Tiffani Thiessen Dishes On ‘Deliciousness’, ‘Saved By The Bell’, And More

Tiffani Thiessen, who rose to fame in front of the camera in the ‘90s —playing “Kelly Kapowski” on Saved by the Bell and “Valerie Malone” on Beverly Hills, 90210— is currently wearing two hats on MTV’s Deliciousness. Thiessen has served as both the host and a producer on Deliciousness since 2020.

The show is currently on season 3B, which premiered Dec. 5, and airs on Mondays at 9 pm ET. Deliciousness shares the internet’s most viral and entertaining food videos from food blunders to kids cooking in the kitchen, as well as epic restaurant fails.

“This is definitely more of a first, where I’m kind of hosting a group of people on a stage,” Thiessen, who also hosted her cooking show Dinner at Tiffani’s on the Cooking Channel from 2015-2017, said of the MTV gig. “I have three of the most fun, talented role-with-the-punches sort of castmates on that couch with me, which makes my job very easy, easier than, I would say, maybe with other people.

“I feel very fortunate to have them. And we have so much fun. We banter a lot. Of course, I think the hardest thing— and I’ve said this before. The hardest thing for me is that I’m the one who has to stand there in heels where they get to relax on a couch.”

Tiffani is referring to recurring Delciousness panelists Angela Kinsey, Kel Mitchell, and Tim Chantarangsu.

“I mean, they bring everything to the table. They’re all so different, which is what I love about all of us together,” Thiessen said of her on-screen colleagues. “But we also are very easily able to kind of banter and be able to get each other and really kind of work well with the energy.

“Angela, of course, I’ve been a fan of for a very, very long time. And I love how I get that other female energy on that couch. And as different as we are, we still have a lot of similar traits in that sense, just kind of pro-woman. And we talk about Texas, of course, because that’s where she’s from, and my husband’s from Texas.

“Then you’ve got Kel, who’s just this gorgeous, beautiful, suave, amazing, sweet gentleman of a guy who’s very funny and has had a long past in the acting world, just like me.

“And then you have Tim, who brings a spice, a fun, sort of a young feel to the show, which I love. Our banters could last forever. Sometimes they have to kind of get us to stop half the time so we move on to the next category because we will just keep going, the two of us, for very long riffs. But he seriously makes me belly laugh.”

Tiffani’s background with cooking pairs well with the series. She grow up in a family where a lot of the women cooked. Later on, when doing global press for Saved by the Bell, she became very intrigued by dishes in Europe. Her appreciation for food and love for cooking is highly visible on her website TiffaniThiessen.com.

Thiessen’s rise to fame seemed instant for the television star when she was around 16 years old during the early years of Saved by the Bell when she began touring US malls and doing autograph signings for fans.

“At that age, it felt very much overnight. I remember, specifically, we actually started touring the States. And it was usually either Mark-Paul (Gosselaar, “Zack Morris”) and I by ourselves, or we would have the whole entire cast,” Tiffani recalled. “… And that was the first moment when I saw that crowd of people, of kids with Mark-Paul, that I was like, ‘Oh, wow. There’s a lot of people that watch this show.’ It was overwhelming, I have to say. … It was a lot.

“I mean, they had security people there. I would have a drink of water or a snack or whatever, and kids would want to take it as a token or something. It was very strange to me where I was coming from junior high, where kids were horrible and mean and would pick on you or say horrible things, and then you’ve got a group of 5,000 kids who are all wanting your autograph. It’s very strange at first.

“So it definitely felt very overnight. And then it grew because then we got syndicated, and then it started going into all these other countries, which is why I ended up traveling through all these other countries because of the show.”

Given the shock and overwhelming nature of fame the show provided the young cast members, they served as a support system for one another. Tiffani’s family also helped her keep a level head.

“It was very alarming,” said Tiffani of the amount of fame her and her co-stars achieved within a couple of seasons of Saved by the Bell. “I mean, I credit my parents a lot for it, for sure. My parents keep me grounded still to this day. So I credit a lot of that to my parents. But we definitely had each other’s back as well.

“I mean, we were all going through this together, and none of us had huge success beforehand. So this was new for all of us. And we became very close. We were like brothers and sisters.

“And there was a lot of firsts for a lot of us … and going through school on set together. So we actually were literally doing school together, even though our schools were separated. But our work together was always on set together.

“And so we somewhat had a classroom together that we were all doing school and then going to work and on stage and then traveling and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I felt very protected in that sort of group that we had. And we still have that sort of relationship now.”