With good reason. "I never thought I would ever be on the show," admits Sanov. "I never wanted to be an actor. I remember dreading grade-school plays because of stage fright. It just happened to be a rare and specific opportunity, which I just couldn't say no to."

The two camped out in Sweeney's dressing room, but Sanov wasn't used to the waiting-around time in soaps. Sweeney explains, "He kept asking me, 'Am I supposed to be in Hair now?' I said, 'Well, they'll call you when they're ready.' Ten minutes later, he said, 'When do I get my hair done?' I said, 'We have plenty of time, Dave. I swear, you're not gonna be up for like an hour.'"

Sanov says it was comforting to have Dattilo in his scenes. "Bryan was easy to work with," he praises. "I was much more comfortable because of the fact that I know Bryan personally. We were joking with each other during rehearsal, and at one point, I slapped the cuffs on him. We had a great time, and I was more relaxed because I was working with someone I know."

Dattilo was impressed by Sanov's acting turn. "Dave did a great job; he was awesome," Dattilo says. "He was giving beats, he was clearing himself for camera and he was looking at the monitor during rehearsal to see his positioning. He said he was really nervous, but he didn't seem that nervous, so I gotta give Ali's husband props on that." As far as any advice, "I told him to look at the monitor in rehearsal if he had any question about his positioning so he wouldn't be upstaged or cut out of any shot and he said, 'Okay, thanks,' " says Dattilo. "The rest he kind of just knew. I think Ali got a hold of him. Ali put him through the acting wringer."

"I kind of was teasing the director that day to make it seem as difficult as possible," chuckles Sweeney. "He was like, 'Oh, yeah, we'll work him over.'" The episode aired on February 11.