The worst episodes of Gilligan's Island
Ranked by viewer rating, lows first. Lit marks on the season rail place this list across the run. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
Erika Tiffany Smith to the Rescue
Erika Tiffany Smith lands on the island looking for a place to start a new resort, and a new husband.
- 02
Mary Ann falls backwards while watching Ginger perform on stage, and, when she awakens, she thinks that she is Ginger. Meanwhile, Gilligan accidentally watches as the Professor attempts to hypnotize Mary Ann, and thus he begins to think that he is Mary Ann.
- 03
A mad scientist lands on the island and takes the Castaways to his castle . . . on a nearby island . . . to perform experiments on them.
- 04
Famous Hollywood director Herald Hecuba lands on the island during his world-wide talent search. The castaways put on a musical version of Hamlet in order to impress the director, with hopes that he will take them back to Hollywood when he leaves.
- 05
Gilligan wakes up with white hair, and thinks he overhears the Professor say that he has a rare disease that has made him age quickly (the disease? ""follicular albinism""). When Mrs. Howell attempts to fix the problem by dyeing Gilligan's hair brown, the dye causes his hair to fall out. A classic line occurred as the other Castaways tried to act as though they don't notice Gilligan's baldness … Mrs. Howell's famous breakfast order: ""I think I'll have a hard-bald egg."" Later, the Skipper exhibits the same symptoms. The Professor determines the problems are caused by the crude bleach that Gilligan and the Skipper have been using while washing the castaways clothing.
- 06
Gilligan bumps his head and suddenly sees everything upside down. The Professor tries to help by brewing an antidote made of keptibora berry extract, but the antidote causes Gilligan to see double. After consuming more juice, he sees four of everything. Meanwhile, the island is invaded by three headhunters who slowly capture all of the other castaways. Gilligan saves the day by serving the headhunters lots and lots of keptibora berry extract, which causes them to see ""hundreds"" of castaways running toward them!
- 07
While fishing, Gilligan and the Skipper reel in a briefcase, stamped with the words ""Property of the U.S. Government."" Everyone believes that the case contains top secret government material. Gilligan accidentally handcuffs the briefcase to his wrist, and has a wild dream about secret agents, evil enemy spies, and deadly spy games!
- 08
A drab, plain-jane woman lands on the island seeking privacy. The girls give her a beauty make-over to lift her spirits, and she ends up looking like Ginger's twin. While the castaways were hoping to lift her spirits enough so that she would want to return to civilization (she has a boat, but has hidden the key), she ends up leaving them on the island and going back to Hollywood to attempt to assume Ginger Grant's movie career.
- 09
George Barkley enters the ""Take a Dare Contest"". He will receive $10,000 if he can spend a week alone on an island, fending for himself. However, he is not alone on the island on which they drop him. Once again, however, rescue eludes the castaways as Mr. Barkley deduces that he can not tell anyone about the castaways without having to forfeit the $10,000 for not spending the week alone.
- 10
Mrs. Howell starts receiving mysterious love notes, and the source remains a mystery until Mr. Howell is caught in the act. Mrs. Howell dreams that she is Cinderella, and Gilligan is her fairy godfather. The Professor rigs up a lie detector using the ship's horn and batteries from the radio.
- 11
An loin-cloth clad ape-man (Tongo) comes to the island, and makes off with their food and supplies. Actually, he is an out of work actor, who tries to convince the Castaways that he is a real uncivilized ape-man while studying for an upcoming role. After he cowers when confronted by a ""real"" gorilla, he leaves the island and the Castaways behind.
- 12
After Gilligan saves a beautiful native girl from drowning, she vows to be his slave forever. Later, her ex-boyfriend comes to the island and challenges Gilligan to a duel to the death. The Professor concocts a drug to cause Gilligan to fall into a catatonic state, so that the natives will think he is dead, but they then insist on a native funeral . . . by burning the body!
- 13
King Killiwani and two other natives come to the island looking for a 'White Goddess.' Ginger and Mary Ann are likely candidates, until the Castaways discover that the natives plan to take the ""White Goddess"" back to their island to marry a volcano and then be sacrificed into it. After seeing Gilligan in a wig and heels, the natives choose him as the ""White Goddess.""
- 14
The Castaways are captured by a Japanese sailor who thinks that WWII never ended. When the other castaways are captured, it is up to Gilligan to save them.
- 15
A mad scientist lands on the island, and makes the castaways work for him through the use of rings that, when placed on their fingers, cause them to fall under a hypnotic trance. What are his evil plans? To use the hypnotized castaways to rob Fort Knox!
- 16
A native family from another island comes seeking a husband for their lovely, large, robust daughter.
- 17
While fishing, Gilligan pulls a WWII mine out of the lagoon. When the Professor is unable to deactivate the mine, Gilligan tows it back into the lagoon, where it harmlessly explodes.
- 18
An experimental robot launched by the Air Force parachutes onto the island. The professor reprograms the robot to walk to Hawaii ("one hundred eleven hours"), but the "lucky" rabbit's foot that Gilligan secretly stuffed into the robot causes it to malfunction upon arrival in Hawaii.
- 19
The Castaways are frightened as the sounds of battle, including hand grenades and machine guns, rock the island. The culprit turns out to be a gorilla who has found an old WWII weapons cache.
- 20
A cage containing a lion washes ashore in the lagoon. After Gilligan removes a thorn from his paw, the two become pals. When the Castaways run out of food, however, Gilligan thinks the lion has consumed the Skipper.
- 21
Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?
The radio reports that Mr. Howell has been rescued and is spending all of his money. Obviously, there is an imposter! The real Mr. Howell is frantic, and offers a reward to the person who can come up with a plan to get him back to civilization. Meanwhile, the imposter falls off a luxury liner and ends up stranded on (you guessed it!) Gilligan's Island. There the imposter conks Mr. Howell on the head with a coconut, changes clothes with him, and attempts to continue his masquerade as the millionaire.
- 22
A ghost appears on the island and tries to scare the Castaways off. The castaways turn the tables by dressing in sheets and roaming around the island to scare the visitors off the island.
- 23
A radio bulletin states that the minister who married Thurston and Lovey Howell (the Reverend Buckley Norris of Boston) was a fraud, and that the Howell's marriage is actually null and void. The stress causes disagreements and separations between the Howells. In the end, it turns out that the radio announcer was at fault: While he mistakenly reported that "Buckley Norris" was the fraudulent minister, he was supposed to say "Borris Nuckley."
- 24
A huge meteor lands on the island, causing everything nearby to age very rapidly. The Professor determines the rapid aging is being caused by strong cosmic rays (he makes this determination by using his bamboo Geiger counter!).
- 25
Gilligan meets his double, a foreign spy who has undergone plastic surgery in order to look like Gilligan (why, we're not sure!). Gilligan gets in lots of trouble as his double steals Mary Ann's pies, etc . . ..
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