It might seem like the show's cutest love story, but Friends co-creator Marta Kaufman has just revealed that Monica and Chandler were never actually meant to be a thing.

While Ross and Rachel were on again and off again and — at times — pretty annoying, Monica and Chandler were the rock in the middle, moving in, marrying and being generally adorable.

But it turns out that if it weren't for the show's fans, none of that would ever have happened at all, because their fling was only originally meant to be a one-off thing.

"We had no idea what response that was going get," Kaufman said at the ATX Television Festival. But the big turning point, was this moment in "The One With Ross's Wedding, Part 2":

The studio audience were so shocked, they actually had to break from shooting the scene. "We had to stop [taping] the show because people were screaming."

She added, "We thought it was going to be funny and we were going to get rid of it.

"Suddenly the audience told us they had been waiting for that and we had to rethink how we were going to keep going and change the relationship. But that wasn't a person — it was an entire, immediate expression of joy."

Kaufman has said before that the main love interest was never meant to be Ross and Rachel or even Monica and Chandler — it was originally going to be Monica and Joey. "They just seemed the most sexual of the characters."

But, in the words of Phoebe, this news about Monica and Chandler is BRAND NEW INFORMATION. Just imagine all of the hilarity we would have missed out on if it had ended after London!

We never would have had Phoebe's dance for starters.

Which is categorically the best TV dance ever.

Plus, Emma might never have been born.

Ross wouldn't have helped Rachel send Monica and Chandler's wedding invites and she would never have told him the Europe Story.

We'd never have had the adoption storyline, the twins, or this episode:

Which also means no Anna Faris. 😞

Who knows, maybe Rachel would never have got off the plane. It's like Inception-meets-The Butterfly Effect.

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Claire Hodgson Digital Editorial Director Claire Hodgson is the Editor of Cosmopolitan.com/UK, overseeing all things digital.

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