Her jaw dropped and she asked: “What just happened?!”

Bridgerton is known for its scandalous plots and big reveals. There was one moment in the first season, however, that left even the author of the original series shocked.

Julia Quinn, 52, penned the Bridgerton books and acts as a consultant for the TV adaptation after relinquishing creative control. The season one scripts given to the author – as well as the rest of the cast – kept Lady Whistledown’s identity a secret.

In the Bridgerton books, Lady Whisteldown’s identity is not revealed until the fourth installment ‘Romancing Mr Bridgerton’ (the same book season three will be based on). The author thought things would be the same on the TV show but an unseen change in the script of season one’s finale shook up the whole timeline.

When Quinn watched the adaptation of her beloved books she was astonished to see Lady Whistledown take down her hood and reveal herself to be Penelope Featherington in the last seconds of season one. Her jaw dropped and she could not believe what she had just seen.

The author told Insider: “We get to the last minute I was like, ‘What?!’ I immediately got on email and was emailing Shondaland being like, ‘What just happened?!'”

Turns out, there was a good reason for the shakeup. The Netflix writers had been hyper aware of the fact that fans could easily google “Lady Whistledown’s true identity” and find the answer from the books online.

So they decided not to bother trying to keep the secret between seasons. Instead, the big reveal came in the season one finale and season two introduced new storylines around Penelope trying to keep her secret.

In another major diversion from the books, Penelope’s best friend Eloise Bridgerton found out everything at the end of season two, leading to a fallout of epic proportions. We will have to wait until season three to see whether Eloise can keep things to herself.