Fans of Dawson's Creek were annoyed after being tricked for 25 years.

It's been 25 years since the beloved teen drama Dawson's Creek first aired, and fans have been left in shock after special effects trickery was exposed on social media. The show, which starred Oliver Hudson, Joshua Jackson, and Michelle Williams, followed the lives of a close-knit group of students for six seasons.

Recently, viewers declared their 'days ruined' after noticing that the artificial snow in the Christmas episode Merry Mayhem appeared to be a white blanket. Fans who watched the instalment when it originally aired in 2002 had initially believed it was fake snow, blaming 4k television screens two decades later for revealing the truth behind the special effects.

The clip of the scene was shared on the Instagram account 90skid4lyfe with the caption: 'Dawson's Creek really had no budget for snow.' People commented in their droves, with one viewer joking that 'watching a show in the 90s on a standard definition 19 inch TV allowed networks to get away with being cheap.' Another added: 'Daaaamn, they fooled me.'

A third remarked on the use of the slippery material, saying that there would have been 'several rolled ankles' during production. It's clear that the producers didn't foresee the high-definition TV screens of the future!

To mark the show's 25th anniversary, Katie Holmes, who played Joey Potter, shared several throwback photos of the cast on Instagram. James Van Der Beek, who played the titular character, also shared an old character portrait and a heartfelt message about the show's impact on him.

He wrote: '25 years ago today... my life changed. Not gradually, not day-by-day... instantly.' He went on to talk about how fame was not all it was cracked up to be but that he did have 'pinch myself' moments nonetheless.

The show was a huge success, picking up 14 award nominations, with the majority being Teen Choice Awards. It averaged six million viewers for its first season and concluded with around seven million for its last. Now, Dawson's Creek is available to stream on ITVX in the UK.

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