Warner Bros. TelevisionThe story of the Chick and the Duck is cemented in television history but there’s a fowl truth behind their legacy.
The chick and the duck kept Joey and Chandler constant companion, through eating Rachel’s thick face cream and racing over the thin finish line in the flat poultry Olympics.
We first met the chick and the duck during episode 21 of season three, and you can relive that gem of a television moment in the clip below:
Despite remaining by the friends’ side from season three to season six, the avian pets disappeared from that point onwards. In season seven, the duck was sick on Joey’s bed off-screen, but was no where to be found on our TV sets.
They missed the birth of Emma, Monica and Chandler getting married, they were nowhere to be seen at Hannukah – never meeting the Holiday Armadillo, or Princess Consuela Bananahammock, for that matter.
The chick – named for model Yasmine Bleeth – and the unnamed duck weren’t even present to comfort their doting owners through the death of Rosita.
GettyBut why? The chick and the duck had been killed off-screen, that’s why.
According the F.R.I.E.N.D.S fandom wiki page:
In the final episode it was revealed that they had died of old age some time ago, but Chandler and the rest of the group had lied to Joey to save his feelings, telling him that they had gone to a special farm where they were very happy but could not be visited.
Warner Bros. TelevisionIn a touching finale moment, Joey did buy Chandler a new chick and duck as a housewarming gift, and he was quick to name them Chick Jr. & Duck Jr. respectively.
Pour some out for the lost pets.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.