‘9-1-1’ Aftershow: Mark Consuelos Talks Tripp’s Role in Athena & Hen in Danger (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 2, “Spiraling.”]

What can go wrong does go wrong with Athena (Angela Bassett) and Hen’s (Aisha Hinds) trip to space on 9-1-1 — but it could have all been avoided, if billionaire Tripp (Mark Consuelos) had just listened to the warning about the geomagnetic storm.

“Obviously, it’s an awful decision. Anybody who’s of sound mind would say, that’s really dangerous and there’s souls in that spaceship. But I believe the way I justified it is that he had made a career of rolling the dice and steamrolling and taking big chances and always kind of landing on his feet,” Consuelos tells TV Insider in our latest 9-1-1 aftershow, First Response. “And he does ask, ‘What’s the percentage? What’s the percentage chance?’ And they said it’s 43.8%. I said, ‘I’ll take those odds.’ I’ve probably made decisions with worse odds than that and that’s the way he rolls. And so it’s as simple as that.”

But soon after takeoff, the space vessel, the Inara, runs into trouble, spinning out of control and further into orbit. Just as it seems like they’ve fixed everything and will be returning to Earth, the Inara catches fire, the fire suppression button doesn’t work, and those on the ground lose all communication with the vessel. Athena and Hen are in some serious danger!

“Everything that can go wrong on that ship goes wrong,” says Consuelos. “I believe a loss of control would be one of the things that he probably feels the most, which he doesn’t like to feel that at all. Tripp is always in control.”

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What makes it worse: Tripp’s fiancée, Tricia (June Diane Raphael), is one of the people on the vessel. “Now that you bring that up, that’s really, he’s morally questionable, this guy, which I love,” laughs Consuelos.

He describes their relationship as “probably transactional on both sides. I think his relationships with people are probably all the same. It’s probably transactional, and he sees what this person can do for him, and he’s a bit of an egomaniac and a narcissist. So I don’t know if he considers other people that much.”

Watch the full video aftershow with Mark Consuelos above for more from him about Episode 2 as well as his wild introduction, Tripp being swallowed by a whale.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC