little of something the others possess.
Festive Face-Off: Ornament Balls of Glory
Cue the jingle bells – It’s time for the Festive Face-Off. Craig admits being in the bottom two rattled him and that he really needs this advantage win. Out in the yard, Melissa is aggressively marching and JB has a megaphone like he’s about to coordinate a holiday fire drill.
This week’s Face-Off challenge? The men have to climb inside giant plastic ornament balls and knock down Christmas tree obstacles. I truly cannot make this up. And try as I might, I cannot connect this to acting. Usually there’s some metaphor or life lesson, but I’m coming up empty. I’m convinced the challenge designers simply threw up their hands and decided, “Forget the life lessons. Let’s watch these men launch themselves into oversized ornaments and annihilate some Christmas decor.”
The men are split into two heats. First up: Marcus, Craig, and Davey waddle into their giant plastic ornaments. “Gentlemen, step inside your balls,” JB announces – and truly, thank you to the production intern who got that line cleared. The race begins with Davey immediately knocking down someone else’s tree like he’s playing the wrong sport entirely. Craig wipes out spectacularly, feet moving too fast and dignity left somewhere on the Fa-La-La lawn. Marcus starts throwing his entire body into the course like he’s auditioning for a wrestling league no one asked for, but it’s Davey Hemsworth who manages to nail the final tree and take the win.
With Davey’s time now setting the pace to beat, Heat Two takes the field: Angel, Rustin, and Robbie. Angel takes off across the lawn like a caffeinated hamster who’s late for his morning shift. Someone calls Rustin a wrecking ball, and honestly? Fair assessment. Meanwhile, Robbie is the only man articulating an actual strategy, breaking down what he learned from the first heat and explaining how he’s going to adjust like he’s reviewing game tape. It’s close, but Robbie the Lobby does it again and wins the heat.
Then the times are compared: Davey edges Robbie out by a sliver. This is Davey’s first Festive Face-Off win, and his prize is huge. For the Star Quality Challenge, Davey will sit with JB and Melissa and listen to all the feedback and notes before performing his own scene. Robbie sums it up perfectly: he’ll put a feather in his cap for nearly winning, but “a feather is not an advantage in a Star Quality Challenge.”
Star Quality Challenge: The Snow-cial
Before the challenge begins, the men toss around a football and talk – extensively – about their childhood sports careers. So much sports. Sports making them confident. Sports pulling them out of their shells. Sports setting their trajectories. Craig slips in casually that he played D1 football. We get it. You’ve all played sports. Congratulations to athleticism.
Finally, they arrive at their “set” for the SQC: a neighborhood block-party “Snow-cial.” Two teams of three, same script, asked to make it their own through choices, energy, collaboration – the whole actorly spiel. Hunter King arrives as the Hallmark celeb guest for the challenge, and Robbie is thrilled because, let’s be honest, he’s the only one who seems to watch Hallmark movies recreationally. Hunter gives great advice, Melissa jokes about stealing scenes, and it’s time to cast roles.
Team One is Robbie, Rustin, and Marcus. Team Two is Angel, Davey, and Craig. And almost immediately, Team One becomes a case study in “too many cooks in the Christmas kitchen.” Robbie naturally steps into a directing role – because he actually has directing experience and knows what he’s doing – but Rustin also decides he can direct. So now we’ve got co-directing, which is generous language for what’s happening.
The moment Hunter steps in for rehearsal, Rustin fully takes over, sliding right into the director’s seat and nudging Robbie out like it’s nothing. It’s giving déjà vu from the time he stole Drake’s slingshot glory. Robbie leans into being collaborative, offering backstory ideas that genuinely work, even Marcus adds his own thoughts. The rehearsal looks good. Surprisingly smooth, even, given how many hands are technically on the wheel.
In their actual performance, Robbie and Rustin are lively and fun to watch, and then Hunter enters with Marcus, who looks a little stiff and maybe fumbles a line. JB says he wants Robbie and Rustin to feel more like brothers – I personally bought what they were selling, but I get the note. He also mentions they might be “overacting,” which made me laugh because, with love, JB’s knee-slapping enthusiasm during Robbie’s stand-up set last week was its own kind of big acting choice. Melissa tells Davey to lean into the “silly selfie” moment – delightful foreshadowing I absolutely did not see coming.
Team Two hits the ground confident. Davey is hyped to show some brotherly energy with Craig. Melissa pats Davey’s shoulder, sends him off, then turns to camera and drops a very appreciative, “Wow, those arms,” because she knows exactly what the viewers are tuning in for. Davey shares the notes with the class, and Angel says his focus is helping the other guys shine – very on-brand for him. In the performance, Craig choking on a cookie had me actually laughing out loud, and Davey pouring a drink on Angel during their selfie shocks both JB and Melissa. It’s genuinely funny, and I’ll be honest: Craig’s comedic timing caught me off guard in the best way. I really took notice.
Hunter’s feedback is fair. She praises Marcus’s boyfriend energy but wishes he matched the others’ energy. JB repeats his overacting critique for Robbie and Rustin. Melissa says she wanted more love between the siblings. Then she praises Craig for making bold choices, says Angel was a great team player, and notes Davey could have reacted more because Craig was giving him a lot.
Elimination Cave: Velvet, Bows, and Tears
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2, Episode 5 including who was eliminated.
Onto the Elimination Cave. Melissa looks absolutely stunning in a sexy Mrs. Claus–inspired look. JB is rocking green velvet. Hunter looks radiant in black with silver bows. JB starts by explaining that the SQC winner did the best job playing a brother – effectively knocking Angel and Marcus out of contention for the win. Rustin smiles like he’s already ordering his celebratory cocktail. Robbie looks nervous, Davey swallows a gulp the size of a plum, and Craig’s shoulders rise and fall like he’s on his last good nerve.
The winner? Craig. He looks shocked, emotional, relieved – eyes red, voice shaky – and talks about how much he’s auditioned in his life and how much this means. It’s genuinely sweet. Angel and Davey are declared safe.
The bottom three are Rustin, Marcus, and Robbie – essentially Team One. When Robbie and Rustin are called forward as the bottom two, both explain their perspective. JB says they competed with each other, and that one out-acted the other by “just a hair.”
And then the gut punch outcome I absolutely reject: Robbie is going home for Christmas.
Robbie has been one of the beating hearts of this show – earnest, joyful, fully himself, and always lifting everyone else up. He gives a goodbye speech that feels less like reality TV and more like the moment in a Hallmark movie where you realize you’ve fallen in love with the character without even meaning to. He talks about how life-changing the experience has been, how much JB has meant to him for so long, and how deeply he wanted to make him proud.
JB pulls him into a hug and tells him, “You’ve made me proud. And you’ve made our community proud.” It’s tender, it’s emotional, and every single person in that room feels the weight of it – because Robbie brought real heart into this competition. Not performative heart. Not “I’m doing this for screen time” heart. Genuine humanity.
Then Robbie delivers the line of the season – maybe the line of the series:
“You have to shoot for the moon, and if you miss you’ll land among the stars. I didn’t make it to the moon, but I’m definitely landing among the stars.”
I mean…come on.
It’s raw. It’s hopeful. It’s the kind of vulnerability that reminds you why you watch this show week after week – because beneath the tinsel and the talent shows and the crazy challenges, there are moments like this. Moments where someone chases a dream with their whole chest and lets us see what it costs and what it means.
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