Soap operas reign supreme when it comes to on-screen "OMG" moments, but sometimes the behind-the-scenes happenings are just as gasp-inducing. Anyone who doesn't agree obviously didn't watch the Thursday episode of Access Hollywood, which gave viewers some pretty juicy soap opera tidbits.
Days of our Lives star Kristian Alfonso, who recently left the NBC soap opera after 37 years of playing Hope Brady, revealed that a huge star once auditioned for a role in Salem: Tom Cruise! And, in fact, it wasn't just any role -- the actress says that the Top Gun and Mission Impossible star tested for the role of Hope's longtime love, Bo Brady -- which as DAYS fans know, eventually went to actor Peter Reckell.
While recalling her audition for the role of Hope, Alfonso said she was extremely nervous and accidentally knocked over the handrail on the Horton house staircase. The powers that be signed her to a contract, anyway, but she was so nervous that they would change their minds if they saw her again before she started that she actually bowed out of testing with the actors vying for the part of Bo.
"I thought, 'Oh my God, no, no, no! Just tell them I'm out of town!' I can't make it. If they see me again, I'm terrified that they'll realize they made the wrong choice and they're going to cancel [my] contract," Alfonso recalls of her nervousness. "So I did not test with the Bos, come to find out, to let you know, but also, interestingly enough I had heard -- I was not there, since I did not test with the Bos -- but years later, one of our stage managers, Francesca Bellini, was flying back to Los Angeles and was sitting next to Tom Cruise, and Tom Cruise had mentioned that he had actually tested for the role of Bo."
In other exciting behind-the-scenes reveals, The Bold and the Beautiful stars Denise Richards (Shauna Fulton) and Thorsten Kaye (Ridge Forrester) gave the 4-1-1 about how they're filming intimate scenes in a COVID-19 world. The stars have opened up about this previously, but the Access Hollywood clip shows how filming looks on set versus how it looks on-screen -- which is pretty fascinating, considering the actors are performing with mannequins.
"I think Denise Richards actually likes it better, she gets a little more from the mannequin than she does from me," Kaye jokes of the strange filming situation.
Adds Richards, "Bold has been on over 33 years, and fans feel a lot of comfort, they feel like we are part of their family. So, I was very excited that we were able to get back to work and be able to provide an escape."
Check out the behind-the-scenes video below, which includes scenes filmed with mannequins, life-size dolls, and a secret kissing cameo from Denise Richards' real-life husband, Aaron Phypers.
What do you think about the juicy BTS details revealed in the Access Hollywood clips? Can you imagine Tom Cruise as Bo Brady on DAYS? What are your thoughts on the way the mannequin B&B scenes are turning out? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.