The Young and the Restless overcame a major obstacle this fall, when star Donny Boaz (Chance Chancellor) tested positive for COVID-19. The show had plans for majorly important wedding scenes between his character and Abby (Melissa Ordway), which tied into the soap's big 12,000th episode event, and the producers came up with a totally genius idea: they would temporarily recast Boaz with Ordway's real-life husband, Justin Gaston -- an actor with previous soap experience as Days of our Lives' Ben Weston.
"At first, we were like, 'Is this going to be weird?' But it wasn't at all," Gaston tells TV Insider of re-marrying his wife in a fictional setting in front of millions of people. "I've known everyone in the cast for a while, and I was happy to step in."
Ordway shares that she was actually über nervous to work with her husband.
"Initially, I just wanted Justin to think I was a good actress! I still have such a big crush on him even though we've been together for a while," she admits. "At first, we didn't know what to expect. But this was the most fun two weeks I'd ever had at work. Justin and Melissa don't speak to each other nearly as eloquently as the writers write for us!"
Gaston reports that his previous work on DAYS definitely helped him adjust to the fast pace at Y&R.
"It was super helpful," he says. "I will say that there was so much dialogue -- I'd never had even close to that on DAYS. Melissa helped me run lines."
Ordway concurs, sharing, "Justin had more dialog than what I normally have. He knocked it out of the park. There was never a take where he didn't completely know his lines. Even Eric [Braeden, Victor Newman] said, 'Can we just give Justin a round of applause?'"
For Ordway and Gaston's full interview, check out TV Insider.
As Soap Central previously reported, Donny Boaz has recovered from COVID and has already returned to work at Y&R, so he'll be back on-screen in no time.
How do you feel about Justin Gaston's work as Y&R's Chance? How do you think you'd feel about working with your real-life spouse or partner? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
