The Young and the Restless Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free The Young and the Restless trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Young and the Restless has been on CBS since March 1973, was the top-rated American soap for more than three decades, and gave the world Victor Newman, the Katherine–Jill feud and a theme tune more famous than the gymnast it was named after. This Young and the Restless trivia quiz covers the show's history and its people: William J. and Lee Phillip Bell, the original Brooks and Foster families, the switch to an hour, the Abbotts and Newmans, Sheila Carter's crossover to The Bold and the Beautiful, and the movie stars who passed through Genoa City on the way up. Questions range from easy (which network, which fictional city) to expert-level detail about ratings streaks, head writers, the origin of the theme music and Jeanne Cooper's on-camera facelift. It is built for longtime viewers, but a casual fan will still get plenty right. Every answer was checked against network records and encyclopaedic sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network has The Young and the Restless aired since its debut?
CBS
CBS. Co-creator William J. Bell had once written comedy at one of the network's own stations, years before he brought it The Young and the Restless.
Q 02In which fictional Midwestern town is The Young and the Restless set?
Genoa City
Genoa City. On screen it is a metropolis of rival business dynasties; the real Genoa City is a Wisconsin village of about 3,000 people on the Illinois line.
Q 03Who has played Nicholas Newman on The Young and the Restless since 1994?
Joshua Morrow
Joshua Morrow. The part was his first professional acting job, and he has never left it: in 2024 he marked 30 years as Nick.
Q 04Which actress, known as Ashley Abbott on The Young and the Restless, joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2014?
Eileen Davidson
Eileen Davidson. She originated Ashley in 1982, and on another soap in 1997 she made television history by playing five roles at the same time.
Q 05Which Young and the Restless actress kept her job as a United Airlines flight attendant after joining the soap?
Kate Linder
Kate Linder. Her part as maid Esther Valentine began in 1982 as a single day's work, and four decades on she was still flying for United on the side.
Q 06When The Young and the Restless premiered in March 1973, its co-creator was still head writer of which NBC soap?
Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives. William J. Bell had rescued it from likely cancellation in 1966, and he stayed on as its head writer even after launching his own show on a rival network.
Q 07Which soap pioneer, creator of Guiding Light, hired and mentored Y&R co-creator William J. Bell?
Irna Phillips
Irna Phillips. Bell spent years writing As the World Turns for her, but the prime-time spinoff they created together in 1965 was gone within months.
Q 08What change did The Young and the Restless make in February 1980?
Expanded to an hour
Expanded to an hour. Its network had just cancelled the long-running Love of Life, and the longer show soon moved on from its original families to a younger set of characters.
Q 09Which two families did The Young and the Restless originally revolve around?
The Brooks and the Fosters
The Brooks and the Fosters. The Brookses were rich newspaper owners and the Fosters poor; in the 1980s the show phased both out for a younger set of characters.
Q 10Which actress has played Jill Abbott on The Young and the Restless since 1987?
Jess Walton
Jess Walton. She arrived when her previous soap, Capitol, was cancelled, took over a part Brenda Dickson had created in 1973, and won a Daytime Emmy for it in 1997.
Q 11On The Young and the Restless, the long feud between Jill and Katherine Chancellor began with Jill's affair with whom?
Katherine's husband
Katherine's husband. Jill, her paid companion, fell for Phillip Chancellor; after he won his divorce, a drunk Katherine drove off a cliff with him in the car, and he died of his injuries.
Q 12Which actress played Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless for four decades, until her death in 2013?
Jeanne Cooper
Jeanne Cooper. She joined in the show's first year and never left; her real-life son later appeared beside her on it several times, playing a priest.
Q 13Which real operation on the actress playing Katherine Chancellor was written into The Young and the Restless in 1984?
Q 21The Young and the Restless star Melody Thomas Scott first appeared on screen as a child in which 1964 Alfred Hitchcock thriller?
Marnie
Marnie. Hitchcock cast her at eight as the younger self of Tippi Hedren's character, and as a teenager she went on to act opposite John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
Q 22Who has played Jack Abbott on The Young and the Restless since 1989?
Peter Bergman
Peter Bergman. He came straight from ten years as Dr. Cliff Warner on a rival soap, All My Children, and in 2024 he marked 35 years as Jack.
Q 23Which actress originated troublemaker Phyllis Summers on The Young and the Restless in 1994?
Michelle Stafford
A facelift
A facelift. Far from hiding her own surgery, the actress let the cameras in, and real footage of it aired while Katherine had the same operation in the story.
Q 14Which L.A. Law star is the son of the actress who played Katherine Chancellor?
Corbin Bernsen
Corbin Bernsen. His mother even guest-starred on L.A. Law as the mother of his character, and the part earned her an Emmy nomination in 1987.
Q 15For how long was Eric Braeden's Victor Newman first meant to appear on The Young and the Restless?
A few months
A few months. Victor was written as a villain to be killed off, but the character stayed, and in 2024 Braeden marked 44 years in the part.
Q 16Eric Braeden played Captain Dietrich in which 1960s war series?
The Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol. He was still billed as Hans Gudegast then; a studio that later cast him as a film lead pressed him to change it, and 'Braeden' comes from his home village.
Q 17Which real-life millionaire did Eric Braeden play in the 1997 film Titanic?
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV. The real Astor was the richest man aboard; he helped his wife into a lifeboat, was refused a place beside her, and died in the sinking.
Q 18Jack Abbott and Victor Newman have long fought over which company?
Jabot Cosmetics
Jabot Cosmetics. It is the Abbott family business: Victor once seized control of it, and Jack spent years scheming to win it back.
Q 19On The Young and the Restless, Victor Newman was born under what name?
Christian Miller
Christian Miller. Left at an orphanage at seven by his destitute mother, Cora, he gave himself a new name on the way to becoming a tycoon.
Q 20On The Young and the Restless, what was Nikki Reed's job when she first met Victor Newman?
Stripper
Stripper. She was working at a club called the Bayou when the tycoon walked in; he taught her the ways of high society, and they became the show's central couple.
Michelle Stafford. She has left the part twice and come back both times, most recently in 2019 after five years on a rival soap.
Q 24Which Young and the Restless villain, presumed dead in a fire, crossed over to William J. Bell's second soap in 1992?
Sheila Carter
Sheila Carter. The scheming nurse slipped out of the burning house, turned up in a new city with a clean slate, and was still on the second show's cast list more than 30 years later.
Q 25Which sister soap, also created by Bell, regularly shares actors and crossovers with Y&R?
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful. The Bells launched it in 1987, set in the Los Angeles fashion world, and their son Bradley took over as its head writer in 1993.
Q 26What is the title of the opening music of The Young and the Restless?
Nadia's Theme
Nadia's Theme. Written for a 1971 film, it was renamed after ABC set it to a 1976 montage of gymnast Nadia Comăneci, who never actually performed to it.
Q 27Which actor played Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1991 until his death in 2019?
Kristoff St. John
Kristoff St. John. He joined in January 1991 after his previous soap was cancelled, won an Emmy the next year, and stayed as Neil for 28 years.
Q 28At which Los Angeles studio complex did The Young and the Restless begin taping in 1973?
Television City
Television City. Stages 41 and 43 became the soap's long-term home, and when the complex was sold in 2018 the deal kept the show taping there.
Q 29Which actress won a Daytime Emmy in 2000, aged ten, for playing Cassie Newman on The Young and the Restless?
Camryn Grimes
Camryn Grimes. Cassie was killed off in 2005, but the show kept bringing the actress back, first as Cassie's spirit and then as her long-lost twin, Mariah.
Q 30Which long-time ratings leader did Y&R dethrone as the top-rated soap in the 1988–89 season?
General Hospital
It then held the number-one position solo until 2020, more than 1,500 consecutive weeks.