This Outlander Audition Tape Is Equal Parts Awkward and Arousing

Watching audition tapes always feels very invasive, like you’re bursting into an actor’s trailer and demanding they read the phone book in character. This one is particularly intimate, as it’s between Outlander’s Sam Heaughan and Caitriona Balfe. The heat—it is hot.

The footage is from the season three Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray, if you don’t already have it, and was Balfe’s final screen test. Heaughan was already cast in the role of Scottish beefcake heart stealer, Jaime. Showrunner Ronald D. Moore says at the top that they felt fairly certain about Balfe, but wanted to see them interact in more naturally and this was when she “literally sealed the deal and got the show.”

You can see Balfe’s heaving chest, Heaughan’s strong yet tender nape, and finally some serious pit stains as the two awkwardly come down from their passionate scene in front of a room of people and some glaring lights. It feels almost rude to watch, but I also can’t look away. That’s chemistry, baby!