The Young and the Restless spoilers: Claire recognizes Seth?

As The Young and the Restless’ Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) continues to spiral thanks to Jordan (Colleen Zenk) force-feeding her alcohol and ruining her sobriety, fans wonder how the Newman matriarch will get her life back on the right track. 

While the emergence of her alleged longtime AA sponsor Seth (Brian Gaskill) may have provided some viewers hope that Nikki would soon be able to put this recent relapse and Jordan’s torture behind her, too many clues are appearing on the soap that lead us to believe Nikki is a long way from getting things "back to normal." 

For starters, during the week of January 8, Claire (Hayley Erin) paid her deranged great-aunt a visit in an Oregon prison, and Jordan was very ominous about what’s next in her villainous story. Jordan stated, "I have plans. Just wait. And now I have all the time in the world."   

The haunting words seem to signify that Jordan is not quite done tormenting the Newmans. From our perspective, her having more schemes in mind to torment the family makes perfect sense. Considering she’s been plotting a twisted form of revenge against the Newmans since stealing Claire from the hospital at birth, it’s not hard to think that she has wisely developed a plan to continue her torture in the case she was thrown in prison. 

Enter Seth. 

While Nikki has claimed that Seth has been her sponsor for a number of years, this year was the first time viewers heard of him. Even Victor (Eric Braeden) only met Seth for the first time recently. Seth’s introduction to the soap canvas seems like it could spell trouble for Nikki, which is why many fans (us included) think Seth may be involved in Jordan’s next phase of attack. 

We can imagine a situation in which Seth gets close to Nikki and manipulates her into having an affair, and then exposes that affair to Victor. Such an act could destroy the Newman marriage and leave a big satisfying smile on Jordan’s face. Even if Nikki doesn’t entangle with Seth in that way, it’s possible that he gets her in some compromising position, takes photos and sends those pictures to Victor to lead to the same outcome. 

It’s even in the realm of possibility that Seth helps to continue to get Nikki drunk as a part of Jordan’s plan to keep the Newman Media CEO from regaining control of her life. If Nikki can’t get sober, Jordan may think Victor may grow tired of his wife and end the marriage. 

Should our theory that Seth and Jordan are working together prove true, we think recent Newman addition Claire will be the one to put the pieces together. 

Up until now, Claire has been relatively kept out of the loop in terms of Nikki’s attempts to get sober again. She’s not aware of who Nikki’s sponsor is, let alone that she even has one. 

It’s easy to picture Claire spending some time outside of her mental rehabilitation facility with Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Cole (J. Eddie Peck) at Crimson Lights and Seth happening to walk in. Claire could instantly think he looks familiar. She could recognize him as Jordan’s associate right away or just as someone with a face she’s seen before. Either way, Claire could be the person to tie Seth to Jordan. 

Right now, much of our proof of Jordan and Seth being connected is based on speculation. However, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this new Genoa City resident. 

New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.