David Schwimmer and Jennifer Anison as Ross Geller and Rachel Green. Screenshot / Warner Bros, YouTube
David Schwimmer and Jennifer Anison as Ross Geller and Rachel Green. Screenshot / Warner Bros, YouTube
The long-awaited Friends reunion special hits screens this Thursday, and the show's stars have revealed that the six of them made a secret dating pact at the height of the sitcom's success.
During an interview with Access Hollywood, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer were asked if they ever had a pact about not hooking up with their female co-stars.
Perry shared that the six actors had a rule not to hook up because it was really important that they "kept a friendship. If we were hooking up or there was any strangeness going on that, might mess with things".
The group vowed never to make any of their friendships romantic during the show's 10 seasons.
"We didn't want to jeopardise any of the friendships we were forming and have established, so it was kind of an unspoken [rule]," Schwimmer added.
LeBlanc chipped in by saying the group were "more like siblings".
The cast have previously spoken of their close bond. In 2015, LeBlanc told People magazine, "Jen's like my little sister, Courteney and Lisa are like my big sisters, but Jen's like my little sister. Matthew's like my little brother, and David's like my big brother. That's how it all broke down. And it's literally just like chronological."
Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow back on the Friends set. Screenshot / HBO Max, YouTube
Meanwhile, during an interview on Good Morning America, the cast were each asked to choose their favourite out of the 236 episodes filmed.
Perry and Kudrow chose the same episode, The One Where Everybody Finds Out. The season five episode sees the other characters finally find out about Monica and Chandler's relationship. Fans will also remember the episode for the line "They don't know that we know they know we know."
Schwimmer opted for the season one episode The One With the Black Out, where his character gets attacked by a stray cat while he tries to tell Rachel how he feels about her.
Cox chose a classic episode from season 6 – The One with the Routine. The episode sees Ross and Monica resurrect their silly high school dance routine for a New Year's Eve television special.
The Friends cast in 1995. Photo / Warner Bros
The cast also revealed that they were flooded with emotion when stepping back on set.
"I don't think any of us had any idea how emotional we would be when we walked onto the set, to see it exactly the way it was," Cox said.
The reunion will see all six of the cast members reunite on screen for the first time since the show's final episode aired nearly two decades ago. It's filmed on the same sound stage at the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.
The cast took a trip down memory lane walking back on to the studio floor, as they discovered the production team had recreated the original set for the reunion, down to the tiniest of details.
