Top 10 Friends Love Interests

Top 10 Friends Love Interests

We know you love the Friends, but what about the people they date? Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Friends Love Interests.

For this list, we’re only looking at people who the Friends dated for more than one episode. Some characters were definitely around longer than that before becoming love interests, but if they only made it to one real date, like Mark, they’re not in the running. Also we’re not counting when the Friends date each other.

#10: Pete Becker

We were so rooting for this relationship... until Pete turned out to be a little nuts. Monica had had so many crappy boyfriends at this point that the idea of her ending up with a super nice guy (who just so happened to be a millionaire) was pretty appealing. When Monica thought he was going to propose, we admittedly had our hopes up too- only to be brought down to Earth when Pete told her that he wanted to “conquer the physical world”. When season 3 aired in 1996-97, UFC wasn’t the widely popular sport it is today, so it sounded pretty crazy when Pete described it. Sad as we were, we get why this relationship had to end.

#9: Charlie Wheeler

Charlie is the first of the ladies on this list to date not one but two of the Friends guys. When Charlie first appeared on the show, she and Ross had a great first day together. But because Ross didn’t move quickly enough, Joey swooped in and formed an unlikely relationship with this hyper-intelligent (and beautiful) paleontologist. It’s pretty clear the whole time they’re dating that they aren’t exactly the best match, so we weren’t surprised when things finally started to heat up between Charlie and Ross. If we weren’t so busy waiting for Ross and Rachel to figure things out, we would have been pretty happy for these two to end up together.

#8: Kathy

Oh Kathy, we liked you so much when you were first introduced. You were funny, smart, and able to keep up with Chandler’s banter. But any girl who cheats on both Joey and Chandler can’t stay in our good books for long. When Joey starts dating a new girl, it’s the chemistry between her and Chandler, not Joey that seems obvious. After a few episodes of Chandler agonizing about what to do about his feelings for Kathy, the two end up kissing. There’s nothing worse than seeing Joey and Chandler fight, and since this one was clearly Chandler’s fault, we totally agreed with the punishment Joey gave him.

#7: Paolo

We’ve got to agree with Ross on this one - Paolo is a total crap weasel. He comes into the picture at the worst possible time, just as Ross is finally plucking up the courage to make a move on Rachel. But as soon as they meet, Paolo manages to steal Rachel’s heart... even though he can’t speak English. Their relationship isn’t exactly deep and meaningful, but she’s clearly infatuated with him. Ross unabashedly hates Paolo and it seems like he’s just jealous, but after Paolo gets a little handsy with Phoebe, the rest of the gang realizes that this guy has got to go.

#6: Paul Stevens

There are a lot of amazing guest stars on this show, but Bruce Willis playing the intimidating yet vulnerable Paul Stevens has got to be one of our favorites. When Ross started dating one of his students, he knew he was going to encounter some problems. But we’re not sure he was anticipating Elizabeth having an extremely protective (and extremely imposing) father for him to contend with. Much to Ross’s annoyance, Rachel develops an interest in Paul and the two end up dating. Hands down the most hilarious moment in this season 6 story arc is Ross accidentally witnessing Paul psyching himself up when the older man thinks he’s alone in a room.

#5: Emily Waltham

Poor Emily. She was actually pretty cool and clearly made Ross really happy when they started their whirlwind romance. But everything (understandably) went straight downhill when Ross made that tiny little error at the altar. In typical Ross fashion, their relationship moved very quickly, with Ross proposing after only 6 weeks. After the incident at their wedding however, Emily stopped being so likeable when she forbid Ross from seeing Rachel anymore. Yes, we get it; Emily comes out looking like the bad guy here, but who wouldn’t do the same thing if your fiancé said someone else’s name during your“I dos”.

#4: Julie

Just when we thought Ross and Rachel might get together because Rachel finally seemed to reciprocate Ross’s feelings, Julie stepped into the picture. As with pretty much all of the women Ross dates, Julie would have seemed like a perfect match for him... if it wasn’t for Rachel. As a fellow paleontologist, she’s a good match for Ross and she quickly fits in with the rest of the gang. She also tolerates a whole lot of crappy treatment from Rachel. Rachel does everything she can to sabotage this relationship, and ultimately succeeds after telling Ross how she feels about him.

#3: Mike Hannigan

The magic of Friends is based on the dynamic between the 6 main characters and we don’t think any significant other fit into the gang quite as well as Mike (otherwise known as Crap Bag). Though their meeting was a total fluke, Mike manages to bring the perfect combination of quirkiness and sweetness that Phoebe needs. Whether he was playing air piano, taking money back from charities or helping to raise a family of rats, Mike quickly stole our hearts. We admit it, we were really big David fans, but as soon as Mike was in the picture, it was clear that he and Phoebe were meant to be.

#2: Richard Burke

We loved Richard so much that we didn’t even have time to be weirded out by the fact that he was 21 years older than Monica...and a grandpa. Or that Monica kissed his son. Okay, maybe it was a little weird, but we really loved these two together anyway. Richard is Monica’s “great love” throughout the series and for good reason. He’s handsome, sophisticated and he actually seems to find Monica’s eccentricities to be endearing. Also, can we talk about that moustache? In the end it’s clear that Monica and Chandler make a way better couple, but we still hold a spot in our hearts for Richard.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Carol Willick


Barry Farber

Tag Jones

Joshua Burgin

#1: Janice Goralnik

There were a lot of characters on this list that we were totally enamored with at one time or another, but admittedly out number 1 pick isn’t so much someone we love as someone we love to hate. Janice made her first appearance in season one when we see Chandler try, unsuccessfully, to break up with her… and the gang doesn’t quite manage to get rid of her until season 10. Janice is in fact the only significant other in our top 10 to appear in all 10 seasons of the show. There were definitely moments where she seemed sweet - but honestly, if we have to hear that laugh one more time, we’re moving to Yemen.

Do you agree with our list? Are there any other boyfriends or girlfriends you wanted to see? For more friendly top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to MsMojo