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B&B's Katherine Kelly Lang On The Mean-Spirited Judges On DWTS Italy & Brooke's Upcoming Return!
Photo Credit: Hutchins Photo
Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) has been off The Bold and the Beautiful for several months, because she went to Europe to take part in the ballroom dance competition Dancing with the Stars Italy! As so many of us rooted for her back in the U.S, we followed her progress and the competition via social media, and videos on the Internet, while those in Italy watched live on TV.
As witnessed, American viewers noticed that the Italian judges seemed to be a bit more mean-spirited than their stateside counterparts, which seemed to be a trademark of the program abroad.
In a new interview with TV Guide Magazine Michael Logan heralding the highly-anticipated return of Katherine as Brooke back to The Bold and the Beautiful now that her “Dancing” days are done, the international fan favorite and star of the CBS soap chatted about her experience, and what will happen when Brooke returns to Los Angeles to see the shambles of all the relationships she knew of, before she left town! Look for Katherine to first air on the January 22nd episode of the sudser. Here are a few interesting excerpts below from the TVG chitchat!
Katherine on if she thinks the DWTS Italy judges were particularly more mean to her than the other celebrity contestants: “They were definitely more mean to me. They do it for the ratings and they change the rules every single day so you cannot possibly explain how the show works. I thought it would be fun to go over and compete on a dance program. (Laughs) Well, I was wrong! It turned out to be more of a reality show with dance involved and they really want to provoke you. They want to see your reactions. They want to see tears and anger. And they really want to see you fire back some retorts, which is so not my style. I don’t like reality shows at all so, when I realized what was really going on, I was taken aback. I think maybe they thought they’d hired my character. They kept calling me Brooke. I kept saying, ‘My name is Kelly!'”
Katherine on what Brooke will do since she knows how her daughter Hope played by the exited Kim Matula lost her baby: “Brooke knows all about Hope losing the baby because Hope came to visit her in Europe — none of which the audience got to see — and she seems to know about Quinn and Deacon being together. My first scenes back are with Rena Sofer and Sean Kanan, and Brooke says to Deacon, “So…you and Quinn, huh?” (Laughs) And it goes downhill from there. Brooke never trusted Quinn.”
So, what did you think about Katherine’s DWTS Italy experience? How the judges treated her? And, are you excited for Brooke to return to the canvas? When Brooke does come back, who do you want her love match to be this go-round? Comment below!
She was stiff as a board. The judges got it right.
The one I saw she wasn’t that great, but I think the judges were a bit harsh. And not even being able to get her name right is disrespectful.
How did she do overall, in the standings?
The reality is we live in a harsh world…todays entertainment world seems to believe the more vulgar and contriversal you are the better…and it works because todays society has no respect for human life or for even themself…jmo
It is so true our culture seems to be devolving back to Roman times when watching people get mauled by lions was sport— but we have bright spots like the holiday season when for a moment, just a moment the world remembers what love and charity is supposed to be like– wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and better days in the New Year– Mary SF
Hear! Hear! To both Jimh and Mary. I made a choice the last few weeks to not dwell on the news and enjoy the season. I’m lucky to work in a large bookstore. The customers were very giving, friendly and “civilized” if not a little anxious about what presents to get for loved ones and friends. Makes you realize there is still hope in the world for the better nature of humans.
I read that she made more $$$ doing this than she makes all year on “Bold and the Beautiful.”
I hope she made some money since they didn’t treat her very well.
Good for KKL!
Those judges were evil bullies, I am American Italian and I felt really bad for Kelly. Those judges had no class and mean and unclassy. Welcome back Kelly.
The judges were WAY harsh and they were definitely trying to provoke her. I’m glad her and JMW are headed back to BOLD. They have handled Brooke’s exit very well and the show kept chuggin along. Brooke will def have her hands full when she gets back. Dealing with Quinn and Deacon, finding out about Maya/Rick/Caroline, Ridge’s involvement with Caroline, Katie and Bill reuniting, and Taylor wanting Eric back!!! Also Hope’s eventual return!!! Brooke needs to be refreshed and ready and firing on ALL cylinders!! The character needed a break and I can’t wait to see what happens when she comes back!!! I hope her and Ridge get back together and takeover Forrester!!! TK and KKL never got the chance to rekindle Bridge bc fans wanted Kridge and you see where that went!!!!! They also wanted Brooke to pay for her affair with Bill so they pit Ridge with Katie!!!! Well reunite Bridge in 2015!!!!!
And I hope they DO NOT have some new man follow Brooke back from Milan with a story of some torrid love affair they had while she was away!!!!!
I only saw one of KKL’s dances, and she was awful! HOWEVER, the judges were particularly mean and she didn’t deserve the way the skewered her. And I am NOT a fan of KKL and I thought it was awful.
“didn’t deserve the way THEY skewered her.”
What I think about Katherine’s DWTS Italy experience ? I’ve seen all dance by KK and my opinion : that was a big disaster. She should be “Broke” and don’t be anything else.
Italy judges were not more mean to her – unfortunately: she could not dance -that is fact !!!!!!
Merry Christmas to everyone !
Look…I’m sorry that those DWTS judges a la Italy were mean and mean-spirited to KKL but let’s face it…judges on A-L-L reality shows D-O-N-‘T mince words, D-O-N-‘T care about hurt feelings and (most of all) offer N-O apologies!!!!! Also, Katherine should have known from the VERY BEGINNING that DWTS a la Italy is an ACTUAL reality show!!!!! She CANNOT be that naive!!!!! One more thing: When Katherine’s character of Brooke comes back to B&B in January, I hope to G-O-D that Brooke DOES NOT interfere in Deacon and Quinn’s relationship!!!!! Deacon and Quinn’s relationship is N-O-N-E of Brooke’s business!!!!!
To: Mr. Michael Fairman and everyone else on this VERY WONDERFUL website…
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S And A Happy 2015!!!!!!
Peace.
Very nice holiday sentiments, Jay! Same to you!
the mean-spiritedness of the judges may well be an accurate assessment – though by no means were they meaner than say Simon Cowell on the old American Idol – and when they see good dancing, they do praise it. Truth is KKL thought she could coast on her celebrity status (the ways Ronn Moss did on the very same show a few years back when he got very far without really deserving to do so), and she was much too awful to have a chance of doing that. For an actress, who works with her body and physicality day in day out, she seemed to have no control whatsoever over her body and couldn’t even cover that up with her acting. It’s true they kept saying she should try and inject some of Brooke’s passion into her dancing, which was disrespectful to her as an individual (though it was, at least partly, to shake her up and ge her to rehearse, which – that’s how it looked on the show (but we know how things can be made to look on shows like that, so I’m not going to comment) – she wasn’t doing nearly enough; she seemed to have other priorities), but it’s also true that KKL, at least on that dancefloor, displayed the emotion and passion of a dead fish.
I look forward to KLL’s return to B&B. Without Brooke and Hope, this show is a shell of its former self.
And have you noticed that they are bumping up the minutes of precious screen time for their exterior shots?!
The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.
Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.
Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.
Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.
The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”
Photo: NBC
Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”
He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”
Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.
Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.
This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.
So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.
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Days of our Lives long-running cast member James Reynolds revealed on the November 10 edition of Entertainment Tonight that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and his character of Abe Carver will now be going through an on-screen Parkinson’s battle as well.
Speaking with ET’s Nischelle Turner, the 80-year-old actor and Daytime Emmy winner shared how he attempted to hide the warning signs dating back to 15-20 years ago when he would have, “What they call the hallucinations. My wife (Lissa) would say, ‘You were hitting me last night in bed,’ and I would say, ‘What?!’ I was having these really horrible dreams.” Reynolds also added that he realized falling out of bed was an early symptom of Parkinson’s too.
Discussing the on-going tremors that have become more noticeable over time especially in hands, James shared that when he finally told the Days of our Lives cast they were nothing but “extraordinarily helpful and supportive.”
Photo: ET
SCREEN LIFE TO MIRROR REAL LIFE
Now with DAYS about to launch into Abe’s Parkinson’s storyline, Reynolds hopes that he can turn his experience into something positive by encouraging others facing the disease to keep fighting. During the sit-down, Reynolds co-star Jackée Harry (Paulina Price) recalls her reaction to learning of Reynolds’ real-life diagnosis and how she has continued to search for new treatments to inform James about.
Although Parkinson’s disease currently has no cure, there are medications and treatments can help those manage symptoms and improve quality of life. The condition progresses at a different pace from individual to individual.
As discussed in his conversation with ET, Reynolds cited Michael J. Fox and Alan Alda as two high-profile celebrities who have brought awareness to the disease.
Photo: JPI
In story on DAYS, Abe in recent weeks had been experiencing tremors which led to seek help and a diagnosis Dr. Kayla Johnson (Mary Beth Evans). Soon Abe and others will find out of his battle with Parkinson’s. Although on the promo for this week’s DAYS, Abe is seen telling Kayla, that he will do something, “when the time is right.”
James Reynolds is one of the most prolific performers, being the longest-running Black Actor in a role on a television series, not to mention his aforementioned Lead Actor Daytime Emmy win in 2018, and being inducted in 2025 into the Daytime Emmy Gold and Silver Society of honorees.
You can check out James’ in-depth conversation on his Parkinson’s diagnosis below.
Share your thoughts for James after learning of his health battle, and what do you think of Days of our Lives incorporating the disease into Abe Carver’s Salem storyline? Let us know in the comment section.
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Katie Kicks Bill to the Curb … for Now
RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Inches Closer to ‘General Hospital’ in Total Viewers
B&B’s Sydney Bullock Weighs In on Future of Dylan and Will: ‘I Think She Can Hold on to Him for Awhile’ (Exclusive)
Antonio Sabáto Jr. Breaks Silence on His Son’s Arrest for Fatal Hit-and-Run
DANCING WITH THE STARS: A Shocking Elimination on Grammy Night Leaves Ballroom Silenced
Y&R’s New Head Writers Share Vision for Genoa City: Contemporary Homage to Bill Bell, Mixing Heightened Escapism and Grounded Reality
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Preview: Episodes From New Co-Head Writers, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor, Begin to Air
‘General Hospital’ Casts Ayla Bullington as the New Avery Jerome-Corinthos
‘Days of our Lives’ Celebrates 61st Anniversary: EP Ken Corday Teases New Character’s Arrival in Spring 2027
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THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Katie Kicks Bill to the Curb … for Now
B&B’s Sydney Bullock Weighs In on Future of Dylan and Will: ‘I Think She Can Hold on to Him for Awhile’ (Exclusive)
‘Days of our Lives’ Veteran James Reynolds Reveals Parkinson’s Diagnosis
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Alice Halsey Returns to ‘Days of our Lives’ as Rachel Black – Find Out How Long!
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