The Big Bang Theory 'Sex Scene' That Broke A World Record

Thanks to the "Young Sheldon" finale, "The Big Bang Theory" fans know that fan-favorite couple Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and Amy Farah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) have been enjoying married life and parenthood since the end of Season 12. The couple, affectionately known as Shamy, first got together after Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) set them up on a dating website in Season 3. From there, fans watched as they developed a friendship-turned-relationship leading to their marriage in the final season. The couple hit some major milestones along the way, too, including their first kiss.

But it was Season 9, Episode 11, "The Opening Night Excitation," which marked their most anticipated moment together; their first time. There was so much build-up to the Shamy sex scene that actually set a Guinness World Record; the highly anticipated hookup drew in over a whopping 24 million viewers.

The number of people who tuned in to check out the aftermath of Sheldon and Amy consummating their relationship broke the record for the largest live audience for a television show, a feat which was boasted by broadcaster CBS on X (formerly Twitter) shortly afterward. But while she was excited for Sheldon and Amy to take the next step in their relationship, Bialik could not have predicted this kind of reaction to their sex scene. "We do a lot of things on our show, so it's never really been about will Sheldon and Amy have sex? But it is a big deal, and Amy is shocked," Bialik told TV Insider ahead of the infamous episode.

Sex scenes between Sheldon and Amy on "The Big Bang Theory" are few and far between since the couple mostly limit their hookups to Amy's birthday. However, the pair have shared many intimate and physical moments over the years. One very notable scene is in Season 6, Episode 10, "The Fish Guts Displacement," when Sheldon spanks his girlfriend.

In the episode, Amy is genuinely sick, but after getting better, she fakes her illness because she's enjoying having Sheldon take care of her. When he finds out the truth, Sheldon insists Amy be punished and offers spanking as an option — much to her excitement. In actuality, Jim Parsons had a very difficult time filming this scene because he found it too funny.

"It was, I would say, one of the hardest things I've ever had to do because I found it tremendously amusing," he admitted during an interview with The Paley Center for Media. In a subsequent interview on "Conan," Parsons added, "We kept having to do take after take because I kept laughing, which was kind of rare for me." Parsons admitted he was pretty ill-prepared for the scene, but fans definitely couldn't tell by watching the final cut. The scene has since become one of many classic Shamy moments.