How Ariel Winter Embarrassed Eric Stonestreet on the Set of 'Modern Family'

"She, and all of the kids, always make us look so bad, because they always show up with their lines so memorized, so well-prepared," Stonestreet joked to PEOPLE

Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty

Eric Stonestreet is the first to admit when he’s been outshined!

The Modern Family star recalled one time in particular on the set where Ariel Winter, 18, unknowingly made him look bad.

“Ariel and I did a scene together,” the 45-year-old recalled to PEOPLE. “She, and all of the kids, always make us look so bad, because they always show up with their lines so memorized, so well-prepared.”

“We had these long speeches that we had to do with each other in a scene where we were having tea with each other,” Stonestreet continued. “I said, ‘You little sucker. You’re going to show up and you’re going to have this perfect to the T, and you’re going to make old Stonestreet look bad, I know it.’ “

“She’s like, ‘No, I’m having trouble with it.’ And then, action, she just spews it right off,” he recalled.

All joking aside, Stonestreet is very proud of all the kids on the Modern Family cast — Nolan Gould, 18, Rico Rodriguez, 18, Sarah Hyland, 26, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, 9, as well as Winter — and didn’t hold back his praises for their hard work.

“We got so lucky with the kids on our show,” he said. “You hear nightmares, and you hear things, but I can tell you… everyone always asks about the kids and what it’s like to work with them. They used to be kids, and Aubrey still is a kid, but Ariel, Rico, Nolan, and Sarah, [they’re] just good adults now. They’re just good people because they were good kids.”

“So I’m proud of them, and I love that they have their lives and do what they want to do,” Stonestreet added. “I think they’re all positive good role models for people. Glad to know them.”

Modern Family airs Wednesdays (9 p.m. ET) on ABC.