Days of Our Lives Spoilers September 8: Rita Lesley Betrays EJ DiMera as Stefano’s Ring Resurfaces

DAYS OF OUR LIVES SPOILERS: STEFANO’S RING LANDS ON A STRANGER’S HAND WHILE EJ IS IN ITALY

TL;DR: Days of Our Lives spoilers for Tuesday, September 8, 2026 put Stefano’s ring on a mystery man’s hand, three days after Rita Lesley pocketed it while telling EJ she had not seen it. EJ is in Italy. Belle and Chad get closer, Cat frets, Gabi and Kate deal, and Leo leans on Gwen.

Days of Our Lives Spoilers: Rita Lesley Pocketed the Ring While Lying to EJ

Days of Our Lives spoilers for September 8, 2026 put Stefano DiMera‘s ring back in play, and it is not on the hand of the man who is supposed to be wearing it. Friday’s episode ended with EJ DiMera on the phone from the airfield, asking his assistant about his father’s ring. Rita Lesley told him she had not seen it. Then she picked it up off the coffee table, looked at Stefano’s portrait, and slid it into her pocket.

Tuesday, the promo shows that ring on a man’s hand beside a chessboard and a fire. No face. No name. EJ invited himself onto Chad DiMera and Belle Black‘s Italy trip, so the mansion is empty and the woman he trusts most just lied into his ear.

That ring is not costume jewelry. It is the Phoenix ring, the signet Stefano wore for decades, and EJ has held it since February, when the family re-interred Stefano’s remains. In Salem, wearing it means one thing: I run this family. There is more DOOL storyline background on how it passed to EJ.

Think Rita is finally done playing errand girl for EJ? Write to the editor at amber@soapoperamagazine.com and make your case.

Days of Our Lives Spoilers: The Rest of Tuesday, Beat by Beat

The ring is the headline, but Tuesday carries four more threads. In Italy, Belle and Chad take their relationship to the next level. Belle is carrying the coin Marlena Evans found at her late husband John’s grave, and the pair are following Stefano’s chess clues. Marlena spent Monday’s episode matching a Celtic cross to a memory of Stefano’s island.

Back in Salem, Cat Greene‘s worries about EJ mount, and she has earned every one. She told Rafe last week that, under hypnosis, she remembered confessing her ISA status to a comatose EJ. EJ has shown no sign of remembering it, and she cannot tell whether his silence is mercy or a trap.

Gabi Hernandez and Kate Roberts exchange favors, and when those two trade anything, somebody else pays for it. Gabi bankrolled Philip Kiriakis‘s five million dollar seat at the Monte Carlo poker table and is posing as his fiancee to help save Titan, and Kate is Philip’s mother, so do the math. Leo Stark presses Gwen Rizczech for information, the same week Gwen turned down EJ’s silent partner offer. Our earlier look at Rita’s betrayal over the ring showed how badly EJ needs allies.

Who Has Stefano’s Ring on Days of Our Lives?

Nobody knows yet, and no casting news points to the hand in that promo. Here is the connection everyone else missed. Rita pocketed the ring in the same September 4 episode whose final shot showed a hidden man pouring champagne beside Stefano’s photo, moving a chess pawn, and watching EJ, Chad, and Belle on a video feed. Two scenes, one episode. That is not a theft, that is a delivery.

Rewind further. On August 14, Rita handed a flu-stricken EJ a pill from the same CRS-17 bottle they had used on water inspector Devlin and called it cold medicine. Three weeks later she removes his father’s signet the moment his plane leaves. Reading between the lines, the memory drug and the ring lie look like two steps in one plan, and the plan is not EJ’s.

Days of Our Lives Spoilers: Tony, Stefan, or a Stranger Could Be Wearing It

The audience has three favorites. Tony DiMera is Stefano’s son, he is alive, and he spent the spring using Gabi to spy on Titan so he could claw DiMera Enterprises back. A living son wearing his father’s ring would finish that job. Nothing on the casting side points to him this week, so file it as a hunch.

Stefan DiMera is the wild card. His mother Vivian swore he died in her care, but nobody in Salem has seen a body, and this show never lets a DiMera stay buried on a mother’s word alone. Then there is Dr. Rolf. Marlena and Steve Johnson named him the obvious candidate to be carrying out Stefano’s mission, and he left town two weeks ago after sealing three glowing pods in a locked room.

Don’t be surprised if the hand belongs to someone nobody has guessed. The writers have Italy, a coin, a missing pawn, and an unnamed buyer circling the Kiriakis mansion on the board at once. My gut says the ring ends up on a man tied to Italy, not on anyone walking through Horton Town Square.

Who is by that fireplace? Drop your name in the comments and we will keep score when the face is revealed.

Catch up on every twist in our Days of Our Lives coverage.

Rita Lesley Just Picked a Side, and It Was Not EJ’s

Here is my take. Rita did not grab that ring on impulse. She looked at Stefano’s portrait before she pocketed it, and that look is the whole story. Whoever she answers to now wants EJ stripped while he plays detective in Italy, and Rita decided that person has the better claim.

Team EJ says he lands in Salem with blood in his eye by Friday. Team Mystery Man says the throne already changed hands and EJ is the last to know. Pick a side and bring it to our Facebook page, because this fight is just getting started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Rita steal Stefano’s ring from EJ on Days of Our Lives?

Yes, on the September 4, 2026 episode. EJ DiMera called Rita Lesley from the airfield and asked about his father’s ring. Rita told him she had not seen it, then picked it up off the DiMera coffee table, looked at Stefano’s portrait, and put it in her pocket. EJ left for Italy without it.

Is Stefan DiMera alive on Days of Our Lives in 2026?

Nobody knows. Vivian Alamain claimed Stefan died in her care, but no body has been shown on screen and no return has been confirmed by the show. Viewers keep floating him as the man wearing Stefano’s ring, and that idea stays speculation until a face appears on screen.

Where is EJ DiMera during the September 8 episode of Days of Our Lives?

EJ is in Italy. He invited himself onto Belle Black and Chad DiMera’s trip on the September 4 episode, phoned Rita from the airfield, and flew out without his father’s ring. While he chases Stefano’s chess clues abroad, the ring turns up on a stranger’s hand back home.