The Young and the Restless fans have been waiting decades for Cricket and Danny to tie the knot again — and actress Lauralee Bell confirmed they’ll soon get their wish, with a little twist.
Bell, who has played Christine “Cricket” Blair since 1984, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, September 11, that fans will have 24 hours to choose Cricket’s wedding dress for the upcoming nuptials.
“When we heard that we were going to get remarried, I just thought, ‘These people have devoted so much of their lives to our show,’” Bell, 56, shared, noting that from that moment forward she decided “whenever there’s a way where we can incorporate them or make them understand how much they mean to us, we can’t do this without them.”
That’s when the idea of a dress poll came to light.
On Friday, September 19, beginning at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET, a poll will go live on Y&R’s official Instagram page via their Stories (and can be seen on Bell’s Instagram). Fans can then cast their vote just once for which gown Cricket will wear during her November wedding to Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian).
Bell has already tried all three options, telling Us, “To be honest with you, all three of them are extremely comfortable.”
She teased, “If someone were to say, ‘Do I have a favorite?’ I don’t know that I do. I want this to completely be what [the fans pick].”
Bell revealed that the crew, meanwhile, started weighing in on their favorites during fittings. She noted that because Cricket’s “an older bride” the costumer worked to make sure everything matched her phase in life.
“They’re all kind of simple and elegant. I’m not the big ball down on top of a wedding cake,” she said of the choices. “And nothing’s showing. They’re all appropriate.”
Bell confessed that one dress is “snug,” joking that she’s “glad” the TV wedding got pushed from October to November.
“It’s a whole other month of me really, like, doing more and more sit ups and not eating cheese, my favorite thing,” she said, noting, “I want it to look as good as it can.”
The soap opera star teased that if the snug dress isn’t chosen, she’s “gonna have a piece of cheese” right away.
Cricket and Danny first tied the knot in Hawaii in a 1990 episode. They parted ways after Danny slept with fan Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford). As of March 2024, Cricket and Danny were officially back together and the musician asked Cricket to marry him once again during a July episode.
When they walk down the aisle for the second time in November — the wedding episode date has yet to be announced — fans will see which dress won for the first time.
“To have these kind of momentous celebrations there’s so many layers to it,” Bell told Us of the upcoming wedding milestone. “And now [we get] to really incorporate the fan love for the show and for them to feel like, if their dress won, that giddy thing of like, ‘I was a part of that. I picked that one.’”
The Young and the Restless airs on CBS weekdays. The wedding dress poll will be open for 24 hours on Y&R’s Instagram Stories beginning on Friday, September 19, at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET.
