When the third episode of Hallmark’s new reality series, “Finding Mr. Christmas,” started streaming on Hallmark+ on November 7, 2024, the show opened with a shocking twist as the cast members, all vying to become the next Hallmark hunk, awakened for a new day of connection and competition.
Spoiler Alert: If you have not watched the third episode of “Finding Mr. Christmas” and do not want to know what happens, do not read any further.
Daxton Bloomquist, a fitness instructor and actor who, in the first episode of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” emotionally told hosts Jonathan Bennett and Melissa Peterman that he was proud to represent the LGBTQ+ community on the show, was one of the judges’ favorite contestants in the first two episodes. But he was not able to compete in the third episode.
At the start of the episode, Bloomquist’s other nine “Finding Mr. Christmas” housemates quickly learned that a severe eye injury had forced the 36-year-old to leave that morning.
“He was struggling yesterday,” fellow contestant Hayden Maher, who’d become close with Bloomquist in the house, told others around the breakfast table. “His eyesight had gone blurry and he was messing with it all day. So he went this morning to go to the hospital. It does not sound good.”
Fellow contestant Elijah Malcomb, 31, looked stunned by the news and told producers, “I’m hoping he’s okay and he can get back to the house. It’s scary.”
Daxton Bloomquist Says He Knew Something Was Wrong When ‘My Eye Went Blurry’
HallarkDaxton Bloomquist competes in the Mr. December photo contest on “Finding Mr. Christmas”
Bloomquist, a Kansas native who now lives in Los Angeles, never did return to the “Finding Mr. Christmas” house. He FaceTimed the rest of his housemates to tell them he had to head home for emergency surgery due to a detached retina.
Retinal detachment requires immediate attention, according to the Mayo Clinic, which says it happens when the retina — a thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye — pulls away from its regular position. Without emergency surgery, a patient is at high risk of permanent vision loss, per Mayo.
On November 8, Bloomquist told Swooon that after filming wrapped on the second episode of the show, during which he was beginning to notice discomfort in his eye, “My retina detached, just plain and simple. I was taking a nap and bam! My eye went blurry.”
“I thought I could get through the day, thinking it was going to get better,” Bloomquist told the outlet. “And then I went to the emergency room, and then I had to go home for an emergency surgery.”
‘Finding Mr. Christmas’ Contestant Daxton Bloomquist Reveals Hardest Parts of Medical Emergency
At the time of Bloomquist’s injury, he shared his difficult journey in a video on TikTok and Instagram on June 19, but didn’t mention that his injury had happened while filming a reality show.
Though his eye seemed to be improving at first post-surgery, Bloomquist shared in his video that after a month, he still could not see out of his left eye and needed another surgery because the retina didn’t fully reattach.
“The last couple months, I’ve had a lot of UPS and most certainly a lot of downs,” Bloomquist wrote over the slideshow of photos, “but I will make a full recovery.”
He told Swooon, “My body’s resilient. I’m getting through it. I still have two more surgeries to go. I have an oil in my eye right now just to hold the retina in place and then I’ll have cataract surgery.”
Though having to leave the series and his healing journey have both been challenging, Bloomquist told the outlet that the financial hardship it’s created has been even tougher.
“I am insured and I thought I was going to be covered, but actually none of my surgeries have been covered, and that’s probably been the hardest thing for me this whole time,” he told the outlet.
The silver lining, Bloomquist told Swooon, is that he remains “really close” with the cast of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” many of whom check in with him multiple times a week. He also said Bennett and his show co-creator Ben Roy have regularly reached out, too.
If there’s a season two of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” he told Swooon he’d love another shot at the competition, telling the outlet, “I’m coming back with a vengeance, for sure!”
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