I can still remember watching Boy Meets World as a youngster and being left in hysterics at the antics Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) would get in to. Following Cory through his junior school days into college and the real world, Boy Meets World was a funny and engaging look at Cory's interactions with his family and friends as he matured from a teenager into a grown-up. The relationships he had with best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) and love interest Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel) were the heartbeat of a show that also tackled serious issues such as interracial couples, child harm, and underage drinking.

The show ran for seven seasons and consistently pulled in a high number of viewers, making it a favorite amongst 90s youths. The show made teen idols out of Savage and Strong and won various awards, with a sequel, Girl Meets World, commissioned in 2014 and running for three seasons.

Although the show was a sitcom aimed at young teenagers, there was a high amount of grown-up drama playing out behind the scenes. Actors were being fired left, right, and center, episodes were being banned, and cast members got in all sorts of trouble. 25 years on since it debuted, we take a look at some of the unsettling facts you never knew about Boy Meets World and hope we don't tarnish your memory of the classic show.

25 Ben Savage Is Related To Fred Savage

Watching Boy Meets World, you might have noticed something familiar looking about Ben Savage, the actor who played the main character, Cory Matthews.

If his face appeared familiar it's because Savage was the younger brother of famous sitcom actor Fred Savage.

Fred played Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years, a young teen growing up in suburban America during the late 60s and early 70s. The show is shot through series of flashback told from the point of view of Kevin, with Daniel Stern providing the narration for each episode. The Wonder Years ran for six seasons and was a ratings winner, with people fascinated by the will-they-won't-they relationship between Kevin and his neighbor Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper. Savage went on to star in a host of television shows and films after The Wonder Years was canceled in 1993 but never truly escaped the show.

24 Claims About Savage

When The Wonder Years ended the official reason behind the show's cancellation was put down to a mixture of failing ratings, high production costs, and differing opinions about storylines. Early this year it was revealed another possible nail in the coffin for the show was due to a lawsuit brought against Fred Savage and Jason Hervey for harassment.

Costume designer Monique Long filed a lawsuit against the two actors for allegedly physically and verbally harming her before she was eventually fired. The lawsuit created a storm of controversy around the show and ABC settled to keep everything under wraps. Actress Alley Mills who played Savage's mum on the show was interviewed by Yahoo! and claimed the accusations were the main reason for the show not getting a seventh season. Harassment claims against Savage have surfaced again this year with costume designer YoungJoo Hwang filing a lawsuit against Savage for his behavior towards her on the set of The Grinder.

23 Rider Strong Hated Being A Teen Heartthrob

As Cory Matthews best friend and resident bad boy Shawn Hunter, actor Rider Strong was an obvious choice for the teen heartthrob of the show. The good-looking teen rocked a black leather jacket and was the more popular of the two friends at high school. He was the guy all the girls wanted and all the guys wanted to be. It wasn't long before this attention began to manifest in the real world and Strong had girls clambering for his attention.

Strong soon found out being a heartthrob isn't all it's cracked up to be. 

Speaking with Cosmopolitan in 2013, Strong made it clear he didn't enjoy the attention. "I was never super-comfortable with it, to be honest," he said. "I'm not a shy person, but I'm not the guy who wants to get his picture taken and want to be front and center."

22 He Also Didn't Like His Long Locks

Part of the reason female fans went crazy for Rider Strong's Shawn Hunter was because of his dashing good looks, made even more handsome by his classic 90s haircut. Strong's hair was similar to that of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, parted in the middle and flowing down past his ears. It's a haircut almost every 90s male kid had at some stage during their childhood (yes, even me) but wasn't Strong's favorite.

In his interview with Cosmopolitan, Strong explained how he hated the haircut but was forced to keep it during shooting. "I hated my hair. I came to the audition with that hairstyle, got the part, and the director Michael Jacobs never let me cut it from there on out. A bunch of girls at a sleepover told me to wear my hair like that — parted down the center — and I was 12, so I listened."

21 Rider Strong And Will Friedle Separated During Filming

When you read two actors had to be separated during filming it usually means they didn't get along, but nothing could be further from the truth in the case of Rider Strong and Will Friedle. The two were best friends off the set and got along so well when they first filmed scenes together they could hardly complete them due to laughing so much. It turned out the two struggled to say their lines as they kept making each other laugh, in-turn making other cast and crew members burst out laughing.

They constantly held up shooting with their antics and this annoyed producers. 

Once the writers found this out they made sure not to put the two together in many scenes, making sure shooting was fast and efficient and not held up by the two friends cracking jokes.

20 No New Friends

The relationship between Cory and best friend Shawn was one of the keys to the success of Boy Meets World. While the show was focused on Cory, his adventures with Shawn helped him learn about himself and shape the man he grew into on the show. The friendship between the two could have turned out quite different if the show's creator Michael Jacobs went with his original idea. Jacobs wanted Shawn to be one of many good friends Cory had in the show. He planned there to be a group of close mates who audiences would follow throughout the show's episodes. The producers began writing new characters and auditioned actors for these roles but they never seemed to click, so they settled on just having Shawn as Cory's best friend. This idea certainly worked out best, with the two creating a lifelike dynamic people could relate too.

19 Danielle Fishel The Second Choice For Topanga

Topanga Lawrence became the major love interest for Cory during Boy Meets World but only after actress Danielle Fishel was cast in the role. Originally actress Marla Sokoloff portrayed the charming Topanga but according to Fishel's memoir, Normally This Would Be Cause For Concern, Sokoloff found it hard to follow directions.

She was given pieces of paper with acting directions but failed to follow them.

After a few days of bad performances, she was sacked. This allowed Fishel a chance at playing Topanga and she nailed the role. Fans responded well to her and producers really liked her acting so the character was given a larger role in the series and went on to become an integral part of the show and one of the leads. Without her, there's no telling where the story would have ended up.

18 Danielle Fishel And Rider Strong Got Married On The Same Weekend

I imagine a heap of planning goes into a wedding and picking the day is a major sticking point amongst many couples. You don't want to pick a day when a major event is taking place, such as the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, or a day that clashes with someone else's big day. Unfortunately, there was a lack of communication between former Boy Meets World costars Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong, with the two organizing their nuptials for the same day. Fishel married longtime partner Tim Belusko in a ceremony held in Los Angeles. The two met when Fishel went back to secure her college degree at age 27. Strong married fellow actress Alexandra Barreto at a summer camp in Oregon. Holding both their weddings on the same day meant there was a conflict for many of the pairs costars from Boy Meets World.

17 Rider Strong Almost Quit To Attend College

At the end of season five Rider Strong was faced with a tough decision. Having finished his formal education, Strong was tossing up the idea of quitting Boy Meets World to attend college. Despite his bad boy reputation on the show Strong wanted to further his education to give himself the best chance in life incase his acting career didn't continue. Strong alerted show creator Micheal Jacobs he wanted out but Jacobs persuaded Strong to stay.

Jacobs convinced Strong he could continue on the show while also studying.

Strong went to classes in the morning and then to the studio to film Boy Meets World in the afternoon. He even had a dorm room at Occidental College where he lived part-time. Strong successfully completed his degree and went on to complete his Master Of Fine Arts at Bennington College in 2009 before graduating magna cum laude from Columbia University as an English major. Not a bad effort at all.

16 Ben Savage And Danielle's Sweet moment

Rumours swirled about Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel dating in real life but as Fishel explained in her memoir, Normally, This Would Be Cause for Concern: Tales of Calamity and Unrelenting Awkwardness, her and Savage remained just good friends during filming. She did let on that when the two shared their first on-screen kiss it was also her first kiss in real life.

"I looked over at Ben, and he had gone completely white," Fishel recalled. The kiss must have gone down well as Fishel added the two "went on to kiss almost every week for the next seven years." The romance between Savage and Fishel throughout the shows seven seasons was fantastic to watch and the chemistry between the two leads was dynamic. It's a wonder they never got together in the real world.

15 Danielle Fishel Dated Lance Bass Before He Came Out

Before meeting her husband and settling down, Danielle Fishel dated NSYNC's Lance Bass. The two met in 1998 at the taping of a TGIF live special. Bass asked for Fishel's number but was too scared to call her.

It was up to fellow band member Justin Timberlake who called Fishel pretending to be Bass.

They went on a number of dates with Bass taking Fishel to a Celine Dion Christmas special. "Perhaps that should have been my first sign that he was gay?" she wrote in her memoir. The two didn't last long and Bass ditched Fishel without giving her a solid reason. It was a few years later when Bass came out of the closet that Fishel finally realized why the two didn't work out.

14 Topanga The Mountain Range

As far as character names go it doesn't get much stranger than Topanga. I can't say I've ever heard of anyone, let alone met someone, with that name before. Actress Danielle Fishel who played Topanga discussed the characters name when speaking with Entertainment Weekly.

"[Creator] Michael Jacobs says he was driving down the highway when production called and said, 'We need a name for this character!' He happened to be driving past Topanga Canyon, so he said, 'Topanga.' He says that if they had called him two miles later, I would've been named Canoga, which is the next exit." So there you go, the mystery of Topanga's name was a coincidence. It's pretty crazy considering the name has become so iconic with the show. We can't imagine it being anything else.

13 Should They Or Shouldn't They Marry

With each passing season of Boy Meets World, Cory and Topanga's relationship gathered steam. At first, the two were close friends but this evolved into the pair becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, although it wasn't always smooth sailing for the couple.

While they had their problems they seemed destined to stay together forever.

The longer the show went the closer to the end it got and before it was over, creator Micheal Jacobs wanted Cory and Topanga to marry. ABC executives didn't agree as they thought the characters were too young, so they conducted an online poll to get feedback from fans. The poll was largely in favor of the characters trying the knot so during the final season the two got married, making Jacobs and the fans very happy.

12 Mr. Feeny's Wife Played His On-Screen Wife

Of all the grown-up characters on Boy Meets World, Mr. Feeny always had a special place in the hearts of the chartered, as well as many fans. The grade-school teacher turned principal, then college professor, was a constant in the main character's lives, always there to help guide them through the rough patches and problems that come with growing up. Mr. Feeny was played by the wonderful William Daniels during the show's seven seasons and unbeknownst to many, his wife also appeared on the show. Fellow actress Bonnie Bartlett, Daniels real-life wife, appeared on the show when she played the college dean who employed Daniels, with the two forming a relationship and going on to marry in the show.

11 Danielle Fishel Had Some Driving Issues

Much like the characters they played on the show the actors from Boy Meets World were relatively squeaky clean when it came to their public image. You never heard anything bad or troublesome about them until Danielle Fishel broke the mold and was convicted of DUI in 2007.

Things went from bad to worse when Fishel missed her court date for the original DUI.

She was arrested in December after a warrant was issued for her arrest. Fishel was facing jail time but turned on the waterworks and managed to convince the judge to give her a suspended sentence and a fine. Fishel was pretty lucky not to go to jail but seems to have turned her life around since the incident and hasn't been in any trouble with the law since.

10 Whatever Happened To Shawn's Sister?

You might not remember this but Shawn Hunter had a sister for a short time. One episode, in particular, Cory's Alternative Friends, finds Hunter calling his sister Stacy on the phone. But in later episodes, there is no reference to Stacy and it's revealed Hunter doesn't have a sister. So what happened to Stacey?

As discussed earlier, main character Cory Matthews was supposed to have more than just one friend, but when things didn't work out, the other characters lines were amalgamated with Hunter's. It turns out one of the other friends had a sister so that's why Hunter referenced her. Producers later agreed they didn't think Hunter needed a sister in the show and wrote her out, but not before the episode Cory's Alternative Friends could air.

9 Or How About Topanga's Sister?

Shawn Hunter wasn't the only character on the show whose sister went missing. During the early seasons of the show, Topanga's equally impressively named sister Nebula appeared. In one particular episode, Topanga introduced Eric to her sister, only to never mention her again.

For the rest of the series, she was never seen or heard from again. 

Nobody quite knows what happened to the character, with both Fred Savage and Danielle Fishel claiming they have no clue where Nebula got to in Boy Meets World. Maybe if they ever do a reunion film she'll appear and be able to explain where she got to after all these years.

8 Mr. Turner Survived The Crash

A pivotal moment during the season four episode Cult Fiction was when well-liked teacher Mr. Turner was involved in a life-threatening motorcycle accident. It was never made clear whether Turner survived the crash, with many viewers believing he perished as he was never mentioned again after the accident. It turns out Mr. Turner managed to pull through and recovered from his injuries. Mr. Turner appeared on Boy Meets World's sequel Girl Meets World and it was revealed after he recovered from his accident he married the nurse who looked after him and they had a daughter. It's also revealed he gave Cory his first teaching job and still gets on well with the students he once taught.

7 Rider Strong's Jacket Woes

If there's one thing fans remember about Rider Strong's Shawn Hunter, it was the black leather jacket he was always wearing. It helped give him some bad boy appeal and drove the ladies wild. When he began attending college in New York, Strong took the jacket with him.

Unfortunately, it got stolen one day when his car was broken into.

Strong got into a panic as he wasn't supposed to leave the set with the jacket so he purchased a similar looking jacket and returned it to the set. Nobody seemed to notice the jacket was new and Strong was thankfully able to get away with his ruse. I'm pretty sure he never borrowed another thing from the show after that close call.

6 Final Scene Only Filmed Once

All good things must come to an end and the same goes for Boy Meets World. After seven fantastic seasons, the show came to a close with the final double episode Brave New World. In it, the characters all made major decisions that will affect their lives going forward and are each given words of advice from their old mentor Mr. Feeny. It's quite an emotional ending and one that affected the entire cast and crew. It's been reported the actors involved in the final scene got so emotional they could only shoot one take. If you watch it back now you can see how genuine the actors were and it's pretty clear to see they all had a special bond while filming.