7 Times Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S was unnecessarily competitive

The beloved comedy show F.R.I.E.N.D.S. premiered in 1994 and is still one of the most popular sitcoms. It introduced a group of friends living in New York and navigating through their lives. The group included Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Ross (David Schwimmer), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Ross’s younger sister Monica (Courteney Cox), and her long-lost friend, who joins the group, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston).

Although the group has been close friends for a long time, all of them have different personalities and natures, which makes the show more interesting and funnier. For instance, Ross’s younger sister, Monica, was known for her obsessive-compulsive nature and competitiveness. When it came to competition, it was hard to beat Monica, as she had a habit of taking it too far and sometimes extracting the fun out of it, but still, her taking competitions too far ended up being the funniest scenes of the show.

Here’s a list of 7 such times when Monica took her competitiveness to another level in F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Disclaimer: The article is based on the writer's opinion. Reader discretion is advised.

7 Times Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S was unnecessarily competitive

7) Monica competes with Doug (Season 5, Episode 12)

Over the 10 seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., we’ve seen that it's not just her close ones that suffer due to Monica’s competitive attitude, as many others have gone through it. For instance, Monica and Chandler's tennis match with his boss and his wife was extreme.

In episode 12 of season 5 of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica and Chandler attend his office party as a couple and are invited by his boss, Doug, to play tennis. Since they had no idea what they were getting into, Monica showed them how ruthless and over-competitive she can be while playing tennis with the couple. It was funny to see them struggling to keep up with Monica while Chandler, on the other hand, tried his best to let his boss win.

6) Monica wrestles Megan for the wedding dress (Season 7, Episode 17)

Courteney Cox in Friends | Image via Warner Bros. Television

In season 7, episode 17 of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica meets Megan Bailey, another bride-to-be, in a wedding dress store and tells her about Kleinman’s, who are selling wedding dresses at a 50% discount.

However, Monica’s friendliness toward the bride-to-be vanishes when she sees Megan with the dress she was planning to buy. She wrestles Megan to the ground, clutching her hands behind her back, and with the help of Pheobe and Rachel, successfully escapes with the dress.

5) Monica gets too competitive in football (Season 3, Episode 9)

After being urged by their friends, Monica and Ross agree to play football and depict that the fierce competition with which they used to play for the Geller Cup while they were younger, hasn’t died yet.

Both of them do not back down and play fiercely, and at the end, are the only two left in the park as neither of them wanted to give up the ball first, until it began to snow. This was one of the rare moments in F.R.I.E.N.D.S., where we get to see how Ross can be as overly competitive as his sister.

4) Monica competes with Mike (Season 9, Episode 24)

In the finale of Season 9 of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica meets her equal while playing ping-pong against Paul Rudd’s Mike. As both bicker and play, they end up tied at 41 each, and due to the pressure of winning, Monica hurts her hand against the table.

Later, Chandler decides to play on her behalf, which she initially opposses as she thinks Chandler is a bad player, but is surprised when he beats Mike in the sudden death round.

3) Monica competes with Phoebe to become the hottest couple (Season 5, Episode 17)

Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox in Friends | Image via Warner Bros. Television

In this episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica gets inadvertently competitive with Phoebe’s take on her intimate relationship with Chandler. While Phoebe discusses her new and exciting relationship with Gary, she wonders aloud about not being able to believe that Monica and Chandler’s relationship would still be as it was when they began dating.

Monica takes it to heart and gets riled up to beat Pheobe by proving to her that Chandler and she are the hottest couple among the two. While initially Chandler loves it, he grows tired of the competition and finally tells Monica that he was happy with how their relationship was and how crazily in love with Monica he was.

2) Monica turns the ball toss game too competitive (Season 5, Episode 21)

In episode 21 of season 5 of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica’s unnecessary competitiveness disrupts the fun of the ball toss game that Ross and Joey were playing. They had been enjoying the game for two hours, without dropping the ball once, which continues for another couple of hours when Monica joined and made the game more competitive.

The end comes when Joey tosses the ball to Pheobe the next day, and she keeps it on the table after catching it and finally ending the game. However, Monica still tries to convince the others that if they pretend that it didn’t happen, they could still continue playing, but the others decide to quit the game.

1) Monica bets the apartment in a quiz (Season 4, Episode 12)

Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston in Friends | Image via Warner Bros. Television

In this episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monica’s competitiveness breaks all limits after she bets her own apartment while competing with Joey and Chandler. It began with a simple quip from Joey, where he claimed that the boys know more about them than they know about the boys.

This awakens Monica’s competitive nature and turns into a trivia quiz where they all try to answer questions about each other. Before the final lightning round, Monica asks them to get rid of their rooster and duck, and the boys demand that they bet their apartment. In a fit of overconfidence, Monica agrees to it while Rachel remains a bit doubtful. However, the overconfidence did not help them as they lost after not knowing Chandler's profession and had to give up their apartment.