Actress in Controversial Peloton Commercial Snags Role on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’

Monica Ruiz, the actress who starred in the controversial Peloton commercial that made headlines earlier this month, has landed a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, TMZ reports. Sources familiar with the deal told the outlet that Ruiz was recently offered a guest spot on a forthcoming installment of the longrunning CBS soap.

Ruiz will reportedly earn a flat fee of $2,000 to star in the future episode, which is reported to air in late January. The entire shoot, including rehearsals, is set to take just one day.

Although Ruiz’s role was written as a one-off, TMZ reports that if it goes well, she could be written back into the script.

She’s not the first viral star to land a role on The Bold and the Beautiful; the woman who photobombed stars at the 2019 Golden Globes by posing with Fiji Water also was hired for a guest role on the soap opera earlier this year.

The Bold and the Beautiful isn’t Ruiz’s first role she’s landed since the Peloton ad gained notoriety. Ryan Reynolds casted her in a sort of sequel to the ad in a commercial for his gin company, Aviation Gin. Titled “The Gift That Doesn’t Give Back” — a direct spoof off the Peloton ad’s title — Ruiz starred as a woman being consoled by two friends at a bar. Whatever happened before is never mentioned by name, but it’s obvious the woman is going to be drinking through whatever she’s dealing with.

The Peloton ad was the subject of fierce blowback, with many calling it out on social media for being sexist and for showing an outdated portrayal of marriage. In the ad, a husband gave his wife, played by Ruiz, a Peloton bike for Christmas, despite the fact that she seemed to hate exercising.

Ruiz assured concerned viewers that she wasn’t trapped in a dystopian alternate universe on the Today show after the commercial sparked backlash. “Honestly, I think it was my face,” she told Hoda Kotb on Thursday.

“My eyebrows looked worried I guess. People were like, ‘You look scared.’ I’m telling you, it was my face, that was the problem, and it just exploded from there. She looks worried,” Ruiz said of her character.

“I jut wanted to let everyone know I’m fine,” she said. “I’m OK, I’m not in a rehab for mental health anywhere.”