Whelchel was probably best known for being a main cast member of "The Facts of Life" where she portrayed Blair Warner, an uppity prep student. Her character was also played by her on "Diff'rent Strokes", the show "The Facts of Life" spun off of. Whelchel once refused a storyline that would have made her character the first among the four main young women on the show to lose her virginity. Having become a Christian when she was ten years old, Whelchel refused because of her Christian convictions, and the storyline was rewritten for the character of "Natalie," portrayed by Mindy Cohn. This was the only episode of the series in which Whelchel did not appear.