Daytime Performers of the Week: ‘DAYS’ Dan Feuerriegel, Carson Boatman & Lauren Koslow Explode With Shocking Revelation

Michael Maloney March 23, 2025, 8:01 am

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Dan Feuerriegel, Lauren Koslow, Carson Boatman — Days of our Lives — © XJJohnson/jpistudios.com

Rarely does an actor in daytime perform alone. Soaps are known for their incredible acting ensembles so that’s why TV Insider’s breaking tradition a smidge by giving Daytime Performer of the Week honors to three (count ‘em – three!) thespians from Days of our Lives.

Dan Feuerriegel (EJ), Carson Boatman (Johnny), and Lauren Koslow (Kate) shined in the story in which Johnny learned from Kate that EJ had raped his mother Sami (Alison Sweeney), which led to Johnny’s conception. The fallout was must-see TV!

Johnny’s confrontation of EJ packed a punch — literally! EJ thought that his son was furious about EJ’s alleged role in swapping Rafe (Galen Gering) with Arnold (also played by Gering). But Johnny shocked his dad by telling him this isn’t about what Arnold did to Sami – it’s about what he did! “Mom. Lucas. Cabin. You want to take it from here?”

Feuerriegel made the choice to have EJ turn his back to his son, afraid the look on this face would make a confession unnecessary. Johnny continued the tale, setting up that Sami begged EJ to help save Lucas if Sami had sex with him! EJ tried to convince Johnny that he and Sami put that behind them a long time ago. “Yeah, well, I haven’t,” Johnny snarked as Boatman continued to play simmering rage.

Johnny scoffed when EJ muttered the flimsy excuse that Kate had no right to tell his son this. “What about my mom’s right not to be sexually assaulted?” Johnny shot back. Johnny then came forward with the most shocking discovery — he is a product of EJ’s assault on Sami. Johnny wouldn’t even exist if his dad wasn’t so lascivious.

Dan Feuerriegel, Carson Boatman — Days of our Lives

As Boatman continued to have Johnny be angry with his dad, Feuerriegel did, possibly, the most difficult thing for an actor to do in a scene: He mostly stayed silent. Then, EJ gently tried to explain that he did what he did to create a baby whose stems cells could be used to save Stefano. “I’m just trying to make you understand,” a vulnerable EJ said. This almost made it worse, in a way.

“Rape is not about sex. It’s about power. It’s about control. You have tried to control me my whole life,” Johnny said.

Next, Johnny asked his dad how it felt not to be in control and to be unable to pin his son down and take what he wanted. “I never wanted you to know because I’m not that man anymore,” EJ said, his eyes welling up. He tried to reach out to his son physically, but Johnny recoiled.

“I can’t even look at you,” Johnny said, ordering his father to leave. Alone, EJ broke down into tears, mourning that he’d hurt the person he loves most in the world – his son.

Later in the week, Johnny tried to run off his pain by taking a jog. He called his mother but was unable to reach her. Fortunately, he ran into Rafe, his former stepdad, who provided a sympathetic ear to Johnny as he revealed he knew the truth about his father’s actions, which led to his conception. “I know who my dad is now,” Johnny grimly said, his wording having a double meaning. “My dad…raped my mom.”

Johnny felt safe with Rafe, enabling Carson to show more vulnerability. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his mother could have gone on to have a life with EJ and have another child, a daughter, Sydney.

Meanwhile, EJ confronted Kate at the Brady Pub over her informing Johnny about his conception and the accusations against his father. The vulnerable EJ who had broken down in tears back at the DiMera mansion was gone. In his place, there was a raging EJ, who wanted payback.

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that the 6’2” Feuerriegel brings an imposing presence to EJ. That wasn’t lost on Kate, but the mama bear didn’t back down. She wasn’t going to give EJ a pass just because she was alone with him. Kate’s not just anyone in this story. She hasn’t forgotten that EJ once held Lucas’s life in his hands.

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Koslow brings a sophisticated beauty to her role as Kate, but when the story calls for it — and this one certainly did — the actress can infuse her character with a rage. Do not mess with her. Kate continued her verbal dressing down of EJ as she admitted that she was the one who told Johnny the truth. Kate relentlessly hammered away as she reminded EJ of his wicked ways. She told EJ that the people of Salem haven’t forgotten what he’d done to Sami, and neither had she!

“And you think I have?” EJ dramatically shouted as he pounded his chest in self-recrimination. “I have had to live with regret over what I did to Samantha for decades!” Feuerriegel so immerses himself in the role of EJ it’s hard to believe he wasn’t playing the role when this sordid story began. However, Kate was non-plussed by EJ’s angry remorse. “Hate me if that’s what you want…maybe I deserve it, but my son never needed to know the truth!” EJ declared.

Feuerriegel brings different colors to EJ at the same time. Sure, he’s acknowledging what he did was wrong, but then, he seamlessly segues into the dastardly guy Kate and others know him to be. “Perhaps I should return the favor?” EJ said with an evil tone. Just as Kate had hurt his boy, perhaps EJ could bring harm to one of Kate’s?

“There are so many sons to pick from, too,” he wickedly suggested. “Now, Lucas is a mess so destroying him would be no fun. And then, there’s do-gooder Austin [Patrick Muldoon, Austin Peck]. ‘Meteor baby’ Rex [Kyle Lowder]. Oh, and then there’s Philip [John-Paul Lavoisier].” With a diabolical snicker, EJ said, “He’s your favorite, isn’t he? And they all know that.”

“You lay one finger on any of my children and I will kill you myself,” Kate responded.

EJ may have thought his day couldn’t get any worse, but it did when he returned home and found another threat: Rachel (Ros Gentle). Kristen’s (Stacy Haiduk) feisty mother went toe-to-toe in scenes with EJ that had tones of both danger and dark humor.

Realizing he had to eliminate “Mother Blake,” as he irreverently called her, EJ retrieved a nearby syringe from a safe. “I’m afraid you won’t be testifying against anyone,” the dashing EJ announced with, ironically, the tone of a James Bond villain. Feuerriegel added a bit of humor when he thought that the medicine he injected Rachel with caused her to lose her memory. “Whoa. That was fast,” he quipped.

Then, he discovered that the injection actually hadn’t worked. A man of many means, it appeared that EJ did away with Rachel, but her fate remains unknown. What is not unknown is that Feuerriegel, Boatman, and Koslow gave DAYS viewers an amazing series of performances last week as one of the show’s darkest secrets came to light.

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