Days Of Our Lives: 2016’s 10 Biggest Scandals

Published on December 9, 2016.

As we enter the last month of 2016, one can’t help but be a little reflective when it comes to the many storylines we’ve watched on soaps this past year. Salem had its fair share of ups and downs over the past 12 months, which left Days of Our Lives (DOOL) fans feeling like they were on a roller coaster ride. As much as soap opera fans love romance, adventure, and some mystery – we all love a big scandal. Below are the top 10 biggest DOOL scandals in 2016.

10. Eric’s Drunk Driving Accident

The list is kicked off with an incident that happened on the cusp of 2016. After leaving a New Year’s Eve party, Eric takes the wheel drunk and hauls Jennifer Horton, Dr. Daniel Jonas, and Brady Black along for the ride. They inevitably get into an accident where all three are rushed to the hospital. Jenn and Eric sustain injuries and almost lose their lives. Brady is in need of a heart transplant and Daniel is on life support. Maggie makes the difficult decision to take Daniel off life support and donate his heart to Brady. Brady lives, but many tears in Salem are shed and shock runs through the little town when the news hits that Dr. Daniel Jonas is gone. Former priest Eric, who had been spinning out of control, was sentenced to five years in prison after the accident. Jenn was devastated and Eric’s parents were horrified.

Source: www.welovesoaps.net

9. Jenn Is Addicted To Pain Killers

Forever the good girl, Jennifer Horton struggles with addiction in 2016 was quite scandalous to say the least. Jenn always made good decisions and was seen as the voice of reason, so she was the last person in Salem fans would think could gravitate to drugs. But after the infamous New Year’s Eve accident, Jenn needed those pain killers to cope. To cope with how her life spiraled out of control, to control the hurt behind losing Daniel, to help with all the pain she felt. Her toxic relationship with fellow addict Eric Brady didn’t help with the situation either. Alas, thanks to friends and family (and a ghostly visit from her love, Jack), Jennifer was able to overcome addiction and is now well on the road to recovery.

NBC

8. Chase Rapes Ciara

After his dad Aiden died (or so everyone thought he died), Chase went into a downward spiral. After all, it was hard for him to cope with all that happened in late 2015. His dad turned out to be a villain; he was killed at the hands of a man who Hope and Ciara loved and missed (Bo); and while he mourned the loss of his dad, those around him were relieved when Aiden was killed. He then started warming up to the DiMeras, Andre to be exact, and things went downhill from there. Chase was stealing and doing other terrible things, but the most scandalous act was when he raped his then-girlfriend Ciara. The incident would cause a downward spiral for Ciara too, when Hope found her heading out to wild parties and lying to her all the time. Thankfully everyone has come to terms with the incident and Ciara sought out counseling to help her get over the traumatic incident.

NBC

7. Aiden Returns

While Aiden was killed in late 2015, to the shock and surprise of Salem residents (as well as DOOL fans), he returned in the spring of 2016. It seemed that DiMeras were behind this all (as they always seem to be) and Andre switched the real Aiden and replaced him with an imposer look-alike of Aiden last November. While his return unveiled a huge scandal, in the end the real Aiden was just as big of a jerk as the imposer was (minus the killer instinct the other one had).

NBC

6. Summer Is Maggie’s Daughter

After Brady received Daniel’s heart, an interesting storyline developed. He began having dreams about a woman. This drove Teresa insane with jealousy, but in the end, it was really Daniel reaching out from beyond the grave alerting everyone to the fact that he had a sister. In a weird twist of events, Summer was introduced to DOOL audiences and it turned out that not only was she the sister of Daniel, but also the daughter of Maggie Kiriakis. Summer was conceived when Maggie had an affair at a young age with a farm hand named Noah, but Maggie wasn’t able to take care of the child she gave her up for adoption. The reunion was nice, but short lived, as Summer ended up skipping Salem shortly after the entire situation was revealed.

Source: Enstarz

5. Little Tate’s Kidnapper

This was a huge scandal in 2016 with poor distraught parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents embarking on a huge mission to find Tate Black. Tate went missing under Teresa’s watch twice, and the third time ended up being a nightmare. There was uncertainty behind who was at the helm of it all, with Summer and even Victor Kiriakis being major kidnapping suspects. In the end, the big reveal was shocking, with Kate Roberts being the culprit behind the tot missing.

Source: celebdirtylaundry.com

4. Kate Kills Deimos … Wait, No She Doesn’t!

Speaking of Kate, this storyline could have landed as a top ten scandalous list on its own. Follow along, if you can. First off, Kate decides to take some video footage of Deimos and Nicole fighting. She then catches the two in a make out session. Upset that her boyfriend is falling for another woman, the two engage in a fight and Kate shoves Deimos, which causes him to fall, hit his head, and land in a river. Rather than coming clean, she decides to pin the accidental murder on Nicole, using the video footage as evidence. But, the plot thickens as weeks go by and it turns out that Deimos is actually alive! Only in Salem could someone die and return so quickly and suddenly.

NBC

3. Teresa Leaves Her Family Behind

More recent, fans were brokenhearted to see Teresa leave Brady and Tate, all in the name to take down El Fideo and protect her family from him. Teresa’s life revolved around her son and partner and with all the little family had been through in 2016 (from the ex-convicts stalking Salem, to Tate going missing, to dealing with Summer) it was scandalous to say the least that she walked away from it just as things were seemingly getting better. But only the fans, and a few others, know the real reason. To boot, to turn Brady off her, she went back to her party girl ways. Still, this was all a facade to have Brady (and everyone else) think she was into the drugs so that he would leave her. In the end, she was the one leaving them. The good news is, she finally gained Victor’s respect. The bad news is, fans have no Teresa on their DOOL screens. Here’s hoping this hiatus won’t last too long.

2. Hope Kills Stefano

Hope is currently serving a sentence for the murder of Stefano DiMera, as beau Rafe and others are desperately trying to find a loophole to get her out of the slammer. Still, most of 2016 was dedicated to the storyline around Hope shooting Stefano, as well as Hope and Rafe trying to keep it under wraps. Hope was reeling off the death of her soulmate Bo, and when all arrows pointed to Stefano as the reasoning behind his ultimate demise, Hope was on a mission to extract revenge. Still, she’s always been a heroine at heart – and heroines don’t kill to get back at anyone. What’s even more scandalous than Hope aiming that gun at Stefano (and pulling the trigger three times) in early 2016, is that fact that him taunting her to shoot may have all been a part of his master plan. As it seems, Stefano was suffering from an incurable illness, and while Hope thought she was finally gaining one up on Stefano by killing him, it turns out that Stefano (once again) got the last laugh on her.

Howard Wise/JPI

1. Chloe’s Baby

Since a pregnant Chloe rolled back into Salem in June everyone has been wondering just who the daddy of her baby was. All arrows were pointing to Deimos, and at one point Phillip was going to lay claim to the child as well. Still, in an interesting turn of events, it seems that neither Phillip or Deimos for that matter can or should hold any responsibility for the child, as even Chloe herself is not the baby’s biological mother. This scandalous storyline hits number one for its craziness and creativity. With Daniel and Nicole being the child’s true parents, and Chloe simply being the surrogate keeping this secret to keep the baby safe from Deimos, this 2016 scandal is something that is sure to explode even further come the new year.