Exclusive Interview: How General Hospital's Tanisha Harper could have ended up on The Young and the Restless Celebrity Family Feud team

Tanisha Harper, who plays savvy Jordan on General Hospital, joined her fellow castmates on Celebrity Family Feud. The folks from Port Charles went up against The Young and the Restless actors as the two soaps battled it out to play the show's Fast Money round! How is it possible that Harper could have ended up on the Y&R team?

General Hospital V The Young and the Restless

Harper joined GH castmates Finola Hughes (Anna), Maurice Benard (Sonny), Rena Sofer (Lois), and Donnell Turner (Curtis) on the nighttime game show. Had Harper landed a role that she auditioned for years ago, however, she very well may have ended up on the Y&R team!

"I had met a few of the other actors from The Young and the Restless, whether it was at the Daytime Emmys or a different event," Harper tells Soap Central. "I had done a screen test with Bryton [James, who plays Devon on Y&R]. I hadn't seen him since then, which was about five years ago."

In addition to James, the Y&R team was comprised of Lauralee Bell (Christine), Joshua Morrow (Nick), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis; ex-Nina, GH), and Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea).

Before the 10 actors took to the stage, they were given some backstage tips on how to play the feud. "They make sure you know about the rules on the timing and hitting the buzzer, making sure you do that properly," Harper says. "You've got a limited amount of time to answer, mere seconds. They ingrain those rules in us because you could forget all that when you get up there and there's all the excitement."

How to be a winner

Harper says the key to succeeding at Celebrity Family Feud is to have fun and to keep your answers simple. "Some players might make it harder than it has to be," she muses. "You just think about what the more basic answer might be. The one that comes to you off the top of your head. Those are the ones that are usually the top-rated answers."

The actress adds she was thrilled to get the call to play Celebrity Family Feud. "Our wonderful executive producer Frank Valentini called me and asked if I'd be interested in doing it, and I said, 'Of course!'" Harper shares. "I was excited."

Harper has a lot of game show enthusiasts in her family. While there have been many incarnations of Family Feud, dating back to the 1970s with Richard Dawson, she says her experience with the game came from playing it with family members on their Nintendo. "We were very competitive," she recalls.

"Steve's quite hysterical," Harper raves about host Steve Harvey. "He's got amazing timing and is truly charming. He's just a very nice down-to-earth guy, and he made playing the game a lot of fun!"

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Tune in tonight, Thursday, July 31, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC to catch General Hospital and The Young and the Restless play Celebrity Family Feud

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu

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