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EJ (Dan Feuerriegel) and Kristen (Stacy Haiduk) strategize…and clash.
While Kristen and Stefan plot to make Kristen the next CEO of DiMera Enterprises, EJ makes it clear that he sees no problem helming the family business and being Salem’s DA. Kristen, however, has another agenda.
“Kristen drops the bomb that she’s going to potentially use that against EJ,” says Dan Feuerriegel (EJ), referring to his character’s two very demanding jobs. “She’s going to show Mayor Price that he’s unable to fully do his duties as district attorney or show that it’s a conflict of interest. Kristen and Stefan are using every trick in the book and every little bit of information they can to screw EJ over.”
It’s an all too familiar position for EJ. “People are always after him,” notes Feuerriegel. “But he also makes his own bed.”
As EJ tries to strategize how to keep both prestigious jobs, his wife, Nicole, gets a new one. Chad hires her to be a reporter for The Spectator. Meanwhile, Paulina reams EJ for the suspicious ongoings with Stefan.
“The walls are closing in on EJ in regards to Paulina doing her thing, and Stefan and Kristen doing their thing behind the scenes,” recounts Feuerriegel. “Paulina is kind of threatening him. She’s going to fire him, but EJ convinces her not to. He’s just doing what he can to survive.”
EJ, however, has his own laundry list of accusations against Paulina, and upon learning of Nicole’s new job, he realizes he can use it to his advantage. “He asks Nicole to write an exposé on Paulina and her terrible leadership,” explains Feuerriegel. “Because now he’s starting to think, OK, if the walls are closing in around me, how am I going to stop this? Oh, maybe we can recall Paulina, and I can run for mayor. Then I can make this all go away. That’s how EJ’s thinking. It’s not a matter of confessing and being honest or anything like that. It’s about, ‘How can I make this go away?’ ”
As always, EJ hasn’t lost his drive to be number one. “God, no,” delivers Feuerriegel with a laugh. “That’s his whole motivation, to be number one. That’s it. Nothing else matters. Number one, it’s pride and family. Because if he’s number one, that means DiMera is number one.”
And becoming mayor would be a major power move. “It’s everything that comes with it, which is cleaning up this, being able to do that, making this go away, having the power… Everything,” contends Feuerriegel, noting that EJ covets all of it. “Absolutely. He’s a narcissistic.”
