Phyllis Summers has been a mainstay on The Young And The Restless for almost 20 years but recent happenings have suggested that her time in Genoa City could be at an end, leaving fans asking if she’s really dead.
*WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Young And The Restless*
Since she was first introduced on the CBS soap opera way back in 1994, Phyllis Summers has been at the heart of some incredibly dramatic storylines that have involved everything from secretive affairs, dramatic divorces and the odd murder thrown in for good measure.
Recently, The Young And The Restless has placed Phyllis in arguably her most dramatic storyline in her time on the show but what exactly happened to her and is she really dead?
What happened to Phyllis on The Young And The Restless?
In March 2023, The Young And The Restless celebrated its 50th anniversary and to mark the occasion, the soap embarked on a thrilling new storyline with Phyllis Summers and Diane Jenkins at its center.
For years, Phyllis had believed that Diane Jenkins was dead after her last appearance on the daytime drama way back in 2011 but that belief was shattered when Diane returned to Y&R in March 2022 and revealed to Jack Abbott that she had faked her death with the help of Deacon Sharpe.
Phyllis, who had been married to Jack for a spell in the mid-2010s, was left seething by Diane’s return and a tense rivalry quickly emerged between the pair, with Phyllis teaming up with Ashley and Nikki in the hopes of running Diane back out of town.
Their feud reached boiling point when Phyllis and Diane came to blows, with Diane even threatening to strangle Phyllis to death just as Jack, Summer and Kyle entered the room.
After later offering a sarcastic celebratory toast to Jack and Diane following their engagement announcement, Phyllis collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital, which immediately put everyone on high alert, although many believed that Phyllis would be strong enough to pull through.
However, during the episode on Monday, April 3, Chance received the fateful phone call and revealed to those gathered that Phyllis was confirmed dead after her ambulance had crashed and then exploded.
The EMT that had been attending to Phyllis had been thrown from the vehicle when it crashed and watched on as the ambulance went up in flames with Phyllis and the driver supposedly still inside.
Is Phyllis really dead?
Despite hearing reports of her death, we never see Phyllis’s body and in the world of soap operas like The Young And The Restless, that means it’s highly unlikely that she’s actually dead.
Especially as there has been no announcement of actress Michelle Stafford leaving the show.
And even if a body is found, it will have been badly burned in the ambulance fire, so there’ll be no way to prove it is Phyllis’s body either.
Just before the ambulance crashed, Phyllis supposedly regained consciousness and kept repeating the words, “Poison, poison,” suggesting that her collapse wasn’t due to ill health but rather someone wanting her out of the picture.
Prior to her collapse, Phyllis had been scheming of a way to get rid of Diane and her own apparent death would be the perfect cover as she even has the evidence in place in the form of Diane threatening to kill her.
As Diane faked her own death back in 2011, it would be fitting if she was taken down by Phyllis faking her own death in revenge.
The biggest question now is whether Phyllis makes a quick return to Y&R or if she secretly hides away for a while before coming back at an even more dramatic moment later down the line.
Young And Restless fans react to her fate
It’s safe to say that many fans of The Young And The Restless are not convinced that Phyllis is dead, with many taking to social media to offer their thoughts.
“Love that Phyllis is faking her whole death so that the karma comes back around on Diane. Can’t wait until she gets caught. It’s time,” commented one fan on Instagram.
While this fan added: “Phyllis is sooooo not dead…this is part of her and Stark’s plan”
This fan was on ‘Team Diane’ but still believes Phyllis’s death isn’t to be believed: “Team Diane on this. Phyllis is too obsessed with Diane. Love Phyllis too but she needs a new hobby and a new man. Faking her death just to get back at Diane is only going to backfire on her.”
“Yeah, she ain’t really dead,” commented this viewer. “She had this planned with him [Jeremy] to catch Diane in some type of trap and make it look like she killed her.”
And finally, this fan said what many were thinking: “Don’t worry the dead on soaps never die.”
The Young And The Restless airs on weekdays at 12:30pm ET on CBS.
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