Hallmark+ Finding Mr. Christmas & Broadway Personality Daxton Bloomquist

On this episode of On the Rocks, deck the halls as we kick off the holidays with Hallmark+ Finding Mr. Christmas personality Daxton Bloomquist as we chat with him about his growing up in a small town, his time on Broadway, getting into reality TV, representing the gay community on Hallmark, love and dating, and more! Raise a glass, it's On the Rocks! Ho ho ho!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Media. Hello on the Rockers, Deck the Halls. We
are celebrating the holiday season with a sit down with
Hallmarks plus finding mister Christmas Personality. Daxton Bloomquist is here.
From Broadway to reality TV to podcasting. We're gonna talk
about it all with me, your sassy host with a
sassy most. Raise a glass with the drinks begin. It's
on the Rocks. Ho Ho ho ho, thank you. Life

(00:28):
is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.
I'd like to propose a toast. This is on the Rocks,
he Alexander, where I drink with your favorite celebrities as
you talk about fashion, entertainment, pop culture, reality TV and
well that's about it. So pop a cork, lean back,
and raise the glass to arm the Rocks lash the season.

(00:51):
It's got to be Lord, have mercy, buns and bows
and Patty host on the Rocks podcast, the place where
we're too plamed to give it amuse. I'm thankful for, Yes,
I love the holidays, and I love Christmas decorations. Things
I'm not thankful for sing along Wicked. Unless you've been
on Broadway, I do not want to hear you screeching
the fine gravity anyway. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok

(01:13):
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(01:36):
up Facebook, watch on gd magazine and I Love Gay
LGBT Streaming with Pride on SBTV and on Channel thirty
one in Boston. Hello Boston, we probably tape at UBM
GO Studios. You're one stop places for podcasting. All right,
let's get the show on the road For all of
those Hallmark fanatics like myself playing holiday movies all day long.
I have more than guilty. This season, the channel got

(01:57):
into reality TV with their first competitions. Hees finding mister Christmas.
Ten men compete in a series of festive challenges that
will showcase their acting chops and their holiday spirit, and
one of our favorite gays, mister Jonathan Bennett, hosts while
all these lovable guys compete to become Hallmark's next leading man.
It is not your typical reality show. I'm going to
say that right up front. There's no backstabbing, there's no

(02:18):
name calling one miners, there's no wig pulling, but there
is a lot of heart and guys. Let's take a
look in a Hallmarkhurst. Wow, we're putting ten unknown talents
together in one house.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
I want to be a Hallmark leading Man.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Who are they? That's still top secret, but we can
tell you they'll get the star making chance of a lifetime.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
This is not going to be an easy ride to
compete for a leading role in a Hallmark Christmas movie
and action, but winning will take more than good looks.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
The Hallmark leading man should have a call. They'll be
tested to show that they embody all the Hallmark magic
they need to carry a movie. I just want to cry, well,
Bill need plenty of holiday spirits, charm.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
But it's not near as hard as I'm falling for you.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
And a whole lot of heart. Oh my god, I
love you guys so much.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Because in the end, only one, unfortunately you're going home
for the holidays.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Will become Mister Christmas and representing the queer community on
Finding Mister Christmas. Daxton began his career in theater and
went from working on a Disney cruise line before making
his debut on Broadway with over one thousand performances in
the Book of Mormon for the Broadway run and national tour,
playing Elder McKinley. He appeared in the hit series Welcome
to Chippendale's and has also been seen on Blind Spotting

(03:41):
on Stars in nineteen twenty three on Paramount. His latest
passion is script development and he's currently working on some
on screen projects. You can watch him on Finding Mister
Christmas now streaming on a Hallmark Plus. You can also
check out his new podcast, Blondie Is Out Loud with
fellow Mister Christmas cast member Hayden. Please welcome Daxton Bloom Chris. Hello.
You know if your name was Braxton Bloom Quiz you

(04:02):
could be a drag queen. I couldn't. I mean, that's
like matters away girl, what du you know?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
You know who knows it will happen in twenty twenty five?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
After this point, we're finding mister Christmas season two? Or fine,
what if there was a drag challenge? I would? I would?
I basically I basically won the drag j Yes, you're
kind of said, I'm the only one that war makeup.
So that's all some foundation. Yeah, I tell some foundation.
Now we know that Hallmark movies always feature some honk

(04:29):
and some small town. You literally were born in a
small small town. Yeah, knowing that you went from small
town to cities like New York and Los Angeles. You
traveled the world. You've been in every one of the
fifty states.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, how did grow up?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
How did growing up in a small town kind of
prepare you for that? What did you learn most about
life from your early childhood?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, the I love this question. My I give a
lot of credit to my parents. They just let me
kind of explore every opportunity in my small town. So,
like you are from a small town, you kind of
get the up. You can do everything. So like I
could be in the musical, I could play all the sports,
I could do whatever I want, and it wasn't very
expensive because living like so, I just had a lot
of opportunities to try things. I like, when I found

(05:13):
something I really loved, which was singing in theater and
being creative and weird, my parents were like, all right,
go for it. And I had a mentor grow I
had like a little mentor who had also from a
small town that went and did Broadway, and she kind
of just guided me through it. And I just was like,
you know what, if it worked that way, I'm just
gonna follow her and followed her like footsteps.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
And moved to New York.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
And I had no clue what I was, a zero
clue what I was doing. But I think the nice
knit like learning to just like be nice and smile
at everybody. And there is an earnestness about small town
folks that sorry East Coasters, West Coasters, you don't quite
get unless you're born in it. And I just I
think that helped my way. I had to learn a lot,
but I'm still learning.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
I'm still learning.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
I have to say, people we've had on the show
from small towns, there's a sincerity there. It's not put
upon it, like you said. And I hate to make assumptions.
But East Coasters and West Coasters they play it being
nice and being sincere, and it doesn't always come across. Yeah,
I don't.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
I still can't put a finger on it because I've
been out of the small I've been out of Kansas
for now over like ten years, way over fifteen years
at this point, and I think it's there. I think
it's just a point of like you go into a
grocery store, you basically know everybody you go like, everyone's
just like you have to be nice and you can't
just like disappear from them. So maybe that's what it is.

(06:33):
I still can't figure it out, but it hasn't left me,
so it's still in there somewhere. I think I have
a little bit harder of a harder of a surface,
and it takes a little bit more to get like
to like offend me.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
But well, through what you do today, we'll try real
hard today. I want to talk about a facet of
growing up. You were very into sports. Yeah, that was
a big part of life, and your dad was like
a basketball coach Jake time. How did you deal with
that part of your life, part of your life where
most people assume a boy in theaterism, and then you
had your own sexuality that you were coming to terms

(07:06):
terms with you How did you play that masculine sports
guys small town with what was happening inside?

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, I don't think I was masculine at all. It
I look back at him, he probably wasn't that masculine
younger Deckton, But yeah, I was involved with a lot
of the sports, the sports bros. And my dad's a
basketball coach. I love sports. I'm super I'm very competitive.
I think that instilled a lot in me. I really
love track and field. My dad wanted my brother and
I to be big basketball players. I probably would have

(07:36):
been his best basketball player. Sorry brothers, but I just.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
It just didn't. It didn't fit.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
And I think part of that was because of my sexuality,
and I wasn't feeling as I don't think I felt
as comfortable with who I am now, which is interesting
because they put me in a house with nine straight
guys and I had the best I had the best time.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
We've definitely got a lot of questions about that, and
we were definitely gonna deep dive into that.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Like I wish Daxton had the confidence now that he
did and the confidence I have now is being out,
very proud, very comfortable with who I am has nothing
to do with my sexuality. I just love who I
am at this point, and I wish that was who
I was in high school. I think it would have
been more successful in the sports realm. But it was
very athletic, did all this stuff, like ran track at

(08:23):
a state level, could have run in college. Just just
never felt like I fit in, which is interesting. I
feel a lot of queer kids have that feeling with
especially sports.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, and coming from a small town, there's not like
the representation you come to La. Half the people here
are you know, from the queer community. You didn't have
that kind of representation, you have that role model. But
how did your parents? How were they just so open?
You know, we make assumptions about coming out in a
small town. Yeah, especially coming from a sports minded family,
was there ever a hushion? Were you nervous coming out?

(08:53):
You know?

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I think my parents is always new like that's like,
let's be real, I'm just a different Well I'm also
just a different It was just a different I walk
to a different beat of drums, no matter like whether
I was gay or not. I think I just had
a different way of viewing life, and I was it's
so funny. I talked to my dad. I was talking
to my dad last night, and they just accepted me
for letting me be weird. And I wanted when I

(09:15):
want that just being a creative of my whole life now,
I want I want kids. I want parents just to realize, like,
if your kids a little weird.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Let them be weird.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
It doesn't mean they're gonna be weird forever I walked
down the street, they aren't weird forever, Like yay, let them. Yeah, Like,
let's celebrate the authentic person that they are because that's
like really fun and you'd rather have that than some
kid that isn't sure what to do and they get
involved in things because they don't know what to do.
My parents are just like, give it a try. We're
here to support you. I don't We're very middle class,

(09:46):
Like they're not handing out money to me if I'm
never gonna live on this, Like they would never allow
me to like not have anything. But I just feel
like my parents are very supportive. I do have a
very traditional sports dad, but he's a tea teacher and
he I think sees all kinds of different kids, and
he's very accepting of these different kids. And then my
mom is just goofiest version of like the woman version

(10:09):
of me. And I think they just were like, let
him do it. Let them just let him figure it out,
because there's nothing stopping me. Like, once I have my
idea on something, I'm like, I'm gonna try it. I'm
probably if I met If I can't do it, I'm
gonna try it so well.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
And how fun for them to be able to watch
you on finding mister Christmas. You know, a Hallmark channel
is in every single household growing up, like it's just
part of family life, and now you're part of that culture.
I mean that must be crazy. And don't you find
that our younger generation, I think because of social media
and being able to communicate and see representation, they don't
give a crap Like when you were coming out or
even when I was coming out, they don't care as much.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
They don't care anymore.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
And as weird as they want, and we celebrate that.
I love I love I love the gen z Ers.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'm like, I mean, I can't stand children, but I
won't like seven of them, But I love the fact
that they just yeah, they don't care anymore about what
your sexuality is or what. Like, everybody's just like celebrating
what they want. And I love this fluidity of these kids,
and I think let's like be excited about that in general.
Just overall. I'm just like, yeah, come on, I love

(11:11):
where I see the world going in terms of like acceptance.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
I know. So, now, when did the acting bug first
hit you? Was it like the Christmas pageant you were
Joseph and you're amazing, you know, a Shepherd's outfit or
was it a school play? What was it somebody who
saw on TV that You're like, that's the life for me.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
First of all, I loving these questions because I haven't
thought about these forever. You know, I don't know. I
think I've always just been a performer, like grow. I like,
I you could probably tell my parents. I've probably came
out of my mom's came out of the womb, scream.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Was that sentence gonna come? Came? So I came out
of her love basket, her love.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I came out of the Christmas love basket in December.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
My birthdays next week. So what is yeah? Yeah, yeah
it sucks. I am christ But it sucks you have
to share your birthday with Jesus. You know what I get,
the better get, I'm going to share it with anybody.
I guess that's the one to share it with.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, yeah, I guess you know. I do share it
with Christina Aguilera and Brad Pitt.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
I mean, come on, imagine that Christmas party. Yeah, we
would have so much fun. Yeah, Jesus would be like
walking out.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think Jesus would be okay with Christina and Brad,
and I.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Think Jesus would be more than fine with it. So
whatever that question was, Yes, it's like the first play
that you did.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
The first lea I did my middle school. I did
a Christmas maget because every kid everything Christmas. So like, no,
I don't think that's where the bug got me. I
did You're a good Man Charlie Brown in sixth grade?

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Oh, oh my god, this is insane. So I did
your good Man Charlie Brown in high school? Who did
you play Charlie Brown?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Okay, I played Lioness.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Oh I got my blank could and me boom? Yeah great.
Then I did it at the Roxy here in Hollywood.
For a year, they had a family series on Saturday
and Sundays. We did three shows your Saturday and Sunday.
But I did it for a year. Okay, yeah, but
that's Charlie Brown, so yeah, and you got a great
show to do.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Though in sixth grade, I'd be out all the seventh
and eighth graders to get this lead role. It's so
silly to me now. That was such a high. Like
my ego was real big, you know. No, I kind
of love that ego, like I kind of want him back,
like he just I'm gonna get it.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Like maybe some of these finding mister Christmas need to
do like a concert version of your good manchilder A Brown.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Honestly, we probably should. Sure none of them can sing
so well. One can Elijah, I'll give him that.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
But I saw the talent show.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, and then no, I do my little homemark smile.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
There you go. But after graduating from witches Ta State,
you headed straight for New York, Yes, sir, and we
know even you know, going to college and all that,
you're open to different experiences. But heading to New York
from small town growing up, what were some of the
hardest things to get used to? What took you most
by surprise?

Speaker 2 (13:55):
I think it was always meant to be in a
big city. Hardest thing to get used to probably was
just the constant amount of energy. So no matter what
you do, you're always surrounded by people. And I still
even going back to New York now, I still like
struggle with bringing that energy in because when you're from
the newst you go outside and it's just like ah.
But being when you go into New York, you're like

(14:16):
it's like everybody's all over.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
You got to keep up with the movement or you're
trampled all yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
And so I was just learning to get rid of
that energy or like have time for myself. And the
Central Park was a big savior for me. I would
go in there and excuse me, see that's.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
What you better finish that time. That's real fast, by
the way. I would go to Central Park, and that
was a that was a real verb. Like the small
amount of solda water that is in this drink, that
was a real verb. You know, we don't do anything
light here. I'm on the rock, clearly not no.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So cinral Bark was my like got away with the
and you know, I don't know, I just went and
I had people like I did a lot of regional theaters,
so new people, and I think I just was open
to the experience and being wild and not wild for me,
I'm not that crazy, but like going out until three
in the morning was wild for Jaxton.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Here's what I was going to ask you. You know,
coming into your own it's one thing coming out in
a small town, and it's one thing being thrust into
a big city like la New York. And I know
a lot of young people who have just come out.
They come to the city. Yeah, there's a lot of allure,
but there's also good and bad of being surrounded by
such LGBTQ culture because there are bad things that you
can get into. Also, we're exploring our sexuality, which is

(15:32):
a whole different thing.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
It was fresh, Yeah, it's I mean, I was very
prude when I came to New York, which it's hard
to be prude in New York because, yeah, because everyone's attractive.
But I was still figuring out, like and it was
before like any kind of like prep or was a thing.
So it was just like I was just very happy
for you. For me, yeah, I was very scared. I

(15:54):
was very scared of anything. So I was a very
good boy. I was just kind of my goal was
to be on Broadway. So like, honestly, when I didn't,
I was like, yeah, I'm okay with my sexuality, but
I'm not something focused on. I was like, yeah, most
importantly is like I have to get up at five
in the morning to go sit in line for this
audition and I'm still I mean, I was in the Union,

(16:15):
but it was just like, you have to.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Do your voice has to be in good shape. You
can't be hungover.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, and I didn't have a balance. I was just like, strictly,
I need to be on Broadway. Like I came all
the way from Kansas. I think that's another thing, is
like when you come from the Midwest, it's like you
have no excuse. Like I moved out to New York
to do what I wanted to do, and I'm by god,
break it. By god, I'm not if I have to
go back to Kansas and be white people like I
told you so it's really hard. I'm like, no, no,

(16:41):
I'm not going to ever let that happen for me.
I tell kids, like, if I go and talk to them,
I'm like, if you can do whatever you want to do,
but you have to be like.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
It's a doggy dog world out there.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
It's hard. Like you can be the best in the
world and still never book a Broadway show And it's
wild to me.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And we talk about the young generation is very confident
and they're they're very you know, they celebrate who they are.
But there's also the flip side, and I've seen it.
I've seen young people come to the show that book
their first you know, MTV show or c W show
or whatever, and they don't know about the hustle. They
don't know about Like even if I don't care how
many millions you have followers on social media, that doesn't
mean that you're not hustling. And that's exactly right. Hustle.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
The hustle's real. The hustle can kill you, like not
not actually like kill you, but like the hustle can.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
It meets out though, who really wants to be in
the business and who wants to be in the business.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
There's been multiple time, I mean multiple times, I'm like, okay, universe,
and I'm not supposed to be doing this. Give me
something else to do, I say, because it's hard. The
hustle is hard, no matter how much success you've had.
It's only especially with the entertainment. Entertainment just it's it
lasts and then it's done. It lasts and is done.
And if you have to stay on that wave or
if you can't be under the wave, you you can't,

(17:50):
like you have to learn to be under the wave,
I think, and learn to swim in a way rather
than learn to serve because the surfing parts to eat.
Once you're up on that board and you're like, it's
a amazing and it feels amazing, but like learning to
do that is hard. Like finding the right it's hard.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
What's one of the worst jobs you had to take
just to make ends meet while you were while you
were doing it?

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Thing o, God, I've worked out. When I first moved
to New York, I worked at Starbucks.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
That seems like go to be fun though, I mean
I have zero intelligence to keep track of people. Were
nothing around at the company.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
It was just like tons of people.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
New York Starbucks. There's a lot I would I would
say that was the worst.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
I got lucky and I started teaching fitness at Equinox
and that kind of like paid well and like I
learned how to like use my time wisely and you.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Used to be around hot guys, like on finding mister Christmas.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yes, I'm just really good at being around hot people.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
If there's anything I'm.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Good at, and I should teach a class on it
as being around hot people and how to be confident around.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
How to do that research? But I loved you. Know
you did make it to Broadway, but along the way
you went on a Disney cruise line.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Where did you find that picture? First of all, oh, honey.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
We do research. No, I don't just do it. I
don't even know if we do research.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
I don't even know if I could find that picure,
Like you've you had some good ones, But that hercules,
where was it?

Speaker 1 (19:03):
I got? Oh? Look who?

Speaker 2 (19:05):
What?

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Where are those guns? Where is she?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
You know, I'm like twenty five pounds lighter there, I'm
one hundred and ninety pounds right now. That yeah, I'm
like one seventy five, one six, one seventy.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Look those track and field legs. Though, I know she's like.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
I was so tiny. I was like a little twunk.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
I was twenty three years old. I've seen a tunk.
They can't even lift up a starless. Let me live
my dream, Let me live my dreams. Let me live
my twunk dreams.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I was little, like I mean I it looked a
little to you twenty I was twenty pounds later. That's crazy.
I can't believe you found the picture. It's a good picture.
I'm not mad about it. It's just funny.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
You got more.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, I opened that ship.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
But speaking of you as Hercules and it, but like
Disney Cruise, Yeah, my personal hell would have to be
on a ship with children and then Disney I would
jump off. But you were a performer.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, to be fair, I opened that shit, yes, which
is a whole different. I had audiences for like less
like less than three months. We only had audiences like
we weren't. We were just there strictly to open it
and make sure that the audience is like the show,
and then they're.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Like bye, so you don't have to like stay on.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
No, I did eleven I did. It was an eleven
month contract. We spent most of our time off the boat,
or if we were on the boat, it was because
they were like we were rehearsing.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
It had nothing. But did you have to like stick
around and be like okay, now we're on the boat,
now we're off the boat. Did they put you open
in a hotel like no, we so New York.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
So the long, long story short, you rehearse in Toronto
in a very beautiful place and they give you like
kind they take really really good care of you. And
we were there for double the time they normally have
people there, so we were living our best life. And
then and as a twenty three year old at that point,
you're just likes and you've got this. You're downtown Toronto
in like a one bedroom beautiful high rise like like,

(20:52):
I don't even think they get they have to I
think they have to share bedrooms now, but we were like,
uh they do.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah. Many friends are like oh yeah, it's hell.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
And then we go to this brand new ship in Germany.
So you travel to Germany and they they're building the
ship by in Germany, so you do all the sea trials.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
A lot of people don't know I was trial. Oh
basically I'm like ABC Trial.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
No, like where we're like trying to like tip the
boat over like we'd have to. No, I'm not kidding,
Swear to god. We're on the boat while they were
doing the trials, like they there's all kinds of trials before,
like you can actually like be permitted to have people
on it. Those ships, I don't want to sound like
the Titanic, but they're really unsinkable, like or if they

(21:34):
do start to sink. There's there's plenty of ways. I
love I love cruising, and I think but the Disney
ship is specific.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
But we that's a lot of energy. Yeah. We lived
in Germany for like six weeks. Amazing. Yeah it was.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
It was a really cool experience for how young I am.
I'm very appreciative of it. I'm still talk to a
lot of the people I was in that cast with.
We bonded. It was a lot of.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Work cruise people and entertainment cruise people. They stick together, Yeah,
because you're stuck on a shit. Yeah. The ships.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
The ship life sucks, Like don't get here. If you
want to do a ship, I think you should do
it young. Some people love it. Some people are lifers.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
It was the money in the bank. Yeah yeah. And
like Germany amazing now.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, yeah, I got a lot. I got you a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Freer in Germany, Like no, you were still like I was.
I was chocolate.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
I was like a prude until I was like thirty.
Lord have mercy.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
I've never seen you out and about about Hollywood. I'm like,
how have I not seen you? I'm surprised.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Because I because I was filming Finding Mister Christmas on Hallmark.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Plus I mean, and what an experience and question?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
No, I'm getting Yes. So I was a little pretty
until until like.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
And then thirty were just like, well, yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Then I did Broadway and Broadway was scary and stressful.
Let's talk about we can if we want to work
into that.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Let's talk about Broadway. It's every actor, theater actor's dream
obviously to be on Broadway. What was the audition process
like for that?

Speaker 2 (23:04):
I joined so early, so the audition process is much different.
So if you are, if you're a future wanting to
be in a book of Mormon kid, don't listen to
me because my process was much different. We had three
four auditions. One was well, go back to a year
before when I booked the ship. I before I book
the ship, I was in for the original cast, which

(23:25):
was cool.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
I didn't book it.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Now I'm there's reasons why I'm away a little young
that the original cast was a little older. Yeah, And
then I went to did the ship, came back called
within like a week, the casting director called me in
and she was like, hey, can you like they called
me back and didion.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
She literally was like I'm so glad you're back. And
I was like, what do you think it was about
you that made that impression?

Speaker 2 (23:47):
You know, there's an once again the Mormon religion and
there's a sweetness to them, and I think a Midwest
value is like there's just a sweetest sweetness behind your
eyes even though we can be a little naughty, and
I think people just just understand that. And I think
I just had this like good boy asque look, which
I'm deep down at that moment, I was very good

(24:08):
boy and they so I.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Think she just was and I can tap dance.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
And so I got called in and four auditions later
I booked it. It was like real quick, right after
the ship.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Auditions that was still a lot and as actors like
every audition.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
I mean I've done like eleven and haven't gotten it. Wow,
it's crazy. That's like, yeah, you're telling me, you know
how hard that is on that ego?

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yes, I finding mister Christmas, I wasn't even finding mister
k Well, we'll find her kins. Yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I would love to see him finding mister Christmas. Let's
bring it on, bring it on. H Yeah. So yeah,
so Mormon was great. I joined it with the most
of the original cast. Ye, so once again stressed out
about six years of my life just because then I
booked a lead roll in it.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
And Tony, you're the worst gay. That's not Book of Mormon,
that's Jersey Boys. Can you find a picture of me
and book more? Yes? Actually they were. When I was
in it, they were. We can Tony Mormons have ties.
When I was.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
In it, they were so they were.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
So they're a little they're a little.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Lax now on the youtubes and stuff like that, But
when I was in it, nothing, it.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Was all down. It was the Hamilton of its time.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, and so like you know how they do. I
always tell this story and people always laugh at me
because it's kind of braggadocious, But I say braggadocious. You
know how they do in Wicked. Speaking of Wicked, I
know we talked about what we're good. Speaking of Wicked,
have you heard of it?

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Three times? I've seen that already. I want to go
to the press viewing, and I wasn't able to talk
about it. You don't have the biggest mouth in the industry.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
We could spend the whole hour talking about it. I'm
obsessed with the Wicked, but so you know, you know
they have the Wicked like where they like compare. Yeah,
they would do that for the mckinleys, and they took
it down, and it was like my one claim to
fame to be like, guys back, I know, I want
to take take it, put it back up, put the
put your favorite McKinley's up.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Like, do you think there's a movie I was like
in the in the works.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
I hope.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
But let's talk about opening night for your Broadway debut.
If I remember it. That's I was gonna ask a
few minutes before Curtin, you're remembering that small boy from
Kansas Yeah, to being on Broadway.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
To stress to think about that. One of the cast members, though,
did tell me Brian Sears, and I won't I'm gonna
get emotional talking about it, because like he looked at
me and he said, and he like, he's from Kansas.
He was from Kansas City, and he's very BROI straight
guy and.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Older than me.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, Brian, you're older than me.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
If he's ever gonna hear this, I hope he does.
He said to everybody listens, Yeahsha doing a Christmas party?

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Okay, he he told me, he goes, you're going to
be really stressed. He goes, find one moment in the
show that you can just look out and remember.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
And many people give this advice. I did.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
I'm emotional about it because it was like I took
that moment and I won't ever forget it and is mine,
and nobody can take that away from me. I would
love to do more Broadway shows, put me in another
Broadway show, but that moment will never take it away
from me. And I'm so happy anybody asks about it,
because it isn't it is a really special It was
really really special, and I'm so glad he told me

(27:32):
that I would know. I don't think I would have
if he didn't. And when and if I ever get
to do another Broadway show, would tell a Broadway debut
or things?

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, if you put it out there, yes, he'll be
back on sure, or when an Oscar I don't you know,
mister Broadway fighting, mister Christmas. We'll add him off me. Yes, yeah,
I would love to do. Broadway's so fun, it's magical,
it's a lot, a lot, a lot of work.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
So yeah, here's goodbye.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
But this is the kind of emotion that you brought
to Finding Mister Christmas, and I have to say it
infected the whole cast. Everybody was so.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Real right after me.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, well you made Jonathan Bennett cry. Trust me, he's
he's got a steal. He knows what to do because
people are like a competition show with guys on Hallmark.
This is what it was about. It was so endearing
and it was mostly about sharing life stories rather than
it was about, you know, the competition part of it.
It was so touchy.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
It's such an interesting It was such an interesting format
because it felt like RuPaul's rag Race, but like everyone
was nice and.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Everybody was who's the villain? Nobody was the villain. I'm like,
your Retina was the villain. My Retina literally, my Retina
was going to get this Retina.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
My Retina villainized everything. But I think also mean my
Retina was the opening to allowing the other boys to
kind of, you know, my Retina gave them some hope.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
You know what. I think it was wise at the show.
So I'm not giving any big spoiler alerts, but the
show early on a Christmas sweater challenge and you're like, oh,
how fun ugly sweater blah blah blah. But it was
about telling your life story. And we found out more
in that one challenge than we did in everybody's intro
when they came to the house and all that. It
was very real and I thought it was the smartest

(29:15):
way to start this guy.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
I loved.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
I love that challenge.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
I was. I was so excited about it, and I
was very scared about it because like coming like being
out is one thing, but like telling you a camera, like.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Okay, let's dive into finding mister Chris. Yeah, because this
is part of the questions that we got. We got
a lot of questions. Oh my gosh, I mean, let
me let me buckle up with these. Is that okay,
was reality TV ever on your radar? How did this?
How did this opportunity come to you? So there was
a very unique casting call. I would imagine, Yeah, there's

(29:47):
an actor's strike. I don't know if anybody remembers that
here in La.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
And I had done Welcome to Jip and Nals. I
don't know if we'll ever get you that.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Oh we have pictures of that too.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
So many pictures of please Welcome to I missed the book,
I missed the word there. Yeah, those are good. I
missed the Book of Mormon.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Ones I got Tony, I uploaded them there.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
That's okay. I'm just curious what you got if it
was somebody.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
It was one of the full cast pictures, and there
was one that you're in a scene. Yeah. But I'm
really okay because you did you did I want to
I mean not throwing shade. You did some smaller interviews
while you were like touring around.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yeah, I did a lot, but it's just like I
asked you were terrible.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
It's like you know what you have for dinner?

Speaker 2 (30:32):
It's stupid.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, I mean, and it's so weird because they asked.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
They did ask some questions. I mean those are they
just asked. They just asked questions, and you're just like
and you're like, especially at that I was young again,
I was very young when I played Delier McKinley, and
I just was so happy that people wanted to interview me.
I'm also so I'm also still really I this is
my favorite part about the whole show business of it
all is like getting you.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Guys for finding mister Christmas are doing the circuit the.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah they none of them know it, but they're all
circuit queens now, none of them know it.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
I love to say that, if only, But how did
the show? I have a few it was frenished, But
how did the show come to you? And what was
the casting called out for?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
So there's a strike right that, like the actor's strike,
and I didn't work for a year, and I was like, oh.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
My god, what that?

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Like, what am I doing again? What am I doing?

Speaker 1 (31:27):
This is not And people don't realize we have a
lot of entertainment. Entertainment people that watch the show, they
can share it. It's not just about the year that
the strike happened. It caused a yellow and red light
for so many other projects. It was even after that.
It wasn't like all of sudden, you're getting called in
because now the figure out what projects are we going
to finish?

Speaker 2 (31:44):
And then yeah, and I'm so new to TV, so
like I had a big TV show. Yeah, great, it
was awesome. I'm on the top of that wave. I'm like,
let's keep writing it. But then when everything shut downe
and puts everybody back out, like okay, a year year away,
nothing's happening. So I reached out via Instagram and I
don't know who like sent my information to her, but

(32:06):
she was like, hey, you we have a reality show.
Just didn't know if you would be interested.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
It wasn't about Cosmos that like yeah on you and yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
She was like her eye get it. She kept one
eye on me.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Oh, we're gonna get to that spoiler alert.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Not the one eyed will. So she reached out and
I was like, you know, sure, let's do it. I
would love to. I think reality shows are fun. I'd
I love Traders, I love her Paul's drag Drag race.
I love like, I love What's the where they race
across the world, amazing race, Yes, Survivor. I'm like, I
love all this stuffing Like I was like, are.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
You a Bravo queen or now? I love everything, but
Bravo I love. I only watched Salt Lake. Okay, that's
pretty amazing and we thought once Monica was going to
leave that the franchise this season is wild.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
We could talk a whole hour about that season.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
I just got caught up. Mormons are cool again, even
though they're not really Mormons, but like Mormon Wives is
like the new show too.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah. I didn't like that though.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah, okay, I thought they were trying too hard. But
what did the casting calls say?

Speaker 2 (33:07):
It was I can't remember what it said, but it
did not mention Hallmark. It was just like a family
friendly It was like a family friendly that could have
been network. Yeah, it was a family friendly network. You
you are just and it's to compete for a price.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
That was basically all that was it. Yeah, and I
was like, okay, let me, like, I'll do it.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I did all the auditions, made it, I got cast
in it, and they and then you don't You don't
really find out what it was until you've signed the
contract of like you did all the background checks that
it was for Hallmark.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
So we really didn't know it was from Hallmark until probably,
I mean, don't quote me on the dates, but like
probably right until I actually left for the show.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
So we have cast members of CBS's The Summit coming
on the show in January. They weren't told what they
were doing. They were just told to pack heavy clothing.
Then they drop them off at the bottom of a
mountain and say you have to climb one of the
highest Mounts and they're not they're not athletic people.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
They're just yeah, they're just like, yeah, yeah, it wasn't
that like they're just like, once you realize it was
a competition for Hallmark, you're like, okay, I kind of
get it, and then then yeah, you just they had
all these outfits that they wanted you to bring, and
that was about.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
That was really all I knew going into I know
number one on that outfit list was tighte pants for everybody.
How did anybody breathe during that? I don't know. I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
They get they they were trying to do me a
dirty They're trying to throw me off.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
I think that's what they were trying to do. Let's
put them all in type pants and distract the Broadway actor. Now,
but knowing it was from Hallmark, me and my I
was raised by a single parent, my mom and I.
Every Christmas everything was Hallmark. The Hallmark channel was always
always plain. We know Hallmark has recently become very inclusive. Yeah,
players like Jonathan Bennett have been a big part of that,

(34:52):
being a gay man. Knowing it was for a Hallmark,
which is typically a very conservative network, conservative audience, changing
over the last few years. Yeah, did that put like
a whole bunch of pressure on you? I felt it
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Not gonna lie, it was very I went back and
forth talking with friend's boyfriend, all of the all the
people being like, how am I going to approach this?
Because I, of course I want to win, but I
also want to make sure that my store, like make
sure that any kid that's watching this that is little
is feels like they.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Belong and a kid watching it with their family, yeah,
and that's a this is a family competition series, sure.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, And I just I just want them to watch
it and be like, oh he can't Like there is
like a queer kid can get along with all the
straight kids.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
And I really wanted to show the friendship and the
bond that I made with them, But I also wanted
to show them that, like, I'm here to be the
best one, Like I'm no longer scared not to be
who I am, So I'm gonna show who I am.
I'm gonna be as open and proud of who I am.
And hopefully, and I think I wanted to go on
as a role model for little Daxton, for my but

(36:00):
also any kid that's watching that just feels a little different.
Doesn't mean if they're gay or not. I don't like again,
sexuality is so fluid. It's just like being weird.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
But I love that because they're like little I was
a sci fi nerd, you know, growing up, and I
didn't like find I.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Just didn't want to make it about being I think
being gay is very important, but I didn't want to
make it about that. I wanted to be like, Okay,
I'm I'm going to be perceived a certain way no
matter what, no matter me saying this, but I want
you to know, like, I'm gonna be really good at
everything I do, and I'm going to go for it
all out. And these boys have a lot to have
a lot to learn from me. And that was my

(36:34):
my competition brain going in.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Well, I'm gonna say so. I started watching the show
because I love Hallmark and I love Jonathan and all that.
I was able to interview Jonathan for the cover of
this month's to Eating magazine. I got to read it
It's so good and he brought you up during the show.
That same week, I ran into Melissa Peterman at the
opening of Lakage at Pasadena and she said it was
one of her most favorite projects that she's worked on,

(36:58):
and she mentioned you. So that's how I was, I, well,
we have to get him on the show.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
I'm glad you got me on the show.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
I feel but that's what your present meant and to
our audience that hasn't seen it, there's a moment and
I'm sure I'm not getting the quote right, but you're like,
I'm I'm always concerned with or wanting to be enough. Yeah,
and you made Jonathan Bennett break down and he's like,
I just know you are always enough.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
That moment was really huge moment.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
It was really special, and they really there wasn't much
editing out of that to like with you know, TV.
They edited a lot and they tried it, but that
that was a moment that they kept and I'm really
happy they did the I feel really happy I had
that moment and I got to express that moment because yeah,
I've grown up being weird and goofy and loud, but

(37:42):
also been very good at keeping the like, oh I'm
this and I'm like being this very like cookie cutter
version of whatever accident is or whatever the world wanted
me to be, and I was, I think at this
moment on camera, I was like, Nope, I'm not long.
I'm not that anymore. I am gonna be this googy,
loud person and I'm going to celebrate it. And honestly,

(38:03):
it was the most FOURK thing I've ever done. I'm
so happy for the show. If I don't get a
redemption in season two, I'm happy I have.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
We got that question a lot. It's like, because we
know drag Race, if you conjure yourself, you're gonna come
back on.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Well, see, you know, if I get that redemption, that
my my story is much different.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Fans really responded to and it's not just LGBTQ fans.
Fans really have responded to you. It's so cool. And
they responded to your friendship with having too.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Which is real, very real, very special. I you know,
if I you know, if there isn't a season two
or nothing, I built a friendship with not just Hayden,
but like there's some really special bonds in that group,
which is I don't know if that happens in reality shows. No.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, they're worrying about how to like get the other one.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Yeah, and I was really yeah, so those those moments
were a real and genuine and I wanted to be
as real and genuine on the camera because I think
I the queer community deserves that, and the Hallmark too, like, yeah,
a Hallmark well, and I just I love Jonathan Bennett
and I think he's a very very big voice for

(39:09):
the LGBTQ plus community on Hallmark. But I'm like, there's
time for more, Like there's room for more, and I
want to be more for for that and and every
and everything. I think Jonathan gave me that opportunity to
have that voice, and I'm like, oh, it's tart, it's tine.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
I will tell you. On any other type of show,
they would have cut that up. Yeah, and he and
I'm so glad he would be shown you crying, and
then they would have been like.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Let's not show John and then no, Jonathan's a sweet
such a sweetheart. I think I felt really comfortable being
on set with another gay man.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
So, but let's talk about your participation because you're bromance
with Hayden and then you just being accepted so much
and the cast refers to you and we're gonna get
to your but it's showing that we can have relationships
gay and straight, and especially going into the next few
years of life here in the US, it's like we

(40:04):
need that.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
It's important and it was really important to me to
show and I what would never show unauthentically, like if
if I didn't feel like I could.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Some gays go on a reality show and they're like,
what's what's the sassiest meaning an get to you know
what I mean?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
And like, how can I be the gay best friend?
And there it was just like, no, I actually want
to be your friend and I want to you.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Did become the gay I'm literally they all call me
like literally the acting challenge was so good.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Thank you. I'm you know, no shade to Hallmark, but
not Hallmark. No shade to Jonathan and Melissa. But I
think my scene was better than Hayden's and I'll always
call him out on it.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
They just edited they edited him throwing that thing, and
I was like, I.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Did some really cute things you could have gotten You
could have you could have gotten me in that scene.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Did you feel the pressure though, as a gay man
don't be too gay in an acting scene. That has
to weigh on you because we're celebrating actors like Shyanne Jackson,
Matt Bohmer, Jonathan Bailey that are being lauded for their
straight roles.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, I'm it's it's interesting. Yeah, I felt a lot
of pressure. I don't necessarily need to play straight roles.
I will and I like to and I think I
can do them, and I would.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Feel they need to like butcher it up.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yes, there was a need for me to feel like
I needed to do that. Yeah, I'll be honest, like
I felt like I needed to make sure I brote
it out. But but also what is what is butch?
And what isn't butch? And like that? That's like now
what I question constantly?

Speaker 1 (41:32):
We got many comments, not just questions, we got comments.
And I hate this term, but just to put it
in quick connotation, yeah, you're very passable. Sure, but you
came into the Christmas magic. He run into me in
high tosses on a Friday night. You don't know how passable.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
You know what I'm That's well, it's good because I'm
all over the place.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Probably I'm home by midnight. I'm home. I'm a night. Yeah,
that's when I come out.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
I'm an early I'm an early girl. I like daily
happy hour I'm a happy hour. I love if it's daylight,
I'll have a drink. But I want to be like
in bed by eleven o'clock always have.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
I want to talk about you coming into the house.
I love seeing all the guys enter because we found
out a little bit about them. Yeah, and when I
tell you, this cast is so diverse, it's diverse. It's
crazy ethnic background, sexuality, and even talent. Some people had
never asked you before, so we were like, oh, I've
run this runway. I thought it was very interesting. Some

(42:33):
of the people that were very confident about I'm an actor,
I'm a model. I have a little problem.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Well, yeah, First of a rule number one, going to
your reality show, never tell never tell that camera what
you're really good at right when you.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Do it, he'll be surprised.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Never and real number two is uh yeah, never number two,
never tell that camera what you're good at or.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
The other contestants. But what I really loved is you
all we're so supportive of each other. Yeah. But here's
the thing. You think, Oh my god, that sounds so
boring because our culture is taught to watch reality show
that cuts each other down because it's funny. This was
so entertaining and it was so endearing. You watch episode
after episode after episode.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
It's a binger for sure. I mean, if you haven't
watched any of it yet, you're going to watch, you
could watch it all like in the next two days.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Now. When did you feel the need to reveal your
sexuality to the rest of the cast? I wanted to
right away a week because it's so interesting because we
shouldn't have to talk about our sexuality. But you're with
nine allegedly straight guys. Yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
First of all, I didn't know who was gonna if
anybody was going to out themselves, like you never know,
like you never know if they're going to put a
second gay guy in there like so, and I didn't.
I add no clue, and I was like, you know,
I'm going to do it right away, Let's get it
out of the way, because I was.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
That's such an awkward Does somebody have to come in
the room be like, I know I hate it straight
and I have one like I hate it has to
do that.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
But I knew I had a story and I had
a story tell and unfortunately we still have to tell
that story.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
So how did you do that? Everybody was in the
same room, and you're just I told him.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
I told him at this sweater what people saw on
camera was the first time I told that that was
the question.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
So they all found out when I Yeah, So I
was really that must have been difficult working on it,
knowing what you were about to do.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, you know, I was pretty calculated with how I
was going to tell everybody. None of them knew I'd
been on Broadway, none of them knew I'd been on TV.
I had kept that. I just let them all talk
and try to learn all about them. And you don't
see that you're.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Going to Welcome to Chippendales, by the way, which was.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, so it recurred in that show, and we saw
a lot, you saw everything. So I just kind of
I just kind of like, I've done some TV shows,
I've done a Broadway I've played a lead in a
Broadway show. I'm like, I'm just gonna like And then
Elijah had his hammeled and stuff, and I was like, well,
let's let him, Let's let him have his thing.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Me nervous because, like you said, when you're so yeah,
you don't do it well.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
First of all, if you're gonna say you're doing it.
Then what they did to Elijah was like sink for us,
sink for us. And I was like, I'm I don't
want to sing. I don't want to sing for anybody.
I just like, this is what I did. I know
what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
I like, give me a full orchestra.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
And also just wanted to play like this guy that
they didn't know was going to be as competitive as
they thought. So I just kind of kept my mouth shut.
You know, just a cute little bond from Kansas is
what I say in the show.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
But we know, like a Hallmark leading man does that.
They don't show off for the camera. They don't. Yeah
they're hot, af but yeah, I don't show us how
hot they are. They're just like yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
I was just like, I'll tell you eventually. I wanted to.
I wanted to like slowly let everybody know what I
did throughout each competition and so like yeah, So I
was just like, Okay, I I knew when we did
this sweater thing, I had to make something LGBT like
and if I didn't that would be a shame on me.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
That was a big gamble.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah. I was like I was like, what the hell
am I going to do, and then I ran out
of time. I was like, well, I don't know what
else to do. I got everything done, so I just
put glitter all over my face because I know none.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Of those boys. We're going to do it.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Because I just wanted to prove that you don't have
to be the hottest if you can bring the vulnerability
and the talent.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
That was fresh. But what is the hottest?

Speaker 2 (46:14):
That's what I'm saying, Like it's I wanted to put on.
They didn't ask me about my face paint, which it's fine.
Next maybe next maybe next season they will. They didn't
ask me about my face paine, but I wanted to
be like, it's not about the way my face looks,
it's about what I'm giving very energy. We kind of
went into the gay stuff, which is fine too. I
don't want to get like I had a lot of stories. Uh,

(46:34):
I just I wanted to focus on one. In whichever
one that they were going to ask me about, I
wanted to bring up and I figured the gay thing
was gonna be the first one. But like, if they
did ask me about the face paint, it was to
show like, oh, I'm a lot, but also you don't.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
I'm not going to rely on my pretty face to
win this competition. I'm going to rely on my talent
and my vulnerability.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
What I love is that you were in a competition
about being a leading Hamewark man. I didn't say leading
man in a a Hallmark film. It was this. I
was ready to win.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
I was ready to win, and they were all in trouble.
I knew from day one. I was like, good luck.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
All right, so let's talk about what happened. And for
our audience that hasn't seen it, you're gonna witness this.
Were you looking at the guys too much? Like what
happened with your goddamn I. I love all these athletic
and you're an athletic man too. It's like, oh my god,
I my bic blew up? Or I don't. I don't
know any of the sports medical stuff or my africa.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
No, I just like I woke I woke up from
an alf and the retina detached.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
It's from trying to look and not look at the
same I don't know what the hell.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
No, I was a high risk of a retintal attachment.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I haven't. I got you know what that means, can
you just so explain.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
I still don't even know what it means. And I've
had two eye surgeries. I basically have had two, so
your retina you only have like one of them. It
doesn't regrow, it doesn't do anything, and they can detach.
So I'm very super near sighted. If you're very near
if you're really near sighted, go to the eye doctor.
Just make sure your eyes are okay. That's mysa like,
go to the eye doctor. Just get your eyes checked,
so they can see so many things by just checking

(48:02):
your eyes. But I I had.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Known it was really big by the way, like we're
laughing about it, but it's.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean I have to laugh about
it now because it's like part of my life at
the moment. But I'm not gonna like, I can't. I
cried already. I can't cry about my retinal attachment.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Why not? No kidding, it's it's it's a tough, so
many potastics from finding mister Christmas since you said so
every episode and it but it just endears us to
this cat.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
So the retinal, the renal detachment, I knew I was
at risk. I got lasick and didn't hurt No, you
don't feel anything.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
There are signs.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
So if you are very near sighted, the signs are
you feel like something's in your eye or it's getting
like a black curtain that's going down your eye.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Are you tating my ex?

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Are you or you look at nine muscleman, I don't
know where you're going about. Drink your juice. Surely drink
your juice. No, so I woke from nap. Eyes are blurry.
I did the photo shoot with a blurry eye.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah, and that was great Tony photo shoot. My photo
shoot was fantastic.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
And I'm sorry you're like calendar, I'm not gonna yeah,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Some of the models didn't do so well by the.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Way, Yeah, I know, and I'll call him out.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I did.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
I did a great job on that picture. Hayden's might
have been a little better than mine, but like that's
the only time I'll give him.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Give He also slowed down the photo shoot. I mean,
come on, this says look at it.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Come on, come on.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
I would for Christmas? Yes, no, how perfect is this though?
This is perfect? I know?

Speaker 2 (49:36):
And I set that background up like that was all
my doing.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
And for our audio viewers, you have to watch, but
you guys were like thrown into this and then you
know that there was a dog that was going to
be part of that. Yeah. You dogs don't respond until
they feel that yours since here and safe.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
And my dog did everything right, So yeah, they did it.
They did all this. I set everything up so like
basically you had to go in and you had a
blank canvas.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
I mean you had that background, which is stunning and
that's real. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
So I was like, I nailed it, and I was
mad I didn't win that one. I was honestly mad
this movie.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
What would you name this homework?

Speaker 2 (50:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
No to it?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Puppy play?

Speaker 1 (50:12):
No, not no? Okay, sorry, maybe that should be Happy, No,
I don't. I love Popper. This probably should be a
challenge for the next season. How to name a Hallmark movie? Yeah,
laughter and Love of the Hallmark Warm and fuzzy for
the Holidays. I don't I know what's the name of

(50:33):
the dog? This is breaking news. The winner isn't a
dog movie. I can't say anything more. Oh happy, How
I wouldn't Oh that would be a perfect okay, happy Holidays.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
I didn't know if I was allowed to say what
the name of the movie was. Okay, okay, I've been
out since episode two, so.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Okay, so that's when you found out that you couldn't
compete in the competition.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Yeah, that must have really that sucks. It sucked.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
I felt like I.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Did what I needed to do, what am I supposed
to do. I had to have surgery the next day.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
It's funny because you have a presence for the rest
of the show.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Yeah, it's is great, right, thank you, thank you Homemark
for giving me that presence, or thank you boys for
keeping my presence in that show. I had to have surgery,
so I was really just focusing, like I knew they
I was trying to keep I didn't really get to
like you couldn't keep contact with the boys, but I
really wanted to know what was going on. But I
I mean, I was sitting on my couch face down

(51:26):
like this because I stop.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
No, I'm not, I'm not medically medically, I was face
down because you have to when you have a retinal surgery,
you have to keep your face down.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
And then I had a second retinal surgery and I
keep my face down for so literally two months of
that and then recovering the eye was read for like
four months and it's still a little like I shout
out to oh hair Dermatology, she puts botox on my
eyelid to lift it up.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Honey, I need boatox in my eyelid.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Well go to O hair Dermatolics.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
But no.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
So I've got a lot of people, like a good
team helping me. But I still have a third surgery.
I have oil in my eyes.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
To be like that has to weait in your mind too,
because that sucks. It really we joke about it, but
it's really serious. It's a really serious thing.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
It sucks. I didn't have my health insurance didn't cover
the didn't cover their surgery. So I had health and surgery.
I had health insurance that didn't cover my surgery. So
that's been a really big process of just trying to
get like financial help and all this and that that's.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Been really really really Did you come back for season two?

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Yeah, just to like tell to give my PSA on
I like know your health insurance.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Yeah, I wanna.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I still think I have more to give And if
that is through season two, that's great. If that's through
another outlet, that's great. I want to be I just
want to be present with with people because I do love.
I think the biggest thing starting up, also starting a podcast,
was I really love being with people, and that's been
really important to me.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
I can't stand people, but I being with people.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
This this sparrow in the dark, in the dark you
can't see.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
But watching the show, what challenges do you think you
would have nailed? What challenges do you think would have
been the biggest obstacles? We're giving quasi spoilers no talking
about the improv challenge would have nailed? Yeah, I who
did well? I would have killed it. I'm actually at
first improv had men stitches. It was so damn funny.

(53:27):
I would have nailed it.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
That would have been a dream to be inn to
do improv with Melissa peer Man. You know Cuel, she's
the queen.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
I'm like, you know, he's been here, But.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
Do you know those guys, how lucky they they are
to get to do improv with Melica? Like what? So
it was really jealous. I think that was an episode
I watched. I was just really jealous because I would
have been I was like, I would have been there. Yeah,
I would have probably done really well at probably the
dance one. I'm sure like that would have been fun.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I think about the dance. The dance is so fun
because it's almost like Chicago. Yeah, rockets meets everything I didn't.
It wasn't on the beat and maybe that was just
I don't know. Yeah, I can't speak to that off.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
I can text tap dance.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
What's your favorite tap dance step?

Speaker 2 (54:20):
A wing, for sure? Or a one footed wing or
a time step? A love of time?

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Can you do a one foot wing? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Absolutely that is.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
But like I'm not, I don't. I don't identify change,
relaxed a little bit.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
I might identify as a lot of things, but a
dancer is something I don't. A dancer, I just I'm
a strong mover.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
That's what I have to move apartments next week. You
can help me move. Not that kind of mover. Okay,
we have to. We have to close up. We've been
talking for so long. It's okay, mister Christmas is about
finding the leading man. Who is your leading man? What
is love and dating like for you when you're an actor.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Well, I'm taken and it's many differently. I'm taking and
it's the best relationship I've ever been in. He's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
You don't have to give us. No, No, I don't
meet people.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
No, I'm taking no, no, No, he's fantastic guys me
in LA. He lives in New York now. But yeah,
I would say that's.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
My boyfriend to the East coast, as many miles away
as you can. Oh, I love it.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
He's fantastic. My You know, we met very quickly. We
met right before I started finding mister Christmas, and so
he went through me with all the surgeries. I think
the best thing happened to me was finding him in
twenty twenty five or twenty twenty four, and I hope
to twenty five.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
He's about your time traveling.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
No, he's fantastic. I hope everyone can have that kind
of love. I truly hope everyone can have.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
That all right one of our And honestly, we got
so many questions.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
I'm sorry, I can't believe you got so many questions,
like can we do like a quick like fire him down?

Speaker 1 (55:50):
We have to go. Oh no, but like the studio has,
the studio doesn't have some things to do, he has
a salad. I think this question is very very important,
And this was sent to us by an actor. You
weren't welcome to Chippendale's. Yes, we also know the photo shoot.
Half the guys took off their shirts just beetter challenge.
People chopped off their sleeves. You have a dual body

(56:13):
image thing to do with, not just as an actor
on screen, but also from the gay community. We know you.
We're only as good as our body body, Audie, how
have you dealt with that and how have you overcome
body issues?

Speaker 2 (56:28):
I have body Body dysmorphia is real.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
I have it.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
That's why we got too many questions about it. Yeah,
I definitely have body dysmorphia. I had to be on
Welcome to chippen Dale's where I was basically in a
thong a lot of the times, and then.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
We all applied and you get attention.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
Yeah, you get attention for it, but it's I don't
want to be like poor me. I got attention for
my body. It's just the body dysmorphia is.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
You look in the mirror. It's so important for actors
to talk about with each other.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
You look in the mirror and I talk about this
a lot. Look in the mirror and you're like, I'm
not good enough. I'm not good enough. And you go
to the gyms, especially in Hollywood or or in LA
or New York, and everybody's bodies are either.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Because you're working next to celebrities.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Or people yeah, or people that are taking some kind
of supplement to make them bigger. And if that's your thing,
no judgment, Like we all have our vices.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
It's hard.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
And then being in the show where there's ten guys
that everybody is very very fit, I mean, choices not
to take my shirt off one just to make a point.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
I didn't have to win.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
I saw that and taking my shirt off. I didn't
want to rely on my I like my body.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
I love my body.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
I have the dys morphia where like I have the
things that everybody wants to see.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
I just didn't. I didn't think it was ready. We're
in episode two.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
I wasn't ready to show you that. You didn't need
to see it. I have it, and I'm not really
like if you want to see it, you can google me,
like it's all. It's not like I'm hiding it. But
I was like, I wanted to show your I wanted
to show that, like I didn't need to use my
body to win a challenge.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
I never wanted to.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
When I walked in there I was like, and I
saw how attractive these guys were, I'm like, I never
wanted to use my body to want to challenge I
know I have I know my body is good. I
know that, like I have that body that a lot
of people want. I never wanted to rely on it
to win, not saying that that is a way to
make it in this business. That's just not the way

(58:19):
I want to make it in the business. Just don't
want to rely on it. So I chose to always
keep my clothes on, and I wanted to make sure
I always kept like and if I would have judged
myself more on a picture with my shirt off, if
they got me at the wrong angle, And I was like,
I'm not going to stress about that.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
But how do you work through that? You work through it.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
It's a constant every day for me. It's constantly every
day just reminding myself that I'm enough.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
And I think it's so important that we talk about this.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Yeah, it is, it sucks, it sucks, it's not I
don't think it's I don't think it works for everybody.
I don't think I mean sorry, I think it works
for everybody. I don't think one answer works for everybody,
So like I for me, am just like, oh, you're
having the muscle just morphia moment. Oh da da da
da da da da. Like what in my talk about it?
Multiple Hayden and I chat about it a lot, but like,

(59:03):
what in the mirror do I see that I like
about myself right now? If I'm feeling that like ooh,
You're not that this Like there's days where I'm like, oh,
you look gross, Like that's muscle dysmorphia and it's not
cute and it's not fun and it's just this person
in the back of your head that's just trying to
demean demean you and tell you you're not good enough
when you are perfect. And it's just like tell yourself,

(59:25):
you find one good thing, and that one good thing
usually generates you into finding five million other good things
about your day, and then you have more energy at
the gym or you have more like there's just better
for me. That's how it works. So it's like I'm like, oh, oh,
my eyes looking really good today automatically have better energy,
and I want to go to the gym and I
want to see people and I want to but like,

(59:45):
you feel gross, you don't want to be around people
and you don't want like so that's maybe that's my answer.
I'm still trying to do with it. Therapy works, sure, Like.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Don't we all do with it on a daily we
all do it where we are.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I think straight, I think straight men game men. I
think men don't talk about it enough.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Here's the thing. Even what our idea of the hottest
man post a picture, there's gonna be some social media
person to be like, you're too big, you're too too.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Small, you look gay, you look straight, you look at
show us more da da, And then you get the
trolls and you're like like, I don't really didn't mean
to want to get into this, but like I posted
a but I think it's very important. I posted a
video of me like putting it, like doing a close
fit thing, just being stupid and like what clothes were
you putting on? Jean's on a T shirt and I

(01:00:29):
was like, oh, fit check and so stupid because it's
like it was a very basic outfit, which is funny,
but so many.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Commented a fantasy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Somebody commented on me and was like where'd the abs go?
And I'm like, why is that your I message? I
knew them, and I was like, why are you Why
are you asking me where my abs went? Like that
is like, that's that's toxic behavior. And I'm just like,
I'm done by done with you. I don't need that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Yeah, so okay, we have to finish up, Tony. I'm
so sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
I apologize. I'm a talker.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
New Year's resolution love more.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
I know that sounds great. I know that sounds like
really cheesy. But just to like really love people more.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I know that sounds but hey, it works. When we
hear about finding Mister Christmas, we're like, oh my god,
it's so cheesy. I tell you, the show is so entertaining. Yeah,
I just and it's not cheesy. It's it's like, thank
god this is out there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I just yeah, I just want to love people more.
I just want to, like, even if you you annoy me,
I just want to love you. And I when you
said that, no one of your eyes looked on the detached.
The detachment. Sorry, it wastch She's attached. She's attached right now,
and we're going to keep her that way.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
But I think love is the most important message, and
especially as we go in it's simpler political administration, we
don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, you know, I try.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Yeah, love, I'm just trying to love people more, even
if I don't agree with them, just being like okay, yeah,
I just want to love you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
And the cheesy. It's simple.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
I mean, I'm sure I'll find more reasons to like live,
not more reasons to live for twenty twenty five, more
like twenty twenty five goals. But right now it's like
love more and continue this like vulnerability journey that I've
been on since finding mister Christmas, which is really wild
but very true.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
Like here's the thing, even some of the like and
I hate to say, like the most masculine straight guys
have found their personality.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
I also want to explore that we didn't talk about it,
but I'm gonna I'm gonna, I'm gonna put throat in
there and our podcast, I really want to just explore
more of my relationship with the straight man and showing
the world that this relationship is fun and different and
weird and like let people feel comfortable with this straight man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
And so I mean, it's like we should be celebrating
this especially and it's just weird that everybody's like, oh,
Hayden has to come out. I saw this comment so
many times and it's like, yeah, but he's like the
straight on it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
He's the streatest. It shouldn't Yeah, but like him having
that relationship and him having the strength to be vulnerable
and open with me as a gay man, because.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
All he's the most We've all.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
I'm sorry to the other two. I love them both,
but I'm such a team Hayden. I don't know the outcome,
so like he won't tell me, and so I'm like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
We I think I know that we get to see that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
Yeah, and people think I know. People think I know
the outcome of the finale and I don't, and I'm
so excited. I'm I'm sorry, sorry the other two. I
don't want to like give out spoilers. Obviously I just
gave the Hayden one out, but like I'm a team.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
I'm a team Hayden.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
And obviously he's my He's like my little He's my
new bestie. And if I got anything from finding mister
Christmas was I got a new best I got a
new best friend who I'm creating this like this journey
with us loud Yes, and.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
We are to come in and mix things up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
We've tried no brunette, no brunette ever, says yes, we try.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
To get brunette. Just looked at me. We want a
brunette perspective.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
And they never, they never, They're always busy do whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Anyway, we have to end the show. Thank you, thank
you so much. Where can people find and follow you?

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
I mean, you can find me on dex bloom quiz
at Instagram, dex bloomquiz on tiktoka. By the way, thank you,
my parents, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
My real it's my real name.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
My parents are wild. Dex bloomquis on all the on
the socials, Blondies Allowed on my other socials, Finding Mister
Christmas on that social, Hallmark Plus on that social.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
I'm on all the I'm on all the socials. So
you guys have to watch this. It's such a fun
holiday show. Have it on. It's in the background. I'm
telling you, gay straight, everybody's going to sit and watch
the show. It's addicting. It's a really it's been dirty.
It's addicting, it's sweet, it's fun. That's it. During Thanksgiving
and then they went from preparing food wasn't even ready
because we just said, you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
Can't, you can't take your eyes out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
It's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
It's fun watching ten guys like naturally like naturally masculine,
like what we're saying, passing guys, whatever that means, but
watching them cry and be vulnerable, it's really special.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
And I will be the first. I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
I'm not the first to tell you, but like everyone's saying,
they are actually crying. Those are real tiers.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
It is a weird thing when you're in there.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
They cultivated this really beautiful place to make you comfortable,
to be real and emotional, and here they all are
just crying their eyes out. But I was I think
Hayden was the first. I was the first.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
I'd like to be comfortable with all ten minutes anyway. Yeah,
that's all, folks. Always a grab bag of fun here
and on the rocks. Big thank you to our engineer
and station owner Tony Sweet.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Join us. Next week we welcome Emmy winning writer, Tony
nominated actor, acclaimed director, playwright and lyricist Kevin to Aguila
is here from Broadways, Some Like It, Hot, Frozen, and
Peter in The Star Catcher. He's currently here in La
with Once Upon a Mattress with Sutton Foster and and
A Gas Dyer and Michael Yury and please like, share,

(01:06:02):
subscribe the shows so we can continue bringing it for free.
You're away until next time. Also watch Hallmark Pluses Finding
Mister Christmas. If you drink, stay tipsy. If not, stay healthy,
stay sexies. Dear, this has been another episode of On
the Rocks. Tweet me and slide into my dms on
Twitter and Instagram. On the Rocks on air and find

(01:06:23):
everything on the Rocks for free at on the Rocks
Radio show dot com. Subscribe, like, review, and share until
next week. Stay fabulous