Some people certainly do development work with spreadsheets in order to solve problems in extremely locked down environments where they don't have the option of using Python. However, many people don't know how to use basic formulas, let alone more advanced features.
The perception that you can't do real development work in spreadsheets pushes people who can do real development work and have the option of using any other environment, like Python, to do so.
Since most programmers don't develop in spreadsheets, there are common misconceptions about the capabilities of functions and VBA. For instance, VBA has had OO and generics for quite a while. Another consequence of not being popular among developers is the VBA IDE is wonky and probably won't ever have its problems fixed.
I think what makes spreadsheets as popular as they are is the flexibility. Most low-code solutions sacrifice too much power, which causes users to get frustrated whenever something outside of the normal workflow happens.
FP: It's terrible functional programming isn't used more.
Cynic: What do you mean? More people use functional programming than anything else.
FP: Wait what?
Cynic: People write more excel spreadsheets than anything else.