Gabi Diamond
Gabi Diamond
- Played by: Emily Osment
The feisty food blogger who ends up becoming a personal chef to tech tycoon Josh Kaminski.
Gabi Diamond provides examples of the following tropes:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between her and Josh. Sofia actually calls them out on it during the season 4 finale "Young & Screwed".Sofia: Gabi, you're with him, you're without him, you love him, you hate him, you're over him, you're under him!
- Betty and Veronica: Gabi is the Betty to Caroline's Veronica for Josh's Archie. An interesting twist is that Caroline is the wealthy, sophisticated brunette but she has known Josh longer than Gabi and he was already thinking of proposing to her when he met Gabi. Gabi is the poor, sweet blonde chef that had a one-night stand with Josh after he got dumped by Caroline.
- She basically sums up the situation in the pilot:
Gabi: I'm like an Expired Twinkie, and the girl he loves is a fancy Chocolate Eclair. - Clingy Jealous Girl: Gabi gets very jealous whenever Josh expresses interest in another woman, especially in later seasons.
- Determinator: Much of the humor and drama of the show is built around Gabi's determination to make a great impression on Josh, not let their embarrassing one-night fling become problematic in their relationship or professional lives, and her willingness to make it (or at least keep her job and income) in the field she has passion for and talent in, even as the odds are stacked against her (Eliot's meddling and Caroline's manipulating don't help matters). The fact that she and her roommate Sofia are close to poverty and barely scraping by adds to Gabi's desperation.
- Almost every plot that has Gabi in it has her try to make people happy, only to make things worse until either she succeeds in her plans or Status Quo Is God happens.
- Dumb Blonde: Elliot's treatment of Gabi can be described as this. He sees her as a dumb girl, probably because he wants her away ASAP.
- Gabi does occasionally have some ditzy moments here and there, especially in later seasons but she's not as dumb as Elliot makes her out to be.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Gabi and Cooper end up doing this three times in a single night and this was after both of them were about to stop being a couple.
- Josh and Gabi when they formed their "punch card" friends-with-benefits relationship in season 5.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Gabi is a cute, blonde chef and has no trouble attracting guys.
- One episode has Josh accusing that this is the only reason she manages to get dates at all.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Gabi briefly works as a fry cook at a diner when she stopped working for Josh.
- Faux Yay: In "Young and Lesbian", Gabi pretends to be a lesbian by going on a fake date with Logan to make Logan's ex-girlfriend jealous and get them back together. She even kisses Logan to preserve her cover.
- Geeky Turn-On: Her two major love interests Josh and Cooper are both computer geniuses.
- Genki Girl: Gabi has elements of this at times.
- Gold Digger: Gabi was accused of being this in one episode by Josh's mother Kathy. It's averted as Gabi does love Josh for who he is.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A downplayed example. Gabi means well and she has the best intentions but she has a bad habit of getting herself and her friends into trouble and tends to ignore their warmings. It doesn't change the fact that she genuinely cares for them and tries to help when she could.
- Incompatible Orientation: She once had a crush on Sofia's brother Ben, only to discover that he was gay, much to her dismay.
- In Love with Love: A Discussed Trope in the season 1 finale of Young & Hungry, as Gabi, speaking to Sofia while preparing Josh's wedding to Caroline, discusses her ideal romantic relationship as being like the ending scenes in Pretty Woman. Cooper, similarly to Richard Gere's character in the movie, runs through the airport, comes back to Gabi's house to make it up to her, kisses her in the living room, too late for Josh, who comes to Gabi's window in the rain seconds too late to witness this, having realized Gabi is the true love of his life.
- It's All About Me: She has a pretty nasty case of this, and has been called out numerous times for it.
- Meaningful Name: Gabi likes to talk a lot, hence "Gabbing" a lot.
- Never My Fault: Both Josh and Gabi have a huge problem admitting whether either of them are wrong about something, especially when it concerns their relationship, which is one of the main dysfunctions they have.
- Nice Girl: The girl is an absolute sweetheart. She is kind, cheerful and friendly by default to everyone, even Elliot and Caroline.
- Not with Them for the Money: Josh is a tech self-made millionaire and Gabi is his personal chef. Gabi's affection for Josh is genuine and she even spends an episode trying to prove to Josh's picky mother that she truly only cares about Josh, not his money.
- Once an Episode: Gabi will usually make a joke about how she's poor, probably more than once an episode.
- Pregnancy Scare: Episode 4 of the first season, has Gabi worried that she might have gotten pregnant from her one-night stand with Josh and she secretly tries to take a test to be sure. Hilarity Ensues when people start to think that Caroline is the one who was pregnant after Josh overheard her on the phone with her parents. Neither of them were pregnant thankfully.
- Sleeping with the Boss: It's what kicks starts all the drama and awkwardness between Josh and Gabi. In the pilot, Gabi and Josh had a one-night stand after Caroline broke up with him. They had been drunk at the time and agreed that it didn't mean anything but it still caused a lot of complications in their relationship.
- Supreme Chef: Gabi. If you're thinking about eating grilled cheese, she will guess correctly. She is also capable of making outstanding meals in relatively short periods of time.
- Ultimate Job Security: Gabi has muddy up both Josh's personal and professional life on numerous occasions, started a relationship with Cooper despite Josh not wanting it, tried to meddle with his family relationships despite being told not to and acting very unprofessional in general. Despite being a very talented chef, anyone else would have fired her by that point.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She's been on the end of several of these, mainly due to her selfishness.
- Zany Scheme: Gabi hatches a new one in virtually every episode.
Josh Kaminski
Josh Kaminski
- Played by: Jonathan Sadowski
Josh provides examples of the following tropes:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Gabi and Josh are very much attracted to each other but have a lot of issues in their relationship that's keeping them from becoming a steady couple.
- Benevolent Boss: Josh is this big time. He treats his employees like his friends and despite his ego, he truly cares about them and looks out for their well being.
- This gets him into trouble in "Young and Carless" when he trades in Gabi's broken down car for a newer used one with him paying the difference out of pocket. He ends up not realizing that Gabi's mother gave the car to her shortly before she died. He's even willing to pay up to $30,000 to fix his mistake but Gabi won't let him.
- Betty and Veronica: He was the male Veronica to Cooper's Betty during most of season 2, constantly interfering in their relationship, and physically assaulting Cooper.
- Birds of a Feather: Josh and Gabi share so much in common that they'd make the perfect couple. The man is in love with another woman, unfortunately.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Josh has a hard time telling Gabi his true feelings for her, a character flaw that fuels much of the drama and comedy on the show.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Josh is also very jealous and possessive towards Gabi when she dates other guys, especially his brother Jake, Cooper and several other one-shot love interests.
- One episode had him try and spy on Gabi when he thought the guy he was about to make a huge business deal had taken an interest in her. The reality was that the guy had been interested in Adriana, the chef he replaced Gabi with and the guy cancels the deal in the end because of Josh's spying.
- Easy Amnesia: Happens to him in season 5. He hits his head and loses his entire memories of Gabi in the process. It's not until the end of the episode that he regains his memories of her and what starts their Relationship Upgrade.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling : Josh is the responsible sibling to Jake's foolish.
- It's All About Me: One of his less admirable traits, when pursuing Gabi, he never takes her feelings into consideration, such as deleting the Voice Mail from her phone to keep his own relationship afloat, and making Gabi second guessing her own skills.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Looks and wealth aside, he is a huge fans of Game of Thrones and Star Wars, idolizes Steve Jobs and implies that he wasn't very popular in high school. He still manages to attract and sleep with Gabi, Caroline, Shauna, Jilly and a few other one-shot love interests.
- Never My Fault: Both Josh and Gabi have a huge problem admitting whether either of them are wrong about something, especially when it concerns their relationship, which is one of the main dysfunctions they have.
- Nice Guy: Despite some occasional egoism and self centered behavior, Josh is a personable, charitable guy and truly cares for his employees like family.
- Papa Wolf: Josh disguises his insecurity for seeing Gabi with other men by acting like the trope. However, he DOES display protectiveness for his friends as genuine such as when Yolanda was seeing her ex, he was truly worried that he was going to hurt her again and tried to step in.
- Parental Abandonment: His father ran away when he was born and he still has issues with it. When his father tried to reconnect with him years later, he was understandably upset and it took a lot of (unwanted) meddling from Gabi to finally get them to talk things over.
- Parental Favoritism : It's hinted that he's his mother's favorite child.
- Really Gets Around: Being a millionaire and being easy on the eyes, Josh has displayed some playboy habits after breaking up with Caroline and before getting together officially with Gabi.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: He was the rich suitor to Cooper's poor suitor for Gabi's affections.
- Sleeping with the Boss: It's what kicks starts all the drama and awkwardness between Josh and Gabi. In the pilot, Gabi and Josh had a one-night stand after Caroline broke up with him. They had been drunk at the time and agreed that it didn't mean anything but it still caused a lot of complications in their relationship.
- Through His Stomach: He absolutely ADORES Gabi's cooking and is very attracted to her.
Sofia Rodriguez
Sofia Rodriguez
- Played by: Aimee Carrero
Sofia provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Take and No Give: One episode had her question why she is friends with Gabi, due to the latter's impulsiveness and obliviousness when she sold the couch her boss gave her for $800, even after promising not to. They make up in the end.
- Blatant Lies: Her family apparently thought she was still a virgin until Gabi blurted out the truth.
- Butt-Monkey: She tends to suffer a bit of this later seasons after losing her job at the bank. It takes her many episodes before she finds a part time job as a spin class instructors and later as the assistant to Logan Rollings and even then, she has it hard due to the crazy demands of her boss.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not to the extent of Elliot, but Sofia does have her snarky moments here and there.
- Enemy Mine: A variation of the trope happens between Caroline and Sofia quickly becoming friends. Even after it's revealed that Sofia was just faking being Cooper's girlfriend to keep his relationship with Gabi a secret, Caroline forgives her just because she was super devious about the fake dating. Caroline then visits Gabi and Sofia's rundown apartment which disgusts her and says nothing else to her as she leaves.
- Money Fetish: Liekly due to her and Gabi's near poverty but Sofia is always excited by the chance of experiencing some luxury and tries to make the most of each situation involving it.
- Cooper ends up regretting giving her his 5-star hotel room to have a night alone with Gabi after he sees the outrageous hotel bill show up in his phone.
- My Brother Is Off-Limits!: Sofia made it clear that she did NOT like the idea of Gabi dating her brother Benji.
- Not So Above It All: Gabi's not the only one who can hatch a scheme.
- Odd Friendship: Sofia is an ambitious career girl and Gabi is an impulsive, reckless chef/food blogger. Sofia tries to stay out of people's business and Gabi can't keep her own nose out of it. Despite their differences, they are devoted friends to each other.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to Gabi anyway. Sofia always tries to be the responsible one and talk Gabi out of whatever crazy scheme she hatched up, with minimal success.
- Overly Long Name: Sofia's full name is "Sofia Maria Consuela Rafaella Rodriguez
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Sofia and Gabi live together and are devoted to each other, and their arguments almost resemble the ones she has with Gabi's loveInterest Josh. Their high school rival Lizette actually made a rumor that they were a gay couple in high school.
- Spicy Latina: Definitely!
Yolanda
Yolanda
- Played by: Kym Whitley
Yolanda provides examples of the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Later seasons imply that she might have a drinking problem.
- All Women Are Lustful: Since her divorce, she has been looking for a new beau and is often trying dating sites.
- Big Beautiful Woman
- Big Fun: And HOW!
- Catchphrase: Oh my Damn!
- Intergenerational Friendship: She has this with Gabi, Josh and Sofia.
- Gossipy Hens: She may dislike Elliot but it doesn't stop her from gossiping with him and they practically compete on who gets the most gossips.
- Mama Bear: Yolanda is very protective of her eldest son Dereck and is implied to be close to her other children as well.
- She also is very close to Josh, Gabi and Sofia and sees them as her own surrogate children.
- Mr. Vice Guy: Yolanda has a drinking and gambling problem and is hinted to have a criminal record, despite that, she means well and is a beloved friend and confidant to both Gabi and Josh.
- One-Hour Work Week: She barely seen to do any cleaning AT ALL at Josh's place and Josh still keeps her around.
- Sassy Black Woman
- Team Mom: She is this to Gabi, Sofia and Josh.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Yolanda and Elliot love to bicker with each other but love to also share gossip.
Elliot Parks
Elliot Parks
- Played by: Rex Lee
Elliot provides examples of the following tropes:
- Asian Rudeness: It's mostly directed to Gabi and Yolanda, though.
- Camp Gay: He fits this to a T. He is extremely flamboyant, loves spa days and critical about fashion.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even he was disgusted with Josh for selling the car Gabi's late mother gave her.
- Freudian Excuse: It's hinted that he had a rough childhood, had a poor relationship with his parents and had to hide his sexuality during high school. It's implied that this is the reason why he is so jaded.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: He once asked his father for a bigger allowance, only to be yelled at and restricted for $0.50 until he was 18.
- Incompatible Orientation: He seems to be attracted to Josh (who is straight) and it's heavily implied part of his hostility towards Gabi is out of jealousy for being the object of his affection.
- Jerkass: He is a snarky, territorial man who has a gay-crush on his boss and is always against Gabi and Yolanda and sometimes even tries to find way to get Gabi fired or at least get her in a bad place with Josh.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a jerkass, Elliot is capable of being nice and proves he cares for other, usually Josh or his lover Alan, although he has occasionally come to get along with Gabi and Yolanda on occasion as well.
- Morality Pet: His (much nicer) husband Alan ends up becoming this.
- Nice Mean And In Between: He is the mean to Gabi's nice and Yolanda's in-between in Josh's staff.
- Official Couple: He begins dating and eventually marries his sweetheart Alan Lowenstein and they remain together for the rest of the series.
- Pet the Dog: Any scene with him and Alan end up being this.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: He is ALWAYS sucking up to Josh.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Yolanda and Elliot love to bicker with each other but love to also share gossip.
Caroline Huntington
Caroline Huntington.
- Played by: Mallory Jansen
Josh's girlfriend turned fiancé from season one. She is very materialistic and vain, caring more about her possessions and physical appearance than Josh.
Caroline provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: he has a jerkish attitude that isn't Played for Laughs like Elliot and is quick to blame Gabi about anything shady that happens to her.
- Betty and Veronica: She is the Veronica to Gabi's Betty for Josh's Archie.
- Enemy Mine: Briefly had this with Sofia.
- Freudian Excuse: Josh reveals that her parents were rarely around when she was growing up and she had nannies change constantly, which may explain some of her issues.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Josh reveals that she was this growing up.
- Preppy Name: Her full name is Caroline Penelope Huntington.
- Put on a Bus: After breaking up with Josh, she stops appearing and is rarely mentioned. Justified, since she is no longer in a relationship with him and thus has no reason to show up to the penthouse.
- Rich Bitch: Vain, spoiled, materialistic and had Josh completely wrapped around her little finger.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: She seems to be addicted to shopping and is actually repulsed by the thought of discount prices and sales.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: She was the rich suitor to Gabi's poor suitor for Josh's affection.
- Self-Deprecation: Despite being snobby, she probably is aware of her flaws and regularly goes to therapy to work on her issues.
- Socialite
Cooper Finley
Cooper Finley
- Played by: Jesse Mc Cartney
A computer hacker who comes to work for Josh and becomes a love interest for Gabi.
Cooper provides examples of the following tropes:
- Amicable Exes: He and Gabi end their relationship on a high note as friends after Cooper gives her a genuine apology for his actions.
- Betty and Veronica: He was the male Betty to Josh's Veronica during most of season 2.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He becomes very jealous after discovering the one-night stand between Josh and Gabi and Josh's own feelings for Gabi.
- Genius Slob: We only saw his apartment once and it was a bit of a mess.
- Insufferable Genius: He has shades of this at times.
- Ivy League for Everyone: He is a graduate of MIT. Justified due to his high IQ and computer skills.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Gabi certainly was turned off by his brains. That said the guy is played by heart throb Jesse McCartney.
- Nice Guy: For all his faults, make no doubt, he has a kind heart, and is a good man, Gabi never would have fallen in love with him if he wasn't. The moment that solidifies this to Gabi is when he gives Gabi a genuine apology for his actions, not in the chance of winning her back, but because he knows he's better than that, something, Josh never does.
- Put on a Bus: He disappears after breaking up with Gabi for good in season 2 and is rarely mentioned after that.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: He was the poor suitor to Joh's rich suitor for Gabi's affection.
