Catherine Willows' Dream Man

Marg Helgenberger, Who Plays Willows On 'CSI,' Describes Him

(CBS)  If investigator Catherine Willows were to have her fantasy day, what would that entail?

The question was put to Marg Helgenberger, who plays Willows in "CSI," by co-anchor Julie Chen as "CSI Week" concluded on The Early Show Friday.

"I think Catherine is not shy of really going for it," Helgenberger replied (video). "I mean, I think that it would be a fantasy that would involve, in regards to a man in her life, I think it would be the ultimate fantasy of having, you know, somebody who's very romantic, very passionate, very, um, adventurous. … I think it would be somebody who's not, uh, in the same line of work that she's in, and I think it would be somebody who's a little dangerous, somebody who's not necessarily a good companion."

The dreamboat would be someone, Helgenberger said, who "would just, because it's a fantasy, and it's somebody that she knows that it's not necessarily that she's looking for a soul mate, she's looking for a lot of adventure and a lot of, uh, danger and fun, I think."

On Thursday night's episode, a Ferrari and a Corvette were involved in a crash, and Chen sought behind-the-scenes info from Eric Szmanda on how they make that happen.

Do they really crack up two expensive sports cars like that?

Yes and no, explained Szmanda, who plays Greg Sanders: "We do actually bang up the cars, but they switched out some of the parts, so we use parts that were already ruined and then fixed them up to make them look good and then with special angles and, you know, special long lenses, we can kind of, you know, make the illusion real."