17 surprising things you probably didn't know about 'Gossip Girl'

In 2012, former-New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg declared January 26 as "Gossip Girl Day."

The announcement came in celebration of the airing of the show's 100th episode.

Before Blake Lively was given the role of Serena van der Woodsen, Jennifer Lawrence put her hat in the ring.

According to executive producer Josh Schwartz, Lawrence "definitely auditioned and was bummed to not get it."

"Gossip Girl" was shot in New York City, and used several famous landmarks as backdrops, including the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, and The Empire Hotel — which now serves "Gossip Girl"-inspired cocktails.

The show has even inspired a sightseeing tour for avid fans, which features stops at Dylan's Candy Bar and Grand Central Terminal.

If fans take a closer look at every "Gossip Girl" episode title, each one is a spoof of a famous movie.

The show's 121 episodes include titles like "Blair Waldorf Must Pie!" ("John Tucker Must Die"), "It's a Wonderful Lie" ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and "You've Got Yale!" ("You've Got Mail").

Just like their on-screen personas, Lively and Penn Badgley dated for a few years while filming "Gossip Girl."

The two reportedly went public with their relationship in 2008 and called it off in 2010. But no one on the set was aware when the two broke up.

"The shocking thing was, I found out on the set of the season two finale that Blake and Penn had broken up months before … They kept the breakup hidden from the crew, which you could never do now," executive producer Joshua Safran told Vanity Fair in 2017. "I don't even know how they did it. They kept it from everybody which is a testament to how good they are as actors. Because they did not want their personal drama to relate to the show."

Serena and Blair were the ultimate BFF duo. Off-screen, however, producers have said Lively and Meester were not as compatible.

Safran, told Vanity Fair, "They were friendly, but they were not friends like Serena and Blair."

In a 2012 interview with HuffPost, "Gossip Girl" costume designer Eric Daman shared the inspirations behind both Serena and Blair's wardrobes.

For Serena, the look was modeled after Kate Moss. This included a lot of "nonchalant fashion," which he described as "having that 'I've traveled to Europe' vibe."

Daman also shared that Audrey Hepburn and Anna Wintour inspired Blair's style. He said her wardrobe is "well thought-out, but also looks seamless and effortless."

The "Gossip Girl" showrunners didn't want the actors focusing too heavily on who would end up being the mysterious Gossip Girl, so it was not revealed until the final scripts were handed out.

In a 2012 interview with TV Line, executive producer Stephanie Savage said, "It was nothing that we talked to the actors about. It was nothing that we wanted to be part of Penn Badgley's performance as Dan."

Although Meester seems like the natural fit for Blair Waldorf now, her connection to the character was not always so apparent.

Executive producer Schwartz told Vanity Fair, "She came in and she was really funny, and really smart and played vulnerable. But there was one problem: She was blonde. And Blake was blonde, obviously; Serena had to be blonde. So, [Leighton] went to the sink and dyed her hair. She wanted it.'"

In the same Vanity Fair interview, Chace Crawford, who played Nate, recalled thinking, "I just don't see her as Blair Waldorf. I can't see it," the first time he met Meester at auditions.

Crawford's mind was quickly changed, however, when Meester turned around "slyly in her chair," sporting Blair's iconic headband.

After that, Crawford said "I just remember thinking, 'That girl can act. She's the perfect girl for this.'"

Just a month after Lively's intimate wedding to actor Ryan Reynolds in September 2012, she was spotted on the set of "Gossip Girl" wearing a gold wedding dress.

Fans were left to speculate at the time but later saw the gown on the show's series finale.

"Gossip Girl" was not only a hit with American audiences, it also was reproduced in a few countries around the world.

Spin-offs and remakes were produced in Mexico, China, Turkey, and Thailand.

Promotional photos for Mexico's "Gossip Girl: Acapulco" appeared to have the same preppy flair as the original, but the show was not renewed by Univision for a second season.

One of the most beloved characters from "Gossip Girl" was Blair's maid, Dorota, played by Zuzanna Szadkowski.

In 2009, the character got the spin-off treatment with her own show, "Chasing Dorota." The show was canceled after six episodes, but Szadkowski remained a series regular on "Gossip Girl" until its finale in 2012.

"Gossip Girl" was known for its over-the-top portrayal of New York City's elite, so it's not exactly surprising that it received backlash from its real-life counterparts.

According to The Sun, some New York City students said that their schools even imposed bans on watching the show.

Mina Beveney, a 2007 alumna of the Spence School on the Upper East Side, told the publication that although there are "parallels," much of what the show depicts isn't realistic.

"I don't understand how they're glamorously not doing five hours of homework a night," she said.

"Gossip Girl" is based on a book series by Cecily von Ziegesar.

Though she said she enjoyed watching "Gossip Girl," von Ziegesar told MTV in 2008 that she did have a major problem with the show.

"I think Vanessa is one character they ruined. In the book, she's kick-ass and has a shaved head and wears lots of black ... and I think a lot of the readers who don't usually read teen fiction identify with Vanessa," the author said. "Even though I don't like Vanessa's character, it's nothing against [actress] Jessica [Szohr]. I just wish Vanessa was like she is in the books a bit more."

When "Gossip Girl" was picked up, Lively had just started attracting attention from "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2005) and was a natural fit for the role of Serena.

According to the 2017 Vanity Fair interview, when approached with the opportunity, Lively told producers, "No, I want to go to college. Thank you, though."

Lively continued, "Then they said, 'OK, you can go to Columbia [University] one day a week. After the first year [of the show], it'll quiet down. Your life will go back to normal and you can start going to school. We can't put it in writing, but we promise you can go.' So that's why I said, 'OK You know what? I'll do this.'"

While "Gossip Girl" was airing, the show experienced a database breach that led to major script leaks.

According to Vanity Fair, during the fourth season, the producers hired a private investigator after scripts continued to appear online. The investigator later found that they were being sold on eBay by a teenager, who could not be prosecuted due to their age.

Following the hacks, producers printed scripts on red paper or 'X'-ed out each page to prevent plotlines from being spoiled online.

"It was like there was a 'Gossip Girl' in our system," one producer said.

Just as "Sex and the City" did in the late 1990s, "Gossip Girl" had a major influence on the fashion trends of the 2010s.

The show became so popular that designers were known to line up for a chance to put their clothing on Lively or Meester.

In an interview with Fashionista, costume designer Daman said, "Once we got one bigger designer to say yes, it's like letting the floodgates open, and early on, Chanel said yes. All of a sudden, everybody wanted to be a part of it."

Tory Burch was one designer featured on "Gossip Girl," and she told The New York Times in 2008 that having an item displayed on the show immediately "translates to sales."

"We have girls coming in with magazine tear sheets of Blake Lively or Leighton Meester, from location shootings or from everyday life," Burch said.

Read more:

• 10 shows you should watch if you love 'Gossip Girl'
• 10 inconsistencies you never noticed in 'Gossip Girl'
• 36 of the best outfits on 'Gossip Girl'
• The first and last outfits of 12 characters on 'Gossip Girl'