Every Love Interest Of Friends' Rachel Green, Ranked
For 10 seasons, audiences gathered around the television to hangout with their "Friends." Most of the fans felt like Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, and Ross were their own friends and became invested in their lives. We followed, throughout the years, as each of the six changed careers, moved apartments, found new romantic partners, and had children. But, most importantly, "Friends" lovers watched the group go through many trials, ultimately become closer, and develop an even deeper love for one another.
One of the most intriguing parts of the show, though, comes from the six friends' relationships. Not only do some end up together, but they also date many interesting characters throughout the series that impact their lives in different ways. They all date their fair share of people, but one of the most compelling love lives on the show comes from Rachel, and specifically her will-they-won't-they with Ross.
Rachel dates 13 different men within 10 seasons, and though she ends up with Ross, there's some debate among fans as to whether or not that was the right choice. Interested to see who Rachel's best match is? Read on to see all 13 of Rachel Green's love interests, ranked from worst to best.
Paolo
Last on the list, and without a doubt the worst love interest on "Friends," is Paolo (Cosimo Fusco). Paolo and Rachel begin dating in Season 1, after meeting in the building. He doesn't speak much English, and so the two of them really are more engaged in a fling. They date for a few episodes, but eventually the relationship ends after Paolo comes on to Phoebe. Then, after Ross starts dating Julie and Rachel is feeling jealous, the two hook up one more time. However, she tells the group it was a mistake and she was just feeling bad, and that she won't do it again.
Though Paolo at first glance just seems like the cheating boyfriend, which already puts him low on the list, he is actually much worse than that because of the circumstances of his cheating. First off, Paolo tries to cheat with Phoebe, one of Rachel's best friends, which already makes him skeevy. But the real problem comes from how he tries to cheat. Paolo goes to Phoebe's place of work and requests a massage from her. While she's massaging him, Paolo reaches his hands around Phoebe's legs and squeezes her butt. Then, after Phoebe rejects this advance, Paolo takes off the sheet he's wearing and exposes himself to her. It's a grotesque act and is classifiable as sexual assault, making Paolo the worst by far of Rachel's love interests.
Tommy
Tommy (Ben Stiller) is second worst, mostly because he needs some extensive therapy. Tommy and Rachel only date for one episode. At first, he seems really nice to Rachel and the group of friends. However, when they get to the theater to watch Joey's performance and Rachel goes to the bathroom, Ross sees Tommy for who he really is after Tommy screams at an elderly couple who mistook their seats for the "Friends" characters' seats. Ross tries to tell everyone how aggressive Tommy is and that he's not the person they know him to be. This doesn't work because they just think Ross is being jealous as he's usually known to be around Rachel's love interests.
Later in the episode, Tommy freaks out at Ross after Ross almost spills coffee on him and goes on a vicious rant of insults. Of course, the friends aren't looking, but Ross realizes that Tommy feels better about himself when he freaks out on other people. However, Rachel realizes Tommy's true rage issues and need for therapy after Joey and Chandler's pet chick pees on him and the pet duck quacks at him so much that he loses it and screams at them. Rachel and Tommy break up, and all of the friends see how truly awful of a partner he is. Aside from that, they have nothing in common and aren't at all compatible. He doesn't appear in the show for the rest of its run.
Barry
Ah yes, Barry (Mitchell Whitfield). One of Rachel's worst partners. Her relationship with Barry has one good aspect, and that's the fact that their wedding is the catalyst for her to run away to the city and join Monica and company. Barry and Rachel are engaged and about to get married, when Rachel leaves Barry at the altar and finds Monica and the friends at Central Perk. Come to find out later in the series, Barry was cheating on Rachel with her old best friend, Mindy. Plus, after Rachel left him at the altar, he went on their honeymoon to Aruba with Mindy.
Two years after the drama, he and Mindy get engaged, and, because history repeats itself, he cheats on Mindy with Rachel. This brings about some shared blame, though, because Barry brings out a toxic side in Rachel and they both wronged Mindy in this situation, especially because Mindy wanted Rachel to be the maid of honor. Barry spends his entire wedding degrading Rachel and making references to when she left him. Barry cheats on Mindy during their marriage and they end up getting divorced, and it's revealed later that Barry was also hooking up with Rachel's sister, Amy, during his engagement to Rachel. Barry is nothing but a nasty cheater. Ultimately, Barry wasn't the right match for the version of Rachel where she stays in the rich, high society, and he wasn't the right match for the version of Rachel we know and love.
Danny
Danny (George Newbern) is where you start to get into the boyfriends that didn't have any terrible offenses, they just were weird and/or not right for Rachel. Danny dates Rachel in Season 5, after meeting him in the building and mistaking him for a yeti because of his rugged and shaggy appearance. However, Rachel starts to like him. They have pizza together, and then Rachel starts to freak out a bit because Danny never calls her back. Monica ends up asking Danny out for Rachel, and he agrees. That's when things start to get weird.
Already, the audience can see that Danny is rude. He's not a particularly personable guy, makes snap judgments, and just generally isn't pleasant. However, once the audience meets his sister, Krista, it becomes clear that Danny is not just rude – he's weirdly incest-like. Rachel watches them interact and is irritated by their physical closeness, where they tickle each other, wrestle with each other, and hangout with each other with little to no clothes on. It's not like they're sexually attracted to each other, they just are freakishly close to the point where it reads as a red flag. Rachel decides to give it a chance and makes excuses for the weirdness, but she finally ends the relationship when she finds out Danny and Krista take baths together. The combination of the two not having much in common, Danny's rudeness, and his closeness with his sister all created a less than ideal partnership.
Chip
Chip (Dan Gauthier) is about as neutral as it gets, because their entire relationship was in high school. What we do know is that Chip was one of the most popular boys in school when they dated as teens. They dated until he broke up with her for another girl who was rumored to be more willing to engage with him sexually, but then he found out the rumor was just that. As a result, he called Rachel back and asked to get back together, and she said yes. Chip and Rachel also went to their senior prom together, which the audience gets to see in the Season 2 episode, "The One With The Prom Video." Chip nearly stands her up, but ends up taking her to the dance. However, this is short-lived because he leaves Rachel at the prom to have sex with a different girl.
Chip's only other relevance is when he's an adult, he asks Monica out in Season 4. Monica tells Rachel she wants to do it as a way to indulge the former version of herself who would've never been asked out by someone as popular as him. However, she discovers he never changed from high school. Chip was a stupid kid who made the mistake of choosing meaningless sex over Rachel, who really cared about him, but the fact is she was too good for him then and remains too good for him now. Chip's only true offense is never maturing.
Paul
Paul (Bruce Willis) is one of the most interesting characters Rachel dates, because of the way he so drastically changes with Rachel's influence. Paul is the father of Ross' girlfriend Elizabeth, and he meets Rachel when she tries to put in a good word for Ross. The two of them instantly hit it off and decide to go on a double date with Elizabeth and Ross. Paul and Rachel continue to see each other, and though Paul doesn't like Ross, he comes to an agreement with him that he can see Elizabeth as long as he doesn't tell Rachel about his embarrassing moment when he thought he was alone at their guest house. Rachel and Paul have great chemistry, and everything seems to be going well.
However, their relationship becomes rocky when Rachel asks Paul to emotionally open up. It takes Paul a while to open up or tell her personal stories, but once he does, he can't stop. The emotions pour out of him, showing years of neglect and heartache, and Paul relies heavily on Rachel and her friends to help him get through it. It eventually becomes too much for Rachel, and she snaps, telling him she can't listen to it anymore, and though he tries to stop his emotions, he can't do it and their relationship ends. Paul is a wonderful man, a great father, and charming partner. He just needs to seek extensive emotional therapy before he can romantically be with someone else.
Russ
Arguably Rachel's shortest lived boyfriend is Russ (yes, played by David Schwimmer), whom she dates in one episode of Season 2. Rachel and Ross finally get together after a full season and a half of wondering whether or not they ever would. However, Rachel finds a list that Ross made of the pros and cons of being with her, and she is so devastated by the list that she decides to break things off. As a result, she starts dating Russ, a man who looks, acts, and talks nearly the exact same way as Ross. All the friends are freaked out by it, except for Rachel, who doesn't see it at all. The only resemblance she'll admit to seeing is that he looks like Bob Saget.
It's only when Ross and Russ get into an argument that Rachel sees the resemblance, and she decides not to see Russ anymore. By dating him in the first place, it's clear it's because she still loves Ross and is dating Russ to fill that hole. Additionally, on Russ' side, he did nothing wrong; Russ is just a guy who was interested in going out with Rachel, and had a great career as a dentist. Russ and Rachel might've had a good relationship, but it didn't get far enough for the audience to be able to determine that because of his uncanny resemblance to Ross.
Joshua
Rachel develops a crush on her Bloomingdale's client, Joshua (Tate Donovan), during a five-episode stint in Season 4. Joshua tells her that his ex-wife took all of his clothes during their nasty divorce, and Rachel realizes that he's single and develops great feelings for him. She never gets the courage to ask him out, but he asks her to the opening of a new nightclub. However, the nightclub messed up her name so she didn't get in. Rachel then throws a fake party that she says is for Emily, but it's actually for Joshua so she can have a casual setting to cross the barrier of client and friend to something more romantic than that.
The party, though, is a bust. She makes a complete idiot of herself, even dressing like a cheerleader and busting her lip, but Joshua finds out about Rachel's feelings. As it turns out, he rejects her because of his divorce, but then he decides to give the two of them a chance. Joshua, though, is scared easily when Rachel starts to come on too strong in the relationship, and the nail in the coffin comes when Joshua sees Rachel in a wedding dress and she jokingly says "I do" to him, thinking it's Chandler. This sends Joshua away officially, but it had to happen. He wasn't all that great for Rachel in the first place. He is allergic to commitment because of his nasty divorce, and that's not something Rachel should have to emotionally deal with.
Gavin
To appropriately kick off the top five, Gavin (Dermot Mulroney) fills the fifth place slot. Rachel and Gavin have an enemies to lovers trope romance. Rachel finds Gavin handled her job while she was away on maternity leave, and he not only rearranged Rachel's office, but he is also liked better by the boss. She goes back to work and tries extra hard to ensure Gavin doesn't steal her job. The ice between them thaws a bit after Gavin agrees to watch Emma for Rachel while she does a presentation. Monica then invites Gavin to Rachel's birthday party, and Rachel is gifted a beautiful scarf by him.
He admits his feelings for her and they kiss. Everything seems like it'll work out, until Gavin realizes that Rachel and Ross have such a complicated and intertwined relationship that has confused Rachel of her feelings. They decide not to do anything else romantically, and he never comes on the show again. It's a short relationship for only a couple of episodes, but it's one of Rachel's best matches. Gavin and Rachel have a lot in common with their interests in fashion and are both very hardworking. However, Gavin comes in fifth place because of his arrogance and struggles with sensitivity and communication of his feelings. Rachel also doesn't help the situation by being in the middle of her confusion with Ross, so it's likely that Gavin and Rachel could've worked without all the drama.
Tag
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone more genuine than Tag (Eddie Cahill). He becomes Rachel's love interest in Season 7 for a short while, starting off as her assistant at Ralph Lauren. Rachel picked Tag because he was handsome, but he soon proved to be hardworking. Rachel developed deeper feelings for him than just superficial ones. They start dating and their relationship is really solid for a while. However, Rachel breaks up with Tag when she turns 30 because the age difference freaks her out. He pops up a few other times throughout the show, including as a potential option for the father of Rachel's baby due to owning the same sweater as Ross, but otherwise their relationship ends on Rachel's 30th birthday.
She realizes they are at different stages of life, and that she needs to start thinking about settling down instead of engaging in flings. Other than their different stages of life, Tag was great for Rachel. He's slightly ditsy, which makes him relatable and better for Rachel than some of her other condescending partners. He's really fun and makes Rachel enjoy life, and he's always very encouraging of her career and personality. He cared so deeply for her, and always proved this. His only real issue is that he lacks the maturity necessary for Rachel. Otherwise, Tag is kind, charming, and really lovely to be around.
Ross
Some fans may disagree that Ross only comes in third place. However, some fans may think he's ranked too high for the kind of person he is and his treatment of Rachel. He does pull rank because of the fact that he ends up with Rachel, but he certainly isn't the best choice for her. Ross has pined for Rachel since he was in high school. He constantly makes attempts at flirting with her, most of which fail. Rachel finds out about his feelings, and the will-they-won't-they romance begins.
Throughout 10 seasons, they almost get together, but Ross makes a pros and cons list of dating Rachel and she breaks up with him, they get back together, date for a while, Ross gets jealous and they go on a break, he sleeps with someone else, and they officially break up. Then, when they get back to a friendly place, Ross says Rachel's name at the altar when he's marrying Emily. Their friendship struggles, they reconcile, drunkenly get married in Vegas, get divorced, sleep together and have a child together, and then finally end up together in the last episode of the series.
The problem with Ross is that he's selfish, narcissistic, and always thinks he's better than Rachel. They truly love each other, but that love usually manifests in toxic ways where Ross makes Rachel feel small. Plus, they were on a break. However, they get points for maturing together and learning to love each other after they learn to co-parent.
Mark
Mark (Steven Eckholdt) is another potentially controversial take for second place, but he truly is a great match for Rachel outside of their circumstances. Mark and Rachel meet at the Moondance Diner where Monica is working. He offers to help her get a job at Bloomingdale's, and he's extremely formative in the continuation of Rachel's career. However, Ross gets wildly jealous of Mark and only thinks that Mark is helping Rachel to sleep with her. It becomes an issue for Rachel's job, because Ross is constantly sending gifts, calling, and showing up to mark his territory. Mark recognizes this and tells Rachel about it.
Mark is actually the reason Rachel and Ross break up. When Ross and Rachel are on a break, Ross calls the apartment to find Mark is there hanging out with Rachel, which causes Ross to sleep with someone else, and Rachel to break up with him. From there, Rachel should've just dated Mark instead of simply being his friend. They have the most in common by far, and he is always supportive of Rachel's career unlike Ross. Mark is charming, funny, and really kind. He has stability and maturity and everything Rachel was looking for. She and Mark could've been very happy together if it weren't for the fact that Rachel only agreed to a date with him to get back at Ross. After that, her view of their relationship was tainted and they didn't see each other romantically again.
Joey
Rachel's best match is hands down Joey (Matt LeBlanc). Though their relationship is short-lived, it's the healthiest and happiest we'll ever see Rachel. The two of them form their relationship first as a best friendship, which is so key to why they work as a romantic couple. Rachel and Joey eventually live together once Monica and Chandler move. They enjoy their time living together so much that when Rachel becomes pregnant with Emma, Joey decides to sacrifice having sex with anyone to help Rachel care for the baby instead of having her move out. Joey starts developing feelings for Rachel, but Rachel doesn't return those feelings.
Later, though, Rachel starts to have real feelings for Joey. He decides he doesn't want to hurt Ross, so he turns Rachel down. However, when he sees Ross kissing his ex-girlfriend without his permission, he goes back and kisses Rachel. Joey and Ross eventually get to a good place about it, but Rachel and Joey can't seem to get past the kissing phase. This seems like a cop-out way to please fans and get Rachel back together with Ross, because there's no way these two don't have sexual chemistry. Joey and Rachel were meant to be. He's always supportive of her and never makes her feel less than, and unlike Ross he loves her for who she is and not for who she could be. His kindness, charm, and humor all align with Rachel, and his maturity throughout the seasons is perfect for her.