Penny, the bubbly waitress and aspiring actress played by Kaley Cuoco for all 12 seasons of
"The Big Bang Theory," had a rich dating life before she finally settled down with the love
of her life.
When we first met her on the series, she was the new neighbor of Sheldon and Leonard, and
then became close friends with them both, then fell in love with Leonard and his goofy
ways.
Leonard and Penny's on-again, off-again romance is one of the most important ongoing storylines
in the history of "The Big Bang Theory," but it's far from the only major romantic storyline
in Penny's life.
Along the way, she dated several other eligible men for various reasons, and with various
results.
Happily, things worked out for Penny, but not without a few stumbling blocks along the
way.
So, let's talk about all of Penny's ex-boyfriends on "The Big Bang Theory," ranked from worst
to best.
Doug
Doug was featured in only one episode of the show, "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" in Season
1, but was still involved in a pivotal moment in the series.
Penny went on one date with Doug, and we only spot him outside her apartment when Leonard
tries to return some of her misplaced mail.
It turns out that, while Doug didn't have what it takes to be a boyfriend, his existence
did prompt Leonard into asking Penny out on a date.
Leonard was passionate about Penny from the very beginning of the show, and the two would
go on to date off and on throughout the run of the series before ultimately ending up
together.
David
Penny and David really had a great thing going, at least for a while.
The two were introduced by Leonard after David, a physicist, came to Caltech to work with
him.
David was instantly charming and cool, and Leonard was thrilled — until Penny and David
met and immediately hit it off.
David and Penny decide to go out to eat almost immediately after meeting, and end up engaging
in a budding relationship pretty quickly.
Penny is attracted to David in part because he doesn't fit the stereotypical scientist
mold that she's used to, a mold Leonard feels he himself personifies.
Right when Leonard really begins to get stressed out about the situation, Penny makes an unhappy
discovery: David is unavailable in a very major way.
It turns out he has been married the entire time.
When Penny tells Leonard about what happened, she mentions that she feels she isn't smart
enough to date David in the first place.
To that, Leonard replies:
"David Underhill is ten times smarter than me!
You'd have to drive a railroad spike into his brain for me to beat him at checkers!"
Stuart Stuart Bloom owns The Comic Center of Pasadena,
which all of the male characters on "The Big Bang Theory" like to frequent.
He and Penny go on their first date in the episode "The Hofstadter Isotope," and when
he asks Penny out, Stuart has no idea that his friend Leonard has strong feelings for
her.
The date does end on a bit of a lackluster note, however, when Penny and Stuart run into
Sheldon, who engages Stuart in a debate about Batman.
Penny ends up falling asleep as the debate drags on and on and on.
When Stuart is preparing for a second date with Penny, he actually asks Leonard for advice
about what he should do and say.
Leonard offers bad advice, trying to sabotage the potential relationship between the two.
Things progress with Stuart and Penny — but Stuart reveals they came to a rapid halt when
she accidentally calls him "Leonard" while they're kissing in the car.
Zack
Zack and Penny met back at her old job at The Cheesecake Factory, where she worked as
a waitress and Zack designed the menus.
The two go on one date, but it doesn't work out.
Penny can't tolerate Zack's level of intelligence after having dated Leonard, and things go
nowhere.
The two do try again in Season 4, though.
In the episode "The Justice League Recombination," Penny, who is looking for someone to spend
New Year's Eve with, admits to Leonard that she's going out with Zack just for that purpose.
Zack makes an attempt to become friends with Leonard and the crew, and he even dresses
as Superman for the New Year's Eve party everyone is attending.
The group wins the prize for best costume because they're able to pull off a Justice
League group costume with Zack's help.
"She told me she dated a guy named Leonard.
Who would've thought it was you?!"
Zack and Penny break up, but he returns a few years later in "The Thanksgiving Decoupling."
It turns out that Penny and Zack are legally married, though she believed the two participated
in a fake wedding in Las Vegas and not a real one.
They quickly annul their marriage, and no lasting harm is done.
Leonard
From the beginning of the show, Leonard knows that he's in love with Penny.
Unfortunately for him, it takes time for the two to truly come together.
They go through their ups and downs throughout the run of the show, with Penny calling things
off because she's worried she's not smart enough to date Leonard.
The two make things work in Season 2 and carry on the relationship throughout Season 3.
But they break up again when Leonard says, "I love you," and Penny isn't ready to say
it back.
Later in the series, they almost lose their friendship completely when Leonard dates Priya
and is forced to cut off contact with Penny after the two women prove they can't get along
with each other.
Penny and Leonard make it through one failed marriage proposal before he tries proposing
again in Season 9 and Penny says yes.
By the time the show concludes, the two are expecting a baby together.
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