Sometimes the people we know and love on TV do terrible things. It happens to the best of them. On The Big Bang Theory, the characters slip up from time to time. It happens. While everyone on the Big Bang Theory is close friends, sometimes they can get on each other's nerves. That can often result in bad decisions.
While some of these terrible things weren't really done with the intention of actually causing harm to each other, they still ended up with damaging consequences. Here is an exploration of the worst things each character has done.
Sheldon Steals Leonard's Bitcoin
While he has arguably done a lot of terrible things, a few stand out. Sheldon treats everyone around him terribly and causes them to feel a lot of pain because of his ego. In the ninth episode of season eleven, "The Bitcoin Entanglement," the guys are discussing the value of Bitcoin, which happens to be substantial at the time. The episode flashes back to seven years prior when they decided to mine some of their own digital currency. At the time, they leave Sheldon out of it because he's too concerned about the tax implications.
In the present, when they go to look for the Bitcoin folder, they find that it's been emptied thanks to Sheldon. Thinking he's being sneaky and teaching them a lesson, it's revealed that Sheldon removed the files and stored them on a Batman flash drive Leonard was carrying around on his keychain. However, Leonard lost that keychain years ago, and the Bitcoin was therefore lost forever. Thanks to Sheldon's "lesson," the guys lost a substantial amount of money that could have made them rich.
Leonard Cheats On Penny
In the season eight finale, "The Commitment Determination," Leonard and Penny are on their way to elope in Vegas when Leonard drops this bomb on her: while he was away on his expedition to the North Sea, he had a drunken makeout session with another woman. It turns out that this woman is also a coworker that he sees at work every day.
This is one of the worst things Leonard has ever done. He spends years pining over Penny and trying desperately to win her over and then win her back after they broke up, and he just throws this all away to make out with someone. To make things worse, he waits until their wedding day to tell her about it. Not cool. If you think about it, though, he also cheats on Priya. Maybe Leonard is just a cheater.
Penny Keeps Sheldon From Hanging Out With Stan Lee
In season three, Penny slips in the shower, and Sheldon has to drive her to the emergency room despite not having his full license. Later on in the season, traffic cameras flag them because he ran a red light on the way there. However, Penny throws him under the bus.
As a result, Sheldon has to miss a meet and greet at the comic book store with Stan Lee to appear in court. Then he gets thrown in jail because, well, he is Sheldon. Instead of talking to him first, Penny immediately assumes that since Sheldon didn't have a license, it would be okay if he took the blame. Penny should have taken the heat on that one.
Howard Tortures Sheldon Over A Chance To Work With Stephen Hawking
In season five, Howard gets the opportunity to work with Stephen Hawking. Sheldon is desperate for the chance to meet his idol and begs Howard to introduce him. Howard sees an opportunity to get Sheldon to do whatever he wants, but he takes this way too far. He puts him through a series of embarrassing tasks like taking his mother shopping and cleaning his nasty belt buckles.
By the end of these activities, he gets Sheldon to appear pubicly in a sexy maid uniform at work in front of their esteemed academic colleagues. It was just too much.
Bernadette Bullies Her Friends
While she projects the image of a small, quiet, innocent sweetheart on the outside, Bernadette is known for being mean and scary by just about anyone around her. When Penny starts working at her company, it's revealed that everyone always gives her whatever she wants because they're afraid of her. In fact, the reason that Penny gets the job in the first place is that Bernadette's boss is afraid to say no because he's scared of what Bernadette will do. Basically, Bernadette acts like a mean bully who scares her own friends and even her husband.
Amy Teaches A Monkey How To Smoke
Amy is generally a good person, but sometimes she does some questionable things. Sometimes those things are out of pure naivety, while other times it's intentional. Training a monkey to smoke is one of those intentionally terrible things because it is unethical animal cruelty.
In season four, she's taken home one of the monkeys in a nicotine addiction study and is giving him cigarettes to smoke in her apartment. That is just not right.
Raj Fantasises About Getting With Bernadette
Howard and Raj are best friends. You should never want your best friend to die so you can marry their wife. However, in season four, episode 14, "The Thespian Catalyst," he starts having daydreams about this.
In one scenario, Howard is hit by a truck and not going to survive, so he asks Raj to take his place and "satisfy" Bernadette. Another scenario sees them performing a Bollywood dance together. It's really not a good move on his part. Thankfully, he never actually does anything about it, but, later on, Priya tells Leonard about his secret crush.
Leonard, Howard, and Raj Falsified Sheldon's Data
In the season three premiere, the guys return from an expedition to the North Pole, where they had been doing research on string theory. Shortly after they get back, it's revealed that they had messed with Sheldon's data by using an electric can opener to get him to stop being so annoying about not getting results.
Sheldon is embarrassed because he'd thought he'd made a breakthrough and had even gone and told people at the university. He even flees home to Texas after being unable to handle the ridicule. Sure, Sheldon does a lot of things that really anger everyone else, but interfering with his data and making him believe he's had a breakthrough is really, really low.
Sheldon Jeopardizes His Friends' Careers
Sheldon gets two strikes because both of these things are equally terrible. In season four, the FBI is checking up on Howard's background so he can get security clearance to work on a project with the Department of Defense. The agent interviews all of the guys, who all act equally embarrassing. But it's Sheldon's reveal that gets Howard in a lot of trouble, and he doesn't get clearance.
According to Howard, this sets his career back about two years. When he goes back to try to retract his statement, he also accidentally reveals that Leonard almost gave secrets to a North Korean spy long ago, putting Leonard in a bad spot.
Howard Tried To Spy On Penny
We don't see this actually happen, but Penny reveals it when talking to Howard in season four, episode four, "The Hot Troll Deviation."
Howard uses a recording of Sheldon to get Penny to open the door for him. When she does, he asks her if she would have opened the door if she knew it was him. She tells him, "not since I found out that the teddy bear you gave me had a webcam in it." That's pretty creepy, even for Howard.