‘This Is Us’ Producers Address Pregnancy Test Mistake in Latest Episode

This Is Us editors have finally addressed a pregnancy test mistake that happened in the latest episode of the show. In a flashback during the November episode, a young Kate Pearson — played by Hannah Zeile — was seen taking a pregnancy test that turned out positive. However, close-watchers noticed that the teen was actually holding a box for an ovulation test, rather than a pregnancy test. This led to a lot of chatter on social media, as fans were not sure if this was intentional or not.

Now, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker clarified the situation. “It’ll be good to put it to bed because our fans are so awesome and pick up on every little hint,” he said. “As soon as we saw that people were misinterpreting, of course it drove us crazy. So let the record officially show: That was [meant to be] a pregnancy test box.” He went on to say, “This one, unfortunately, was just a casualty of how absolutely impossible it has been to make television this year. Despite the dozens of people who stared at that scene countless times before it went to air, we were all just so fried from all of the COVID [filming conditions] that we missed that one.”

This Is Us executive producer Elizabeth Berger added, “You can chalk this up to Zoom editing. Usually we’re all in a bay together looking at these giant monitors. And this is the one where we were like, ‘Ah, if we had just been there, someone would have seen it!’ But everyone is just working so hard around the clock under these crazy circumstances. And every once in a while, you’re going to have an ovulation test when you wish you had a pregnancy test box.”

Berger then quipped that she’s made up her own way of seeing the flub as having a logical explanation. “I have my own way of explaining this, where I’ve told myself she was hiding her pregnancy test in her ovulation kit box so that nobody spots her with a pregnancy test,” she offered. “It’s just how I’ve justified this in my mind.” Aptaker then chimed in, “Her mom finds it and she’s like, ‘I just like to know when I’m ovulating.’” This Is Us returns Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, on NBC.