This Is Us producers finally address editing mistake in pregnancy test scene

This Is Us fans took to Twitter recently to point out what appeared to be an editing mistake in a November episode.

The scene showed a teenage Kate Pearson (played by Hannah Zeile) taking a pregnancy test which turned positive. But eagle-eyed fans noticed she was holding a box that clearly read ‘ovulation test’.

Now, producers have responded to puzzled fans, explaining that it was indeed an editing mistake, due mostly to challenges brought about amid the COVID-19 pandemic and being forced to edit over Zoom.

One use tweeted after the scene aired: ‘Not to be THAT guy but Kate’s pregnancy test on This Is Us was in an ovulation test box and those are VERY different products,’

Ovulation tests are used to help women get pregnant and indicate when a woman is ovulating and most likely to conceive.

Another fan tweeted directly at Sterling K. Brown, who plays Kate’s brother Randall on the show.

‘@SterlingKBrown Help! A This Is Us fan page over on Facebook is wondering this. Was the test teen Kate was holding supposed to be an ovulation or a pregnancy test?’

The scene occurred in the final episode before the NBC drama’s winter break. 

Can’t be right: Eagle-eyed fans noticed she was holding a box that clearly read ‘ovulation test’ – very different from a pregnancy test

Help! Viewers spoke out on Twitter searching for answers, with one user tweeting This Is Us star Sterling K Brown directly

And it’s no surprise that viewers wanted clarity as they were left wondering what the younger Kate was going to do about the pregnancy and how it would impact her future.

In season five, the adult Kate (played by Chrissy Metz) was in the process of trying to bond with the pregnant mother of a baby she hopes to adopt.

‘It’ll be good to put it to bed because our fans are so awesome and pick up on every little hint,’ said executive producer Isaac Aptaker. ‘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.’

‘That was meant to be a pregnancy test’: Addressing the snafu in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, producers said it was the difficult editing conditions amid the pandemic that lead to the mistake

Executive producer Elizabeth Berger told EW that the mistake ‘can [be chalked] up to Zoom editing, explaining: ‘Usually we’re all in a bay together looking at these giant monitors.’

‘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,’ he added.

Executive producer Elizabeth Berger told EW that the mistake ‘can [be chalked] 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!”‘ she continued. ‘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 said.

‘Everyone is just working so hard around the clock under these crazy circumstances.’ Berger said