Who's the Surprise Guest at the 'Blue Bloods' Family Dinners?

Will Estes, Vanessa Ray, Bridget Moynahan, Tom Selleck, Len Cariou, Gregory Jbara, Donnie Wahlberg and Andrew Terraciano

Ever since the pilot episode of Blue Bloods, each week the law-enforcement Reagan family—Frank (Tom Selleck), Danny (Donnie Wahlberg), Erin (Bridget Moynahan), Jamie (Will Estes), Jamie’s wife Eddie (Vanessa Ray) Danny’s son Sean (Andrew Terraciano) and family patriarch Henry (Len Cariou)—gather for the series' mainstay Sunday family dinner.

Occasionally, the most recently discovered Reagan, Joe Hill (Will Hochman), joins the family for dinner, or Erin’s daughter Nicky (Sami Gayle) returns from her job in San Francisco, or Jack (Tony Terraciano) returns from college. Family friends have been invited to partake, as well, like Danny’s partner Marisa Baez (Marisa Ramirez) or Frank’s best friend and former partner Lenny Ross (Treat Williams).

But the one person who is at every Sunday dinner that is never seen on camera is Donnie’s real-life wife Jenny McCarthy via the phone.

"She's that extra person at the family dinner," Bridget revealed when she and Donnie guested on The Drew Barrymore Show. "The phone is always there, and in between takes it's like, 'Hi, honey,' 'Hi, honey,' and we're all, 'Jenny!' So, she's always there."

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But that isn’t the only time that Donnie and Jenny stay together via their phones: They sleep together on FaceTime. With Donnie in New York filming Blue Bloods and Jenny in Los Angeles filming The Masked Singer, it is a way for them to connect while away from their home in Illinois.

"We now have the luxury of being able to sleep together when we're apart," Donnie told Drew. "So, whoever's going to sleep first just calls the other one. We spend the whole night together when we're not together. It’s not that we're insecure or that we need to do this, we love to do it.”

Drew comments, “I get nothing but positive vibes from this. You’re the first person making me think that technology is a good thing.”

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Donnie continues, “It's like, why not? We're going to miss each other, why wake up saying, 'Oh, God I missed you, I woke up at 3 in the morning.' I tell her, 'If you wake up at 3 in the morning, can't sleep, just tap me on the shoulder through the phone and I'll wake up and hang out with you.'"

Blue Bloods returns with a new episode tonight, entitled “On the Ropes,” in which Jamie works to bust a group of scammers who use artificial intelligence to defraud the elderly. Danny and Baez investigate a series of mysterious deaths at a hospital; Anthony (Steve Schirripa) is determined to take down an attorney who exploits the law for his own financial gain; and Frank disapproves when he learns Gormley (Robert Clohessy) is planning to face off against fellow officers in a “smoker” boxing match

Blue Bloods airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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