Beyond the Gates Recap for January 8, 2026: Fat Tuesday came early (and on a Thursday) in Fairmont Crest

Here's what went down Thursday, January 8, 2026 on Beyond the Gates when Carlton exposed Nicole to true horror, Ashley added a lesson to Naomi's Google University, and Kat battled everyone for her right not to be heard.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Ashley met with Naomi at Uptown to give her best friend support regarding Anita's cancer and the possibility that she might have inherited the cancer-causing BRCA gene through Dani. Naomi had been doing some studying online about her grandmother's triple negative breast cancer and worried that it could return even after the present tumor was removed. Ashley counseled Naomi to ask medical professionals for details instead of looking things up on Google – and reminded the lawyer that even if Naomi were to test positive for the gene, it wasn't a guarantee of cancer, just that the odds would be higher of getting it.

For Naomi, amassing knowledge about the situation gave her power, and at Ashley's questioning, she reported that Jacob had been trying to pretend he wasn't worried. Naomi began to tell Ashley how wonderful Andre had been in supporting Dani, then caught herself; Ashley was all right with the topic and surmised that his in-laws' cancer ordeal had to be hard in its own way. Not only had Andre lost his parents, Ashley knew, but now there was even the slightest chance that he could lose Dani. The besties did their best to remind themselves that there was no need for panic in the now.

Carlton arrived at Nicole's unannounced, bearing gifts – he had brought her a stress ball, which Nicole found to be thoughtful. She relayed that Anita's first round of chemo was scheduled for the following day and that she and Dani were still waiting to find out if one or both of them had the BRCA mutation. Carlton noted that Nicole had seemed weepy; she showed him the photo album of Kat's cotillion that she had been paging through and explained how Tyrell had rejected the tradition because of his girlfriend. Looking at the coming out of her “miracle baby” had brought her comfort; Nicole added that each Dupree was finding their own way of coping with the sudden presence of cancer in their lives.

Nicole remembered how Martin – before he had come out as gay – had served as escort for cotillion debutantes on three separate occasions. Carlton was certain that the experience had helped to prepare Martin for a life in politics. When Nicole remarked that none of them could have predicted cancer cropping up in their lives back then, Carlton understood that she was scared – but promised she didn't have to be scared alone. The surgeon wanted to watch a horror movie with Nicole; she relished the idea of having license to scream, so Carlton suggested that they hit a rage room on their next date.

Dani was surprised when she came home to find Andre cooking – and that he had perused Joey's haute cuisine videos for guidance. Andre chuckled when Dani referred to him as her genie; after she asked him where he kept his lamp, he winked that it was in his pocket. It was Dani's understanding that she was supposed to rub it, which led to a bed romp for the newlyweds.

Folding laundry with a container of Tide Pods in view, Smitty hoped that Martin would make things up with Tyrell. Martin didn't mind Tyrell being against debutante culture and got that the younger generation wasn't as likely to groove on getting dressed up in tuxes and ball gowns, but the congressman did take exception to Tyrell only coming into his stance because it was what Jessica thought. Smitty opined that Tyrell's reaction may be only somewhat about the cotillion – it was more likely that Tyrell had picked a fight as a reaction to Anita's cancer and the chance that his father could have been born with the BRCA gene.

Over at Dani's guest house, Kat got mouthy with a supplier, who hung up on her. Chelsea didn't think that Kat should have made her call in what was the middle of the night for the woman and barked that the “real stuff of life” was their grandmother fighting cancer, and the uncertainly surrounding some or all of them carrying BRCA. Kat didn't want to hear it, insisting that Anita would want them to handle their business; Chelsea countered that the directive also meant taking care of their bodies, not just their company.

The more Chelsea tried to persuade her cousin to get screened for the gene, the more Kat dug in her heels about not doing it. Chelsea wailed that there would be no ChelseaKat if there was no Chelsea or no Kat, but Kat cited “my body, my choice” as her reason for handling things as she saw fit. While Chelsea was willing to relent if Kat would just agree to take the test sometime in the future, Kat was not willing to “spend the next 30 years” wondering if every ache was a warning of cancer. The cousins' exchange became even more heated as Chelsea held that, if Kat didn't want to get tested for herself, she could at least do it to ease everyone else's worry.

Tomás came in, with Kat snarking that Chelsea was in her “momager” mode – which hadn't worked out so well when she had butted into Madison's relationship with her mother. Chelsea wailed that Madison's aunt had died of cancer because she had refused treatment and nearly begged Tomás to talk some sense into Kat. Once Chelsea left, Kat was sure Tomás was going to also nag her about having the test, but Navarro was sure that Kat knew her own mind. Still, he recalled how his family had dealt with frequent hurricanes in Puerto Rico: his dad would board up the windows, then pretend nothing bad was happening, while his mom would freak out. As for young Tomás, he had wanted to go out and play in the storm – so he could attempt to stop it. Kat broke down, not wanting to board up metaphorical windows and wondering why she couldn't just pretend cancer didn't exist.

At the Dupree mansion, Anita told Vernon she had asked Rowena to prepare a special meal, since it might be her “last” in that there was no way of knowing how her body would tolerate food once the chemo started the next day. When Anita decided that it wasn't necessary for Vernon to sit next to her for hours while she was waylaid getting drugs pumped into her, Vernon amiably but firmly avowed that he wasn't going to let Anita endure the treatments on her own.

Vernon received news: after his talk with the chief of staff about possibility expediting Nicole and Dani's BRCA test results, they would have the verdict the next day. Anita was bothered that she wouldn't be able to be there for her daughters, as she would be getting chemo at the same time, but Vernon reminded his wife that their girls were grown-ups. Anita suddenly got an idea and ran out to run a mysterious errand.

A while later, Anita returned with bags full of colorful items, and Vernon wondered if she were going to keep him in the dark about what she had in mind. She admitted she'd been afraid he might talk her out of her brainstorm, but the patriarch was on board with whatever the matriarch wanted to do – and soon Duprees from inside and outside the gates were getting enigmatic phone calls from either Anita or Vernon, arousing everything from curiosity to worry.

Nicole arrived first, followed by Dani and Andre, who noticed how festive Anita looked. Once Chelsea, Martin, and Smitty were in attendance – though Anita hoped that Kat would still make it – the elder Duprees informed everyone of the imminent test results and defined the chemo as the beginning of a comeback. Anita wanted her loved ones to feel something besides fear and expressed disappointment that she and Vernon wouldn't be able to make their planned trip to their beloved New Orleans for Mardi Gras later in the year. So...they had decided to celebrate Fat Tuesday right there in the house, and they passed out hats and parasols and beads to everyone.

Anita stoically acknowledged that everything would get harder the next day – therefore, they would use their evening before to celebrate all that they had. Vernon kicked on some lively Creole music, and everyone danced around the room in a kind of parade, with Anita leading everyone toward the kitchen. She stopped for a moment in the foyer as everyone made their way past her, wearing a solemn expression they didn't see.

Meanwhile, Kat was with Tomás at Uptown, ignoring the slew of calls and texts she'd been receiving. She disagreed with Chelsea's implied claim that she was being selfish and asked Tomás if he would accept information about the future were it offered to him. Though Kat held that, even if she went ahead and got screened for BRCA, there wasn't anything she'd be able to do about it if it turned out she carried it, Tomás maintained that there was no telling what future technologies there might be that could offer help if needed. He also felt that Kat and Chelsea should make a point to be there for Anita. Kat preferred to be on her date with Tomás, referring to it as “self-care.”

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Martin, Nicole, and Chelsea all attempted to reach Kat yet again, to no avail. Anita continued the reveling, hoping that their impromptu Mardi Gras party was making up for the bleakness of New Year's. She made it a point to let everyone know she wasn't ignoring the gravity of the situation – in fact, she was pissed off that her daughters had to be tested for a gene she might have unwittingly handed down. Martin exhorted his grandmother to let her family take care of her, and Anita wanted everyone to lean on each other in the coming days, especially since she might not be able to offer her full support based on the predicted exhaustion of her treatments. Vernon had requested that Andre bring his camera and had his son-in-law set up his tripod to get a shot that included all of the Dupree partygoers.

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.

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