SOAP CENTRAL interviews Chad Duell on temporarily losing his Emmy nomination due to a “mistake in co

Kimberly Weller
Apr 18, 2015
3 min read

We found this awesome interview on Soap Central's website! Enjoy!

The General Hospital star was on top of the world after finding out he'd been nominated in the Supporting Actor category this year, only to have the floor temporarily ripped out from under him.

Finding out you've been nominated for a Daytime Emmy must be an overwhelming experience, but finding out you somehow lost that nomination? Utterly horrifying. At least, that's what it felt like for General Hospital's Chad Duell (Michael Corinthos), who tells soapcentral.com he was temporarily led to believe that a mistake in counting would render his nomination invalid. soapcentral.com: Congratulations on your nomination. The Supporting Actor category is tough to get into, so you must feel pretty good. Chad Duell: Yeah, it was really different this year. When you're in the Younger Actor category, there's not as much competition. Everyone told me it's not as hard as the Supporting Actor category. So it feels like a bigger honor to be in the Supporting Actor category and getting a nomination. I was really excited about the chance and the opportunity to do it, and then when it happened, I was like, “Okay, cool.” And I was happier this time because [my real-life girlfriend, Kristen (Alderson, ex-Kiki Jerome) and I were nominated together]. There was one year where Kristen got nominated for Younger Actress and I didn't get a nomination, and I was really happy for her, but it is really awesome to go there together both being nominees. It's really cool to be able to do that together as opposed to one and not the other. But anyway, I don't want it to seem like it's easy getting into the Younger Actor category, it's just that I was always told that it's more difficult to get into Supporting. Even last year, I was about to submit in Supporting Actor, but I was told not to because it's way more tough. But this year I was forced to, because I got a little older, and it's really cool to be in with the adults. It's a big honor, and there are great actors in the category, so we'll see what happens. soapcentral.com: Kristen mentioned that you were the one that found out you'd both been nominated, right? Chad Duell: Yes, I found out on Twitter first. The Talk tweeted me. And then a lot of the actors texted me, like Steve Burton [Dylan McAvoy, The Young and the Restless] texted me, which was really nice. And Jason Thompson [Patrick Drake] and Bryan Craig [Morgan Corinthos]. So yeah, it was cool to talk to each other. soapcentral.com: I heard you had a crazy story to tell about your nomination? Chad Duell: Yeah, my brother works at a radio station in Los Angeles, 103.5, and I told him about [my nomination], too, when I found out. So I took a nap, and I woke up and I had a missed call on my phone, and it was some girl saying, “This is from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. We're trying to get ahold of you; it's something important about your Emmy nomination.” And I missed a call from her again, and then she called back and I answered, and she said, “Hi, I'm so and so, and I'm going to transfer you to the head of our organization,” and I was transferred to a guy who said there was a mistake in the numbers and that I had just missed out and shouldn't really be nominated, so they had to find a way to get me off the ballot and get the person who should have been on there back on it, due to a mistake in the counting. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this really sucks. How could that even happen?” And they said, “Well, do you have a PR person at GH? Because we have someone who can figure this out,” and I said, “Yeah,” and then all of a sudden, I heard, “This is 103.5!” And I found out my brother had prank called me on the radio station. He made me seem like I had missed out on it for April Fools. soapcentral.com: Oh my gosh, that's horrible! Admittedly, pretty hilarious. But horrible for you! Chad Duell: At least I wasn't like a jerk on the thing, like, “Are you kidding me?! That's messed up!” I was just really self-defeated... and I think they were really feeling bad, because I was just so defeated. I was like, “Alright, fine.” But besides that, I'm so glad our show got so many nominations. A lot of actors got nominations this year, so it's really cool. I'm really proud of our cast and of our show. This is my first year in a new category, so that's really great, and Kristen is nominated as well, so it's all good things.