'Lost' trivia and fun facts

Jorge Garcia (Hurley) appeared on 'How I Met Your Mother' as a character named "The Blitz" who had terrible luck just like his character on 'Lost'. Then, later in the episode, someone asked him for a random phone number and he used his lottery ticket number from 'Lost' that brought him his bad luck. 4 8 15 16 23 42

Originally, Michael Keaton was cast as Jack. In the first draft of the script Jack was to be killed by the monster after they arrived at the cockpit. ABC told the producers that they shouldn't kill off the hero so soon in the series and the script was changed. After the change, Michael Keaton backed out of the role since he did not want to commit to a regular series.

Both John Locke and his father, Anthony Cooper, are named after 17th- and 18th-century English philosophers; the real Anthony Cooper was educated as a boy by the real John Locke.

When the show first aired in the UK on Channel 4, it averaged over 6 million viewers. This made it the most successful debut for a US series on the channel.

In every episode, the first person shown after "previously on lost scene" is always the person who had flashbacks throughout the episode.

Parts of the plane were used as percussion instruments and can be heard in the soundtrack.

The ornate tattoos on Jack's shoulder are Matthew Fox's own.

The two-part pilot episode was the most expensive in ABC's history, reportedly costing between $10 million and $14 million. The average pilot is usually in the region of $4 million.

Andrea Gabriel (Nadia) and Lillian Hurst (Carmen Reyes) are the only performers that appear in every season but never on the island.

Josh Holloway was trying to cover up his Southern accent while shooting several of his first scenes in the first season. It wasn't until producer J.J. Abrams told him that the reason they cast him was BECAUSE of his accent that Holloway changed it. There are still some scenes left in the pilot where he doesn't use his Southern accent.

Jon Hamm auditioned for the role of Jack Shephard.

The only member of the principal cast who didn't have to audition for a role was Terry O'Quinn, with whom J.J. Abrams had previously worked on the second season of 'Alias'.