paul telfer exit reveal
Credit: Image: Jill Johnson/JPI

Being an actor can be quite the strain!

Look, we aren’t making any stunning revelations here when we say Days of Our Lives‘ Paul Telfer is a man who keeps in amazing shape. We’ve all seen Xander in bed. And in a towel. And… well, you get the idea!

But sometimes being incredibly fit doesn’t quite get the job done. And when a fan tweeted a screengrab of Telfer on an episode of NCIS back before he took over as the Kiriakis black sheep, the actor laughingly explained that that role was one of those times!

“Love this,” Telfer wrote of the episode that was filmed on his birthday and written by pal Jesse Stern. But that was just part of the fun. He joked that he was, “Playing a crazy juiced up Force Recon Marine, so I’m flexing and straining so hard in Mark Harmon’s face to look like I’m actually on ‘roids that I almost pass out.”

Now that’s someone who gives his roles everything he’s got — including his consciousness! Passing out certainly would have been an interesting character choice, but if anyone could have pulled it off, it would have been Telfer.

Luckily, the Days actor isn’t as concerned with getting as big as possible as that Marine. That’s something he made clear when he talked with Soaps.com!

“I’d always been body-conscious and an in-shape guy,” he said, explaining that it was part of his “thing” for his job, being a fit actor who got roles like these. He’s been working out since he was 14 and racking up injuries here and there, but then COVID hit. At first, he kept up, but then he realized, “You know what? I can have a break. I don’t think I’d ever taken a real break from exercise and physical culture.”

He still kept active, but didn’t stress himself out over hitting the gym.

“But then, when the show came back” from its break, “I was in the worst shape I’d ever been in my life as a grownup… and it wasn’t that bad! I was like, ‘Oh! I kind of got away with it!'”

The interesting thing, he noted, was how off our own standards for how we should and do look “is very different from other people. You realize that this particular way that I have to look to feel confident isn’t necessarily what everyone else is thinking.”

Wise words for anyone to live by — especially Telfer’s juiced up NCIS Marine! Maybe if he hadn’t been so concerned about getting as big as he could, the actor wouldn’t have almost passed out trying to play him!

Check out our photo gallery of Xander’s life to catch up on his loves, crimes and shirtless escapades!