The biggest debate in Friends lore is, obviously, whether or not Ross and Rachel were on a break. However, there’s a quieter controversy that bubbles beneath the surface, and that’s the question of whether Chandler should have ended up with his on-again-off-again girlfriend Janice, rather than Monica. We certainly know where Maggie Wheeler stands, after she portrayed the nasal-y character in 19 episodes over the course of the decade Friends was on the air. And it turns out she’s even considered where Chan and Jan might have gone on their honeymoon, had things with Monica gone in the pooper.
Maggie Wheeler, who appeared in all 10 seasons of NBC’s “Must See TV” sitcom, spoke to Travel + Leisure magazine about what might have been, had Chandler (Matthew Perry) not pretended to move out of the country just to get away from Janice. She pondered where the two might have honeymooned and provided such a perfect answer, saying:
I'm going to say Nassau. Not Nassau County, but Nassau the island — any place with a pool and a piña colada.
Oh. My. God. Did anybody else here think she was going to say Yemen? Considering it's easily one of Friends' brilliant inside jokes, it doesn't seem like a far-fetched option.
I can absolutely picture Janice and her Bing-a-ling sipping tropical drinks on the beaches of the Bahamas. Although I imagine Chandler would be in a constant state of anxiety and bewilderment about how he ended up in that predicament. Maggie Wheeler further pontificated on how high-maintenance of a travel partner Janice would be, saying:
I think she would need some help with her heavy bags so that she didn't break a nail. Everything she could possibly need, she would bring it all. Not so different from moi!
What’s interesting about Maggie Wheeler’s answer is that many fans believe Nassau is actually where Chandler and Monica (Courteney Cox) went on their own honeymoon. In the extended DVD version of Season 8’s “The One Where Rachel Tells …,” Ross (David Schwimmer) is disappointed that his sister left without taking his passes to the Nassau Fossil and Natural History Museum.
Is Maggie Wheeler trolling us with Friends Easter eggs? Does Chandler have some sort of secret timeshare in Nassau?
To use on of Friends' best references, it's all a moo point, really, because these are questions that likely do not have answers. However, one fact we do know is that despite Matthew Perry’s struggles with addiction during his time on the sitcom, Maggie Wheeler has only glowing things to say about her former co-star. Following the publication of Perry’s tell-all memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Wheeler said she was aware of the actor’s struggles, and it’s something they talked about. However, she called him “brilliant,” and said no matter what was going on with him, he always arrived on time, knew his lines and was “so damn funny.”
If you want to relive all the great times between Chandler and Janice (or Chandler and Monica’s cutest moments, if that’s more your vibe), all 10 seasons of Friends including the 2021 reunion special are available to stream with an HBO Max subscription.
