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Since it first aired in 1973, The Young and the Restless has featured some seriously powerful pairings with some intense chemistry. In fact, some of the castmates are married in real life. That being said, the writers have also paired up some couples that the fans simply can’t accept.

Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope), Left; Saul Feinberg (Alex Wyse), Right, in an episode of 'The Bold and the Episode'
Courtney Hope is Sally Spectra and Alex Wyse as Saul Feinberg | Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images

Every soap couple will have a fan base, and every soap couple will have a group that’s adamantly opposed to it. That being said, the vast majority of Y&R fans seem to agree that Nick Newman and Sally Spectra’s romance simply isn’t believable. In fact, some longtime viewers have even hinted that the writers who put them together get fired.

How Nick and Sally’s romance came to be

So, how did this unpopular pairing occur, anyway? Nick’s character had been single for quite a while since he and Phyllis Summers had split. Sally, on the other hand, had been on-again-off-again with Nick’s brother, Adam. 

Adam didn’t seem to want to fight for Sally when they ended their relationship to keep her job, much to their fans’ dismay. Nick, on the other hand, repeatedly went to bat for Sally at the office, which meant being at odds with his father, Victor

Sally appreciated Nick standing up for her, and from the time the two shook hands for the first time, they seemed to share an intensity. Things progressed from there, and before long, they were a couple. But while most soap couples start off with a pretty solid fan base, that wasn’t the case with Nick and Sally. Most fans seemed to be against them from the get-go. 

Why this pairing makes no sense to the fans

A lack of chemistry seems to be the top complaint with the Nick and Sally pairing, but it’s far from the only reason the fans aren’t happy they got together. Most seem to think that Sally is better off with Adam, with whom there was a lot more chemistry. The abrupt way Sally and Adam broke up just didn’t seem believable. 

Nick is still a favorite character for many — the fans just don’t want to see him with Sally, it seems. Many have commented that they’d love to see him reunite with Sharon, his longtime love and the mother of three of his children.

Trouble in paradise 

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Of course, like many soap opera romances, the relationship between Sally and Nick is already rocky just a few months after it started. Despite the fact that Sally repeatedly assured Nick that she was over Adam and wanted to be with Nick, she ended up sleeping with Adam … and Nick found out about it right after it happened.

Sally was forced to admit that her feelings for Adam were unresolved, but much to the fans’ dismay, she seems to have chosen Nick. But will he choose her? And are the writers setting us up for yet another pregnancy story? Fans on Twitter are begging for Josh Griffith to be fired for the storyline. Since Sally has been intimate with both brothers recently, it seems that way. 

‘The Young & The Restless’ ratings reality 

While Y&R’s ratings did enjoy a brief rebound in October, there’s no denying that ratings have been down in recent months, according to Soap Opera Network. Hopefully, the writers will be able to do some damage control after leaving fans upset and bored by Nick and Sally’s forced romance.