Spencer Neville photographed by Clinton Gaughran for Logo's TheBacklot

It's summer time in Salem and there's a familiar face returning to Days of Our Lives.

We first met Derrick late last year, and we marveled as the sexy, gay bellhop casually flirted with pretty much everyone who crossed his path. Derrick hasn't been seen in awhile but thankfully he's back-- and just in time to shake up the ongoing love triangle between Will, Sonny and Paul.

Has Derrick resurfaced to stir the pot with our gay threesome or is he going to truly complicate things and make the triangle a quadrangle?

TheBacklot had the exclusive first chat with actor Spencer Neville last week. He gave us the scoop on Derrick's role beginning in today's episode, his character's proclivity to be shirtless in these new episodes and much, much more.

The Backlot: First of all, where the hell has Derrick been all this time because people have been wondering? Has he just been working double shifts at the hotel?

Spencer Neville: He’s been doing stuff off camera, I guess. Behind the scenes, stirring things up maybe that we didn’t know he had a hand in. A lot of the drama that goes on at the hotel he really secretly set it up.

What’s your handle on this character? From what we saw before, he was just always on.

SN: Well, I guess every scene on the TV show, especially Days of Our Lives, they want drama. Derrick spoke his mind, was a little spunky and he just really did whatever he wanted, which I thought was really funny. I thought there was a lot of humor in the things that he would say and it brought an interesting dynamic to the storyline.

I liked that after Will’s coming out, then Paul’s, it was nice to see a character like Derrick who just kind of owned who he was.

SN: I just wanted Derrick to be as authentic as possible and an open book for anyone that he ran into, whether it be a male or female, and then yeah, flirt if he wanted to flirt. I think the flirting with guys or girls was a manipulation tactic, getting what he wanted and getting information from people. I think the openness was also part of his backdoor tactics, no pun intended. [laughs]

Being from a southern state like Tennessee, did you have a bit of culture shock when you came out to Los Angeles?

SN: Nashville as a city is very entertainment-driven so it’s got a lot of diversity, kind of like Los Angeles. But I grew up about 30 miles East in between Mt. Juliet and Lebanon in a small town called Gladeville, Tennessee. And playing a gay character…growing up in the South there’s still a little bit of homophobia and stuff like that. I really was really grateful to find a place in Los Angeles with such diversity to expand my own experience of life.

I may have had some gay friends in high school that I didn’t know because they were maybe closeted. That’s the culture, sadly, that still exists in the South. I mean, a lot of parts. But out here it’s just been so eye-opening. One of my best friends is gay and I have lots of gay and lesbian friends and it’s a whole new world to me. I’m so grateful to find that and through the career move, it’s just been really cool to experience.

Once you’re back on Days, will we see you back in your hotel uniform or…?

SN: In the break, Derrick was fired from the hotel. And after my first 20 episodes, there was a lot of Googling and the fans saw some shirtless pictures and they’re like ‘we want more Derrick shirtless’ so I think the writers listened because my first scene back I’m shirtless by the lake and I think every other scene, too. Not every one but every other one. But it’s summertime so…

Is Derrick as flirtatious as we were used to seeing him?

SN: Oh, absolutely. This time it’s more just Paul because I think they kind of form a friendship, all the four of them, with Paul and Derrick and Sonny and Will. And that could be Will’s plan of action to bring me back into the picture so it keeps Sonny from leaving him.

So Will’s probably somebody who’s happy to see you, right?

SN: Right. He really is and he even sets up some little day dates at the park to let Sonny see Derrick and Paul together.

What’s it been like working with the guys? I know you and Christopher have had a lot of scenes together.

SN: Christopher and I worked the most together. He’s a great guy and I love working with him; he’s a great actor. We’ll go down to our dressing rooms and just have laughs and stories and we’ve talked about soulful things. It was really cool, the friendship that we made working together. And Freddie and I still hang out. Guy Wilson’s awesome, too. The four best friends of Salem.

Since it sounds like your shirtless a lot and there are those photos on the web, is that something you’ve gotten used to?

SN: Yeah, after I stopped playing football for a brief amount of time in college, I still worked out and stuff at the gym, and some of the gym owners were like, ‘You’d be great at body building.’ So I was like, ‘nah, that stuff’s not for me’ but they kept at it and finally I was like, ‘All right, fine.’ I did a few shows in Tennessee, won some shows, went and did the Nationals in Pittsburgh and got the attention of some fitness modeling agencies. I went to New York and did some portfolio work and stuff like that but I got over it pretty quickly and finished up college and then made the move out [to Los Angeles].

So you’ve probably noticed that Christopher takes care of himself…

SN: Yeah, yeah. But he’s actually coming to me for tips. You can write that down. [laughs] I’m kidding. No, he knows his stuff and that’s some of the stuff we talk about. Actually that’s kind of shallow stuff to talk about. “Hey bro, how’s your abs doing today?”

I actually don’t really work out at all any more. I just had the base from the body building and I’ve actually been slimming down. I think the first time you see Derrick in this new set [of episodes], I’ve actually probably lost another five, ten pounds of muscle, slimmed down. And I had my hair cut real short because I did a military film in January and February and when I started on Days again so the long flowing locks of Derrick are gone.

What’s the film that you did?

SN: It’s AmeriGeddon and I play the lead role. It’s about this young soldier [and] there’s a terrorist attack and he is breaking out of where he is and trying to get back to his family. It was a lot of fun to shoot and I got to ride around in helicopters and stuff.

Besides that I just did a guest on a new Netflix sitcom that’ll be out in the fall. It’s a parody of 90210, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, that  kind of thing. It’s called Filthy Sexy Teens. I play this peanut farmer and I’m this poor guy. It’s a rich school with little rich snob kids. I went from some action to some drama on Days, did some comedy…a nice little spread across the board. It’s been a cool ride so far.

Days of Our Lives airs weekdays on NBC. Check local listings for air times in your area.

Spencer Neville photographed by Clinton Gaughran for Logo's TheBacklot