Top 10 Times Rachel Was the Worst on Glee
#10: Cheated on Finn with His Best Friend “Special Education”
Feeling wounded after finding out her boyfriend Finn had slept with Santana over a year ago, Rachel impulsively seeks her revenge in the form of a make-out session with Noah Puckerman. Puck feels guilty about hurting his best friend and leaves halfway through, further highlighting how poor Rachel’s judgement is in this episode, as even Puck knew it was a bad idea. Rachel does eventually confess to Finn, directly describing her motive as wanting to hurt Finn and make him feel bad. Rachel cheating was clearly no mistake, and it was especially cruel knowing Finn had been cheated on in the past. At this point, Finn breaking up with Rachel was absolutely justified.
#9: Her Attempt to Date Blaine “Blame it on the Alcohol”
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Rachel becomes infatuated with Blaine after the two of them shared a drunken kiss at a house party. She asks him out despite her best friend Kurt’s obvious crush on Blaine, seemingly convinced her kiss has caused him to become either straight or bisexual. First of all, that’s not how sexuality works, and second of all, she shouldn’t have even tried to pursue Blaine in the first place if she knew Kurt liked him. Thankfully, the Rachel and Blaine relationship storyline is cut short when Rachel kisses him again, sober this time, and Blaine can confidently say that he is undoubtedly gay.
#8: Ditched Her Own Broadway Show “The Back-up Plan”
When someone as driven and determined as Rachel achieves her lifelong dream of starring in a Broadway show, you’d think she’d do everything in her power not to ruin such an incredible opportunity. Unfortunately, Rachel seemed to let her success go to her head as she decided she was already “too big for Broadway” and ditched a performance of Funny Girl to audition for a television pilot in LA. This episode shows just how selfish Rachel could be. She saw an opportunity for her own personal success and dropped everything to take it, without thinking about how her actions would affect the cast and crew of Funny Girl who relied on her as the lead.
#7: Tried to Keep Finn from Rejoining the Football Team “Britney/Brittany”
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After Finn is kicked off the football team, Rachel worries that if he were to rejoin then his resurgence in popularity would threaten their relationship. When she does finally allow him to go back, she becomes jealous of the attention he is getting. So she tests his loyalty by sending Quinn, Finn’s ex-girlfriend, to try to ask him out. Not only is it bad enough that Rachel doesn’t seem to care about her boyfriend’s hopes and desires, but she also doesn’t trust him to be faithful to her - despite the fact that Finn has been nothing but supportive and loyal throughout their relationship.
#6: Her Horrible Treatment of Kurt in New York “Diva” & Other Episodes
When Rachel and Kurt moved in together in New York, it seemed like it might be possible for two equally ambitious and talented divas to coexist. Unfortunately, this proved too good to be true as Rachel’s ego grew even further and she became a terrible roommate and an even worse friend. From inviting her boyfriend to move in with them without consulting Kurt to not-so-subtly implying that Kurt was jealous of her success and talent, Rachel continuously treated her best friend in the most disrespectful and self-righteous manner. Rachel could not bring herself to acknowledge that Kurt is just as talented as she is, and it almost destroyed one of her closest friendships.
#5: Slapped Santana Out of Jealousy “Frenemies”
Okay, Rachel’s logic makes absolutely no sense in this episode. Rachel has been cast in a starring role on Broadway, but becomes infuriated when she finds out Santana has auditioned to be her understudy. After spewing a barrage of insults at each other, Rachel shocks Santana by slapping her hard across the face. Rachel’s use of physical violence was in no way justified in this scene, but honestly neither was her anger over Santana auditioning for the understudy role. It wasn’t like Santana was going to steal the role of Fanny Brice away from Rachel, but Rachel clearly felt jealous of and threatened by Santana regardless.
#4: The “Run Joey Run” Music Video “Bad Reputation”
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It’s no surprise how much Rachel enjoys watching boys fight over her, considering how much she loves being the center of attention. In this episode, Rachel makes a controversial music video in which she cast three different boys as her love interest, including her boyfriend Jesse and ex-boyfriend Finn. Rachel edited the video to make it seem as though all three boys were competing for her love, even though none of them even knew about the triple-casting in the first place. Rachel hoped the video would make her seem more desirable and popular, but it really just made her seem manipulative and self-centered once everyone realized what she had done.
#3: Tries to Ruin Sunshine’s Audition “Audition”
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In the first episode of Glee’s second season, we meet Sunshine Corazon, a foreign exchange student from the Philippines with a seriously powerful voice. When Rachel finds out how talented Sunshine is and that she’s interested in auditioning for glee club, Rachel gets so jealous that she gives her the address of a literal crack house instead of the auditorium where auditions are being held. Rachel faced no consequences for her actions and, when called out, showed no remorse for what she had done either. This moment was so bizarre and it was hard to believe even Rachel would do such a terrible thing, but it really proves how far she is willing to take things when she feels threatened.
#2: Her Complete Lack of Interest in Finn’s Hopes & Dreams “Big Brother”
From very early in the series, Rachel had a clear vision of what she wanted her future to look like, and she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. This attitude is admirable when it comes to overcoming adversity in life, but not so much when it means ignoring the wishes of the person you want to spend your future with. When Finn suggests an alteration to Rachel’s meticulously planned future, she outright rejects it without even entertaining the thought, leaving Finn feeling very underrepresented in their relationship. It’s selfish for Rachel to think she can control someone else’s future like that, but also immature for her to think a one-sided relationship like that would ever last. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Throwing a Tantrum Over Not Getting a Solo “Preggers” Her Ableist Comment Towards Artie “Pilot” Claimed a Teacher Inappropriately Touched a Student “Pilot” Shot Down Mercedes’ Request to Sing More Songs by Black Artists “Throwdown” Her Crush on Mr. Schue “Ballad”
#1: Her “Silent Protest” Diva Moment “Special Education”
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When Rachel finds out she won’t be singing a solo at sectionals, she shows up to glee club with duct tape over her mouth as a form of silent protest. She feels it symbolically represents how her talents have been silenced, which she explains out loud, defeating the purpose of a silent protest. It’s absolutely infuriating to see someone so egotistical she can’t allow anyone else to be in the spotlight, but it’s even more frustrating that her protest seems to have worked. Mr. Schue calls her out on her behavior in the moment, but in every other competition that Rachel participates in, she gets her solo. Her major diva behavior should never have been rewarded, no matter her talents.
