Ross and Rachel from Friends WERE on a break, according to 61% of Brits

It’s an argument that’s been going on for years.

But the people have spoken, and decided that Ross and Rachel from Friends WERE on a break.

According to new YouGov Omnibus research, 61% of Friends viewers back Ross, who insisted: “we were on a break!” as an excuse for why he had slept with someone else, while only 19% disagree. The remaining 20% didn’t know.

But that didn’t quite get him off the hook.

Asked whether it was acceptable to have sex with someone else while “on a break”, the research found people are split, with 41% saying it is acceptable while 37% say it isn’t (including 30% of those who accept that the couple were on a break at the time).

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Men are forgiving on the subject than women. While 46% of men say Ross’s actions are acceptable compared to 33% who think they are unacceptable, 40% of women believe he’s in the wrong compared to 36% who think his actions were ok.

The research comes more than a decade after the finale of the popular series aired, and more than two since it began.

But YouGov said its recent arrival on Netflix in the UK had seen the hit show undergo a bit of a revival.

The Omnibus research found that two thirds of Brits (67%) have watched at least a few episodes of Friends, with 25-44 year olds the most likely to have watched the show (85-87%).

Yet despite its popularity a quarter of 18-24 year olds (27%) have never seen Friends – twice as many as the 11% of 25-34 year olds and 13% of 35-44 year olds.

YouGov also asked Friends viewers what they think of the main characters.

Chandler Bing was voted Britain’s favourite Friend, with 20% of Friends viewers saying he is their favourite, followed by Joey (17%), Phoebe (15%) and Rachel (13%), while Ross and Monica were bottom of the list as the favourites of only 6% and 5% of Friends viewers respectively.

Phoebe is seen as the nicest Friend (25%), while Chandler is seen as the funniest (31%) and Joey as the most fun (37%).

Rachel is seen as the most attractive (50%), and also the most popular choice for someone to go on a date with (21%) – mainly because women acknowledge Rachel is attractive, but would prefer to date one of the male characters).

Again, the Geller siblings only score highly on the negative attributes – Monica is seen as the least nice of the Friends (19%) while brother Ross is seen as the most annoying (26%).

(Top picture: Getty)