Former ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ Star Says Selena Gomez Was ‘Appalled’ By Their First Onscreen Kiss

April 18, 2024
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Former Disney Channel actor Daniel Samonas says his first onscreen kiss with Selena Gomez on “Wizards of Waverly Place” left her feeling the ick.

While appearing on the “Wizards of Waverly Pod” podcast earlier this week, Samonas, now 34, revealed that the show’s producers left him clueless for how to approach the scene during the show’s second season, when he was still a teen.

“Nobody coached me on how to do a Disney kiss,” he said.

Co-host Jennifer Stone, who played Gomez’s best friend Harper, interjected to explain that a “Disney Kiss” involves actors only sharing a “closed mouth” kiss.

“It’s this weird rigor mortis thing,” she joked.

But that wasn’t the only issue.

Samonas went on to suggest that a then-16-year-old Gomez wasn’t looking forward to the kiss back then because she was dating fellow Disney star Nick Jonas.

“She was dating Nick Jonas at the time, so that was kind of like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna make me kiss another dude,’” he recalled of her reaction, before clarifying, “I can’t speak for anybody else’s opinions or thoughts.”

Stone then chimed in to confirm that Gomez was “head over heels” for Jonas at the time.

Samonas said he and Gomez didn’t rehearse this kiss because it was supposed to be a “one and done.”

“[The producers are] like, ‘One, two, three, kiss!’ And I go, ‘OK.’ So, I kissed her like I would kiss somebody I was on a date with — sorry Selena,” he shared.

Samonas said he was “pulled aside” by producers following the blunder.

Daniel Samonas and Selena Gomez on the set of Disney's "The Wizards of Waverly Place."
Daniel Samonas and Selena Gomez on the set of Disney’s “The Wizards of Waverly Place.”

“I got pulled aside. I think she was somewhat appalled, maybe because I did it wrong. And they gave me a talking to, like, ‘OK, this is not how we do this on the show,’” he recalled.

The Canadian-born actor also noted that during his time on the show he had been “smoking cigarettes” because he thought it was “cool.”

“I was smoking on set, trying to sneak it, so they came up to me and made sure I had multiple breath mints before we even approached the scene. But nobody talked to me about the actual kiss,” he said.

Neither Gomez nor Jonas have publicly addressed the gaffe, but Samonas said he heard through the grapevine that she was “upset” at the time.

“I heard Selena was upset about it. I was told strictly by producers how to do it better … and I said ‘OK’ and then we did [the kiss] again and moved on,” he said.

“Wizards of Waverly Pod” co-host David DeLuise, who played Gomez’s dad on the hit show, defended Samonas’ faux pas during the interview.

“Daniel, you didn’t do anything wrong. You did what an actor does, which is, ‘I’m gonna make this as real as possible.’ You should have been told, ‘This is how we do this on the show.’ 100%, you should have been given that information,” he argued.

Watch Samonas’ full interview below.

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