NCIS' Newest Star Has Thoughts About That Super-Gross Hot Tub Scene

ncis season 16
(Image credit: Image courtesy of CBS)

Warning: spoilers ahead for the second episode of NCIS Season 16.

Now that NCIS is into its sixteenth season on the air, one might think that the show would have run out of new ways to serve up dead bodies. Well, the second episode of Season 16 proved that NCIS is still very good at finding creative methods of killing off characters, and the latest big death was super-gross and involved a dead body in a hot tub. Diona Reasonover, who is the latest addition to the NCIS team as forensic scientist Kasie Hines, shared her thoughts in a chat with CinemaBlend on the super-gross hot tub scene, saying this:

Oh my gosh, I had to learn to eat beforehand. There's this episode... it's like a hot tub. Someone died in a hot tub. And if you think you've seen gross things, you haven't seen gross until you see yogurt floating in red water at like, 8 a.m. And you're like, 'Ugh, I'll never eat again! I will never eat a single thing again.' It was so gross. But also so cool because, props to the people who work in props, because they are very good at their jobs. They're upsettingly good at their jobs.

Yes, as it turns out, the NCIS props people used yogurt and red water to show viewers what might happen to a dead body left in a hot tub that turned on with the bubbles and heater enough times to all but ruin any chance of determining time of death. Unlike the kinds of bodies the NCIS agents usually find, this corpse was not simply shot or stabbed or strangled to death. Most bodies are more or less intact for the forensic team to examine; in the case of the hot tub corpse, the body was more of a skeleton stuck in blood-and-flesh soup. No wonder Diona Reasonover was grossed out and not exactly in the mood for food! That can't be the most delightful to start the day. Pauley Perrette's advice was wonderful, but it wasn't about the various uses of yogurt on set!

NCIS handled the death in an entertainingly relatable way. Everybody who encountered the dead body and hot tub flesh soup was completely grossed out both by the look of what was left of him and the smell. Fortunately for those of us sitting comfortably at home, we couldn't smell anything coming out of the hot tub. The forensic team ultimately had to bring the hot tub full of bones and goop back to NCIS rather than attempt to drain and investigate on the cul-de-sac site of death. Ducky, Jimmy, and Kasie did ultimately gain some insight from all the grossness, so all's well that ends well, even if it didn't look or smell great! Nick wasn't having the easiest time in this episode either, ultimately landing behind bars.

All of this said, Diona Reasonover was excited for viewers to get to see the dead body and fake flesh chunks of yogurt, so it's safe to say that she fits into NCIS just fine. Reasonover has shared her appreciation for the costume designer at NCIS as well as the props people who build the bodies, and she's excited to bring a woman in STEM to life on the small screen. As much as fans may have missed Pauley Perrette immediately after she departed as Abby, Kasie is definitely a fitting replacement. Although the characters may struggle to get used to having a new forensic scientist on the scene after a decade and a half of Abby, Kasie will find her place in the team.

You can find new episodes of NCIS with Diona Reasonover on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. For more important TV dates now and in the not-too-distant future, swing by our fall TV premiere schedule.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).

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