From: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=r...&id=4950356

Click on the link above to see video of Jeff Branson discussing this with an ABC7 reporter.

AMC's Jeff Branson Switches Jobs with a Fan

Jeff Branson, who plays All My Children's Jonathan Lavery will be switching jobs with a Chicago area woman today. He will work as a tattoo artist, thanks to Nina Reinert, who entered ABC's fifth annual Fan February contest. Nina works at Proton Tattoo Studios in DeKalb and she will be traveling to New York to put herself in the actor's shoes. Nina's all-access pass to the AMC set includes her own dressing room, wardrobe fittings, running lines with other actors and so much more. Her behind the scenes experience will be shown on February 12 in an on-air promotion, hosted by Bob Guiney, who was featured on ABC's "The Bachelor." The segment will give viewers at home an inside look at what it's like to be an actor in a daytime drama.

Nina is one of three soap fans who won the chance to switch jobs with an actor from one of their favorite shows -- "All My Children, "One Life to Live" or "General Hospital"-- in the ABC contest. The winners entered the contest by submitting a photo and a 75-word essay explaining why they are the biggest fan of their favorite ABC Daytime show and why their job would make the perfect switch.

"Fan February has become a tradition that our viewers eagerly await," said Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney/ABC Television Group. "This year ABC Daytime will give winners the ultimate fan experience a job switch."

For more information, visit http://abc.go.com/daytime/index.html

Cool - thanks for posting Scotty.

But wasn't this supposed to be Justin Bruening doing this? I wonder why they switched to Jeff?

Cool - thanks for posting Scotty.

But wasn't this supposed to be Justin Bruening doing this? I wonder why they switched to Jeff?

You're welcome...and the newspaper article about it from the Dallas Morning News the other day, did say it was Justin Bruening that would be doing it. But Jeff Branson talks in the video clip about being the one switching places at the tattoo studio.

I don't why they changed it to Jeff. I hadn't even noticed the change when I posted this.

Shows you how much I watch AMC. lol

Here is yet another article talking about Jeff Branson's day at tattoo parlor...

From: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/20...ews/anews02.txt

Nina Reine, a receptionist at Proton Studio in Cortland, watches as Jeff Branson, star of the daytime television drama “All My Children,” answers telephones at the studio on Friday afternoon. Branson was in Cortland as part of a job swap with Reine. Chronicle photo CURTIS CLEGG

‘Biggest fan' wins visit from daytime TV star

‘Job swap' also took receptionist to N.Y. | Comments (0)

By Dana Herra - Staff Writer

CORTLAND - One of the most notorious residents of the fictional town of Pine Valley made an appearance at a Cortland tattoo studio Friday, pretending to be both a receptionist and tattoo artist.

“Yes, Jonathan Lavery is here today,” actor Jeff Branson told a telephone caller at the studio. “Give me a second and I'll find him for you.”

Branson plays the sometimes-villainous Lavery on the popular ABC soap opera “All My Children,” set in Pine Valley. He spent Friday afternoon at Proton Studios in Cortland as part of an ABC promotion that allowed soap fans to swap jobs with stars of their favorite shows. Branson was supposed to be doing the job of Proton receptionist Nina Reine, who spent two days in New York earlier in the week visiting the “All My Children” set.

“I'm really blowing my first day at my new job,” Branson confessed as he sat on a couch being interviewed by a television reporter. “I was late, I haven't done any of my responsibilities, and I'm not a licensed tattoo artist of any kind, but I'm going to tattoo somebody.”

Branson planned to tattoo his girlfriend, Jaimie Foley, who accompanied him to the shop, but network staffers decided the liability was too great. Foley was tattooed instead by Reine's fiance, Chris May, an artist who owns the studio and inked a four-leaf clover on her ankle.

Reine, 27, of Creston had to submit a 75-word essay describing why she thought she was the biggest fan of “All My Children” and why her job would be perfect for a job swap. She said she never thought she would actually win.

“It's been so surreal,” she said. “Who enters a contest like that thinking they're going to win? ... It's crazy. I entered, then less than three weeks later they called me to say I won, and less than two weeks after that I was on a plane, and I'm still thinking, ‘I won? Really?'”

Reine said she's been watching “All My Children” since she was 7 years old, and she thought her job was perfect for a job swap “because it's so easy.”

“I schedule appointments and answer the phone and keep the place clean,” she said with a shrug. “How hard is that?”

Branson gamely answered the phone and scheduled appointments, though he sent Reine desperate looks when callers asked for specifics like the studio's address.

“Just the phone is scaring me,” he said. “I wouldn't last five minutes in this job.”

Branson also spent time chatting with fans who came to the studio to see him. Earlene Bendschneider of DeKalb spent almost 20 minutes talking to him one on one, then continued to chime in to conversations throughout the afternoon.

“I think he's great as a person,” she said. “He's very nice, very polite, very appreciative of his fans. And as far as looks go, he's pretty hot, too.”

Branson said it was a thrill to do an event that allowed him so much one-on-one contact with his fans.

“Most of these events it's this huge mob of people and there's a lot of pulling and screaming and you don't really get to talk to anyone,” he said. “So this is great.”

Branson declined to say whether he has any tattoos, but said he “loves” tattoo artists and culture.

“This is a serious shop,” he said. “We were all wondering driving out here, ‘Is it going to be in someone's basement? Is it a legitimate studio?' But this is nice. It's everything you would want to see in a tattoo studio.”

Despite being declared the soap's biggest fan, a bubbly Reine didn't seem at all star struck as she and her fellow employees joked with Branson and played pranks, such as calling the studio's phone from cell phones in different rooms. Reine said the time she spent on the show's set in New York was also “surreal.”

“Everyone was friendly as can be,” she said. “Just so genuinely friendly. I want to stay friends with these people.”

Reine said she can't pick a favorite actor or character from the show, though she's been trying.

“I've been thinking about that since I won,” she groaned. “(In New York) everyone kept asking me, ‘Who's your favorite?' So I just told everyone who asked, ‘You're my favorite!' I mean, once you've met these people, it's like picking your favorite kid. You just can't do it.”

Footage of Branson's visit to Cortland and Reine's trip to New York will air on ABC in on-air segments during “All My Children” the week of Feb. 12.

Dana Herra can be reached at [email protected].

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From: http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2007/01/20/trade_ya.php

January 20, 2007

Trade Ya

First there was "Trading Spaces." Then there was "Trading Spouses." Now, for that glorious indignity known as Sweeps Month, ABC has bestowed upon us Fan February. Here's the haps: Three lucky daytime TV fans get to trade jobs for a day with an actor from their favorite soap opera. S/He gets to jet out to New York City to hang with daytime's acting elite; the actor trundles off to BFE, Flyover Country. If Range Bloodstone ever wanted to find out what it's like to wash down hippos or flip burgers (like he doesn't know what that's like, he's an actor, for crying out loud), well, here's his chance as well. This year, one of the chosen fans happens to be from DeKalb, which was enough to get "All My Children"'s Jeff Branson into ABC's studios yesterday, and to get Chicagoist to cover it.

Nina Reinert submitted a photo and 75-word essay explaining why someone from "AMC" (as it is known, in Soap Opera Digest circles) should switch jobs with her for a day. Not only did Nina have the looks to compete on a soap set (dig the red hair in that video!), her job nabbed the attention of the contest judges: She works at a tattoo parlor. Sure beats a sanitation worker or administrative assistant for style points. So Nina got to go to NYC, where she got her own dressing room and face time with other actors on the show; Jeff, meanwhile, took over Nina's duties at the ink tank. The whole job swap will be shown on February 12 as part of ABC's endless self-promotion. Unfortunately for Jeff, Nina's job mainly involves secretarial stuff. Bummer. While just not the same as putting your mark on someone for life, he should count his lucky stars she's not a pre-op groin shaver or an endangered species sperm collector.

Image courtesy of swanksalot.

Maybe it was a scheduling conflict or something but I guess the girl was from the town I go to school in (DeKalb, IL) cause it was on the news and the front page of the paper.

Okay, Jeff Branson is absolutely ADORABLE in the picture posted above. I've always found him so incredibly sexy. Yum!

Okay, Jeff Branson is absolutely ADORABLE in the picture posted above. I've always found him so incredibly sexy. Yum!

Looks like Kenny's on the prowl...