What Really Happened Between Leah Remini And Mark Paul Gosselaar?
"Saved By The Bell" achieved cult status during the early '90s, starring teenage heartthrob Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris. While Zack and Kelly Kapowski, played by Tiffani Thiessen, were the two lead love interests, their love story was complicated by the arrival of Leah Remini's Stacey Carosi. Gosselaar and Remini chatted in July 2021 on his "Zack to the Future" podcast and reminisced about the show.
Remini revealed that "SBTB" had a huge impact on her life. As the daughter of Scientologists, she explained, "[M]y mother and my stepfather were not big on things." She continued (via Today), "What was important to them was paying for the cult. And so all of their money was going to that." The actor revealed why mixing with the cast was such a big deal. She recalled, "I was starting out and I'm seeing all of you, I remember going to Tiffani's apartment for the first time ... I was like, 'Oh my God. This is the way the rich people live.'"
Remini also felt that more people remembered her six-episode stint on "SBTB" than her work on "The King Of Queens." She mused, "I did 207 episodes of 'The King of Queens' and people say, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'King of Queens,' but 'Saved by the Bell.'" And viewers weren't the only ones who thought her time on the show was notable. Gosselaar dished that he and Remini shared a special connection, too.
Leah Remini and Mark Paul Gosselaar talked about working together on Saved by the Bell
Leah Remini appeared on Mark-Paul Gosselaar's "Zack to the Future" podcast in July 2021. They talked about Remini's six-episode arc on "Saved By The Bell" when she played Stacey Carosi, via People. Their opposites-attract storyline not only had viewers hot under the collar but according to Gosselaar, there was "an undeniable chemistry" between them. He also divulged that "those are real kisses" between their characters on-screen.
Remini dished (via Today), "I was petrified. I was like, 'Oh, I'm not going to be this kid's type. Is he going to be disappointed that they cast me?'" Nothing could have been further from the truth. Gosselaar felt that the chemistry he had with Remini surpassed the connection he had with Tiffani Thiessen, his character's main on-screen love interest. "Tiffani and I never had a kiss like we have on these six episodes. There's not a single person that Zack comes into contact with, in my opinion, that has the chemistry that you and I had." Remini added, "And we liked each other." She recalled, "We got along, we laughed, we had a good time."
Remini also took to Instagram and shared a multi-slide post. The final photo shows a bouquet of cream roses and a card that reads, "To my crush when I was 17., Thank you for making the best episode of ZTTF! -Little Boy MP." Can somebody just cast them together already?