Three seasons into Friends‘ run, Janice Litman-Goralnik posed the question on every fan’s mind: “Who of the six of you has slept with who of the six of you?”
It was a bold question, but also a valid one. By the time the show wrapped seven seasons later, all six of Central Perk’s irregular regulars had at least locked lips — including same-sex pairings like Rachel and Phoebe, the latter of whom “just wanted to see what all the fuss was about,” and Joey and Ross, the former of whom needed help practicing his audition for a gay role.
And before you try to tell us that “incestuous” is too strong a word to describe this group, let us never forget (no matter how hard we’ve tried) that siblings Ross and Monica once made out at a college party in 1987. In fact, Monica’s older brother turned out to be her first kiss ever. Big yikes.
So we thought we’d play a Janice-approved game of “what if,” ranking the sextet’s every romantic combination in order of potential. (Disclaimer: Our list doesn’t include the show’s same-sex pairings, as all of the characters technically identify as straight. Hopelessly so, in fact.)
Scroll down to see our ranking of the best and worst Friends pairings, then drop a comment with your own favorite combinations — canonical or otherwise.
Opposites may attract — and they may even awkwardly fool around on a pool table when one of their wives reveals that she’s a lesbian — but we’d be shocked to meet even a single Friends fan that legitimately ‘shipped Phoebe and Ross.
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Despite being one of the first twosomes on this list to hook up (oh, that complicated night in 1987!), these two have absolutely no sexual chemistry. At least not as sober adults.
Let’s not forget, Rachel was the first one to publicly oppose Chandler’s “whole little new European thing,” unaware that he was only kissing everybody to cover up his relationship with Monica.
These two would really be more of a “sit in the hallway and eat cheesecake off the floor” kind of couple — not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Photo : HBO Max screenshot
Phoebe and Chandler’s infamous game of sexual chicken may have been played up for laughs, but there was a reason that studio audience was howling in anticipation of their big kiss — they wanted to see it. We all wanted to see it.
That said, we never saw any real romantic potential here.
Photo : HBO Max screenshot
OK, now we’re cooking!
Unlike the other pairings on this list, Monica and Joey never officially kissed, but they almost did a whole lot more during the gang’s trip to London for one of Ross’ million weddings. As Monica would later reveal, she was originally hoping to find Joey — not her future husband Chandler — in that hotel room. And you know that Joey would have been down.
That same episode also gave us a glimpse at what Monica and Joey’s married life could have been like (pictured above), and they both seemed very happy. Monica Tribbiani does have a nice ring to it, no? #MONEY
Photo : HBO Max screenshot
Question for the group: How did this coupling never happen? Honestly, if Joey had tested the waters with Phoebe instead of Rachel, we might have been more receptive.
You have to admit, all of their kisses — especially this one from Phoebe’s 30th 31st birthday — were pretty hot.
Photo : HBO Max screenshot
Potentially controversial statement: On paper, Joey and Rachel’s relationship should have worked. What really killed this couple was timing. We’d already been through the unexpected friend-on-friend thing with Monica and Chandler, and after eight years of fans investing themselves in Ross and Rachel, the idea of her suddenly falling for Joey felt like a shark-jumping mistake.
Photo : HBO Max screenshot
Look, we’re all glad that Rachel got off the plane. But does anyone actually believe that she and Ross would still be going strong today, 17 years later?
There’s no denying that Ross and Rachel have chemistry, just like there’s no denying their unhealthy relationship patterns. When things were good, they were good. But when they were bad, they were really bad.
Honestly, were it not for the fact that they share a daughter, we would recommend that these two stay as far away from each other as possible, lest they fall back into another cycle of romance and regret. (Wait a second. Was Emily… right?)
To borrow a phrase from yesteryear (or is it yore?), these two were #goals.
After establishing a strong foundation as friends (oh, we get the title now!), Monica and Chandler developed and nurtured their feelings for one another, ultimately resulting in a strong, healthy marriage between two dedicated partners.
Whenever these two faced a new obstacle — like their infertility struggles, or Chandler’s alleged addiction to shark porn — they always worked through it like two mature adults, rather than simply cutting their losses the moment things got tough.