Seinfeld was known for its main characters’ inability to hold long-term relationships, with Elaine Benes dating plenty of eccentric men over the course of nine seasons. As the only woman in the main group, Elaine was responsible for bringing many of the most memorable male characters into Seinfeld’s story by dating them. Aside from Elaine’s long-term relationship with Jerry before the sitcom, a few of her most iconic significant others include Puddy, the “Close-Talker,” Bizarro Jerry, New York Mets baseball player Keith Hernandez, and the unfortunately-named Joel Rifkin.
Since the title character has a new girlfriend in just about every episode, it’s not surprising that Jerry dated at least 73 women throughout Seinfeld, including Elaine. George Costanza had 62 girlfriends in the series including his fiancée Susan and his date with actress Marisa Tomei, while Kramer is only seen dating 27 women in Seinfeld. Elaine’s relationship number falls between George and Kramer, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character still seemed to have the most relationships that lasted longer than one episode.
Elaine Dated At Least 50 Men Throughout Seinfeld
According to the relationship counter on the Seinfeld season 9 finale’s DVD extras, Elaine Benes dated 50 men that were seen or alluded to on the sitcom. While this number could be higher considering the dates that Seinfeld didn’t include, it makes sense given the multi-episode arcs for some of Elaine’s boyfriends. Elaine’s significant others who she dated for more than one Seinfeld episode include the Maestro, Puddy, Kevin, and Dr. Reston.
Most of Elaine’s boyfriends only lasted one or two episodes, but her biggest long-term significant others were Jerry Seinfeld and David Puddy. Elaine dated Jerry for a few years prior to the sitcom, with the two having a brief reunion during Seinfeld season 2 when trying to make a “friends with benefits” dynamic work. Elaine also dated David Puddy on-and-off in Seinfeld seasons 6 and 9, with their relationship seemingly ending for good after Elaine went to jail in the series finale.
Why Jerry & Elaine Never Got Back Together On Seinfeld
Since the two characters had a romantic history before the sitcom, Jerry and Elaine had the potential to become Seinfeld’s will-they-won’t-they couple – but, this isn’t how Seinfeld works. As revealed by Seinfeld showrunner Larry David on the sitcom’s DVD extras, NBC lobbied for Jerry and Elaine to have a romantic arc throughout the series, but David didn’t believe the two characters would ever date again. David gave into network pressure by including one Seinfeld season 2 episode in which Elaine and Jerry hooked up again, but never returned to the idea of making them a couple.
Even in a fictional reunion episode for Curb Your Enthusiasm season 7, Larry David didn’t allow Jerry and Elaine to get back together, instead giving the Seinfeld characters a conflict in which Jerry was Elaine’s sperm donor. Still, Jerry and Elaine bizarrely turned out to be soulmates, but they likely never would have lasted in another romantic relationship. Throughout the last few seasons of Seinfeld, the sitcom occasionally dropped hints in various Jerry and Elaine storylines that they harbored unspoken feelings for one another. But, since Seinfeld is a “no hugging, no learning” series, the couple was never going to make enough personal growth to successfully launch a relationship.
