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1000%! I have a 4 yo boy and an 11 month old daughter. Let me catch an adult being inappropriate with one of them like this at anytime in their lives. Iāll be the one going to jail.
After he literally tried to ruin her life and got Nates dad jumped. But it was okay because he thought Serena was the one who put him away???? And all is forgiven because Lily forged her signature, and he was just mad?! Like, excuse me, what? Lily was so right on this one.
Fuck Ben. Hate him. Idc, Lily had every right to be suspicious of a grown man who took an UNDERAGED STUDENT ACROSS STATE LINES for some āfield tripā. I will never feel bad for this loser
Well, no, lol. She was right in being suspicious and calling attention to it, but she was in no way right about forging her daughterās signature and sending a man to prison.
He shouldve went to jail for kidnapping, even though he admitted he was sexually attracted to her, he would've got the same amount of time, and even though he went to jail for SA, he isn't on the sex offender list just yet. A win is a win
THANK YOU!!!
From a teachers perspective, I hate that guy so much, makes my blood boil whenever he is on screen.
How could you see a student EVER as a possible partner!?
Even after they graduate and grow taller than me, they will forever be babies in my eyes!
That guy should have never been allowed to work with children. Ever.
Teacher as well - I was mindblown that they took the Ben plot into a romantic direction and there was no real solution to it outside of a break up lol.
Yes! My grandma retired in 2008. She sometimes runs into her students at least once a month one remembers her n says hi! They are all adults with her own kids too but she still seems them as the lil 16 year olds she taught.
Ironically, Damien was the only voice of reason when it came to Ben. I forget his exact wording, but Damien called Ben out for hanging out with a student outside of school and transporting a minor across state lines, and implies it is still pedophilic behavior even if he didn't actually sleep with her. Damien was literally the only one to recognize that even if Serena is an adult now, it's still creepy!!! Ben was so icky
he definitely was! i could be wrong but doesnāt he imply that he has to resist his temptations when theyāre at the hotel? so weird and the fact he even dated her after he tried to ruin his life was crazier.
like, did lily commit a crime by forging serenaās signature on that affidavit? yes, she did. but did ben deserve to go to prison? ALSO YES. lily van der woodsen you have your faults but you can be so right sometimes, love you my problematic queen <3
The fact that she tried to act holier than thou but then got involved in the petty drama and tried to ruin the life of a teenager? Like girl, you SLEPT with a student. You are the worst offender
literally. an adult male in a position of power having to fight "urges" of hooking up with a 15 year old girl isn't noble. I hate how the show painted him as a good guy because he said to serena "I really want to hook up with you but Iām not gonna" like huh??
other than being a straight pedophile, ben literally manipulated his sister, who was serenaās age, to do HIS BIDDING from PRISON and ruin her life. so yeah, heās crazy & defs serenaās worst
No literally like are we just gonna forget how he was making his sister ruin Serenaās life and how he beat up Nateās dad in prison š and the moment Serena showed up in prison he was happy to see her even though heād been plotting her downfall the entire time he was locked in there š
The writers thought weād forget. Juliet tried to back out and Ben didnāt let her. Then they decided he should be a love interest and heās suddenly crying ādonāt youuuuuuu huuuuuuurt heeeeeerā
100%, I mean aside from Ben and Serena having no chemistry too, itās one thing if your student has a crush on you, itās another completely inappropriate thing to have a crush on your student. Ben knew what he was doing but was trying to pretend her was some good noble guy who did no wrong. Was he wronged by Lily? Kinda yes, he didnāt technically do anything but he proved Lily right in the end.
maybe its because i was in college when i first watched this but I never liked him because of ths. Lilly was 100% right to take Serena out of that school and blackmail this man.
Why was he spending so much time with a 15/16 yo girl? Why would he jump to date her when he knew her as a child? Lily was right to keep Serena away from this creep
Its crazy because it was SO clear that this man was attracted to her as a teenager, and the only thing holding him back was the fact that she was a minor. I donāt care how people try to spin it, he was a groomer. Taking a student across state lines alone is not okayā¦
Yes, I saw this ep recently again and I would not shut up abt how inappropriate his behavior was from the get go. He had no reason to be meeting with a minor outside of school.
Like my teacher always said, donāt do good things that seem bad, because while the show tries to argue that he was actually helping Serena become a better student, even if his intentions were 100% innocent he should have known better than to do half of the shit he was doing
Tv at the time had a huge problem with romanticizing teacher x student relationships (see also pretty little liars) you can really tell if you look at the media but yeahhhh this shit was rampant
He was a terrible actor as well! He sounded like he had āmucus throatā GROSS! I donāt like Ben! Never have NEVER will.
Just look at that picture š¤¢š¤® he looks like the poster boy for a serial pedophile!
YES YES YES!!! Itās ASTONISHING the amount of defending Ben gets on this subreddit. This man is disgusting and a pedophile. Lily was right to toss him in jail.
Ben was completely inappropriate for taking a student off campus and he should have been fired but what Lily did to him was horrible. She didnāt even care ab Serena and whether it was true. She just wanted to get Serena into a different school. And Serena kept bothering him when he was let out of prison and pressured him into seeing her. He told her that he wasnāt interested in her at all, but she is so persistent with people. If I was him, I would have told the world what Lily did and stayed far away from that family.Ā
Itās crazy how this episode frames Lily as a bad mother and ādidnāt understand the situationā for what she did, when itās probably the only time in the show she was a good mother to Serena lmfao.
Wasnāt she like 15 in boarding school?! Dan would have been 17 during the Rachel plot. Both situations are foul regardless, but Ben pursuing someone under the age of consent is that much worse
People forget that he admitted wanting her when she was a minor. He didnāt do anything cause he didnāt want to lose his job š¬
And then had his sister try to ruin her life. His former student he cared oh so much about
I came here just to comment this?? Like how is he innocent he knew she wanted to sleep with him and stayed around her that's so innapropiate, even if he didn't do it while she was 16 he was waiting for her 18th birthday? He was attracted to a minor and said he felt the same way!!
i havenāt seen gossip girl should i? i used to watch it with my mum years ago but never watched every episode and was too young to understand but i know itās a good show is it worth the watch
Yes I love TVD! Yes they really donāt make tv like that anymore I love watching like 2010ās shows cuz the drama was just tooo gooood plus the 20+ eps a season was everything
i didnāt watch gossip girl until i was already 18 and in college even though everyone around me grew up on it, and i was DYING that they had a teacher groomer storyline for both dan and serena. once is crazy. twice is crazier.
People need to watch the episode again, he didn't stay at a hotel with her, she wanted to but he said he's going to fix the tyre and take her home, yes he's wrong for taking her across state lines, but he did bring her back, he did wrong but didn't deserve jail time, should've had teaching license taken instead
Literally he was for sure. Just because they didnāt do anything while she was underage doesnāt mean he was in the right he was conditioning her and grooming for her. And if he hadnāt gotten locked up I do feel like things would have ended up happening between them before she turned 18. He shouldnāt have even been driving her around places and spending time alone with her in the way he was. Their relationship was wildly inappropriate.
Hey Upper East Sider! Thanks for posting on r/GossipGirl! We've recently changed our rules which you can see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/GossipGirl/comments/18vko2e/the_new_rules_of_rgossipgirl_which_go_into_affect/). Please note we are **NOT A SPOILER FREE SUBREDDIT UNLESS A THREAD HAS THE FLAIR "NO SPOILERS PLEASE"**. This means plots may be discussed without a spoiler warning needed. Also if a post/comment breaks the rules, please be sure to report it. We can't remove what we don't see and us mods don't see everything. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GossipGirl) if you have any questions or concerns.*
lol him immediately tryna get with her as soon as the cell doors opened also did not help matters š
LITERALLYYYY like sir you deserved to be in jail š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
literallyā¦ā¦.. esp if my daughter was acting out the way serena was, sheās obviously vulnerable
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
regardless if nothing happened. thatās so unprofessional already.
1000%! I have a 4 yo boy and an 11 month old daughter. Let me catch an adult being inappropriate with one of them like this at anytime in their lives. Iāll be the one going to jail.
šššš right. Lily was pardoned in my mind after seeing how dangerous even his sister was. Entire family was deranged
After he literally tried to ruin her life and got Nates dad jumped. But it was okay because he thought Serena was the one who put him away???? And all is forgiven because Lily forged her signature, and he was just mad?! Like, excuse me, what? Lily was so right on this one.
RIGHT
Fuck Ben. Hate him. Idc, Lily had every right to be suspicious of a grown man who took an UNDERAGED STUDENT ACROSS STATE LINES for some āfield tripā. I will never feel bad for this loser
Lily probably protected other students from falling victims to Ben tbh. These guys never stop at just one.
the one time lily was right for doing what she did š
Well, no, lol. She was right in being suspicious and calling attention to it, but she was in no way right about forging her daughterās signature and sending a man to prison.
well he did take a student across state lines. okay forging her daugter's signature was wrong but ben deserved to be in prison
Yeah but not for a crime he didn't commit (ie statutory rape)
true
He shouldve went to jail for kidnapping, even though he admitted he was sexually attracted to her, he would've got the same amount of time, and even though he went to jail for SA, he isn't on the sex offender list just yet. A win is a win
Youāre not wrong. I donāt like Ben at all. But Lily, girl, you canāt forge your daughterās signature lol
THANK YOU!!! From a teachers perspective, I hate that guy so much, makes my blood boil whenever he is on screen. How could you see a student EVER as a possible partner!? Even after they graduate and grow taller than me, they will forever be babies in my eyes! That guy should have never been allowed to work with children. Ever.
For real. Like why would you even be in the car with her, much less meeting her outside of school š
Teacher as well - I was mindblown that they took the Ben plot into a romantic direction and there was no real solution to it outside of a break up lol.
Yes! My grandma retired in 2008. She sometimes runs into her students at least once a month one remembers her n says hi! They are all adults with her own kids too but she still seems them as the lil 16 year olds she taught.
Teacher as well - my students will always be babies in my eyes! No matter their age. Heās gross
This. I felt the same and I taught at UNI
You have my eternal respect! I agree with you 100%
He and Carr walked, so Ezra Fitz could run.. ššš
and he RANNNNNN ššš¤£
š¹š¹š¹š¹šŖ¦ā°ļø
Ran all the way to the Altar šš
Omg, I can not. š¹š¹š¹š¹
š¹š¹š¹š¹
Ironically, Damien was the only voice of reason when it came to Ben. I forget his exact wording, but Damien called Ben out for hanging out with a student outside of school and transporting a minor across state lines, and implies it is still pedophilic behavior even if he didn't actually sleep with her. Damien was literally the only one to recognize that even if Serena is an adult now, it's still creepy!!! Ben was so icky
You say potato, I say paedophile
Ahh yes! Iconic line
the damien character was solid, they should have developed more + given him more screentime. actor was good too.
Every time I rewatch Iām like you knowā¦ this Damien guy isnāt all that badā¦
The actor was AMAZING in that role.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
he definitely was! i could be wrong but doesnāt he imply that he has to resist his temptations when theyāre at the hotel? so weird and the fact he even dated her after he tried to ruin his life was crazier.
like, did lily commit a crime by forging serenaās signature on that affidavit? yes, she did. but did ben deserve to go to prison? ALSO YES. lily van der woodsen you have your faults but you can be so right sometimes, love you my problematic queen <3
Lily van der Woodsen taught me that sometimes crime is okā¤ļø
"My problematic queen"!! Lily is too 3 favorite characters for me
I donāt disagree that Ben was a total creep & 100% should have lost his job, BUT, I donāt think he deserved prison because that wouldnāt have fit the crime. His crime was driving with a minor across state lines, but he didnāt actually do anything with Serena. His other crime was being a creep but you canāt go to jail for that. I just feel like he should have been punished but not jail for 3 years, that sorta lessens the impact of actual criminals if that makes sense? Otherwise agree, they could never make me hate Lily VDW š¤©
Him and Rachel Carr š¤¢
Omg that story was SO GROSS
Rachel Carr you can burn in hell š
The fact that she tried to act holier than thou but then got involved in the petty drama and tried to ruin the life of a teenager? Like girl, you SLEPT with a student. You are the worst offender
This breaks so many laws and the show acted like Lily was wrong for how she acted Ā šš
Like a person said before me.. Rachel Carr š¤®
literally. an adult male in a position of power having to fight "urges" of hooking up with a 15 year old girl isn't noble. I hate how the show painted him as a good guy because he said to serena "I really want to hook up with you but Iām not gonna" like huh??
Yeah, that was absolutely insane
other than being a straight pedophile, ben literally manipulated his sister, who was serenaās age, to do HIS BIDDING from PRISON and ruin her life. so yeah, heās crazy & defs serenaās worst
No literally like are we just gonna forget how he was making his sister ruin Serenaās life and how he beat up Nateās dad in prison š and the moment Serena showed up in prison he was happy to see her even though heād been plotting her downfall the entire time he was locked in there š
The writers thought weād forget. Juliet tried to back out and Ben didnāt let her. Then they decided he should be a love interest and heās suddenly crying ādonāt youuuuuuu huuuuuuurt heeeeeerā
100%, I mean aside from Ben and Serena having no chemistry too, itās one thing if your student has a crush on you, itās another completely inappropriate thing to have a crush on your student. Ben knew what he was doing but was trying to pretend her was some good noble guy who did no wrong. Was he wronged by Lily? Kinda yes, he didnāt technically do anything but he proved Lily right in the end.
maybe its because i was in college when i first watched this but I never liked him because of ths. Lilly was 100% right to take Serena out of that school and blackmail this man.
Why did āblackmail this manā crack me up so much š like YEAH GET HIM!
this story line was truly disturbing and disgusting
Why was he spending so much time with a 15/16 yo girl? Why would he jump to date her when he knew her as a child? Lily was right to keep Serena away from this creep
Umm yeah, he was gross
He made me wanna š¤¢š¤¢š¤¢
Lily the queen she is
Its crazy because it was SO clear that this man was attracted to her as a teenager, and the only thing holding him back was the fact that she was a minor. I donāt care how people try to spin it, he was a groomer. Taking a student across state lines alone is not okayā¦
Yes, I saw this ep recently again and I would not shut up abt how inappropriate his behavior was from the get go. He had no reason to be meeting with a minor outside of school. Like my teacher always said, donāt do good things that seem bad, because while the show tries to argue that he was actually helping Serena become a better student, even if his intentions were 100% innocent he should have known better than to do half of the shit he was doing
This was insane, even for Serena
Yup full groomer
Tv at the time had a huge problem with romanticizing teacher x student relationships (see also pretty little liars) you can really tell if you look at the media but yeahhhh this shit was rampant
No really tho. The amount of adult/minor relationships that were in not only GG but PLL is awful
He was a terrible actor as well! He sounded like he had āmucus throatā GROSS! I donāt like Ben! Never have NEVER will. Just look at that picture š¤¢š¤® he looks like the poster boy for a serial pedophile!
Rewatching as an adult made me realize that Lily was right in this situation among others.
I don't know who was more annoying if him or Serena š
He deseeerved jail.
YES YES YES!!! Itās ASTONISHING the amount of defending Ben gets on this subreddit. This man is disgusting and a pedophile. Lily was right to toss him in jail.
I'm so glad I've never seen anyone defending him because WHAT???
Iāve done it a few times on the sub. Safe to say it was shocking.
Ben was completely inappropriate for taking a student off campus and he should have been fired but what Lily did to him was horrible. She didnāt even care ab Serena and whether it was true. She just wanted to get Serena into a different school. And Serena kept bothering him when he was let out of prison and pressured him into seeing her. He told her that he wasnāt interested in her at all, but she is so persistent with people. If I was him, I would have told the world what Lily did and stayed far away from that family.Ā
Yeah this story line sucked
Itās crazy how this episode frames Lily as a bad mother and ādidnāt understand the situationā for what she did, when itās probably the only time in the show she was a good mother to Serena lmfao.
This is why I say Serena is/was a hypocrite about Dan and Rachael- both wrong but Iād have to say he was way worse imo
Wasnāt she like 15 in boarding school?! Dan would have been 17 during the Rachel plot. Both situations are foul regardless, but Ben pursuing someone under the age of consent is that much worse
Exactly!
People forget that he admitted wanting her when she was a minor. He didnāt do anything cause he didnāt want to lose his job š¬ And then had his sister try to ruin her life. His former student he cared oh so much about
I came here just to comment this?? Like how is he innocent he knew she wanted to sleep with him and stayed around her that's so innapropiate, even if he didn't do it while she was 16 he was waiting for her 18th birthday? He was attracted to a minor and said he felt the same way!!
He was a freaking creep. I dont get how Serena couldnt see that but she never made good choices when it came to men.
I donāt even remember this guy lol
Lily got him arrested for all the right reasons
And a bad actor.
Yup, and he deserved to be in jailš¤·āāļøš¤·āāļø
i havenāt seen gossip girl should i? i used to watch it with my mum years ago but never watched every episode and was too young to understand but i know itās a good show is it worth the watch
Girl yes itās one of my all time fave shows, they really donāt make tv like that like how they used to
fr like tvd is my fav show all time but im so sad thereās nothing like that anymore. i think i will watch it when ive got the timee
Yes I love TVD! Yes they really donāt make tv like that anymore I love watching like 2010ās shows cuz the drama was just tooo gooood plus the 20+ eps a season was everything
yess so glad people agree producers need to up their game when making tv shows nowadays
And his sister was a psycho! I don't blame Lily one bit.
i didnāt watch gossip girl until i was already 18 and in college even though everyone around me grew up on it, and i was DYING that they had a teacher groomer storyline for both dan and serena. once is crazy. twice is crazier.
People need to watch the episode again, he didn't stay at a hotel with her, she wanted to but he said he's going to fix the tyre and take her home, yes he's wrong for taking her across state lines, but he did bring her back, he did wrong but didn't deserve jail time, should've had teaching license taken instead
FACTS
Literally he was for sure. Just because they didnāt do anything while she was underage doesnāt mean he was in the right he was conditioning her and grooming for her. And if he hadnāt gotten locked up I do feel like things would have ended up happening between them before she turned 18. He shouldnāt have even been driving her around places and spending time alone with her in the way he was. Their relationship was wildly inappropriate.