The One with the Rumor

Season 8, Episode 9, Aired
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Episode Summary

Monica invites an old friend from high school over for Thanksgiving dinner, unaware that Will started a "We Hate Rachel" club with Ross. Meanwhile, Joey vows to eat an entire turkey by himself, and Chandler and Phoebe pretend to watch football to avoid helping in the kitchen.moreless
9.3
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
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Fan Episode Reviews (19)

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  • 809

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By Canogaparkcindy, Sep 27, 2010 Report Abuse
    Wow, I am astonished at overrated this episode is. Brad Pitt comes in, and everybody praises this episode? This was probably one of the "weaker" Thanksgiving episodes of Friends. I can name a lot more Thanksgiving episodes that were 10x better than this. Everything that came out Brad Pitt's mouth was incredibly annoying. It was like the jokes were too out there, and I felt as if he was trying too hard to be funny. I'm not saying Brad Pitt is a bad actor, but in this case, I didn't like his character or his acting at all for some reason. No wonder he didn't win that Emmy nomination for this episode. I found myself in awe that he was even nominated.

    The whole episode revolved over a ridiculous high school rumor, and it seemed like everyone reverted back to themselves when this show started. And how they went on & on about the 2 different parts, and Ross making out with the librarian. It was just too much, I didn't like it at all. The only thing that helped this episode was Phoebe and her surprising humor. Joey was also a bit funny eating the turkey, also exaggerated, but quite funny. All the characters except Phoebe were completely exaggerated and so were the storyline. Just didn't enjoy this Thanksgiving very much.moreless

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  • TOW The Rumor

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By seriesguy3998, Sep 06, 2009 Report Abuse
    Friends Season 8 Episode 09 The One With the Rumor Monica invites an old high school friend, Will (guest star Brad Pitt), to have thanksgiving dinner with them. Rachel discovers Will and Ross started a rumor at high school about her being a hermaphrodite. Joey sets his mind on eating an entire trukey.

    The One with the Rumor is one of the funniest thanksgiving episodes. It is so funny. Sometimes I just laugh when I remember it. It was rlly good.
    "you were the hermaphrodite from Long Island?" that cracks me up.
    This episode is amazing, is so great and so funny. My recomendation:
    watch this episode!moreless

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    0 0

  • "I'm a Tribbiani! And this is what we do! We may not be great thinkers or world leaders, we don't read a lot or run very fast, but damnit! We can eat!" - Joeymoreless

    8.8
    "Great"
    By FriendsSvuLost8, Feb 07, 2008 Report Abuse
    Another Thanksgiving dinner at Monica's and she has invited a friend over from high school Will, played by Brad Pitt, who really hates Rachel. Joey is climbing his Everest, he's trying to eat an entire turkey all by himself. It was classic Joey. The 'I Hate Rachel Green' club was also really funny and the rumor that Rachel had both male and female reproductive parts. In high school people really know how to hurt each other.
    It was a nice Thanksgiving episode but it was not the best one I've ever seen. Brad Pitt was okay but he is not really a sitcom actor.moreless

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  • "Everybody at my high school heard that! (To Rachel) You were the hermaphrodite cheerleader from Long Island?!"-Chandler Bing.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By efc1991, Jan 10, 2008 Report Abuse
    Monica invites a high school friend, Will (Brad Pitt) to her Thanksgiving dinner. He and Ross started a rumor about Rachel having both male and female "body parts". Joey tries to eat an entire turkey. Chandler and Phoebe avoid work. Another Fan favourite episode of Friends there is no surprise that it is one of mine, best of a great eigth season of the show, Brad Pitt was great but this episode isn't all about his brilliant guest star appearence, Ross and Racheal were great argueing just like old times and Joey eating nearly an entire large turkey to himself LOL.moreless

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  • Best episode ever of Friends!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By pinkOTHgirl, Oct 14, 2007 Report Abuse
    This has to be my all-time favorite episode of Friends. Every year, the thanksgiving episode is the one to look forward to. This was no exception. We learned that Ross was in the "I Hate Rachel Club" in high school. This then leads to secrets that come out from the gang in high school. It is so funny watching everyone go back and forth with stuff! This is an episode that everyone definitely needs to watch. It will make you laugh everytime you watch it and is an episode I never have gotten tired of. Best episode of the entire series!moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Continuity: As stated in "The One with the Cheap Wedding Dress," Monica and Chandler's wedding was on May 15 and Rachel was about a month pregnant. In this episode, it's Thanksgiving which means Rachel should be about seven months pregnant, yet she isn't showing at all. Edit
    • Factual Error: Season 8 takes place during the year 2002 and Chandler is watching a Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions game on TV. He says to Monica, "Anderson just scored again" and then says to Phoebe "there is no Anderson". However, both the Packers and the Lions had a player named Anderson on their teams. Scotty Anderson (a wide receiver) played for the Lions and Marques Anderson (a safety) played for the Packers during the 2002 season. Edit
    • Goof: When Joey comes in wearing the maternity pants, he walks over to the table and pulls out a chair. When the shot changes, he pulls out the chair again. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • International Episode Title: France: Celui qui avait fait courir la rumeur (The One Who Had Spread The Rumor) Edit
    • The rumor about Rachel having male and female reproductive organs drew criticism from the Intersex Society of North America, a member of which wrote a strongly-worded letter of complaint to NBC, calling the episode "ignorant, insulting, degrading, and absolutely unprofessional." The member urged the network to learn about intersex individuals via the Society's website and read an on-air apology before future episodes. Edit
    • This episode received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Series (Stephen Prime). Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Ross: I'm back in the club! (High-fives Will) Phoebe: I wanna be in the club! Rachel: Phoebe! Phoebe: I'm sorry, but I never got to be in a club. I didn't go to high school. But three of us would meet behind a dumpster to learn French. Bonjour. Edit
    • Ross: What do you want me to do? Call everyone in our high school and tell them it wasn't true? Rachel: Yes! Will: Could you also tell them I'm skinny now? Monica: Oh! Me too? Edit
    • Rachel: Who else was in this club? Ross: That kid from Thailand, but I don't think he really knew what it was. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Joey: Did you know that during pregnancy your fingers swell up to twice their size and never go back? The book Joey is reading is "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Now in it's third edition, this book written by Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Murkoff is consistently on the New York Times Best Seller List in the advice category. Edit
    • Monica: You look great you must've lost like ... Will: 150 pounds. Yeah, I'm gonna be in one of those Subway sandwich commercials! Subway has been running a series of commercials featuring Jared, a man who lost a great deal of weight by eating a healthy diet of Subway sandwiches in addition to an exercise routine. Edit
    • When Monica asks Chandler to name three football players, he actually alludes to two names that aren't related to football--Gretzky and Agassi. Wayne Gretzky plays ice hockey, and Andre Agassi plays tennis. Edit

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