Rewatch podcasts became very popular due to the boredom the COVID-19 pandemic brought. It sparked many former cast members to discuss previous episodes of their respective television shows. Fans and cast members are taken back into a good time of their life by reminiscing, but these podcasts can also dig up old drama from days on-set.
From “Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide” and “Drama Queens,” “Pod Meets World,” an iHeartRadio podcast hosted by “Boy Meets World” cast members Rider Strong, Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel, is the typical rewatch podcast filled with nostalgic joy, until their latest special guest episode.
The latest “Pod Meets World” episodes released on Monday, Feb. 24, saw former cast member Maitland Ward join as a guest. Ward did not join the cast of “Boy Meets World” until later on in the series and the hosts have reached the point of the show where she enters in the podcast.
After talking about Ward’s previous acting career, including her other roles in “The Bold and The Beautiful” and “White Chicks,” the discussion shortly took a sharp turn.
“Maybe a more broad general question for you is — uh — do you hate us?” Fishel asked the “White Chicks” actress over Zoom on their podcast.
As mentioned in the episode, this feud goes back to 2013 and sounds like basic drama you would hear between teenage girls. Ward sent a Facebook message to Fishel congratulating her on her engagement to current ex-husband Tim Belusko. Unfortunately, Fishel did not see the message at the time, therefore it went ignored. Years later, Ward mentioned this interaction to the press.
Fishel then reached out to Friedle for Ward’s phone number to apologize, but Rachel’s former actress told Friedle that she would rather discuss it on the podcast to “rock the stats.”
“I think that you hate me because you wouldn’t speak to me when we would go to ‘Girl Meets World’ and everything,” Ward replied. “And that was hurtful.”
Starting drama on the rewatch podcast of this iconic ‘90s show is nothing new. The three hosts previously talked about how the main star of “Boy Meets World” Ben Savage declined to host the show with them years prior. Later on, as they thought everything was alright between them, Savage seemingly ghosted them out of nowhere, which was brought up again in this new episode.
During the strange argument, Ward continued, “There’s a divide too because you guys hate Ben, you guys hate Micheal (Jacobs).”
Friedle then stood up for Fishel, stating, “Ben is one of the most important people in my life and I can’t stand the fact that he won’t speak to us.”
The tense argument sounded like there are a lot of miscommunication issues between Fishel and Ward, with Strong and Friedle providing awkward laughs and occasional comments in the background.
The last 30 minutes of the podcast contained the four of them figuring out how Fishel accidentally unfriended Ward on Facebook — or if she never followed her to begin with since Fishel does not check the social media app often — more than 10 years ago.
Fans can definitely paint a different picture of the beloved sitcom after this episode and how the cast really gets along in real life. Personally, I think this whole confrontation was inappropriate for Fishel to stir up on the podcast. It is possible that asking Ward this question was just a way to seek out additional media attention. If this is the case, then their plan worked.
2/5 stars
jcaramag@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @Pod Meets Word, YouTube
