The One With the Dirty Girl

Thursday, 6 November 1997

Ross dates a beautiful paleontologist whose apartment is buried in garbage, Chandler secretly buys Kathy a rare book and lets Joey pass it off as his own, and Monica and Phoebe become catering partners.

What happens

• Ross says goodnight to his date Cheryl outside Central Perk, and the others learn she is a paleontology doctoral candidate he works alongside.
• Chandler shows off a rare early edition of Kathy's favourite childhood book, and after Ross points out it will humiliate her actual boyfriend, Chandler decides to make sure Joey's gift is good too.
• Monica has turned down a funeral catering job because she cannot afford the food and equipment, so Phoebe lends her five hundred dollars.
• Ross goes up to Cheryl's apartment and finds it piled with garbage, and when he suggests his own place instead, Cheryl tells him it smells strange.
• Chandler fails to find a better present, so he hands the book to Joey and asks him to give it to Kathy as his own.
• Phoebe interrupts the grieving widow's singing and refuses to leave until the bill is settled, and the widow goes to fetch her bag.
• Ross returns to Cheryl's couch, panics at something moving under the rubbish and swats it, then learns he has killed a rat rather than her hamster.
• Monica proposes that she and Phoebe become catering partners, with Phoebe handling the money, and Phoebe agrees.
• Kathy thanks Chandler for the book, having worked out that he was the one who found it.
• Monica arrives at Cheryl's door after the relationship has ended and asks to clean the apartment, and Cheryl turns her down.