How I Met Your Mother: All Of Barney's Love Interests Ranked From Worst To Best

8. Shannon

Shannon might not be a name that casual fans of the show would recognize, seeing as she is only mentioned a handful of times throughout the series. She is actually Barney's first love, being his first serious girlfriend, and the woman that shaped his entire view towards women.

Barney and Shannon were going to join the Peace Corps together, before untangling a web of lies and finding out that she had actually been cheating on him with a man named Greg. This sparked a lifelong revenge plan from Barney that you see all come to fruition when he finally gets Greg arrested by the FBI for the illegal activities he had been conducting in his company.

This is the reason that Barney wears suits all day every day, a fact that is very commonly spoken of throughout the show as just a fact of life. Greg was a large corporate bigwig, making Barney think that in order to gain Shannon's respect again he must become this type of person.

She is a huge reason that Barney treats women the way he does, stemming from a fear of rejection and never choosing to be close to them again so he does not get hurt.