How Kunal Nayyar Really Felt About Kissing Danica McKellar On The Big Bang Theory

When Danica McKellar made a guest appearance on "The Big Bang Theory" in 2010, actor Kunal Nayyar got the opportunity to kiss her, which would have been a dream come true for many guys who grew up watching "The Wonder Years." Back in the day, one of the biggest heartthrobs of the '90s, Jonathan Brandis, was even desperate to lock lips with the girl who played Winnie Cooper. McKellar told Yahoo! Entertainment that her "Sidekicks" co-star devised a devious way to prolong their chaste kissing scene. "He goes, 'OK, this is what we're gonna do: When they say cut, we're gonna drop to our knees and just totally make out,'" McKellar recalled, saying that she believed it would be a good "prank." But when she decided to tell her boyfriend about what Brandis did, she got dumped for being duped.

By the time she appeared on "The Big Bang Theory," McKellar was a seasoned pro when it came to the art of the on-screen smooch; she told Entertainment Weekly her first-ever kiss even happened while she was playing Winnie on "The Wonder Years." According to Nayyar, this kiss was very much on his mind before he locked lips with McKellar. In the episode "The Psychic Vortex," Nayyar's character, Raj Koothrappali, enlists Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) to be his wingman after they meet McKellar's character and her friend Martha at a university mixer. While Sheldon keeps Martha preoccupied, Nayyar and McKellar make out — a lot.

In his book "Yes, My Accent Is Real," Kunal Nayyar reminisced about his first kiss at age 12. It was with an older girl named Ishani on whom he had a huge crush — but he couldn't help but think of Danica McKellar when Ishani surprised him one day by commanding him to kiss her. That's because Nayyar was watching "The Wonder Years" a lot at the time and he kept replaying Winnie's sweet first kiss in his mind. Unfortunately for Nayyar, his real-life first kiss wasn't everything he'd dreamed it would be. "I felt nothing," he recalled. To make matters worse, Ishani told him it was just "okay," and he obsessed over her lukewarm assessment.

But, when he got to kiss the real Winnie on "The Big Bang Theory" almost two decades later, Nayyar found himself reverting back to that excited tween who was about to experience his first kiss. However, he had a different concern this time: making sure to follow acting etiquette by keeping his tongue out of the equation. "I erred on the side of caution and kept my lips sealed like a fish. It was a long, loooooong kiss," he wrote. They shot half a dozen takes of the scene, so Nayyar confessed that he actually grew a little tired of kissing his dream girl. Still, he did write, "Note to the writer of this episode: I owe you a Rolex."

After pretending to make out with Danica McKellar for take after take, Kunal Nayyar was comfortable enough being around her to tell her about the role she played in his first kiss (minus the bit about his obsession with her). Nayyar shared her reaction in "Yes, My Accent Is Real": "That's a really cute story." Nayyar also noted McKellar was married, writing of their kissing scene, "I don't have any illusions that it meant anything more than just a stage kiss." What he didn't note is that he was also seeing his now-wife, former Miss India Neha Kapur, at the time.

Nayyar divulged this detail on "Sway in the Morning," saying that his relationship with Kapur was in its early stages when the scene was shot. "She wasn't jealous 'cause it's not sexy," he said. He also answered with an emphatic "no" when asked whether he got too, erm, excited while kissing McKellar. "TV kiss is no tongue and awkward because everybody's watching, not fun," he said.

The only detail about his first kiss with Kapur that Nayyar divulged in his book is that it happened in New Delhi. He did, however, share some concerns he had afterward. "What if she had weird body odor that I somehow hadn't noticed? Or what if she had weird feet?" he wrote. But even without knowing the answers to these questions, he felt like he'd met the woman he would marry.