The Young and the Restless’ Melissa Ordway and Conner Floyd Discover the Surprising Reason ‘We’re the Perfect Combo’
Thursday, December 16th, 2021
Who knew? Turns out writing and acting are only part of what makes the on-screen supercouple super together.
From the moment Conner Floyd played his first scene on The Young and the Restless opposite Melissa Ordway, we knew that he was going to work out just fine as Chance to her Abby. The new castmates just had “it,” that intangible something that makes you buy whatever they’re selling on screen.
Ever since, we’ve attributed that to the fact that the twosome are pros — connecting with a leading man/lady is par for the course for them, just another day at the office. But on December 15, as the CBS soap continued rolling out its Countdown to Christmas videos, we learned that there was maybe, just maybe, another reason why they clicked so well.
More: Chance/Abby called out by Days star
The question posed to the Chancellors’ portrayers was a loaded one: Which did each of them prefer, festive PJs or sweaters? Ordway answered without a moment’s hesitation. “Holiday pajamas all the way,” she exclaimed. “A holiday onesie can never go wrong.”
Amen to that. Floyd agreed to disagree. “I want the ugly sweaters,” he admitted with a laugh, “as ugly as they get.”
Mind you, that wasn’t as shocking as what Sharon Case (Sharon) learned about her on-screen honey, but still. Really, Conner?
For her part, Ordway wasn’t remotely flummoxed. “That’s why,” she deduced, “we’re the perfect combo, right?”
While you’re here, retrace the steps that Abby and Chance took from “hello” to “I love you” to “Wait, you’re dead?” to “Ha, no I’m not!” in the below photo gallery.
Most Popular
Advertisement
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
1/23
<p>Though Abby Newman (Hayley Erin here) was born on Easy Street to not one but two fabulously wealthy parents, her life was one hard knock after another.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
2/23
<p>First Abby (Darcy Rose Byrnes here) lost stepdad Brad Carlton (Don Diamont, now <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> playboy Bill Spencer) to a freak drowning accident.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
3/23
<p>Then Abby lost half sister Colleen to yet <em>another</em> freak drowning accident (at which point she was reunited with Dad, who’d apparently been hanging out underwater all that time like a super-ripped Casper). Despite all that waterborne tragedy, Abby was bound and determined to get…</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
4/23
<p>Instead of just enjoying being richer than the rest us put together, Abby (then Emme Rylan) endeavored to become Genoa City’s own Paris Hilton. It didn’t go super well. On the plus side, the self-proclaimed Naked Heiress was never without a date on a Saturday night.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
5/23
<p>Virginal Chance (then John Driscoll) was finding out just how <em>much</em> women love a man in uniform. Though his heart belonged to Chloe Mitchell, he loaned out his body to Heather Stevens for just long enough to get his marriage plans shot down. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
6/23
<p>Abby (now Melissa Ordway) finally retired her little black book in 2015 when she tied the knot with handsome doctor Stitch Rayburn. If only he hadn’t been as attracted to the mother of the bride as he was to the bride herself. And if only he hadn’t had an unstable son who caused Abby to miscarry. And if only… Yeah, you get the idea. If only the deck hadn’t been stacked so high against their marriage succeeding.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
7/23
<p>… ’cause that was what Abby got when action figure Chance Chancellor (then Donny Boaz) saved her from a hostage situation at the Grand Phoenix, the hotel that she owned with half brother Nick’s on-again/off-again lovers, Chelsea Lawson and Phyllis Summers. (That’s Abby turning away in the back; she couldn’t bear to watch for fear that blood would be spilled on her freshly polished lobby floor.)</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
8/23
<p>… and your enemy’s boyfriend closer? For a hot minute, it looked like Phyllis was going to take that approach to Abby’s beau. He was, as you can see, a man she could really look up to. But he soon made it clear that Victor and Ashley’s daughter was the only affluent knockout with whom he wanted to canoodle.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
9/23
<p>After a romantic ice-skating date, Chance and Abby decided to thaw out by making love for the first time. The one problem? Picking a room out of the many in her hotel in which to seal the deal.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
10/23
<p>Of all the potential obstacles there were to Abby’s relationship with Chance, one she never anticipated was his history with her half brother, Adam — a history that wound up getting her new honey shot. Upon recovering from his injury, Chance decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life — however long or short that might be — with Abby. Do we really need to tell you that she accepted his proposal?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/23
<p>When Abby tied the knot with Chance (then Justin Gaston, Ordway’s real-life spouse), it was an eleganza extravaganza, the wedding of the century, nuptials so lavish, they wouldn’t be topped for… “Oo, Ashland Locke and Victoria Newman are getting hitched?!? Now, <em>this</em> will be something to see!”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
12/23
<p>Immediately, Abby and Chance wanted to start a family. “Not so fast,” said <span style="text-decoration: line-through">viewers</span> the fates. She soon learned that she couldn’t conceive. What’s more, Kids ’R’ Us doesn’t actually sell kids. So Mariah Copeland was recruited to act as the couple’s surrogate.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
13/23
<p>Again, Abby and Chance thought that they were the fast track to parenthood. “Not so fast,” <span style="text-decoration: line-through">viewers</span> the fates again told them. Turned out, he had too few swimmers to really make a splash, so to speak. So Devon Hamilton was recruited to make a, uh, donation to the cause.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
14/23
<p>Though Chance was called off on a top-secret mission, Abby went full-steam ahead with their baby-making plans, shower and all. Thankfully, everything went totally smoothly from that point on. As if! Everything went to hell in a handbasket. It wasn’t even a very nice basket.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/23
<p>Bad enough that Abby had to handle all of her and Chance’s great expectations on her own, but then a very-preggers Mariah went missing and was eventually revealed to have been kidnapped by Stitch, of all people. Somehow, in his twisted mind, he thought he could impress his ex by rescuing Mariah from… um… himself. Yeah, not a great plan, buddy.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/23
<p>Just in time for <span style="text-decoration: line-through">Bowie</span> Dominic to make his debut, Mariah was found and helped through labor by Abby and Devon. They also finally got her out of the orange sweater she’d been wearing for weeks. (Whew.)</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
17/23
<p>No sooner than Abby had mastered the art of wrapping Dominic in so many blankets, you could hardly tell there was a baby in there, she was informed that Chance had been killed in the line of duty. In other words, she’d gone from newlywed to single parent in the time it takes us to add one plus one. With a calculator.</p>
Image: CBS screenshot
18/23
<p>Since Chance’s body was never found following his supposed death, Abby refused to believe that he was really, much less most sincerely, gone. Instead, she bided her time, taking off for Italy, where he was “killed,” and talking to a box of his belongings — you know, as one will.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
19/23
<p>It would soon turn out that Abby’s skepticism was well-founded, as her “late” husband would be returned to her with a new face (that of Conner Floyd).</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
20/23
<p>There was just one <em>teensy</em> problem. Chance refused to go home with Abby. He wanted to finish the mission that he’d already started. Which, if we were her, would have been our cue to say, “Uh, what about the mission you and I already started? His name’s Dominic, by the way.”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
21/23
<p>Eventually, Chance did wing his way back to Genoa City. But he brought with him more man pain than brown sweaters — and he had a <em>lot</em> of those. Still, Abby stood by him, suggesting counseling, antidepressants, laughing gas… whatever it took to perk up her hunky Debbie Downer.</p>
Image: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
22/23
<p>By and by, Chance began to seem more like his old self. He and Abby even weathered the storm of a blink-and-you-missed-it health scare for Dominic like he’d just had the hiccups. In the background, however, real trouble was brewing.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
23/23
