Exclusive Interview
‘Finding Mr. Christmas’ Stud Breaks Down His Elimination in Most Emotional Episode Yet
What To Know
- The December 8 episode featured an appearance from the moms of the final four hunks.
- The seventh ousted hopeful spoke with Swooon about his elimination and his mom’s health.
- The decision to send him home came down to minor moments in his Star Quality scene with guest Sharon Lawrence.
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2 Episode 7, “Merry Christmas, Mom.”]
While some mommies are off kissing Santa Claus, the mothers of Finding Mr. Christmas‘ final four were busy making us ugly cry as they paid a visit to their sons on set. And it wasn’t just how Angel Garet, Craig Geoghan, Rustin Cole Sailors, and Marcus Brodie reacted to the surprise arrivals of their first superfans (although, come on!), but also how wonderfully vulnerable the guys got when reading the letters they had written for them during the Festive Face-Off.
For the December 8 eliminated hopeful, however, the amount of tears shed during the reunions wasn’t surprising. “Definitely not,” Marcus says, who was eventually cut after his Star Quality scene with guest Sharon Lawrence came up short. “Being an actor, you have to be able to tap into a certain level of emotion and just being in that room with mom showing up after we had just written those letters—which already made us kind of emotional—and being in that whole scenario on the show, it’s going to heighten all of your emotions,” he explains, adding with a laugh that what he didn’t expect was to have to be so open on the fly. “I knew as soon as I saw my mom, that if I have to read her this letter, it is not going to be good!”
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Still, the Los Angeles-based Ohio native admits that he wouldn’t change a thing. “I’m so glad she was able to come onto the show and experience that because that made it all worth it for me,” he says.
As fans of the Hallmark competition know, Marcus’ mom (whom he referred to as “a beacon of light” and “supermom”) was diagnosed with cancer weeks before he traveled to Utah to film the season. During their catch-up chat in the episode, Marcus praised her for beating it once before and stated that he knew she could beat it again.
“She’s doing okay, as well as she can with everything that’s going on,” the model-actor reports. “Since the show filmed, the cancer has escalated so much, it’s spread to almost every part of her body that it can. We’ve tried so many different things like treatments and chemo and radiation, and nothing’s really working or doing what we want it to do…but she’s still holding on, still fighting, still going, still in her right mind. So I’m just happy for that and happy that she’s not living in pain at the moment.”
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And while he didn’t take the Mr. Christmas crown, Marcus still has a winning plan for the holidays. “Right now, it’s really to spend as much time with my mom as I possibly can,” he offers. “I was just with her for Thanksgiving, and then I’m going back in a couple of weeks after I get done with some work to see her for Christmas. So I’m just really spending as much time with her.”
Best. Gift. Ever.
Finding Mr. Christmas, Season 2, Mondays, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel
