News
Patrika Darbo’s Daytime Emmy Revoked by NATAS After Submission Guideline Violation Investigation
After an internal investigation, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) had to make the heartbreaking decision to revoke soap opera favorite Patrika Darbo’s (Ex-Nancy Days, and Shirley B&B) Daytime Emmy; that she received at the 45th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards this April.
Darbo won the gold for her role as Mickey Walker on The Bay. She won in the category of Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.
According to Variety, it was determined that Darbo’s submission reel for competition contained two violations of the official rules. One, that she had previously appeared on the show, and two, that her reel contained material from more than one episode.
However, NATAS Sr. VP Daytime Emmy Awards, David Michaels, clarified to Michael Fairman TV, “Patrika’s violation was based solely on the previous appearance – not on number of episodes.”
But the story has a few twists and turns to it. A NATAS rep commented that they immediately commissioned a thorough internal investigation, and determined that Patrika Darbo and Thomas Calabro, both of Amazon’s The Bay, should have been deemed ineligible, as they had each appeared in a prior season of the program.
Darbo spoke to The Bay’s Gregori J. Martin, who told her the situation was being looked in to and then received word from David Michaels, who told her the investigation was completed and the ruling was not in her favor.
“Early on, I owned this mistake,” David Michaels expressed. “I had spent most of the day vetting supporting categories, then I switched over to (guest). My big mistake was not noticing some of the entries weren’t following the one-episode rule.”
Then, in another shocking twist, after Darbo was notified that they would be taking back her Emmy, the plan was to give the award to the performer in the category with the next highest number of votes. That turned out to be All My Children’s Jennifer Bassey, who appeared as Everly Newman in Anacostia. Bassey was informed she would be receiving the Emmy, but then, in yet another twist, found out that her win was also being retracted after it was determined that her submission reel also included scenes from more than one episode. When she found out that she wasn’t getting the Emmy, according to Anacostia creator, Anthony Anderson, “She broke down, it was unbearable to listen to.”
David Michaels, who was dealing with the submissions and executive producing the ceremony that live-streamed on April 29th, clearly had a lot on his plate. Paul Pillitteri, Sr. VP of Public Relations and Communications NATAS, said, “Human mistake is human mistake, upon further review, it seemed that the entire category was questionable. Everybody was a little off. The awards committee decided instead there would be no Emmy in the Guest Performer category this year.”
NATAS started looking into their submission investigation after communication was received from Ladies of the Lake EP, Michael Caruso. This occured two days prior to the Creative Arts Daytime Emmy ceremony, where the majority of the digital category winners are announced.
Michaels recalls asking Caruso if this was something that could wait till after the awards ceremony. “If I had been told, ‘No, this can’t wait till next week,’ this all would have gone differently, I didn’t actually have all the facts until after the show.”
Because of the determination of the awards committee, moving forward, there are proposed changes in the competition.
However for Darbo, who is a previous Primetime Emmy winner, and who sits on the board of governors for the TV Academy, she has this to say: “If you’re taking away mine, you have to take (other perceived violators’) because you have a cloud over you. It’s a sad thing that I’m going to lose my Emmy because of a paperwork error, but if we let little things like that go through we are negating the Emmy brand and that cannot happen.” Darbo ends with that she would ask to, “please see how we’re submitting and what’s going on. Because this has really broken my heart.”
In an official statement released today by NATAS, they offered up: “While the Daytime judges found each performance worthy of distinction, and the investigation determined that neither performer was involved in the selection of categories in which their performances were submitted, prior-season appearances are nonetheless a disqualifying violation of the guidelines for the category. Ms. Darbo’s Daytime Emmy Award and nomination and Mr. Calabro’s nomination have been withdrawn. Other nominations in the category will remain, but no Emmy Award will be presented in the category this year.”
“NATAS also investigated whether entrants in this or other categories violated guidelines limiting the number of program episodes from which submitted excerpts could be drawn. The questioned materials were often fleeting, representing only a single line of dialogue, and their inclusion was deemed not to have impacted the outcome of the competition. Further, in retrospect, the guidelines were not sufficiently reflective of current digital distribution trends, causing ambiguity regarding the submissions’ qualification. The questioned entries will not be penalized for this ambiguity, and the guidelines will be updated for future competitions.”
So, what do you think about Patrika having to return her Emmy? What do you think about the guidelines and submission policies of the Daytime Emmy Digital Drama category? Share your thoughts on this series of unfortunate events via the comment section below.
Michael Fairman TV will have more on the Emmy revocation in a follow up interview with David Michaels forthcoming.
There have been many great performances from the actors through the decades.
Not all the actors subject themselves to being judged and they do not submit clips.
I say; good for them!
Why any actor would submit their work for judgement by the whomevers, is beyond me.
I admire the actors that have no need for validation by not submitting their work . I , as others, know which are the best.
(but- that’s just the way I see it ))
I think you made a lot good points and I too believe most actors do not need or want an “award” to validate their hard work. However in every industry there are ways to recognize work that is outstanding– not BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE– but work that goes beyond the expected standards– and I do believe in those cases “awards” have a place. Unfortunately the Emmy system has corrupted those noble values over the years and the system in place to deemed who warrants the “Outstanding” distinction flawed that at this point I think the whole thing should be scrapped. In the end like you said, the viewers know and appreciate the quality work– we don’t need the Emmy people to tell us who is outstanding.
Its crazy and stupid feel bad for her, now I am thinking this whole EMMY’s for daytime is nothing but rigged from the beginning, it’s not like it used to be, it’s 2018 they committee only picks their favorites to win it all. Y&R has been on top from the beginning, they cannot win top soap, directing, writing, etc.. but Days can really? It’s rigged no wonder it’s not show on regular TV anymore and you have to watch it online- that’s for the birds.
“It’s not like it used to be”? The Emmys were never fair bcuz the CBS shows voted together. The ABC shows voted together. The P&G shows voted together. DAYS never had a chance bcuz they were the lone NBC show. Now, that most of those shows are gone, DAYS is finally breaking thru. Which is sad bcuz it never should’ve been like that to begin with. You’re supposed to vote for the best performance…..not for whoever is on the same show/network as you.
The emmys arent as entertaining and good as it used to be…daytime has really gone downhl!!!
This “startling” revelation would have mattered more if they cared about how important watching the Emmys are to fans. Snatching the show off the air, snatching back Emmys. Well done. Well done.
It seems odd that performers are only eligible as guests in the first season they appear. In the Prime Time Emmy’s these errors are corrected during the voting period. If you get all the way to the awards presentation, win, and receive the Emmy then the performer should not be penalized. Then the Academy has to suck it up because they didn’t catch the error. Clearly, the rules are not clearly stated to the performers if 2 of the nominees, the 2 with the most votes!, both made errors which do not appear to be purposeful… Ugh.. this sucks!
Seems odd. Vernee Watson won as guest performer for GH yet, she has been in a bunch of episodes. How does this differ or how did it not violate the same rules as PD’s win?
This should NOT have happened!
It’s NATAS fault, and they should have just said…”In the future this can’t happen”…and left things as they were!
It’s not the actors fault they fucked up!
And they did it more than once!
All My Children
Mark Consuelos Celebrates Kelly Ripa’s 56th Birthday on ‘Live,’ But Remember When Wendy Williams Outed the Couple as Married Before Anyone at ‘All My Children’ Knew?
On the Friday, October 2 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the morning talk show marked the 56th birthday of Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley Vaughan Santos, All My Children).
During the opening segment, Mark Consuelos (ex-Mateo Santos, All My Children) humorously comparing his wife to both Gandhi and Groucho Marx, reflecting on both her comedic ability and peaceful ways.
Later, they went on to discuss the origins of her name and the most popular picks to name babies back in the year she was born, 1970. They were Kimberly, Lisa, and Jennifer for girls and Michael, David, and James for the boys.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Ripa recalled that she learned she was almost named Kim. However, their neighbors at the time had two daughters Kelly and Kim, which is what her parents wanted to call them, but they settled on Kelly and and her younger sister, Linda.
At the conclusion of the episode, Mark rolled out a huge cake for his wife. It was, “Happy birthday from all of us here at Live and at home.” Next, he cut the cake, and Ripa grabbed his face and gave him a “thank you” kiss.
Photo: JPI
KELLY AND MARK TRIED TO KEEP THEIR VEGAS WEDDING ON THE DOWN LOW
All of this brings back memories of how Kelly and Mark’s Las Vegas wedding ceremony went public in 1996 while the two were still on All My Children playing Mateo Santos and Hayley Vaughan. In essence, they were outed by then radio host Wendy Williams! They discussed it on the talk show back in 2024.
In fact, the duo hid their marriage from their All My Children castmates for months, until they found out Williams got wind of the nuptials and spread the intel on the airwaves.
The two recalled their secret wedding on a 2024 episode of Live! “We’d eloped. It’d been a few months at that point. We’d been married for three months, nobody at All My Children knew we were even dating, much less married to each other. We’re brushing our teeth and we’ve got Wendy Williams’ radio show on. We’re listening, and she’s like, ‘I’ve got celebrity dish!”
EYEWITNESS
Next Ripa continued, “The celebrities,’ I guess they had a broad use of the term back then, was the fact that ‘two soap stars from All My Children, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos eloped in Las Vegas.’ There was this eyewitness that worked in the Clark County courthouse that said we eloped, and the news broke, and we had to tell everybody we were married.”
Live With Kelly and Mark airs weekdays in syndication. Check your local listings for times in your area.
Share your birthday wishes for Kelly in the comment section, and let us know your thoughts on how Wendy Williams broadcast the news, unbeknownst to the All My Children newlyweds, that they tied the knot in Vegas? Check out Mark and the ‘Live’ studio audience singing ‘happy birthday’ to Kelly in the post below.
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Beyond the Gates
TUNE-IN: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Banneker Homecoming Episodes, EP Sheila Ducksworth Speaks on Impact HBCUs Have in Real Life
As previously reported, kicking off today, is a two-part Beyond the Gates, when The Duprees gather to celebrate Banneker University’s homecoming weekend.
The producers and writers are taking an opportunity to spotlight the rich traditions of the long-held tradition of attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) through its fictional university.
The episodes are today on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Friday, October 2 and next week on Monday, October 5, where in true Beyond the Gates fashion, there will be some surprising drama that ensues when someone shows up!
Photo: CBS
BANNEKER REFLECTS THE IMPORTANCE OF HBCUS
Sheila Duckworth, (executive producer, Beyond the Gates) spoke to Soaps.com to give some insight on the decision for the series to illustrate the ties that bind with HBCUs.
“It was important that we have this school as almost a character on our canvas, right from the beginning. Beyond even education, HBCUs have been pivotal when it comes to everything from economic progression and fostering a sense of community to the development of leadership skills,” explained Ducksworth. “From the beginning, we wanted to illustrate that what the Duprees are able to do in the world was a direct reflection of the impact HBCU’s have in real life.”
EVERYTHING HAS ITS PURPOSE
The EP talked about how purposeful the elements that integrate Banneker into the overall story of Beyond the Gates are including: the Dupree family door knocker that is a lion, the mascot for the fictional university, plus, the upcoming fight song that the cast will sing together on the Monday, October 5 episode, and the painting the hangs at Fairmont Crest.
That portrait of Vernon Dupree’s (Clifton Davis) father, George Cheeks Dupree, that hangs prominently at the country club, was named after CBS executive George Cheeks (now Chairman of TV and Media, Paramount), and as Ducksworth says of the legacy of Vernon’s father, “He was the architect of Fairmont Crest.”
So, are you looking forward to these episodes honoring HBCU traditions with the Dupree and the Richardson clans? What surprises do you think might be in store come next week? Let us know via the comment section below.
Days Of Our Lives
‘General Hospital’ Alum Tajh Bellow Fills In for ‘Days of our Lives’ Tyler Joseph Andrews in the Role of Theo Carver
After an earlier post on Thursday, October 1 about General Hospital alumni Tajh Bellow’s (ex-TJ Ashford) upcoming project from Issa Rae’s HOOPAE Digital, comes word that Bellow is temporarily stepping into the role of Days of our Lives Theo Carver to fill in for Tyler Joseph Andrews on the Peacock streaming soap opera.
According to TV Insider, Bellow will be making a one-day appearance next week on the October 6 episode of DAYS as Andrews was unable to make the tape date that was shot 10 months ago on a day last December. Andrews (pictured below) took over the role of Theo in September of 2025.
In Bellow’s upcoming episode as Theo, he will share scenes with Cherie Jimenez (Gabi Hernandez). A DAYS spokesperson tells the outlet that Bellow “stepped seamlessly into the role, and the cast and crew were grateful for his professionalism and commitment, albeit for only one episode.”
Photo: JPI
TAJH WILL BE SEEN IN MULTIPLE PROJECTS IN OCTOBER
As General Hospital fans know, Tajh played the role of TJ Ashford from 2018 to his last appearance in December of 2024. Along the way, he received two Daytime Emmy nominations for his performances as TJ, the last being in 2025 in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Daytime Drama Series category.
In addition, bellow along with Y&R alum Loren Lott will be seen starting on October 14 in the new Love Island spoof series, The Compatibility Experiment. The show will drop exclusively on TikTok and the PineDrama platform.
The Compatibility Experiment gives a satirical look at reality dating shows, think Love Island! The story centers around Kelvin (Bellow) and Camila (Lott), whose relationship is put to the test when they join a reality show to try to win a the million dollar prize.
So, what do you think of Tajh stepping in for Tyler Joseph Andrews as Theo on DAYS? Perhaps, the soap opera liked his work that he might be considered for another role in the future bringing Bellow back to the soaps? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section below.
Mark Consuelos Celebrates Kelly Ripa’s 56th Birthday on ‘Live,’ But Remember When Wendy Williams Outed the Couple as Married Before Anyone at ‘All My Children’ Knew?
DAYS OF OUR LIVES Preview: Kristen Locates an Alive Sophia, How Much Does Rita Know About the Birth of Dominic Marino?
TUNE-IN: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Banneker Homecoming Episodes, EP Sheila Ducksworth Speaks on Impact HBCUs Have in Real Life
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Sonny Tells Dante, “I Don’t Want a Son Like You,” While Michael Tells Brook Lynn to Bide Her Time Till Chase and Willow Have an Affair
‘General Hospital’ Alum Tajh Bellow Fills In for ‘Days of our Lives’ Tyler Joseph Andrews in the Role of Theo Carver
REPORT: ‘Days of our Lives’ Puts Four Actors On Contract
‘Beyond the Gates’ Honors HBCU Tradition with Banneker University Homecoming Episodes
Alley Mills Returns to ‘General Hospital’ as Heather Webber
Judith Light Joins Cast of ‘Shrinking’ Season 4 in Recurring Role
‘Beyond the Gates’ Marquita Goings Delivers the ‘Power Performance of the Week’
Mark Consuelos Celebrates Kelly Ripa’s 56th Birthday on ‘Live,’ But Remember When Wendy Williams Outed the Couple as Married Before Anyone at ‘All My Children’ Knew?
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Sonny Tells Dante, “I Don’t Want a Son Like You,” While Michael Tells Brook Lynn to Bide Her Time Till Chase and Willow Have an Affair
GH Alum Tajh Bellow and Y&R Alum Loren Lott Star in New Tiktok and Microdrama ‘Love Island’ Spoof
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Ava and Drew Revealed to be Behind Framing Sonny for Sidwell’s Prison Beatdown
DANCING WITH THE STARS: Britt Stewart Visibly Upset After Shocking Elimination with Taylor Hanson
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