Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy are friends[1] who co-starred in the titular roles in Sam & Cat. They have worked together in other TV shows, appearing in "iParty with Victorious", a crossover between their respective shows, Victorious (Ariana as Cat Valentine) and iCarly (Jennette as Sam Puckett). Jennette also made an appearance in Victorious, guest-starring as Ponnie, and they both starred in the movie Swindle. The pairing is often referred to as Ariette (Ari/ana and Jenn/ette), Jeniana (Jen/nette and Ar/iana), or Jenari (Jen/nette and Ari/ana).
Ariana and Jennette were best friends in real life prior to and during the development Sam & Cat, often saying how close they were in live chats and other media, but after the show's ending in 2014, there was speculation that they had a feud. With Jennette's disappearance from the 2014 Kids Choice Awards, rumors circulated that Jennette was receiving a much smaller paycheck than Ariana,[2] but Ariana clarified that these rumors were false.[3] The two unfollowed each other on social media, and Jennette also seemed to diss Ariana in her web series What's Next For Sarah?[4] Since then, they seemed to have made up, and Jennette has said in interviews that they text probably once a week and sometimes hang out together.[5]
Jennette once accidentally gave out Ariana's phone number during an Ustream in an attempt to call her. Fans flooded Ariana's phone with texts and phone calls, but she quickly forgave Jennette and admitted that she actually had fun speaking to her fans.
They did a livestream together during which they made prank calls, made dessert, and more.
On the TV show Figure It Out, when the rotten food fell down on the panelists, Jennette helped Ariana fix her makeup.
Also on Figure It Out, Ariana and Jennette often sat next to each other on the panel.
Ariana said in a couple of her live chats that Jennette is her best friend.
Jennette came to Ariana's house to co-host a live Twitcam on August 10, 2012.
Ariana and Jennette had a sleepover together on October 6, 2012.[6]
They went hat shopping together and Jennette tweeted one of her favorite pictures of the two of them.[7]
Jennette often tweets about Sam & Cat and how fun the episode was to do with Ariana. As does Ariana on occasion.
Ariana went with her family to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York 2012, to support Jennette who was performing in the parade.[8] However, Ariana and her family never actually got to see the parade live and ended up watching it on TV.[9]
They had a sleepover together and played the "Chubby Bunny Challenge" together, as seen in Ariana's Chubby Bunny video on YouTube.
They talked over the phone on December 7, 2012.[10]
Jennette says that whenever she's with Ariana, it's always a good time.[11]
In an interview with Clevver TV, Ariana said Jennette is a great friend and that working with her on Sam & Cat is exciting.[13]
Jennette told BOP magazine, 'Ariana and I like to convert rap songs into 1940's swing songs.'[14]
Ariana kissing Jennette on the cheek
When Jennette was upset and said that she might be dropping Snowflake and Sam & Cat, Ariana told Jennette that their friendship means the most to her, and whoever upset Jennette deserves a serious "buttersock-ing" which is what Sam would do. This really shows their friendship.[15]
Ariana talked about Jennette in an interview with Total Girl Philippines. She said, "It's an honor to work with Jennette McCurdy. I used to watch iCarly and I thought she was the funniest girl in the world. She's so down-to-earth and kind and sweet."
On April 18, 2013, both Ariana and Jennette tweeted a series of teasers before finally revealing that Sam & Cat would premiere in June 2013.[17][18][19][20]
In response to a question about working with Jennette, Ariana said that she loves working with Jennette because she's genuine, real, a good friend, and one of the funniest, most committed actresses ever.[21]
In response to a question about Ariana, Jennette said she thinks Ariana is extremely bright, driven, talented, observant, and very aware, and she respects Ariana a lot.[22]
Ariana and Jennette for Halloween
Jennette heard a couple of songs from Ariana's album that was set to come out in September 2013, and she said that they're fantastic.[23]
They had a Ustream chat together with Nickelodeon about Sam & Cat on June 6, 2013.[24]
On June 6, 2013, Ariana and Jennette had a girls' night out during which they attended the Janoskians' concert.[25][26]
Ariana said that she's grateful to work with an amazing comedian and true friend like Jennette.[27]
Ariana talked about Jennette in an interview with Seventeen magazine. She said, "I am so lucky to be working with Jennette McCurdy. She is a real, genuine, honest person, a good friend, and doesn’t care about all the superficial BS. She’s the most hilarious actress I’ve ever met and I just adore her... I used to watch iCarly and think, ‘Wow, Jennette is such a standout star and so good.’ Now she’s one of my best friends.”[28]
They often interacted on Twitter and occasionally did livestreams together.
Jennette scared Ariana in a video by jumping out at her from Cat's bed during an interview on the set of Sam & Cat.
Ariana and Jennette filmed a Nesquik commercial together.[29]
Jennette talked about Ariana in an interview with E! News. Jennette said, "Ariana’s extremely strong-willed and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants if she really believes in something. I think that’s such an admirable quality to have and I look up to her for that. And I think that’s something, working with her now for a year and a half, that hopefully I’ve adopted a bit of and I hope to get more of it as time goes on."[30]
In 2013, Jennette wrote a heartfelt message to Ariana.
Jennette's letter to Ariana
They both celebrated their birthday in 2013 on set with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams from the iconic sitcom Laverne & Shirley, who made a guest appearance on the episode #SalmonCat.[31]
They both appeared in an iCarly segment named "iBathe a Cat".
Jennette told EntertainmentWise about her relationship with BFF Ariana. She said "For us, if we’re on set we’ll rehearse and then we’ll go and have lunch together. Then we go back to work and if we’re exhausted then we just go straight home but if we’re just hanging out for fun, I’ll usually just go over to Ariana’s house and we’ll watch movies, pick outfits out for each other and plan what we’re each going to wear…". [32]
In March 2014, Jennette unfollowed Ariana on Twitter and Instagram for unknown reasons. Later that year, Ariana unfollowed Jennette too.
Jennette gave her condolences to Ariana's family when Frank Grande died.[33]
In early 2015, Jennette re-followed Ariana on a Twitter, and a couple of hours later, Ariana re-followed Jennette on Twitter too. However, they still haven't followed each other on Instagram.
Jennette said in an interview in February 2015 that she and Ariana are good friends.
Jennette said in an interview in May 2015 that they text probably once a week.
Jennette said in a Periscope in May 2015 that they watched Pacquiao vs. Mayweather on May 2nd together.
Trivia[]
Jennette and Ariana celebrating their birthday
Jennette and Ariana
Jennette and Ariana on the cover of a magazine
Ariana went with her family to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York 2012, to support Jennette who was performing in the parade. However, Ariana and her family never actually got to see the parade live and ended up watching it on TV.
Ariana and Jennette often hang out together and tweet each other often.[34][35][36]
Jennette said that whenever she's with Ariana, it's always a good time.
In an interview with Clevver TV, Ariana said Jennette is a great friend and that working with her on Sam & Cat is exciting.
Ariana said in one of her live chats that Jennette is her best friend.
They share the same birthday, June 26, with Jennette being a year older than Ariana.
On their birthday in 2012, they trended on Twitter at the same time.
They both love singing covers of their favorite songs on YouTube.
They were both on Figure It Out together in plenty of episodes.
On Figure It Out, when the rotten food fell down on the panelists, Jennette helped Ariana to fix her makeup.
They worked together on Victorious in the episode "Crazy Ponnie". Note that Jennette was not portraying her character Sam in this episode but a crazy girl named Ponnie), "iParty with Victorious", iCarly segments, Swindle, and Sam & Cat.
Both of them did an advertisement on 'Mathathon' along with Nathan Kress from iCarly.
Their previous shows are both produced by Schneider's Bakery.
Ariana and Jennette both starred in an original Nickelodeon movie, called Swindle along with other Nick stars.[37]
Jennette and Ariana's followers upload Ustreams of them a lot.
Jennette's nickname for Ariana is "Oreo".
Before Dan thought of the show, Ariana and Jennette wanted to work together.
Ariana and Jennette both turned 18 while filming their respective shows, iCarly and Victorious.
According to Jennette, they met at the pilot of a Nickelodeon promo shoot in 2010, where they hit it off right away when they found out they had the same birthday, but a year apart, and that they were both allergic to shellfish.[23]
