The Young and the Restless’s Eric Braeden Says This Is The Performance Of The Year

The Thursday, May 2 episode of The Young and the Restless was a bit historic, considering the entire hour solely took place in a hotel room and featured only two of the show’s main actors. Melody Thomas Scott and Peter Bergman explored Nikki and Jack’s demons and addictions. The characters deconstructed and analyzed each other’s psyche and their decades-long relationship. In the end, Jack made a bad decision to bring about a much-needed wake-up call for Nikki. (Soap Hub broke down the entire hour here). And now one of their costars is raving about their performances. Beyond raving, actually.

Thumbs Up from Eric Braeden

Victor Newman (Eric Braeden – who is helping Daytime Stand Up to Cancer) arrived at the hotel post-train wreck during Friday’s episode. Discovering the room in shambles, he quickly admonished Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), Jack (Peter Bergman) and Jack’s choices at the top of his lungs. Braeden, however, only occasionally shouted in all caps as he marveled over Thomas Scott and Bergman’s performances. He couldn’t contain his excitement when he posted on X, formerly Twitter… “Watched scenes between MELODY and PETER, NIKKI and JACK, and they were brilliant! Their scenes in the hotel !”

However, Braeden’s accolades didn’t end there. When a Y&R fan replied to the 2024 Daytime Emmy nominee’s original post with the hashtag #PerformersOfTheWeek, the veteran actor excitedly and wholeheartedly agreed saying, “Performers of the damn year!!!”

Braeden explained the difficulty of pulling off a feat like this. Who better to give insight into what goes on behind the scenes than their friend and longtime costar? “It was very difficult to keep this up, scene after scene and not hit a bad note! You don’t realize how many pages of dialogue that was!!!”

His social media interactions didn’t end there. When @BackstreetGem mentioned she’s “tried playing drunk in high school drama class. Hardest thing I ever did”, the Y&R vet reacted. “Difficult without going overboard! They were both GREAT!!”

Braeden continued communicating with the fans who were almost as excited about the episode as he was. In subsequent posts he wrote that the episode was “riveting to watch” and it was “incredibly written,” so he tipped his hat off to the writers as well (Josh Griffith, Amanda L. Beall, Jeff Beldner, and Marin Gazzaniga).

It was clear the actor felt proud of his costars. In fact, he thinks what they did deserves all the awards.

What did you think of Braeden raving about Thomas Scott and Bergman? What about Nikki and Jack’s one-night rollercoaster ride to rock bottom? Let us know in the comments.