Courtney Claire Gripling (voiced by Liz Georges) is a major character on As Told By Ginger. She appears in the pilot episode The Party, and makes her official debut in the first episode of the first season.
Courtney Gripling takes her role as "The Most Popular Girl at Lucky Junior High" very seriously. Her fascination with Ginger Foutley began as an experiment to see how the other half lives and eventually blossomed into a real friendship. Courtney looks to Ginger as someone she can turn to when she needs help or advice from someone other than her mindless followers. While her other friends Mipsy and Miranda virtually worship the ground that Courtney walks on, Ginger seems to do just fine living independently from Courtney's shadow. In fact, Courtney is secretly envious of Ginger's tight bond she shares with her best friends Macie and Dodie, since Courtney is aware that they would stick by her no matter what, while Miranda and company would only be there as long as Courtney's reign of popularity endures.
Biography
Courtney is the most popular girl at Lucky Jr. High. She is the typical ditz, not very bright, and spoiled, but she is also beautiful, adorable, sophisticated, and kind-hearted. She always had an interest as to how things worked in the world of middle class citizens (for example, there was an instance where she was puzzled as to how a vacuum cleaner works). Courtney took a liking to Ginger early on in the series. She liked seeing how Ginger would survive if put in an all-popular kids setting. To her surprise, Ginger could manage. Courtney then became increasingly close to Ginger.
In Mommie Nearest, Courtney's mother has to stay in the hospital after she gets an infection from a face lift. Courtney then spends more time with Ginger's mom, Lois, as a temporary replacement. It results in Courtney staying a few nights in Ginger's home. Ginger quickly gets jealous of the natural mother-daughter relationship Courtney and Lois have. In Fair to Cloudy, Ginger invited Darren to the county fair without consulting her normal companions, Dodie and Macie. Dodie then retaliates by inviting Courtney. At the fair, Courtney, as Ginger put it, "has to try everything", as she is intrigued that such a lifestyle exists.
In another episode, Courtney helped Ginger by revealing the plans to sabotage Ginger's relationship with Darren. However, even Ginger receives the occasional "Courtney-ism", considering that Courtney has a whole group of friends to manage. Closest of those friends to Courtney is her right-hand woman, Miranda, who doesn't approve of the friendship between Courtney and Ginger. Courtney's group seems to approve of her leader status. However, in No Hope for Courtney, a girl named Hope takes on Courtney's position, leaving Courtney in a social slump. In the end, Courtney reclaims her position as leader and Hope becomes one of her many followers. Courtney's main love interest throughout the show is Darren's older brother, Will. In The Wedding Frame, Courtney's father is caught for insider trading and the Griplings are forced to move out of their rich lifestyle and into middle class. Before these events unfolded, she and her family lived in a mansion in Protected Pines.
Personality
Courtney is often shown to be some what air headed, though she can be more up on things than others and actually appear to be quite smart in some situations. She is very polite and well spoken, though she can be somewhat shallow and selfish as seen in "And She Was Gone" and "Family Therapy".
She loves being the center of attention, but often means well and has helped Ginger in some situations such as coming to get her and revealing Mipsy and Miranda's plan with the help of Dodie and Macie.[1] She also told Ginger about Dodie and Macie's plan to split her and Darren up.[2]
Courtney's goth look
Courtney may have narcissistic personality disorder, as she does show some symptons, mostly due to her being spoiled by her parents. Courtney is either very bad with names or intentionally forgets those that don't interest her, as she often forgots Dodie and Macie's names and she called them 'Podie and Stacy', and 'Doodie and Lacy'.
She is also seen to be quite dramatic.
Relationships
Family
Claire Gripling: She gets most of her traits from Claire. She is shown to be respectful to her mother. The two of them have a healthy relationship. When Courtney usually asks her mother for something, Claire would often allow it.
Prescott Gripling: Her father isn't around very much. When the family called him in TGIF, she greeted him kindly. This shows that she still cares about her father even though he is mainly absent from her life.
Blake Gripling: He usually does his thing and he doesn't spend much time with Courtney. They do have their little squabbles from time to time which is normal for siblings. She does care about her brother even if it's not expressed openly.
Friends
Miranda Killgallen: She is Courtney's best friend. Miranda is by her side frequently. The two of them share the same interests except Miranda is more cruel than Courtney. They have a good time when they shop for clothes. The two of them have a few arguments, but they make up in the end.
Mipsy Mipson: She hangs out with Courtney and the popular group. When Courtney got into a fight with Miranda in Trouble in Gal Pal Land, Mipsy was one of the girls Courtney could hang out with. Later in the episode, Courtney feels bad about her fallout with Miranda. When Ginger asks her what about Mipsy, Courtney said it's like choosing shaving over waxing. This means that she likes having Mipsy around, but not as much as Miranda.
Ginger Foutley: She takes an interest in Ginger and admires her "Gingerisms". Courtney sees how well adjusted she is. She also sees something in her and makes numerous attempts to be nice to her. As the series progressed, she became more of a friend to her. She also started to hang around her more.
Dodie Bishop: At the start of the series she called her Podie. In Of Lice and Friends, she started to notice much gossip she was spreading. Courtney seemed impressed and she got her name right. Dodie, however, was about her read her name on a list of students who have lice. Courtney asked Ginger to stop her from reading her name. Ginger was able to get there in time to stop her from reading Courtney’s name on the lice list.
Macie Lightfoot: She initially called her Stacy. In Come Back Little Seal Girl, she noticed how endearing Macie was as she was doing her little seal girl routine on stage. In Season of Caprice, Macie started calling her CG much to Courtney’s dismay. Other interactions are rare but it's clear that she gets along with Macie.
Teachers
Ms. Zorski: She is in her homeroom class. They don't interact much, but Courtney is shown to be a good student in her class.
Mr. Cilia: She is shown to be in his class as seen in The 'A' Ticket. In the episode, she mainly tried helping Ginger with Ian.
Romance
Will Patterson: She develops a crush on him in The Right Stuff. Andrea and Chantal didn't take this kindly. At the pool party, she tries impress Will by showing off her bikini after stuffing her bra with bubble wrap. She partners up with him when they play chicken. In Piece of My Heart, she offered to invite him to the dance. Darren thought the invite was for him. Will didn’t know that the invitation was for him, but she was able to save the night by redecorating her dress to impress her peers. In New Girl in Town, she is seen holding on to Will's arm which implies she still likes him.
Michael Ricci: In Deja Who?, she had a crush on him. She wanted to make an impression on him to attend Lucky Jr. High. Ginger, however, had to fill in for her after her face got puffy when she accidentally ate lobster which she is allergic to. The pressure got to Ginger and revealed that she wasn't Courtney. But Courtney forgave her for it.
Others
Winston: He looks out for her and fulfills her wishes. He acts as a male role model for her due to her father's absence. He knows how to attend to her needs and wants.
Giselle: She only appeared in Season of Caprice. She was busy with deciding what clothes Courtney should bring with her to Camp Caprice. She was mentioned in part 3 in Far From Home. Courtney requested that she fly her in a helicopter with Dodie and Macie to Avalanche Arts Academy.
Hope Rogers: She thought her name was Faith. Hope took over her reign of popularity in No Hope for Courtney. Courtney resented her for it and they had a standoff in the hallway. Courtney quickly became a shell of herself. She decided to try and befriend Hope. They got into a fight until Courtney noticed her highlights. The two made amends and Hope became part of the popular group.
Trivia
- A lot of fans say that Courtney should've been Ginger's and Macie's best friend rather than Dodie.
- As revealed by Lois in "Carl and Maude", Courtney made Ginger cry in the 5th grade when she called her "fashionably impaired".
- Courtney is the only girl in her circle of friends to be nice to Ginger.
- Courtney is the only girl to wear pink and light blue. A similar color combination with Barbie.
- Courtney along with Rhonda Lloyd (Hey Arnold), Muffy Crosswire (Arthur), Bebe Bluff (Doug), Paige Logan (Grossology) and Veronica Lodge (Archie Comics) all five rich girls attended public schools instead of private schools.
- Like Rhonda and Bebe, Courtney and her family become poor.
- However both Rhonda and Bebe became rich again.
- Due to Courtney showing a lot of admiration and obssesion, towards Ginger, this lead many fans to believe, that Courtney has a crush on Ginger. This was supposed to be a reality, and one episode would’ve focused on the two coming to terms with it, but Nickelodeon executives vetoed it.
- Due to Courtney not being very book smart, she mostly has her father hire someone to do all her homework and projects. As revealed in episodes, Stealing First and No Hope for Courtney. Though however Courtney is shown to be very good at French as she was put in a high school level French class along with Macie, in the episode "The Right Stuff".
- In the episodes of The Party and The Right Stuff, it is revealed that Courtney stuffs her bra due to trying to show everyone that she's mature.
- Courtney's pilot design is being used as a background character that now a brunette and has freckels.
- Courtney has matured as each episode aired, and was less attention seeking as the series went on and she was a lot nicer to Macie, Dodie and Darren.
- Courtney is not seen in the epilogue of the series finale.
- Courtney is a symbol of young girls who are growing up to fast; instead of enjoying being a kid.
- Courtney is a very popular girl in middle school, however in the outside world and in high school some people find her annoying.
- Courtney is shown to be a wonderful person and great friend to Ginger.
- Courtney matures quite a lot later on in the series and most fans say she was a nicer character than Dodie.
- She is one of very few popular girl characters to be nice to the main character, the other being Brittany Taylor from Daria.
- Courtney doesn't make many appearances towards the climax in the series.
- Courtney wasn't as dominant in her freshman year of high school, as she was bullied by the cheerleaders and has been embarrassed in front of the whole school by Carl and Hoodsey in "Battle of the Bands" in her own private porta-potty.
- After losing her fortune, Courtney and her family moved into the Foutley's old home. We can assume that this is karma for the Griplings looking down on middle-class families.
- It's very possible that her family could regain their fortune in the future. If Claire also came from a fabulously wealthy family, they could help, or her husband could get off on a plea deal and some of their assets could come back.
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