A lot of fans were taken aback by yesterday's news that Jordi Vilasuso is exiting his role as The Young and the Restless' Rey Rosales, and the actor reveals that he was just as surprised to learn that his time at the CBS soap opera was coming to an end.
The actor recently launched a podcast with his wife, Kaitlin, and the pair delved into his Y&R departure in this week's episode of their audio show. He revealed that the exit decision was not his.
"I had re-signed [with the series] back in October for another three years, but in these contracts, there are six-month intervals where the show can decide not to re-sign you for the next six months. So, that's what happened," he shared. "Maybe I should have seen the writing on the wall. The scripts that I was given were very minimal."
That being said, there were indications that the writers had some big plans for Rey and his love life. Explains Kaitlin, "The other reason we were surprised was that they were just shifting the storyline to Rey and Chelsea [Melissa Claire Egan]. And you and [Missy] were excited about that."
Vilasuso agrees that he'd been looking forward to a potential Rey/Chelsea pairing. "I've known Missy for over ten years and finally got to work with her, and I really enjoyed the dynamic," he says.
While he'll never get the chance to play out romantic scenes with Chelsea, Vilasuso does have a lot of great memories from his time as Rey.
"When I started, I loved that I was representing Hispanics and that I got to represent where I come from... being a Cuban American and playing one on TV," he shares, adding that it was also a highlight to anchor an entire family. "I loved the dynamic that we all shared."
Overall, Vilasuso says his experience at Y&R was "a beautiful time," and he has "nothing but love" for the colleagues he's leaving behind, including his on-screen wife, Sharon Case (Sharon Newman), whom he calls "fantastic to work with."
Vilasuso isn't sure what will come next in his career, but he's keeping his spirits up and staying positive. "We have to embrace change and see what happens and be excited by the adventure, because it's an adventure at the end of the day," he says. "If we had all the answers, it would be kind of boring!"
Check out the full episode of Making It Work here, and let us know what you think about Vilasuso's Y&R exit in our Comments section below.
How do you feel about Y&R's decision to let Jordi Vilasuso go? Will you miss Rey Rosales? How do you hope the character exits the canvas? 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.
