Actor Eric Braeden appeared on CBS’s The Talk Friday to celebrate his 40th anniversary on The Young and the Restless . During his visit with the talk show hosts, the actor revealed which storyline he thought would flop shocked him the most by being a success with viewers.
Guest co-host Brigitte Nielsen asked Braeden what storyline he felt would flop that turned out to be a big hit with his fans. The actor laughed as he recalled the situation. Braeden said he’d read the script in the morning, aghast at what his on-screen alter ego was slated to do in the unexpected storyline. Victor Newman has often been a bad guy who seemingly has no limits on how far he will go to exact revenge on those who wronged him, and the storyline Braeden remembered is a prime example of that characteristic.
The actor revealed that Victor caught his first wife Julia’s (Meg Bennett) lover, Michael Scott (Nick Benedict), and imprisoned him in a bomb shelter under Newman Ranch, which he called a dungeon. Braeden recounted how he fed Michael baked rats to really punish him. Viewers who remember the shocking storyline will also recall that Victor set up cameras so that Michael would have to see him and Julia, who was pregnant, in bed together. Ultimately, Julia found out, and she and Paul (Doug Davidson) rescued Michael, but in the ensuing struggle, a pregnant Julia fell down the stairs and miscarried the baby.
Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor Eric Braeden ( @EBraeden ) stops by #TheTalk to celebrate his 40th year as Victor Newman on @YandR_CBS . pic.twitter.com/i7XFqpW39N
— The Talk (@TheTalkCBS) February 7, 2020
The Talk shared a clip of the horrifying storyline, and co-host Sharon Osbourne also noted that Victor must have also turned the heat on in the bomb shelter to further torture his adversary. The audience clapped and also groaned as Braeden relayed what Victor had done to get revenge all those years ago.
“I remember that episode about the rats,” one fan wrote.
“I loved his interview so much. I remember the scene of the guy in the basement. I didn’t know he fed him a baked rat. I thought it was bread and water. He didn’t mention that he hit him just about every time he came down,” another viewer recounted.
During his time on The Talk , Y&R superfan and co-host Sheryl Underwood asked Braeden when he knew that there was something special between Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Victor. The actor pointed to Jennifer Lopez and her recent Super Bowl performance, and he noted that he knew it when Victor saw Nikki dancing on the pole all those years ago at the Bayou.