The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
**Content Warning: This article contains details or language that are triggering. Please keep this in mind if you choose to continue reading.**
I grew up watching the CW, but I somehow managed to not get on the Gossip Girl train. I remember watching a couple episodes of the last season randomly, but other than that, I had never truly watched the infamous Gossip Girl. Unfortunately, since the show is so old, the one big secret about *SPOILER ALERT* Gossip Girl being none other than Dan Humphrey was something that I already knew. I also knew that Blair and Chuck were this epic couple because my best friend gushes about them all the time. Because I knew these two things, I thought there would never be any point in me watching the show. But after coming across a Youtube video by the Youtuber “Dylanisintrouble” (I highly recommend you watch his videos, they are so funny) where he watched the first and last episode of the show, I found myself hesitating to watch the video because I wanted to watch the whole Gossip Girl show myself first. So I went to Netflix and started watching. And about 6 months went by, and I was still on the Pilot. I just found it so boring, and I had so many assumptions about the show already. But when it was ripped away from Netflix at the start of 2021. I felt as though I lost something. I probably would’ve never finished that Pilot, but I wanted the option to finish it. Then I saw it on HBO Max (which I luckily had) and decided that even though I didn’t have high hopes for the show, it was time to finally give it a real shot. Six seasons later, I can honestly say that I love the show. It has its faults (Made us think Dan was poor for living in a loft in Brooklyn…Lofts are expensive) and weird moments, but overall it was very entertaining. Being a New Yorker myself that loves the Upper East side, the show was something I could relate to in a way. With the reboot on its way I wanted to rank the characters from the original and while the show is still fresh in my mind. Let’s get into your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite…
- Chuck Bass
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I reluctantly place Chuck Bass in the number 1 spot. This is because he was a literal rapist in the pilot. He was horrible, and I knew the show was going to have a whole redeeming storyline for him, and I resisted it, but in the end I actually liked him. The writers really commited to giving him (and only him lol) some good character development. Where other characters got annoying (Dan and Serena … we will get to them), Chuck just became a mature and level headed person. I blame it on the writers. They sacrificed the depth in other characters to give Chuck this arc, which worked but as we will see, it left a whole bunch of characters off with a lot less to work with.
- Blair Waldorf
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Blair Waldorf, Chuck’s other half. She has taken a lot of crap in the show. She had an eating disorder growing up. Her dad came out as gay, and she felt her relationship with him slipping away. She got cheated on by her boyfriend who slept with her best friend. She has been living in Serena’s shadow for their whole friendship. Despite all of this, she manages to forgive people for everything that they do. But she isn’t without flaws. She is the epitome of the spoiled rich girl who thinks she should get whatever she wants. Most of the time, it is through scheming which almost always blows up in her face. Yet, she is at number 2. She is here because, despite her definitely being a classist, (she made so many digs at Dan being poor…which he wasn’t ). Let me explain, she did some messed up stuff, but everyone expected that from her. That was her personality. She wasn’t sneaky about it. It doesn’t make it right, but it does make her more likeable especially when paired with her loyalty and all the sh*t she took from the people around her.
- Dan Humphrey
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I know many of you are probably gasping right now that I put Dan in the top 3. He is probably one of the most hated characters because well…he is Gossip Girl. But here me out. I loved Dan in season 1. He was that lovable, down to earth, funny, outcast character who is into books and gets shy around his popular girl crush. It’s a well known recipe that works. However, Dan becomes a hypocrite, and this is why a lot of people hate him. He talks about how much he hates the upper east side and the rich people culture, but this whole time he is trying to be a part of it. He acts so self-righteous like he is better than them because he isn’t rich, but he is desperately trying to be one of them. Yet, I still like him. I think I am holding on to that season 1 Dan. I know it’s in there somewhere. I also think I see where he is coming from. They always kept him at arm’s length. He was allowed to be their friend, but they always reminded him that he wasn’t one of them. I think Dan creates this self-righteous attitude to make him feel better about this fact. If he thinks he is better than them, then he doesn’t feel bad that he will never be a part of their group no matter how hard he tries. I sympathize with that.
We can’t analyze Dan without addressing the gossip girl thing. I think we all know that him being gossip girl was just a lazy attempt at a plot twist by the writers and makes no sense whatsoever. But even if it wasn’t and they had planned for it, I wouldnt be mad at it. Again, this could be because I watched the show knowing he was gossip girl, but despite the stalkerish, manipulative part of the job, they all used gossip girl at one point for their own gain. None of them are truly clean in the whole gossip girl situation. They all hated it but also loved it because Gossip Girl made them relevant.
- Georgina Sparks
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You may also be surprised to see her so high, and I’m surprised myself. I think it’s because I hate all the other characters a lot more. Georgina was disgusting in the beginning. She drugged Serena and blackmailed her with a snuff film which she took and engaged in. She pretended that Dan was the father of her child. Yeah, pretty horrible, but after Jesus camp, she just became someone who likes drama. She schemed for fun and, as the show progressed, usually in the favor of the main cast. She helped them get back at their enemies. This is another case of the writers making someone’s character so extreme in the beginning and then making them likable by the end. Like how they made the super problematic Chuck Bass have a redemption arc. Georgina is just Georgina. They all hated her, but always came to her for help and she always lended a hand.
- Nate Archibald
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Nate is here because he is just “meh” as a character. I actually really loved him in the beginning because he seemed like the only one of the rich kids that had a moral compass, but he wasn’t really given much personality through the show. He was the pretty boy that Vanessa and Jenny Humphrey fought over, and he dated pretty much everyone in Manhattan. He wasn’t really complex, and it’s a shame because I think more could’ve been done with his character.
- Rufus Humphrey
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Oh Rufus, he was a dad trying his best to raise two teenagers. Especially when Jenny went crazy. He cooks waffles in the mornings and is just an overall good guy. He is lower than Nate because he got into a relationship with Ivy Dickens. That was a relationship I didn’t need to see, but other than that he didn’t really do anything too bad.
- Serena van der Woodsen
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Serena is beautiful and has pretty privilege. For a while, I felt that she was just effortlessly the it-girl. She didn’t choose to be, she just was, and Blair being jealous and feeling like she was in her shadow was just Blair’s insecurities talking. But then I started seeing Serena victimize herself when she became Gossip Girl. She intentionally messed up Lola’s audition so that she could stay as the it-girl, a position she always said she didn’t want. We saw the true colors of Serena and her entitlement come out. She loves being in the limelight. She has had everything in life handed to her, but she still felt like she had to meddle with Blair and Prince Louis’ relationship, create a sex tape to break up Dan and Blair, fight Blair for Yale and Columbia, and have random relationships with older men. She tried to pretend she was humble and just was lucky to have things handed to her, but in reality she loved being at the top and did whatever she could to stay there.
- Jenny Humphrey
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I actually felt bad for Jenny in the beginning. She was just trying to fit in a world where mean girls rule and she wanted to be seen. However, the fact that she took on the mean girl role after Blair graduated makes her horrible. Yes, she did try, but she gave up way too easily and gave in to being the queen b*tch. She got into drugs, bullied Eric, and put Rufus through hell with all her antics. She should’ve stuck to her roots, be the down to earth girl she was in the beginning and went on with her fashion thing. Instead, she became this racoon eyes, social climber that lands her in this number 8 spot.
- Vanessa Abrams
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I have heard only bad things about her before watching, and in the beginning I didn’t understand it. She wasn’t the most amazing character, but she wasn’t bad, either. I actually kinda liked that she was fighting back against the rich entitled socialites. But then she crossed the line with the whole Juliet storyline. After finding out Juliet drugged Serena and could’ve killed her, she deicded to throw Jenny under the bus. She publishes Dan’s book without his permission, opening up a whole other can of worms. She has a lot of that self-righteous quality that we see in Dan, but in an extreme form. Yet she stooped to their level and lied and schemed, too. I guess if you can’t beat ’em join ’em.
- Lily van der Woodsen, Rhodes, Humphrey, Bass etc.
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I do not like Lily one bit. I think she was a horrible mother and a horrible wife. She literally wanted to be Rufus’ sugar momma when all he wanted was a wife that he could be in a loving partnership with. She is also privileged and entitled. I am so angry about the Ivy Dickens money situation. Her mother left the money to Ivy knowing she was lying about her identity. The money was Ivy’s. Lily has enough money, but she couldn’t let it go. Not to mention putting Ben, Serena’s teacher in prison for a crime he didnt commit. All she cares about is public perception. She was keeping her son Eric in a mental hospital for goodness sake. She can’t keep a marriage, didn’t tell Rufus that they had a kid somewhere, and always leaves her kids on their own and wonders why they get into trouble. I think a big part of Serena’s bad qualities comes from Lily. I hope I am not the only one who has this hatred for Lily, I don’t hear anyone talk about it ever.
- Honorable Mention: Dorota
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The most loyal maid ever. She was basically a mother to Blair and just a badass woman overall. She is too amazing to be in the ranking. She is at the top.
Well this is my ranking. Do you agree or diagree? I left some characters out cause there isn’t much to say about them but I hope people agree with some of my rankings. You know you love me, xoxo gossip girl.