Friends remains one of TV's most popular shows, and it's main characters are all flawed in their own unique and often hilarious ways. Like real-life friends, they fight and get on each other's nerves which just makes them more relatable because even the best of besties have bad days.
But not every character on Friends is someone we want to hang out and drink coffee with all day. Whether they're annoying family members, romantic flings that don't go the distance, roommates or the grouchy guy who lives downstairs. Some secondary Friends characters show up for just a few episodes while others reappear time and time and time again, but they all have one thing in common: they stink. Here are the 10 most hated supporting characters on Friends.
Updated on January 3rd, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Although Friends has been off the year for more than a decade it's still a fan-favorite show for its close friendships and funny dialogue throughout the show. Friends also had a large cast of characters that the main friends would interact with and the supporting cast was typically quirky and sometimes got along with the main group and the audience loved them, but sometimes, the secondary cast of characters was hated by both the characters and the audience. We've added an extra 5 of these unfortunately annoying players to our list to round out the most hated supporting characters ever.
Gunther
The friends didn't outright hate Gunther, but they never tried to include him in their hangouts at the Central Perk or ever really appreciate him even though he was always around working at the coffee shop.
It was clear that Gunther had a crush on Rachel, and at times it got incredibly creepy, so most likely Rachel didn't feel comfortable around him so he was never invited to hang out with the friends.
Frank Buffay Jr.
Frank was Phoebe's half-brother who she met on one of her failed attempts to meet her father and although Frank didn't appear very long on the show and the friends didn't outright hate him he was still an incredibly odd character.
He starts dating his teacher, which the friends think is unethical, but the two eventually end up getting married. It was always odd and uncomfortable when Frank showed up on the show from his awkward relationship with newfound sister Phoebe and his romantic relationship with his teacher.
Carol Willick
Although Carol is an interesting character and a great foil to Ross as she's much calmer while Ross tends to blow up with anger, she still didn't get much love on the show as most of her story is told through Ross's lens.
Ross is upset that she's left him and feels out of the loop when their son Ben is born, but Carol is happy with her new partner Susan and most of the friends support it, but it takes Ross a long time to come around and he tends to be quick to get upset with her.
Jill Green
Reese Witherspoon guest stars as Rachel's younger sister and she is probably pretty similar to how Rachel was before she moved in with Monica and became part of the friend group.
She's completely spoiled and has been sent to live with her sister after their father threatens to cut off her finances. Jill ends up trying to date Ross to spite Rachel and was an all-around annoying character.
Ben Geller
Ben Geller is Ross's son and he doesn't appear too often on the show and although he's just a typical kid he's still a bit of an annoying character.
He pulls some pranks on Rachel and Ross and beyond that, he's not really part of the show. It might have been fun to see Ben interact with a character like Joey who would have liked to play his type of games, but instead, Ross reprimanded him throughout the series.
Gary
Gary's a stereotypical tough-talking NYPD detective and an incredibly odd match for Phoebe who plays fast and loose, including impersonating an officer when she finds Gary's badge at Central Perk during season 5. Some women may think it's cute that Gary uses his resources as a cop to track Phoebe down and ask her out, but it just makes him a stalker.
Gary continues to push their relationship forward at breakneck speed, and despite Phoebe's best efforts to slow things, Gary resorts to interrogating and bullying Phoebe to get his way. If fans need any more proof that Gary just isn't Mr. Right, he shoots a bird making too much noise outside his bedroom window in front of the vegetarian, hater of fur, and lover of all creatures big, small, and feathery.
Emily Waltham
Ross falls hard and fast for Emily during season 4, but their whirlwind romance comes to a screeching halt when he calls his bride "Rachel" at the altar. Emily bails on their reception and their honeymoon. A heartbroken Ross tries to win her back, but Emily continually shoots him down.
Emily starts as a sympathetic character, but the once -charming Brit quickly becomes jealous, controlling, and unreasonable when she demands Ross moves to London and end his friendship with Rachel. This long-distance romance is doomed, especially once Emily shows her true colors. From the start, Ross goes to great lengths to win Emily's heart while she never reciprocates. Ta-ta, Em.
Janice Litman-Goralnik
Janice is the human equivalent of nails scraping across a chalkboard. Everything about her is grating from her nasally migraine-inducing voice to her braying laugh. She begins as an on-and-off-again love interest in the show's early seasons and later devolves into an antagonist.
Janice either purposely ignores other's feelings or is clueless to social cues. Her imperviousness to insults means Chandler -- and later Monica -- are forced to come up with elaborate lies and schemes to extricate her from their lives. Sometimes her intentions are well-meaning, other times her compliments are backhanded, but her pure joy at making Chandler squirm can be hard to watch.
Eddie Menuek
After Joey gets his big break and lands a leading role on Days of Our Lives during season 2, he decides to move out. Chandler tries to fill the void in his life with a new roomie, Eddie. Eddie's recent breakup leaves him unhinged, delusional and jealous, and Eddie quickly becomes obsessed with gaslighting Chandler.
Eddie, whose craziness is punctuated by a maniacal laugh, brings no personality to the table unless he's saying or doing something disturbing. His over-the-top antics like watching Chandler sleep or keeping a goldfish cracker as a pet expedite his exit. The entire story arc of Joey moving out proves neither Joey nor Chandler are capable of making smart life choices without the other around. They are endearingly co-dependent.
Janine Lecroix
When Chandler and Monica decide to move in together at the start of season 6, Ross interviews a bevy of beauties to be his new roommate and lands on Janine, a gorgeous dancer. Janine's personality isn't much of a plot point. Her primary job is to be hot and provide Joey with ample opportunities to try and hookup. Janine would be completely innocuous and forgettable if it weren't for her intense dislike of Chandler and Monica.
After a double date with the couple across the hall, Janine makes it clear to Joey she's not a fan of his two closest friends. Not clicking with Monica and Chandler is one thing, but her reasons are murky (she's loud, he's blah). She's also nice to their faces but disparages them behind their backs, proving Janine's not very pretty on the inside.
Dr. Leonard Green
Dr. Green pops up throughout the series, and he's fearless when it comes to being offensive and rude to strangers, members of his own family, and Rachel's friends. He yells at waiters, chastises Ross for leaving a hefty tip, insinuates Phoebe is a lesbian, calls his unborn grandchild a "bastard," and he belittles Rachel and her life choices at every turn.
Rachel's childhood memories mainly consist of her father yelling, and she's constantly trying to please him. Dr. Green is a bully who uses his money to control the women in his life, and in spite of Rachel's independence, she constantly tries and fails to gain her father's approval.
Amy Green
As children, Amy bit Rachel and stole her boyfriends and as adults, Amy starts a girl fight over a Ralph Lauren family discount. Amy fails to visit Rachel in the hospital after Rachel gives birth to Emma whose name she can't be bothered to remember and whose looks she often disparages. Amy is rude to all of Rachel's friends, particularly Joey who she finds far less impressive in person than on TV.
Even though Amy is completely self-centered, she occasionally shows a slight interest in improving her relationship with Rachel, but their attempts to bond never end well. Amy is incapable of accepting criticism and usually retaliates with an insult. Amy's total self-absorption is the catalyst for all of the conflict and most of the humor resulting from her two appearances on the show.
Ursula Buffay
Phoebe and Ursula go years at a time without speaking and with good reason, the two have never gotten along. Ursula's one olive branch consists of asking Phoebe if she'd be interested in doing a porn movie because twin stuff is a big seller. Ursula withholds vital information about their upbringing like the fact that their biological mother is alive.
Whenever Phoebe finds a reason to reconnect with Ursula, she winds up disappointed, rejected, and often angry. Ursula may come across as unintelligent, but she's just disinterested in other people. It's amazing how Phoebe's tragic childhood and her bizarre or non-existent relationships with family members are parlayed into fodder for comedy. Ursula serves as a reminder of how exceptional Phoebe is as a person as a friend in spite of having every conceivable excuse not to be.
Mr. Heckles
Monica's massive apartment is a dream come true with a caveat: it comes with a cranky weird guy who lives downstairs, Mr. Heckles. Not much is known about Heckles except that he was a normal fun-loving class clown in high school, and he winds up a hermit who only leaves his apartment to have offputting interactions with neighbors or complain about the noise coming from Monica and Rachel's.
He also has a bad habit of trying to claim animals that don't belong to him including a cat and Ross' monkey. Heckles' death resonates with Chandler, but mostly, nobody is sad to see this old crank go.
Kathy
When Joey begins dating Kathy, Chandler falls hard for the funny, smart, attractive actress. Kathy and Chandler are far more compatible than Kathy and Joey, and their mutual attraction creates an awkward love triangle.
Chandler does his best to keep his distance. Kathy claims she doesn't want to be the kind of woman who comes between the best friends, but she does it anyway. Eventually, the couple gets Joey's blessing, but then she cheats on Chandler with another man, indicating that Kathy isn't big on fidelity, and her feelings for Chandler never run as deep for him as his do for her.