The Young and the Restless, like most soap operas, is known for its shocking plot twists that fans don’t see coming — and sometimes they are equally surprising to the cast members.
For instance, Nick, Sharon and Phyllis’ love triangle — following the tragic death of Sharon’s daughter Cassie — takes the cake for most of the stars.
“Favorite plot twist without exception was when Cassie died. It changed everything on our show,” Peter Bergman, who plays Jack Abbott, exclusively told Us Weekly while celebrating the show’s 13,000th episode. “Nicholas went to the dark side, found his relationship with Phyllis behind my back. It changed everything.”
Joshua Morrow, Nicholas Newman himself, noted to Us that the “horrible circumstance” of Cassie’s death led to “this incredible triangle.”
Michelle Stafford, who portrays Phyllis, called the entire affair a “really sophisticated” story line.
Of course, the Nick-Sharon-Phyllis love triangle is far from the only memorable Young and the Restless arc. Keep scrolling to find out what the show players think of the most surprising plot twists through Y&R history:
Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Summers)
As mentioned above, Stafford couldn’t get enough of Phyllis and Nick’s affair.
“It was a story that was really sophisticated and told very, very well on how this affair came about from two people who went through a very real thing that many people go through and it was just told very well,” she told Us.
For Stafford, her least favorite moment involves a scene when the Genoa City crew were searching for an orchid.
“I work for a cosmetic company here, and the orchid had a specific oil in it that we all wanted, and we just had a year of trying to find this orchid. I can never keep them alive,” Stafford quipped. “[I] didn’t hate it, but it was my least favorite.”
Lauralee Bell (Christine Blair)
“I mean, I was around a lot during the teen years, so I had a lot of, unfortunately, date rape. We kind of brought [that] on a screen before it was even talked about, but it was starting to happen on college campuses,” Bell said. “So, that was a lot of responsibility for me because I just didn’t want any part of it to be fake because it happened horribly to people and I just didn’t want them to ever look at the screen and be like, ‘It’s not like that’ or ‘I didn’t feel that.’”
That being said, Bell is also currently enjoying her Y&R reunion with her “rock star boyfriend Danny [Michael Damian] from back in the ’80s.”
“We’re on, like, a world tour, on this show,” she mused. “Like, every element is fun.”
Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson)
Chelsea’s mental health battle was an easy favorite for Egan.
“Two years ago, my character almost committed suicide and it affected a lot of people,” she said. “The fan reaction was so profound that that will probably forever be my favorite because I think we were hopefully able to help people.”
Egan also doesn’t have a least favorite because “it’s so fun to just try it all on.”
Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman)
“My favorite story line is the Nick, Sharon, Phyllis triangle. It came out of a horrible circumstance on the show of the death of Cassie, but it became this incredible triangle,” Morrow told Us. “I got to work with two amazing, rock star women in Sharon Case and Michelle Stafford. … They’ve brought me along to be their incredible talents, so we still get to mine that story a lot. That triangle is always ever present and just an awesome, awesome story to tell.”
While the affair was an easy favorite, it was admittedly more difficult to film Cassie’s (Cameron Grimes) death.
“At that point in my life, I’d never experienced loss. I was very lucky that everyone that I loved was still around me, so to have to go to that place on air and it just was uncomfortable,” Morrow said. “It wasn’t something I was ever accustomed to, and it was hard not to let that take over me personally.”
He added, “I tried to separate the two, but dealing with that story line was very, very difficult. You see this little girl who means so much to [you] have to pretend to die in front of you, and it was really hard for me. So that’s my least favorite, but it’s also a great story for us. We still tell it.”
Susan Walters (Diane Jenkins)
Naturally, Walters and her real-life husband, Linden Ashby, enjoy sharing the screen.
“I loved it when Diane was in the bar and Linden’s character buys her a drink and then comments on my drink,” Walters told Us. “It was really kind of funny because I even had a line to Peter where I go, ‘This man, I don’t know! Who is this guy?’ It was really fun. It was one of those that you’ll keep for the grandkids, right?”
Walters, however, does not have a least favorite scene since everything is part of a “continual story line.”
“Just like with life sometimes, things are working out and sometimes they’re not,” she said. “As far as, like, as an actress, some of my favorite [ones were when] Diane was crazy and flung herself behind the car that Phyllis was driving so that Phyllis rolled over her leg and broke it. Like, come on!”
Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman)
“Continuing the saga of Victor [Eric Braeden] and Nikki is so significant to me, obviously,” Scott said of taking over the role of Victor’s wife from Erica Hope. “The pairing that should never have happened. Eric and I could never understand what Bill [was] thinking putting us together. Bill had an idea. We didn’t at all, but then slowly but surely you could feel the chemistry. The viewers could feel the chemistry and that is that elusive word that nobody can really describe.”
Scott, however, couldn’t name her least favorite.
“I couldn’t even remember it to tell you,” she quipped, adding that after so many years, everything blends together. “I’ve been here 45 years. I’ve experienced everything! But I certainly have no plan of giving up this kind of fun.”
Kate Linder (Esther Valentine)
Linder, in particular, remembers Esther’s childbirth scene “like it was yesterday.”
“It was probably over 30 years ago, but I remember … it was at night, we went late that night and it was supposed to be in the middle of a storm and giving birth on the stairs of the Chancellor House,” she recalled. “But there was also one of my favorite things was the ball that we all came and we did. We did a masquerade ball. I’m a tap dancer, and my character, Esther, did this whole number. Everybody had to have a maid, so that’s actually one of my favorites.”
As for a memorable plot twist, Linder noted that Esther’s kidnapping — yes, both times — was particularly unique.
“I was kidnapped twice with Mrs. Chancellor; who would ever think that?” Linder quipped. “And now I’ve got things going where … I’m a manager of Crimson Lights and I’m also working at Chancellor as the receptionist. I’ve got great things; I didn’t see that coming.”
Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott)
Bergman couldn’t pick just one favorite story line.
“When I first came on the show and wooed Nikki so that I could trade her with Victor to get Michelle back and then I fell in love with her and that was a mess,” he told Us. “Jack and Phyllis were oil and water and somehow it worked. So, that was fun to do and now, I am working with Susan Walters, and it has been just this giant gift to me.”
Bergman, meanwhile, did not feel the same about playing a “double character.” (He briefly also played the murderous Marco, who happened to be Jack’s doppelganger.)
“It was not as well-thought-out as it might have been,” he admitted. “It was a little on the outrageously unbelievable side and I hated it. Not only did I have dialogue for two characters [and] often scenes that we were in together, but I just didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all. I wanted to be just Jack Abbott.”
Courtney Hope (Sally Spectra)
Hope’s onscreen miscarriage, despite the heavy subject matter, was her No. 1 to film.
“I felt like it was really powerful and really important and that was something that my whole heart and my whole body was in,” Hope said. “But all of them are fun. I mean, I just enjoy playing, so it’s like, ‘You want me to go in that direction? Sure. Let’s do it.’”
Hope also counts herself lucky that Sally hasn’t “had too many crazy plot twists” on Y&R.
“[Maybe] the last one where I moved in with Adam [Mark Grossman] and then he broke up with me out of nowhere. Like, he cheated on me,” Hope said. “That was a pretty big plot twist because I thought, ‘Oh, Sally’s going to go and be happy and get married and then that didn’t happen.”
Outside of her own scenes, Hope is a fan of “everyone’s story lines.”
“I really loved watching Missy and Jason [Thompson] portray the mental health story line. That, I thought, was really powerful,” Hope added. “I thought they just absolutely killed it and it was so impactful and I really just, I was invested in that and just thought like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what a powerful story.’”
Brytni Sarpi (Elena Dawson)
“My favorite story line so far, and least favorite at the same time, was cheating on my then-boyfriend with his cousin,” Sarpi told Us. “It certainly felt like an assassination of her character and not what we were building towards, but when it actually unfolded it was really beautiful to play.”
At the same time, Sarpi doesn’t have a go-to plot twist and teased, “Maybe one’s coming.”
Bryton James and Loren Lott (Devon and Ana Hamilton)
James and Lott concurred that their favorite story lines occurred when they got to work together as TV siblings.
“When my sister showed back up and was doing music with me, that’s my favorite,” James gushed.
Lott agreed, adding that “all of the episodes that I was in were my favorite.”
