Out of all the characters on How I Met Your Mother, and other sitcoms, for that matter, Barney Stinson could be a sociopathic Batman villain or predator of the week on Law And Order. Of course, it’s all played for comedy on HIMYM, and combine that with being played by the always affable Neil Patrick Harri,s and it was hard to snicker at Barney’s antics.
Thankfully though, even the people on the show know the kind of terrible human being he is. While there is a softer side to Barney, he’s also generally the worst person ever. Here are the 10 worst things that Barney has done on How I Met Your Mother.
Slept With His Best Friend’s Girl
Barney runs around New York espousing the good word of the Bro Code. But he still broke it when he slept with Robin behind Ted’s back. Thankfully, she and Ted were already broken up when it happened.
Barney and Robin had always been “bros,” but it wasn’t until he scoured the world looking for Robin Sparkles’ second song, “Sandcastles In The Sand,” that they inadvertently slept with one another and it was when Barney began to actually fall for her - and he wonders why Ted stopped speaking to him.
Cavalierly Sold A Woman
In “The Bracket,” we learn that someone is stalking Barney and sabotaging all of his would-be conquests. The entire episode is a “tribute” to the depths that Barney would sink to hook up with women. But when he finally confronts the woman that the believes to be his stalker, he genuinely doesn’t remember her.
As he is trying to apologize in his own twisted way, he casually mentions that he has possibly sold a woman for a Cadillac in the past.
Dated A Girl Because They Both Hated Ted
After “dumping” Barney because he slept with Robin, and after Ted shunned Abby for Stella, she and Barney started dating to show Ted how terribly he treats girls. But this backfires on Barney tremendously when Abby forgets the rib and falls for Barney instead.
But then again, what did you expect her to think? Barney proposed to her in McLaren’s! Abby was so clueless and started calling her mom to tell her the good news.
Goes Out As Ted
Barney has had plenty of harebrained schemes over the years. He of course even had a mammoth playbook dedicated to all of his ridiculous schemes to get girls. On one night, he convinced Ted he’d be able to pull off being “Ted Mosby, Architect.”
Ted approves of it but didn’t think to tell Robin, leaving her running around on a wild goose chase looking for her “cheating” boyfriend. This is a two-for-one because, in this episode, we also find out that Barney has a standard letter that he leaves for all his one-night stands.
Cheats On Nora
Leopards can’t change their spots, no matter how much they want to be zebras. The same goes for Barney. Over the years he has shown the ability to be a better-than-a-decent human being, but his baser urges have always found their way to take over.
Even though he worked so hard to wind up with Nora, he still couldn’t help himself and cheated on her with Robin. And by his own admission, it wasn’t just a fling, and he had real feelings for her.
Steals All Of Ted’s Stuff
Barney has a huge fear of his friends all going off and living coupled lives without him. So when Ted and Robin decided to try and move in together, Barney was having none of it.
He stole the U-Haul that Ted had loaded up with all of his stuff. Not only is Barney trying to make Ted realize that living with Robin is a bad idea, but he’s also using the U-Haul as a second apartment right behind the door to further his lecherous and nefarious needs.
Constantly Hits On His Friend’s Wife
Fact - most guys don’t appreciate anyone hitting on their wife, much less their predator friend. But Marshall is such a nice guy and so confident in his own skin that he is seldom bothered by Barney’s incessant hitting on and flirting with Lily.
Marshall was always too nice about it and Lily never minded a compliment. But who would allow this behavior in reality?
Steals Marshall’s Dates
Once Marshall was ready to try and date again after Lily bailed on him, he convinced Barney that he would make a great wingman. While it might be the only item on this list that was done for the right reasons, Barney kept cheering Marshall on while he pursued other girls and then swept the rug out from under him the moment he got their number.
Marshall just kept getting madder and madder at Barney. What Marshall didn’t realize is that at some point during all of this, Barney flew to San Francisco with a ticket to bring Lily home and warn her - there’s only so many girls he can steal from Marshall.
Has Cameras And Tapes Everywhere
On more than one occasion, Barney has alluded to or flat out admitted to having cameras installed at various places in Ted’s apartment, not to mention his own.
Ladies get taped without their consent and as we all know, that is a serious and illegal offense no matter where you live. Only in sitcom land can you pull this crime off and pull it off for laughs.
Needed To Be Taught A Class On Robin
If you ever needed a more picture-perfect episode as to the strange and unspoken love triangle between Barney, Ted, and Robin, then look no further than “Robin 101.” Barney, having no clue how to have an actual relationship, let alone one with Robin, seeks Ted’s advice.
As Ted used to date Robin, he had all of this intimate knowledge of the Canadian cutie and thought it would be a grand idea to hold a class and let Barney learn about all his new girlfriend from an old boyfriend, his best friend who he betrayed to start dating Robin in the first place.
Next: HIMYM: 10 Storylines That Were Never Resolved
