Justin Gaston Opens Up About the ‘Strange Experience’ That Led Him to – and Quickly Away From – Days of Our Lives: ‘I Felt Embarrassed’

Sometimes your big break doesn’t turn out to be that big after all. Take, for example, the experience of Justin Gaston, who you may know from his stint as an underwear model, Season 6 of Nashville Star or The Unauthorized Full House Story (in which he played John Stamos). You may also recognize him as the real-life husband of Young & Restless’ Melissa Ordway who stood in as Chance the next to last time Abby said “I do.” (Read their love story here.)

A decade ago, after trying out several times for Days of Our Lives, Gaston landed the plum part of Ben Weston, who wound up being the Necktie Killer and also, miraculously, Ciara Brady’s true love. (Read the character’s story here.) It just didn’t turn out to be the star turn that one might have hoped it would be. “That was a strange experience,” he tells SoapHub. “They’d actually written the role for me as a Southern musician but then decided not to cast me, which was confusing.”

But it wasn’t nearly as much of a head-scratcher as what came next. “About a month later, I got the call that they wanted me after all. I started, but the character didn’t turn out to be musical at all, which felt odd in hindsight,” Gaston recalls. “Being new to soaps, I was just trying to keep up.”

Alas, the daytime newcomer wouldn’t have to for long. “Around Christmas, I got the call that they were recasting and going in a different direction with [Robert Scott Wilson, who went from playing Ben to playing Alex Kiriakis]… I took [it] pretty hard — it’s tough to get let go so soon, and I felt embarrassed.”

Gaston has no hard feelings, mind you. Wilson, he says, is “a great guy.” When the change-over happened, “I was disappointed but happy for him.”