Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

As far as bedroom romps go, no one was more surprised than daytime soap audiences themselves when it was revealed that The Bold and the Beautiful’s Forrester patriarch, Eric Forrester (John McCook), had been hitting the sheets with the duplicitous Quinn Fuller (Rena Sofer)!  And the story didn’t end there, folks!  In fact, it’s become one of the most red-hot storylines for this fall.

That is great news for long-running B&B cast member, John McCook. This stalwart is finally back on-screen with a story all his own in an unlikely pairing with the bedazzling Rena Sofer, who has made Quinn one of the most fascinating characters on the soaps in a longtime.  No one quite knows what Quinn’s next move will actually be!

On last Friday’s episode of the CBS sudser, Eric actually proposed marriage to Quinn, which didn’t sit well with Eric’s late wife, Stephanie, as illustrated by her picture falling off the Forrester living room mantle as soon as Quinn agreed to his wife.  But is there a major swerve coming?  Is Quinn for real?  Does she truly love Eric?

Recently, On-Air On-Soaps caught up with John McCook at the Television Academy’s Daytime Peer Group soiree’ as it celebrates primetime Emmy season this week and next.  John was in attendance with his lovely wife, Laurette, and he shared with us: just how he found out about Eric’s new lady love, if Eric will end up being completely duped down the line, and much more.  Here’s our chat with one of our all-time favorite gents below!

This romance for Eric with Quinn has been so wonderful to see and has been quite the shocker!  Does the story get crazier, or is he as he seems … madly in love with her?  

Courtesy/CBS

JOHN:  Eric is so in love with her, and she is with him, too.  That is what Rena and I are playing.  And whatever is happening on the outside is what “they” are doing – this is everybody on the outside being against it, and being so married to Quinn’s past, and being so afraid for Eric.  They are scared for his well-being.  Eric is angry about that, and he is saying to his family, “Step back, and let me be myself.”

What the fans are concerned about for Eric is; that they don’t want him to wind up looking like a doofus, or being duped by Quinn!  I kept thinking, “I hope John went to the powers-that-be, and said, ‘I hope in the end you are not going to end up making Eric look like an idiot!’”

JOHN:  I very much had that conversation with our writers. I said, “If Quinn starts to manipulate, I want him to see it.  I don’t want Eric to be in the dark about this, and I want him to say, ‘Quinn, come here and sit down. What are you doing? We talked about this.’”  I want him to have it right out on the table, and I want Eric to help her with her tendencies.  She is going to want to do things like that.  She has already been talking to Ivy (Ashleigh Brewer) and you can see her wheels turning.  She will want to split hairs and Eric will say, “I spent 30 years splitting hairs with the woman above the mantle (Stephanie) with her picture up there about the difference between influence and manipulation, and there is no difference depending on what the bottom line is.”

Photo Credit: Gilles Toucas

In his lifetime, Eric has chosen some doozies for the women in his life, and they all seem to be powerful, controlling, and manipulative.  There was Stephanie, Sheila, and now Quinn.  What’s that all about? (Laughs)

JOHN:  I think he likes a strong woman who is focused, and who knows what she wants, and he likes that.  And yes, he does like his women a little off-center.  But the powerful thing about Quinn is that she wants to change, and she wants to have a man like Eric, and the only way she can is to actually change and be a better person.  Is she manipulating Eric, though?  Isn’t that the story?

On Friday’s episode of B&B, fans of the series saw a marriage proposal!  Do you believe they both want to truly tie-the-knot?

JOHN:  Anything that happens between the two of them now is mutual, including both wanting to be married.

How did you find out that you initially were going to be romantically paired with Rena? What went down?

Courtesy/CBS

JOHN:  I was walking down the hall and I bumped into our producer, Ed Scott, who says, “Big story for you!”  And I go, “Yeah right, thanks Ed.”  He goes, “No, it’s really cool”   Then I went back up to him and said, “OK, well what is it?”  All he says is, “Quinn”.    I go, “WHAT???”  He says, “Don’t tell anybody, but Eric is going to be discovered in her bed, and it’s going to be a thing.”   I went, “Oh, my God!”   Four or five days later, I see Rena and she goes, “John!”  I go, “I know!”  She then says, “This is so cool.  This would impact the whole show.”   I said, “I agree, this would be a chemical change for the whole show.”  Rena added, “It can’t just be a story for six months.”  I said, “It won’t be.  They are not going to put us together only to tear us apart, just like that.”   And it is … it’s a whole big deal!

What did your wife Laurette have to say when she found out you would be making out with, and in story, with none other than … Rena Sofer?

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

JOHN:  My wife Laurette and I watch B&B every day, and I don’t tell her a lot of things, so I was not going to tell her about Rena and I in this story.  Now, we have a landline in the house and it has an answering machine attached to it.  So one day, I am in the living room and the phone and machine are on Laurette’s desk.  It rings and it clicks on and the voice says, “John, it’s Rena.  I am so excited that we are going to be working together.  This love story is going to blow everybody out of the water! ” And Laurette comes in and overheard and goes, “Oh, my God!”  And I went, “damn” because I wanted to tell her, but it was cool.  Laurette loves it. You know we have been longtime partners in this life.  Eric has been sitting on the couch at the Forrester office for the last three years reading Women’s Wear Daily! (Laughs)  That is happening while everyone else in his family is running the business, and he comes into these Forrester family platitudes and things, and it’s fine.  And for years, we have been saying, “One day, you will be the old man on the show, and you will be calling in and being like the late, great MacDonald Carey (Tom Horton, DAYS).”   I would say, “I know, I can’t wait.  It’s going to be fine.”  Then all of a sudden, all of this comes out of nowhere.  It doesn’t matter who came up with it whether it’s Brad Bell (executive producer and head write, B&B) or someone on his writing team.  Brad is good at that – mixing it all up story wise with one seed.  This has been an exciting story for me to play thus far.

So, what do you think of the Eric and Quinn pairing on B&B?  Do you think Quinn is playing Eric?  What did you think of the marriage proposal on Friday’s episode?  Do you love the fact that John McCook is back in front-burner story? Share your thoughts and theories in the comment section. But first, watch Eric’s proposal to Quinn below!