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THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL

Delon de Metz Reveals the “Wild” Way he Landed the Role of Zende on B&B! (EXCLUSIVE)

Producing soaps has changed quite a bit during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and that extends through all aspects of the production starting with the auditions! When Delon de Metz went up for the role of Zende on THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL, it was a whole new experience! “It was pretty wild,” he admitted to Soaps In Depth. “It was my first time doing a Zoom audition. The first round, I had to make a tape. None of my friends were available and everyone else was on lockdown. I ended up with a kind of wacky setup. I took a tripod, put my cell phone on the tripod, and taped myself while I FaceTimed with an actress I worked with on another CBS show called ZOO. She did the audition with me on my laptop while I shot it on my phone!

“I sent that in, and then I had a callback with casting over Zoom and they recorded that audition on their end,” de Metz continued. “And then there was a third round where I had a chemistry read with Kiara [Barnes, Zoe] and… that sealed the deal.”

One thing coronavirus hasn’t changed is the backstage atmosphere at B&B. “They’re so nice I feel like I’m a kid at camp,” de Metz revealed. “There’s no attitude, no one’s a diva. It’s a really great time on set. Everyone was extremely supportive.”

The young actor credits Barnes with helping him learn the ins and outs of how things work at the soap, but added that before he even got to the set, Tanner Novlan (Finn) gave him a very helpful heads-up! “I’ve known him in L.A. over the years,” de Metz explained. “I jumped on the phone with him before I started and he’s like, ‘Dude, whatever they’ve told you you don’t know what to expect when you’re there. It’s really, really fast.’ And he was definitely right. I think everyone probably underplayed how fast the pace is!”

Before stepping into Zende’s shoes, de Metz made sure he did his homework. “I did all the Wikipedia research on the character and I talked to [producer] Ed Scott about his backstory and we went pretty deep,” he confided. “Then I watched a bunch of Rome [Flynn]’s work when he was playing the character to get a sense of the tone and where he’s been and where he might be going. And then I was like, okay, now it’s time for me to put myself in this.”

B&B Zende Nicole wedding
Unfortunately, Zende and Nicole didn’t live happily ever after!ChrisD/jpistudios.com

The character of Zende was written off in 2017 when he left Los Angeles to live in Paris with his wife, but since she’s not returning with him, clearly something happened. “There were some hiccups as you might assume with his marriage to Nicole,” de Metz teased. “And that motivates him to come back to L.A. and reintegrate into Forrester’s U.S. operations.” And since Zoe works there, it’s likely she’ll catch the eye of the newly-single fashion designer! “I don’t know where it’s gonna go,” the actor deferred with a chuckle. “I really don’t!”

Make sure you’re watching when de Metz makes his daytime debut on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and stay tuned to see what happens to Zende!

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