If you were a fan of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101, you’ll probably remember Alexa Nikolas, who played Nicole Bristol — Zoey’s roommate — for two seasons on the former teen sitcom, which ran from 2005 to 2008.
Zoey 101 ran from four seasons and concluded after Jamie Lynn Spears announced she was pregnant with her first child. While this was undoubtedly a huge shock to die-hard fans, that wasn’t really the only controversy the show had been involved in.
Nikolas’ departure after wrapping up season 2 certainly hadn’t gone unnoticed. Reports at the time had claimed that the teenager had gotten into an argument with Jamie’s big sister, pop superstar Britney Spears, who allegedly “yelled” at a teary-eyed Nikolas before she would learn from executive producers that she wouldn’t be coming back for another run.
But what exactly led Brit to allegedly lose her cool on Nikolas?
Did Britney Get This ‘Zoey 101’ Cast Member Fired?
Back in 2005, it was reported that Brit had confronted Nikolas following an argument the latter had with Jamie earlier in the month.
It’s unclear what the quarreling was about, but it was big enough for the “Toxic” superstar to show up to the set of the show and have a word with her sibling’s co-star — but from what was gathered, things didn’t go too well.
Brit allegedly “proceeded to scream that Alexa was an ‘evil little girl,’ and that she had better watch herself or she ‘will never work in this town again,” the New York Post claimed at the time.
A spokesperson for the Spears sisters at the time explained, “Jamie Lynn and another girl on the set were having problems, as 13-year-olds do. Britney did have words with the girl, but felt she was sticking up for her sister.”
While the argument may have been nothing serious — perhaps typical teenage drama — Nikolas was later asked to attend a meeting with execs of Zoey101 where she was told that her character would not be returning for season 3.
Nikolas, of course, knew that the decision was purely based on her issues with Jamie, and her sister coming to the set and reportedly losing her cool appeared to be enough for producers to say they’re removing the lesser-known star from the show.
Zoey 101 remained one of the highest-rated shows on Nickelodeon; even after the cast switch-up. The addition of Victoria Justice seemed to have made up for the loss of a fan-favorite character, and that was pretty much the last time people heard of Nikolas.
Well, that was until the summer of 2019 when the cast members of Zoey 101 reunited with the show’s founder Dan Schneider.
Everyone from Justice to Erin Sanders and Matthew Underwood had attended the special event, which had been well-documented on their social media handles.
Jamie was absent because she was caught up filming another series in Atlanta, but she assured fans she’d organize another reunion in the near future.
Still, fans quickly noticed that while Jamie couldn’t be there, Nikolas apparently hadn’t received an invite.
In a lengthy Instagram video, the actress cried on camera as she confirmed being confronted by Brit and later finding out that she had practically been let go over her petty argument with Jamie.
And while she wasn’t dwelling on the past, she was stunned that the cast members had left her out of a reunion after all these years. After all, she was still a huge part of the show’s success given that the first two seasons were heavily situated around Zoey’s friendship with Nicole.
Recalling the incident with Brit, she said, “I’ll never forget the image because Britney Spears just like, came out, and she was in a bralette-thing and she ran at me and started berating me and telling me that she was going to make sure that nothing came of my career and that she was going to make sure of it … she was like, ‘no one messes with my sister,’ and she’s screaming at me.”
She later told her mom about what had happened because the confrontation with Brit had made her feel nauseous, so when her mother then went to talk to the producer about it, they were already working on removing Nikolas from the show.
“[These adults said], ‘I’m a side character and I don’t matter, in industry terms. I have to put on a good face, I can’t take bullying.’ Dan was like, ‘ maybe there’s some truth in what Britney said, maybe you shouldn’t be in this industry, maybe you can’t handle it. Dan was like, ‘you know what happens to kid stars? Nothing happens to them.’"