When it comes to The Young and the Restless’ Audra (Zuleyka Silver), she is nothing if not resourceful. While some fans may see her as overly ambitious and manipulative, we at the very least must commend her for her business savvy and her ability always to have a plan B.
As viewers have recently seen, Audra may be the COO of Newman Media bidding her time, but she is actively aiming to be the new CEO of Jabot, provided Tucker’s (Trevor St. John) takeover plot of the Abbott family business comes to fruition. Despite Tucker being ruthless and very good at being the cutthroat businessman, his plans for Jabot will be rather difficult to pull off, especially with the entire Abbott family ready to fight him tooth and nail. Even with Audra trying to pull out all the stops to make sure Kyle (Michael Mealor) aids Tucker’s efforts, Audra’s current plan A of heading to Jabot appears like a less stable idea these days.
This has us looking at Audra in her current role at the Newman Enterprises division. Although she is the COO of Newman Media and previously felt there was no room for promotion, her boss is currently on a downward spiral. After being held hostage and pumped full of alcohol by Claire (Hayley Erin) and continuing to be tortured by Jordan (Colleen Zenk), Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) is not in the best headspace at the moment. Plus, she has completely relapsed in her sobriety and is not ready to return back to work.
If you need proof of this sentiment, look no further than the episode airing on December 13. Nikki goes into the office and is unable to focus on her job. She sneaks a drink from her flask and ultimately goes home early, where she drinks straight from the bottle of vodka. Things for the Newman Matriarch are probably going to get worse before they get better, and she’s likely going to need rehab soon.
With all of this said, could Nikki’s fall and path to recovery lead to Audra being offered the Newman Media CEO role? We think so.
For starters, before Nikki stepped into the position, it belonged to Audra. So Audra has plenty of experience doing the job, and even Victor (Eric Braeden) commended her for her work. Victor went as far as to contemplate making her his protégé.
Audra’s track record may convince The Mustache to entrust her with the top spot at Newman Media again. Especially, if Nikki endorses the move, which could happen. Also in the episode airing on December 13, Audra showed a lot of compassion toward Nikki and Nikki seemed rather appreciative of that (eventually). It made us think the two could actually develop a solid relationship in the near future.
If Audra is offered a promotion under the Newman corporate umbrella, we don’t think for a minute that she would turn it down. She would likely abandon Tucker’s revenge plot, settling for something that is more of a certainty and that won’t rile up as many people in Genoa City.
Now we say “as many people” for a good reason. Adam (Mark Grossman) would likely be livid if he was once again passed over for Newman Media CEO. He was once obsessed with regaining control of his former company, but ultimately accepted Nikki's place as its CEO given she’s his father’s wife. However, if he’s not considered for the job this time and it’s instead given to a Newman outsider, he may once again lash out at his family.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
