If you were a “Saved By The Bell” fan, then you know about the love affair between Kelly Kapowski and Zack Morris, and the famous fight between A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano. As it turns out, all of them had secrets to hide while working on the set of Saved By The Bell, but now they have all been revealed! Years and a lot of water under the bridge make it so the castmates are happy to reveal things that we as viewers never knew about the show and what went on behind the scenes.
We always thought it was wholesome and sweet, but it was far from it. With teens are in charge of the show, and we are finally getting the juicy details from Kelly herself! Check out these amazing “Saved by the Bell” secrets.
On The Fast Track To Womanhood
Tiffani Amber Thiessen started dating a 19-year-old guy when she was only 14! She also moved out of her parent’s house when she was just 17! It made total sense that she made a quick jump into modeling gigs right around the time she was working on the set of Saved By The Bell. It is easy to grow up fast in Hollywood and that is exactly what Tiffani did.
First Time For Everything
Tiffani Thiessen’s first time drinking alcohol was with Mark-Paul Gosselaar when they were in Paris for a press tour.
Real-Life Romance
Lark Voorhies & Mark-Paul Gosselaar dated in real life. During filming Zack and Lisa were just friends, but off-screen the two were lovebirds and even had a 3-year relationship! Kelly said that everyone was hooking up with everyone...
How Tori Scott Became Kelly Kapowski
Kelly decided, enough was enough. In the last year of the series, NBC doubled the order of episodes of SBTB, but Tiffani Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley didn’t extend their contracts. The network decided to add a new character Tori Scott to take their place, played by Leanna Creel.
The Cast Hit The Main Stage
Kelly sang for the Zach Attack band hoping that it would become a musical. Peter Engel wrote a musical in hopes of bringing “Saved By The Bell” to Broadway, but this never worked out. The cast did test their musical abilities in the rockumentary fantasy episode where they formed the band Zack Attack!
Change Of Scenery
The original series “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” on The Disney Channel was set in Indianapolis. It showed Zack, Screech, Lisa and the other characters in middle school. But when Zack and the gang moved to NBC and on to high school in “Saved by the Bell,” they relocated to sunny Pacific Palisades, California without any explanation. Kelly was not a part of the original cast!
Screech Wasn't Liked By His Castmates
No one in the cast liked Dustin Diamond, and they still don’t to this day. They really hated him after the tell-all book he wrote in 2010, saying it was filled with exaggerated and false stories. Kelly couldn't believe some of the stories that he wrote!
The Beach Club “90210”
Malibu Sands is the beach club where the gang worked for the summer in Santa Monica, and it was the same beach club used in “Beverly Hills 90210.” Funny how Kelly ended up there...
Blondes Have More Fun
Kelly said that Zach is a natural brunette! He had to dye his hair blonde every two weeks during filming of “Saved By The Bell!” It really goes to show here just how much detail is put into these characters to make the audience believe that Zach Morris really is an outgoing chatter-box that's always concerned with how to have the most fun.
No Potty Mouths Allowed
Kelly said that swearing was banned on the set of “Saved By The Bell.” Producer Peter Engel wanted to keep the vibes innocent so he forbid all cast members to swear while they were on the set of the teen series!
Everyone was hooking up with each EVERYBODY!
Kelly and Zack have been the main storyline 'ship, but behind the scenes, things were definitely more complicated. Zach admitted that "all of us dated at one point or another." He first dated Lisa for about 3 years, even though in the show, he was dating Kelly. According to Screech's book, both Zach and Slater had flings with all of their female counterparts. "If Kelly was interested in Slater one week, then backstage there was a lot going between them in Mario's room," he wrote. "Then, if Jessie kisses Zack, then you know Elizabeth Berkley is going in Mark-Paul's room." He even said a producer of the show got in on the action. Wow, we had no clue.
Pumped Up
Mark-Paul Gosselaar was accused of taking steroids in-between “Saved By The Bell” and “Saved By The Bell: The College Years”. Although there’s no way to prove this is true, there was a big change in Zack’s physique, which speaks for itself. As you can see here in this College Years cast-photo, Zach Morris even more buff than Slater.
Familiar Steps
The school set used to shoot “Saved by the Bell” has also been used in the famous Disney series “That’s So Raven” and Nickelodeon’s “iCarly.”
Bff’s Forever!
Zack and Slater were intended to fight for Kelly’s love on the show, but Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez had such a Bromance off-screen that the SBTB writers decided to keep them as BFFs!
College Paid Off
The SBTB spin-off, “Saved by the Bell: The College Years,” only lasted a mere 18 episodes, but the series raked in an average of 7.2 million viewers a week making it the 2nd highest-rated comedy on NBC.
Turtle Confusion
Lisa’s last name is Turtle, Jessie’s middle name is Myrtle, and Zack’s pet turtle’s name is Myrtle.
More Teenage Girl Viewers
After Saved by the Bell (1989) had already been on television for around four weeks, NBC conducted research which showed that fifty percent of teenage girls in the United States were watching the show regularly.
Same Classroom, Different Scenes
In Bayside High School there was only one classroom, and it was rearranged for different scenes and class subjects. If you take a close look throughout the episodes, you may notice that some projects on the wall have remained even though the kids are supposed to be in a completely different classroom...
Special Treatment
Elizabeth Berkley wanted the role of Kelly Kapowski, but the producers preferred Tiffani Amber Thiessen. After the producers decided that they still really liked Elizabeth, they wrote the part of Jessie Spano specifically for her.
Casper Van Dien
Casper Van Dien had made multiple uncredited appearances throughout the show’s final year. He has just one line in one episode and is often seen just as a simple background extra, mostly in hallway scenes by the lockers.
Lot’s Of Dating
Almost all of the cast dated off-screen and Peter Engel said that it was terrible because when they broke up, they still had to act in love on-screen.
Pressured To Go On Jimmy Fallon
"We all had a blast! I'm a huge fan of Jimmy Fallon, and it wasn't too hard to be convinced to do something like that with him. I think they'd been pressuring us for the last couple years to do a reunion, and it felt like this was the right time to do it." The cast reunited recently along with Jimmy Fallon for a sketch. Everyone was present except for two cast members of the Saved By The Bell group were noticeably absent – Screech and Lisa.
Crazy Fans
Chris Paul, the NBA superstar, loves Kelly. Kelly sent a signed birthday picture to one of her adoring fans!
Mixed Up With Her TV Characters
Kelly said her most memorable fan interaction was in Las Vegas, with a woman who had a little too much to drink, and thought that she was really Valerie Malone and wanted to pick a fight with me. She walked away like a lady, just like her mother taught her.
Kelly thought the Buddy Bands were really going to take off. Imagine if Kick Starter was available during the show's time on the air.