Top 20 TV Couples You Never Expected to Hook Up

A major cast shakeup occurred between this medical drama’s third and fourth seasons. The irascible but brilliant Dr. Gregory House auditions several students to join his team of diagnostic rock stars. Though House cuts her from that team, Amber Volakis sticks around to date his best friend, Dr. Wilson. If we were surprised by their relationship, House was even more so. He loathed Amber, even calling her a not-so-nice name during a testy exchange. Despite House’s objections, Amber and Wilson really did seem to work as a couple — at least for the limited time they had together.

Scott McCall’s best friend and loyal sidekick wasn’t exactly popular at the beginning of the “Teen Wolf” story. It was almost cliché for Stiles Stilinski to have a crush on the most popular girl in school. But what started out as unrequited love became something else. Before, Lydia treated him like he didn’t exist, even when he was speaking right to her. But their supernatural adventures together helped them forge a real friendship. For a while, a friendship was all they had. But as the two came to see each other as more than just their high school archetypes, they shocked even themselves when they realized how real their connection was.

Karofsky had a wild ride of a character arc. He began the series as the football player bullying Kurt Hummel, but his homophobia was revealed to be a cover for his own closeted gay identity. “Glee” watchers would seemingly go months without seeing him, and every time he came back, he was in a dramatically different set of circumstances. But the biggest shocker was when it was revealed that he was dating Kurt’s ex, Blaine. The storyline didn’t really go anywhere, except to complicate Kurt and Blaine’s getting back together, but the fact that it happened at all was crazy to consider.

Ian Gallagher’s sexuality was a major storyline in the first season of “Shameless.” But when we first met the violent and intolerant Mickey Milkovich, romance was the last thing on our minds. After Mickey robs the convenience store where Ian works, Ian confronts him at his house. But their passionate fight turns into something else. In spite of being set up as bitter rivals, the two would go on to become a favorite of fans and one of the show’s most functional couples. And given the kinds of relationships on “Shameless,” that’s saying something.

Viewers were basically convinced from the jump that Jess and Nick were made for each other. For some, though, the coupling of the lovable ladies man Schmidt and Jess’ standoffish best friend, Cece, was a harder sell. Surprisingly, she may have been the one to catch feelings first. Their casual relationship became increasingly upsetting for Jess, who needed a minute to get used to it, and it was hilarious every time. They definitely had to grow into their relationship, with some speed bumps along the way. But the audience definitely fell in love with this couple.

Hannibal Lecter is many things, but a romantic lead is not generally one of them. When he and his weary colleague, Alana Bloom, hooked up in season 2, it was a pretty surprising development. Although a very intelligent psychology professor, Alana soon finds she’s in over head with Will Graham and Hannibal. As all things are on “Hannibal,” their relationship was full of psychological complications. It didn’t last long. Word to the wise: When your former hookup comes looking for you with a gun, chances are it wasn’t meant to be.

Stan Rizzo arrived at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and immediately butted heads with Peggy Olson. His insults and suggestive comments don’t exactly endear her to him. Her unwillingness to take his jokes irritates him. But after being forced to work together, Peggy figured out how to handle Stan. Maybe she figured it out too well. Once she broke his ego, the art director was hooked. The two’s frosty relationship starts to thaw after a risqué work session in a hotel room. Their budding attraction throughout the last couple seasons culminated in the two being endgame.

Kelly Kapoor’s one mission in life is to get attention. Case in point: her entire romantic history. In season 4 of “The Office,” she begins dating warehouse foreman Darryl. The relationship was as much a shock to us as it was their coworkers at Dunder Mifflin. But it was all just a ploy to make Kelly’s coworker, Ryan, jealous after he dumped her. After all, she usually had one eye on Ryan when she and Darrly kissed. In a way, their brief fling was kind of perfect. Darryl was attracted to Kelly’s manipulative ways and Kelly found his honesty refreshing. Although it didn’t last long, it was comedy gold.

Maxwell Sheffield’s testy business partner and his stuffy butler were perfect comic foils for each other. For several seasons of “The Nanny,” they nearly started spitting tacks every time the other one entered a room. We loved watching them hate each other. There was no real reason to think things wouldn’t just continue that way, with the two making cracks at the other’s expense. But it turned out these two loved insulting each other so much that things eventually just translated to loving each other. Who knew calling someone a cow was just how some people flirt?

Look, it wouldn’t be “Grey’s Anatomy” without a few wrongheaded romantic entanglements. But this one just felt wrong from the word “go.” George O’Malley’s fixation on his female colleagues, particularly Meredith Grey, was something you thought he would’ve grown out of after he met and married Callie Torres. But no, he and Izzie had to ruin it by getting together in season 3. What’s worse is they had great chemistry as friends. They were more like brother and sister, which made it all the more hard to swallow when they got together. It really seemed like the writers were just trying to throw something at the wall and see if it stuck. This one didn’t.

The ditzy and popular Haley Dunphy seems like a strange match for the goofy nanny Andy, and not just because of their very different personalities. Andy is in a long-term committed relationship from the moment they meet, and while they have undeniable chemistry, he’s such a decent guy that we would never expect him to cheat on his partner. But their love is too strong to be denied…and Andy’s fiancée wasn’t exactly faithful either. Haley and Andy may been unexpected, but they’ve become surprisingly popular together, given how cute and romantic their relationship proved to be.

Maria is a painter Samantha meets and hits it off with, leading to not only sex, but also a relationship. Samantha Jones is notoriously obsessed with sex, so it came as a shock to her friends, as well as the audience, when she entered into a committed relationship with anyone at all, much less with another woman. While Samantha’s promiscuous past ultimately comes between them and leads to their break-up, Samantha’s time with Maria definitely showed off a new and unexpected side to her character.

There have been many differences between the “Walking Dead” comics and the television series, but one of the most surprising and well-received has been the relationship between Rick and Michonne. Rick is the hardened leader of the main group of survivors, while Michonne is his katana-wielding right hand woman. Over the course of the series, a mutual trust and rapport develop between them, which transitions into love in the later seasons. While the lack of such a pairing in the comics may have made them seem an unlikely couple at first, their similarly strong, capable personalities make them an excellent match on TV.

Some couples seem destined to end up together from the start of a show, while others seem like they’re dreamt up to keep an inevitable couple from getting together too soon. This is definitely one of the latter. Caleb always seemed like he was destined for Spencer’s friend Hanna, so he and Spencer’s relationship came as something of a surprise. Also, their respective backgrounds made a potential pairing unlikely, since Caleb has a checkered past, having done his fair share of computer hacking, while Spencer comes from a family of lawyers. Still, they did initially bond over a bit of hacking, so it wasn’t a complete surprise.

When Willow experiments even more with magic in college, she meets a fellow witch named Tara, and the two of them fall under each other’s spell, so to speak. The pairing was a very unexpected one, not in the least because Willow still carried a torch for Oz, but also because she’d shown few indications of not being straight. Though there were some signs... [“That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil, and skanky... and I think I'm kinda gay.”] In addition, Tara and Willow were so surprising because, at this point in time, few homosexual couples had been depicted on television. Though we couldn’t have predicted it, these two ended up being a fan favorite couple.

“Lost” features a long-running love triangle between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, and when Juliet was added to the mix, she seemed like a romantic rival for Kate for Jack’s affections. So, when Juliet is stranded on the Island with Sawyer, it came as a surprise that they ended up together, particularly as they didn’t begin on the best footing (there may have been a taser involved). Despite being an unexpected relationship, they quickly become the power couple that fans didn’t know they wanted; making their ultimate separation all the more tragic, and their eventual metaphysical reunion all the more heartwarming.

Although Jackie’s relationship with Fez was also a head scratcher, the Point Place gang’s resident diva’s relationship with bad boy Hyde was even more out of left field (and a better pairing to boot). Hyde and Jackie constantly snipe at each other throughout most of the first part of the series, although there are some romantic undercurrents as well. Their hookup is thoroughly unexpected though, as they are revealed to be fooling around in secret. Despite several breakups and Hyde’s reluctance to commit, their relationship is a remarkably entertaining one that we would’ve liked to have seen go the distance.

Like some of our previous entries, this is a pairing that had very little buildup, partially due to the characters’ longtime dislike for one another. Blair Waldorf is a queen bee socialite, and pretty much encompasses everything burgeoning writer Dan Humphrey claims to hate. In fact, the pair rarely interact during the first part of the series, and when they do it’s often because they are forced to and often end up in competition with one another. However, it’s this competition that brings them closer together. Ultimately, while most fans prefer them with the characters they ultimately ended up, Dan and Blair still have their supporters.

While this show has seen several unexpected matchups, notably Joey and Rachel, we had to tip our hats to Monica and Chandler. The funny thing is, in hindsight, we can see the hints of it building in earlier episodes - though the whole jellyfish incident definitely had us thinking it would never happen. [“You will always be the guy who peed on me!”] However, at Ross’ wedding in London, the pair hook up unexpectedly off-screen, catching the audience completely off-guard. Their unexpected romance hit the show like a hurricane and had fans loving every minute of their sweet and hilarious relationship. [“Oh my God, Chandler and Monica!”] We’re right there with you, Phoebe!

We would not have laid odds on these two committing at all, much less to each other. Barney is practically a professional horndog, devoting large swaths of his time to picking up women in outlandish ways, while Robin is equally devoted to her job and isn’t interested in being tied down. Their disparate personalities, as well as Robin’s complicated relationship with Ted, made it seem unlikely that these two would get together. But hook up they do. And while they don’t get a happily ever after thanks to a divisive finale, Barney and Robin manage to bring the best and worst out of each other when they are together.

Which of these unexpected couples do you ship, and which one would you rather pretend never happened? Let us know in the comments.