The new addition to the prison drama has truly rubbed viewers up the wrong way. But is she any worse than TV’s other toxic creations?

Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black has had some real highs and lows over the show’s six seasons. Poussey’s death? Heartbreaking. The whole series where the entire storyline was basically “budget cuts”? Please, no. The riot? Incredible. Doggett falling in love with her rapist? Extremely problematic. But finally, the show has given us something we can all agree on: new inmate Madison is the most irritating character in the show’s history.

It’s a big achievement, especially considering the competition. In series one, the internet practically started a petition to get rid of Piper’s mansplaining, useless boyfriend Larry, and then whingey, uptight Piper took over aggravating fans. But Madison – or Badison, as she has nicknamed herself – has really got under the skin of Litchfield’s gen pop, and the viewers.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Josh Radnor, centre, as Ted in How I Met Your Mother. Photograph: CBS

An over-confident arsehole – a baby-voiced drawling Boston accent with the delivery of Samantha from Sex and the City by way of Sylvia Young’sTheatre School – she’s desperate for approval but has no idea how to get it. Madison switches between class clown and cold-hearted psycho with no warning, and loves a prank (pranks are jokes for people with no sense of humour): she is, as Piper calls her, “a fucking nightmare! She put cheese in my face – who does that? It’s not even a prank!” The worst part is, the show clearly thinks Badison is a dangerous villain, a sociopath who terrifies Cell Block C. Instead, she’s just perpetually irritating.

On OITNB, everyone gets a backstory: from racists with cruel wives to meth heads with evil religious parents to killers with mummy issues, viewers end up emotionally invested in every inmate … apart from Madison. Her story? Eh, she was bullied a bit at school, chucked a book at her mum and got sent to brat camp, where she was bullied a bit more. Hardly a tearjerker.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl. Photograph: Warner Bros

It’s this lack of sympathy that makes her so much worse than other annoying TV characters. Darren Osborne from Hollyoaks, Ted from How I Met Your Mother, Jenny Humphrey from Gossip Girl, Kevin-who-was-always-messing-plans-up from Bloodline, David Platt from Corrie: they’ve all got very valid reasons for behaving the way they do. Whether it’s a dead mum, drink, drugs, horrific sexual assault or just being really into explaining a really, really long story about how he met the mother of his kids, we know what’s behind their irritating personality.

At least Netflix’s Love attempted to explain why Gus – a whining, insecure, delusional man-boy who refuses to accept blame for any of his problems and thinks he’s better than everyone else, despite being a trash person – was so annoying before the series ended. And even Girls’ notoriously abrasive Marnie Michaels could blame her relationship with her selfish mum and her parents’ traumatic divorce for her spiral of bad decisions. The embarrassing folk career, though? That’s all on her. And, unlike Madison, Marnie got her comeuppance: a lifetime with Hannah and her crying baby is worse than a long stay at Litchfield.

Plus, Madison isn’t funny. Her pranks are lame, her nicknames are lazy – calling Piper Chapman “Gapman” after she smashed her front tooth out is hardly the work of a steel trap mind – and she cracks up at her own jokes. “She’s like that idiot Chevy Chase, from the Chevy Chase films,” says Red. “I mean, what’s so funny about always fucking everything up?” You see, if an annoying TV character is also funny, it’s acceptable. Laura from Him & Her, nervous-greyhound-made-human Richard from Silicon Valley, Spencer from The Hills (let’s admit it – he was playing a character), Janice from Friends? Irritating, sure – but also hilarious. And look at it this way: was Janice annoying, or was she just an enthusiastic person, in love with Chandler, who ended up being constantly mocked by a cliquey bunch of mates who lied to her about moves to Yemen and made fun of her behind her back? Wake up, sheeple!

Actor Amanda Fuller, who plays Madison, remains hopeful we’ll grow to love her, though. “I know she’s not the most likable character and she stirs shit up, but I really do think she’s got a good heart and I hope that [fans] can see that,” she said last month. She also revealed that Badison is back for series seven. Better get used to it, cookies …