19 Insane 'Saved By The Bell' Star Scandals
'Saved By The Bell' had more drama behind the scenes than it did on the show.
Dustin Diamond was once known for being Samuel "Screech" Powers on Saved By The Bell. He's still mostly known for that, but also for being generally gross and actually a kind of sad, tragically fallen child star. And did you know that the nerd we all used to love is also a stabber?
Diamond was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon after he confessed to stabbing a guy in a Wisconsin bar on Christmas day in 2014, as you do.
Diamond insists he was acting in self-defense, as well as in defense of his fiancee, Amanda Schutz.
His attorney Thomas Alberti filed a motion, obtained by People, that somewhat corroborates this:
"The State is in possession of photographs and/or Police Officer statements that may reasonably conclude that Amanda Schutz had been punched in the face and forcibly held by more than one adult male," Alberti wrote. "[Diamond] produced a pocketknife in a desperate attempt to defend his [fiancée] from further harm. [Diamond] hoped to deter the aggressors with the only option that he had: a pocketknife. It was not until one of the aggressors attempted to tackle [Diamond] that any alleged injury occurred."
Still, Screech stabbing a dude isn't even the most scandalous thing he — or any of the other Saved By The Bell cast members — are accused of doing. In fact, much of Saved By The Bell's alleged scandals were revealed by Diamond himself — and by his cast mates from Bayside High, Tiffani Thiessen (who played Kelly Kapowski), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris), Mario Lopez (AC Slater), Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie Spano), Lark Voorhies (Lisa Turtle) and even the guy who owned The Max.
Check out the most scandalous Saved By The Bell tales:
1. The entire Saved By The Bell cast was a hookup web.
In Behind The Bell, Dustin Diamond alleges that both Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar each hooked up with all the female Saved By The Bell castmembers — Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley and Lark Voorhies — essentially taking turns and just rotating amongst themselves. None of them hooked up with Dustin Diamond, though, because, well, he's Dustin Diamond, and Dustin Diamond is kind of an as*hole.
Photo: IMDB
2. Remember the "no hope with dope" episode?
According to Dustin Diamond, everyone was smoking weed behind the scenes of this very episode of Saved By The Bell.
Photo: Tumblr
3. Dustin Diamond claims to have boned over 2,000 women.
Dustin Diamond says he bedded 2,000 chicks during his tenure as Samuel "Screech" Powers on Saved By The Bell. To those women: It gets better.
Photo: IMDB
4. Dustin Diamond says he slept with an NBC honcho.
One of the 2,000 women Dustin Diamond claims to have slept with in Behind The Bell is NBC's vice president of children's programming, Linda Mancuso. Mancuso, 18 years Diamond's senior, "treated him like an equal" and their relationship became sexual as he got older. Mancuso passed away in 2003 at 44, so who knows how accurate this actually is?
Photo: IMDB
5. There may have been threesomes with Peter Engel and the cast.
In Behind The Bell, Dustin Diamond alleges that Saved By The Bell executive producer Peter Engel was a cocaine user and insinuates that Engel may or may not have had sex with both Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen in his office, both individually and in threesome situations: "[Gosselaar] started getting called to [Engel]'s office for long meetings... and closed the door behind him. Which was weird... because typically Peter kept his office door open. [Thiessen] also began to be summoned upstairs for long, cloosed-door meetings... then, both [Gosselaar] and [Thiessen] (!) were called together into [Engel]'s inner sanctuary for another mystery marathon behind closed doors." Of course, another possibility is just that Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen were the show's biggest money makers and most popular faces, and that Engel may not have wanted salary or business discussions with individual castmembers to become public knowledge, but why bother with logic?
Photo: IMDB
6. Kelly Kapowski cheated on Johnny Dakota with Zack & AC Slater.
Dustin Diamond claims that Tiffani Thiessen dated Eddie Garcia, who guest starred as Johnny Dakota (based on Johnny Depp, obviously) on Saved By The Bell for the "No Hope With Dope" episode. But it doesn't end there: Diamond claims that Thiessen cheated on Garcia with Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez at the same time. Diamond claims that Garcia ended things with Thiessen when he found out, calling Garcia "the most steadfast dude you'd ever want to meet."
Photo: IMDB
7. Mark-Paul Gosselaar was accused of using steroids.
Dustin Diamond alleged in Behind The Bell that Mark-Paul Gosselaar took steroids between his stints on Saved By The Bell and Saved By The Bell: The College Years. Of course, Mark-Paul Gosselaar's change in appearance could easily be due to simply working out and growing up, and there was never any real evidence that he was juicing up. The Franklin & Bash star never addressed the rumors specifically, though he did side-eye Screech's tome, telling interviewers, "Everything that I've heard about his book is negative and I don't remember those things. My experience on the show was very positive and that's why when people say, ‘Oh, you don't like talking about it.' It's like, No, I don't mind talking about it, I just don't really remember that time, and also everything I do remember was extremely positive."
Photo: IMDB
8. Mario Lopez says he never loved his first wife, Ali Landry.
In his memoir Just Between Us, Mario Lopez reveals that he thought marrying ex-wife Ali Landry was a mistake all along ... and they were only married for two weeks. Two weeks. In 2004, just before his wedding to the model and former Doritos girl, Lopez says, "I got inebriated and a little too friendly with a young lady. When it was time to return home, lightning hit me with the truth: I wasn't in love. But I walked down the aisle [anyway]." Landry's sister later saw photographic evidence of Lopez's lack of discretion and the marriage was annulled.
Photo: IMDB
9. Dustin Diamond has a sex video. It's worse than you think.
Titled Screeched: Saved By The Smell, Dustin Diamond sold his own sex video in 2006. It featured Diamond and two call girls, one playing the role of a bride and the other playing the role of a bridesmaid. Both played the roles of women who need to learn to love themselves.
Photo: YouTube
10. Also, about the Screech sex video ...
It reportedly includes a dirty sanchez. Don't look that up and don't watch that video. Just take everyone's words for it who hates themselves enough to have seen it.
Photo: YouTube
11. Dustin Diamond later said he used a double in his sex video.
In an episode of Where Are They Now? on Oprah's OWN network, Dustin Diamond said that he used a double in his sex video for the actual sex scenes, despite selling it as Screeched. It's hard to tell which scenario is worse: Screech having sex with two women on camera, or two women lying about having sex with Screech on camera. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to gouge out my eyes and soak them in bleach now.
Photo: IMDB
12. Mark-Paul Gosselaar's wife left him for another TV star.
In June 2010, after 14 years and two kids together, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his wife, Lisa-Ann Russell, split. She went on to marry Jeff Probst, who reportedly said in 2012 that her and Gosselaar's kids call him "dad." Classy.
Photo: IMDB
13. Max Alonzo may have had an affair with another teen star.
In his book Behind The Bell, Dustin Diamond alleges that Max Alonzo was having an affair with none other than Neil Patrick Harris.
Photo: IMDB
14. Berkley was involved in a lawsuit against an A-lister.
This gets a little complicated and convoluted: In 1998, Elizabeth Berkley, who starred as feminist and excitable caffeine addict Jessie Spano on Saved By The Bell, had a live-in boyfriend named Roger Wilson. The same year, Wilson claimed that Leonardo DiCaprio — yes, that Leonardo DiCaprio — orchestrated an attack against him. The alleged attack went down after Wilson reportedly scolded DiCaprio for calling Berkley. Wilson sued DiCaprio for $45 million in 2000, with Berkley as a witness, and the case stayed open and dragged on until 2004, when it was ultimately dismissed.
Photo: YouTube
15. Dennis Haskins freaked Tiffani Thiessen out on live TV.
When Tiffani Thiessen was on Today to promote White Collar, Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Belding, came on to surprise her ... and it may have been the most awkward thing ever. Like, Kelly Kapowski could barely hide her disdain for her Saved By The Bell principal.
Photo: Twitter
16. Mario Lopez was accused of rape.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in 1993, Mario Lopez was accused of date rape by two different women. The charges were eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence, but in his Behind The Bell book, Dustin Diamond alleges that NBC paid off one of the accusers to the tune of about $50,000. Lopez has denied the allegations since day one.
Photo: IMDB
17. Lark Voorhies was engaged to Martin Lawrence & it ended badly
In Behind The Bell, Dustin Diamond insinuates that Lark Voorhies, who played Screech's unrequited love interest Lisa Turtle on Saved By The Bell, was abused by then-fiancee Martin Lawrence. Diamond says that when he had a run-in with Voorhies on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show after she and Lawrence had split, it was sad and scary. "She flinched whenever a man was near her or a man's voice was suddenly projected toward her. She rocked back and forth mumbling to herself in a very disturbing fashion, as if in her own world," Diamond wrote. "You can draw your own conclusions from that."
Photo: YouTube
18. Lark Voorhies may or may not be bi-polar or "spiritual."
After rumors (and photos like this) surfaced insinuating there was something off about Lark Voorhies and her mother took to People magazine, where Voorhies' mother said that the onetime Lisa Turtle was suffering from bi-polar disorder, an allegation Voorhies denied. Interviewers noted that Voorhies "would frequently stop mid-sentence and stare off, often mumbling to herself or to others who weren't there." Voorhies explained it thusly: "I have a strong spiritual sense. You caught me in moments of pray [sic]." Here's hoping that whatever's ailing Voorhies that she gets well.
Photo: IMDB
19. Mario Lopez had a one-night stand with a superstar.
In his memoir Just Between Us, Mario Lopez revealed that he had a one-night stand with a "mega pop star" years ago when they were both single, and claims that they're still friendly. That mega pop star? None other than Britney Spears, bitch.
Photo: IMDB