General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Spencer and Esme Go Overboard as Nicholas Chavez Makes His Exit
The Wednesday, January 31st episode of GH had Sprina fans tuning-in to see just what will become of or befall their favorite duo.
Will Esme (Avery Pohl) get away with her plot? How will the show handle the departure in story of Nicholas Chavez (Spencer), who has left the soap opera, at least for now, to film his leading role in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
In the pick-up to yesterday’s GH, Esme finds Trina (Tabyana Ali), while Spencer finds a pool of blood on the deck of the yacht. Alone with Esme, Trina asks Esme what is she doing on the boat. Esme says with Ace gone she’s been so lonely, and that she missed her and Spencer and decided to tag along.
Photo: ABC
Later, Spencer bursts into their room telling Trina that the captain has been attacked and someone is on the boat. However, Trina doesn’t appear, but Esme does.
Spencer grabs Esme around the throat and pushes her up against the wall. When he tells Esme he has already called for help, Esme tells “Spence” she already smashed the tracking satellite so no one will locate him or his girlfriend. She asks how it feels not knowing where Trina is. Next, Esme throws in Spencers’ face that his pain doesn’t compare to the torture of what it is like to know that he gave Ace to Nikolas and she has no idea where her son is.
Photo: ABC
Esme tells Spencer to go ahead and kill her, but if he does that, he will never know what she did with Trina. Spencer tells her that he’s not going to kill her because he wants her to suffer a long life knowing she will never see Ace again. Esme says Trina will die if he doesn’t do as she says. So, Esme orders Spencer to turn around so she can zip-tie his hands and feet together.
Next, it is revealed that Trina is actually in the cargo of the boat zip-tied and gagged. She manages to cut herself free when she sees a screw sticking out from a pipe and uses it to extricate herself.
Meanwhile, Spencer wants to know what the plan is for him and Trina. Esme says she left instructions with Trina to call Laura (Genie Francis) when she’s free, and by then they’ll be long gone. Spencer is angry, especially when Esme says Laura will have to find Ace and give him back to her if she ever wants to her grandson again. He says he’ll fight her every step of the way.
Photo: ABC
That’s when Esme shares that’s she’s brought some special medicine on board to make him easy to control as too much of it may make him a blubbering idiot, and even more, could kill him. As Esme reaches for the syringe, Trina arrives with a wrench and the two go at it in a cat fight while Spencer is tied up.
Ultimately, Trina clobbers Esme over the head and knocks her out, giving her enough time to free Spencer, who calls Trina, “my hero”. Spencer asks what should they do with Esme. A defiant Trina says, “Let her bleed.”
As Sprina get to the deck, they try to signal for help from an oncoming boat. Next, Esme appears and jabs Spencer in the back with her syringe. Spencer starts to go down. Esme says she has enough to take out Trina, and the young women begin a fight for the syringe.
Suddenly, Spencer is loopy, but he get to his feet and grabs Esme off of Trina, but the two fall overboard as Trina looks on in anguish. We fade to black.
So, what did you think of how GH wrote off Nicholas Chavez? While we know Spencer won’t be found for now, what about Esme? Is Avery Pohl still going to be with the show, or is she temporarily written-out too? Share your theories and what you thought of today’s GH in the Sprina and Esme story via the comment section below.
Great exit for Nicholas Chavez. However I do have concerns that his time at General Hospital is going to be short. He’s a rising star with Netflix series and he may come back but I don’t think he’ll stay long. I hope they do keep Esme around somehow.
Apparently Esme is also gone, at least for now.
But she is not here in Hell, so you know what that means…. she’s going to be back someday.
I know they needed reason to get N.C. off the canvas. But they couldn’t have come up with a different set of circumstances for Spencer and Esme going overboard? Did they really have to write Trina and Spencer to be a couple of mindless fools? After everything Esme has done to them, Spencer and Trina aren’t going to discard the syringe nor tie her up while she’s knocked out? Come on. Jeez!
Can’t people just leave town anymore? Laura is the heart of the show and most of her family is gone, dead, presumed dead, in a coma etc. It’s getting too dark again.
I agree, JJ. The story is ok tho a bit over the top. And we know they will return in some form. I would like a more solid family unit on GH. They decimate families, then create impossible to believe plots of lost children and never known relatives.
Not only that, but Laura has seen countless family members return from being presumed dead through the years…
Mother Lesley was thought to die in a car accident (with Bobbie seeing her body in the ER). She returned over 10 years later having been held by Helena.
Son Lucky was presumed dead in a garage fire. Helena swept him away and the character returned with a different actor about a year later.
Son Nikolas has been considered dead too numerous times to mention.
And, Laura herself was thought to dead after disappearing on a foggy night from The Haunted Star in the early 80s.
Finally, Spencer joins the ranks of Helena, Victor, Stavros and Nikolas in the family tradition of assumed deaths.
I HOPE Nicholas is coming back to GH. Everything I’ve read in the soap press says his leave is temporary. But this one lady who says she has the inside scoop but refuses to state her source is adamant that he’s off the show for good. If that’s true, I’m sure they’ll recast Spencer again. His and Trina’s love story is unfinished.
I feel confident that Avery’s Esme will show up again, soon.
Trina and Spencer finally got an opportunity to be happy together! It’s sad that it was taken away so quickly. I am happy the essme is finally gone. Her storyline got boring. I hope Spencer comes back soon as he is a great actor and him and Trina deserves happiness.
I’m not a “Sprina” fan so I couldn’t care less. I’m going to assume Trina finds out she’s pregnant while he’s gone; just a thought. I hope Esme hasn’t been written off the show. Great actress and she is tied to the Cassadines, Heather, AND Kevin. Keep her!
what do they say when you can’t come up with something new or original? lazy writing, I sometimes wonder if the writers ever think things out? I mean consider that Spencer is related to Laura, a character who has a daughter in a coma, a dead ex husband, and sister in law, a missing son on the run with his baby boy, a deadbeat son trying to find himself(lucky), I mean how much is one character suppose to take, this is ridiculous and how many back from the dead stories can they do? So now Laura gotta have a funeral for grandson that’s really not dead? and what about Esme,? they just turned her into Nell 2.0, really lazy writing, I hope Esme and the actress comes back, I hope she wasn’t fired, because the actress is really talented and poor investment on a character and actor if GH got rid of her.
Please bring back Antonio Sabato Jr to play Jagger. Not buying this “Ken doll” version of him !!!!
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Cynthia Watros Honors Former ‘Titus’ Co-Star Stacy Keach Following His Passing
General Hospital star Cynthia Watros, who can currently be seen in on the ABC soap opera in the role of Nina Reeves, has had a enduring career in television. That included her time on the 2000-2002 Fox sitcom, Titus.
In Titus, Watros starred along with Stacy Keach as Erin Fitzpatrick and Ken Titus, respectively. After the November 10th news that Keach had passed away at 85 while living in Poland, Cynthia took to her Instagram on Thursday, November 12 to pay tribute to the great actor.
Watros expressed, “My first prime time show was along side Stacy. I loved him instantly. What an amazing talent and man.❤️”
Photo: ABC
In Titus, Stacy played stand up comedian Christopher Titus’ heavy-drinking, chain-smoking, five-times-divorced father who frequently pulled cruel pranks and tried to toughen his kids up. Cynthia played by Christopher’s level-headed, big-hearted girlfriend trying to build a normal life with him. In fact, Cynthia’s role on the sitcom was first series regular role after her Daytime Emmy run of Annie Dutton on Guiding Light which ran from 1994-1998.
STACY KEACH’S WIFE ON HIS PASSING
Keach’s wife, Malgosia shared the news of the actor’s death publicly in a statement with PEOPLE. Malgosia expressed, that Stacy had, “a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure.”
She added, “Stacy peacefully departed this world. He fought for so long, with extraordinary courage, determination and strength. He was a true warrior, facing his illness with the same remarkable spirit and resilience that defined his life.”
Małgosia continued, “Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family. His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives. But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever.”
Now, let us know do you remember when Cynthia made her sitcom debut in Titus? Share your thoughts via the comment section on Cynthia’s many TV roles and the passing of Stacy Keach in the comment section. But first, check out the very first episode of Titus with Cynthia Watros below!
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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‘General Hospital’s’ Cynthia Watros Honors Former ‘Titus’ Co-Star Stacy Keach Following His Passing
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