Kaley Cuoco’s ploy to seduce him at the beginning of their collaboration on The Big Bang Theory did not work on Johnny Galecki. The actor initially rejected her advances.
Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco not only played the couple, Leonard and Penny, in The Big Bang Theory, but were also in a relationship privately. This fact is probably well known to many TBBT fans, but perhaps not everyone is aware of the fact that Galecki initially rejected the advances of Cuoco, who had a crush on her set mate, and at one point mustered up the courage to make a move.
The actors from the main cast of The Big Bang Theory often spent time together, but they only invited Cuoco on one of their outings after a while. The whole group rented cabins in Montecito. And when Cuoco arrived there, she made an attempt to invite Galecki to join her, taking a chance on an intruder in her own cabin.
Galecki and Cuoco talked about those events during an interview with Vanity Fair.
Johnny Galecki: And then I got a call. It was Kaley. She said, “There’s a bug in my room.” I was like, “Yeah, probably. You’re in a cabin.” She said, “You have to come and kill it.” I said, “I’m not doing that.” Now, still to this day, I don’t know if this story is bullshit or not, and if she was flirting with me because she had just broken up with her boyfriend, but I did not go over to her cabin. I knew I would be contributing to a stinkerbell actress if I did that. And the whole point of the trip was for all of us to be equals and get to know one another better. So I declined the demand to go kill a bug in her room. […] Which she later admitted it was. That was her way of flirting that night.
Cuoco herself admitted that she actually tried to flirt with Galecki at the time, and used the bug as an excuse. She also understood that her set mate must have figured her out, which is why he turned her down when she played the damsel in distress.
Kaley Cuoco: There was definitely a bug in my room and I was flirting with him! So both were true! I was like, Ooh, this could be a good way to get him in there! But that didn’t work. I couldn’t believe he turned me down. I still think he turned me down because he knew what I was doing. I used the bug as an excuse, and he still did not come over.
Johnny Galecki: Well, I’m not that easy, Kaley. I’m not just a piece of meat. There’s a heart in here. There’s real blood that pumps through my veins, believe it or not. I have feelings. At least take me to dinner and a show first! Bug in her room. Jeez.
The actors humorously recalled those events, which were just the beginning of their story together. And while Cuoco’s first attempt at seducing Galecki failed, something must have worked in the end, as the actors grew closer over time. They were certainly helped by playing a couple in front of the cameras. However, they found out that together a working relationship is not so easy when an argument occurred between them on the set for a rather trivial reason.