'Friends' Fans Are Just Now Noticing a Decades-Long Mishap Involving Jennifer Aniston

Friends has been watched and rewatched countless times in the last three decades, yet many fans just noticed an error that is going viral on social media right now. The show was a major production filmed in front of a live studio audience, so it's no surprise that they used techniques like stand-ins to get all the shots they needed in a timely fashion. Still, seeing a stand-in actress in a relatively prominent shot in Season 9 has shaken some fans' faith in Hollywood.

This newly-viral moment comes from Season 9, Episode 15, "The One With the Mugging," and it takes place in the iconic set of Monica's apartment. During the episode, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Monica (Courteney Cox) are talking to Joey (Matt LeBlanc) about a big audition he has coming up. Monica sits at the table while Joey and Rachel are leaning against the counter, and at one point the camera cuts quickly from a closeup on Monica to one on Joey. Where Rachel should be standing is a complete stranger – as far as the audience is concerned.

The scene features Rachel with blonde highlights wearing a light-colored blouse with a paisley-style pattern on it. One of the most shocking things about this error is that her stand-in looks completely different – she has dark brown hair and is wearing a flannel shirt with a red pattern on it. While it may be easy to accept that a show like this uses stand-ins many fans are having a hard time believing that such an out-of-place shot made the final cut – and that it went widely unnoticed for so many years.

Friends has plenty of other errors over the course of its ten seasons, and many have been documented on fan forums before. However, for those that are binge-watching and rewatching the show more casually in the age of streaming, these are much bigger revelations.

Another infamous case with a stand-in came in Season 4, Episode 12, "The One With the Sharks," and it again featured a stand-in for Rachel talking with Joey and Monica. This time, all three were seated a table and Rachel was clearly shown wearing a yellow shirt with curly hair. However, during one closeup on Monica the woman sitting next to her clearly has straight hair and is wearing a blue shirt.

Quirks like this add to the charm of production and invite fans to think about the era of multi-camera sitcoms, which are now far less prominent than they were before streaming. Friends is streaming now on Max and FuboTV.