Take a Dare

Take a Dare is the 84th episode of Gilligan's Island and the sixteenth episode of the third season. It first aired January 2, 1967.

Synopsis
Listening to the radio while fishing, Gilligan comes upon the Take a Dare radio show that puts people in difficult situations in return for cash, The Skipper is a little irked that the program has marooned a man named George Barkley on an island for a week; if he survives without any help, he will win $10,000. The Skipper is irked by the irony of their situation and leave the fish they have caught to go get some bananas. Unfortunately, after they vanish into the jungle, Barkley comes out of hiding on their island and steals the fish. In time, the Castaways discover other things missing and conclude that monkeys carried off the items. While searching for their stuff, Gilligan and the Skipper discover Barkley with their things talking to the radio announcer on a two-way radio. They charge him, but he removes a fuse to incapacitate the radio. They take it to the Professor to fix, but it soon becomes very obvious that Barkley is a conniving con-artist who has no intentions of forfeiting his prize money to help them get rescued. He insults the Howells when they try paying him more than the prize money, and he offends Ginger by accepting his advances without honoring her request. Worse yet, he keeps stealing the two-way radio to communicate with the game show people to keep up the illusion that he is alone, and then incapacitating it so no one can hear Gilligan or the Skipper. He finally tosses it off the cliff and escapes into the jungle to hide until his ride comes from him. The Professor finally comes up with a plan instructing everyone to take up assigned places on the island and calling out as soon as a boat shows up to get Barkley. Unfortunately, Gilligan takes the plan too literally and never calls out when it's a helicopter picking up Barkley. During the following airing of the show, however, as Barkley is expecting his prize money, he learns his money was hidden in the radio which he left on the island, possibly forfeiting his prize. Gilligan and the Skipper go searching for the money which Mr. Howell has already found.

Message

 * "Some people settle for hamburger when they could have filet mignon."

Highlights

 * Gilligan confusingly telling Mary-Ann and Ginger about the "Take a Dare" program situation.
 * Ginger and Mr. Howell approaching Barkley
 * Gilligan and Skipper getting conned by Mr. Barkley
 * Mr. Howell finding the lost money from the transmitter

Credits
Main Cast
 * Bob Denver as Gilligan
 * Alan Hale Jr. as The Skipper
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Howell
 * Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Howell
 * Tina Louise as Ginger
 * Dawn Wells as Mary Ann
 * Russell Johnson as The Professor

Guest Cast
 * Strother Martin as George Barkley
 * Unidentified actor as the Take a Dare Announcer (voice only)

Trivia

 * Guest star Strother Martin is best known as the evil prison warden in the Movie "Cool Hand Luke" with his remark, "What we got here is a failure to communicate." He also starred in the "Gunsmoke" episode, "Island in the Desert," as crazy hermit Ben Snow.
 * The hammocks are missing in the Boy's Hut just before they realize the missing items.
 * Barkley steals the Castaways' frying pan, the Howells' good silverware, the Professor's hammock and the Skipper's magazine.
 * The Professor accuses Mary Ann of taking his hammock, but he's never been seen using one except when he borrowed Gilligan's in Meet The Meteor. Even in New Neighbor Sam, he's seen sleeping in a cot.
 * The so-called fuse on Barkley's transmitter is missing in his first shot with it and disappears afterward. In close-ups, it's not even connected to anything.
 * When the Professor notes the fuse is missing, the receptacle for it has relocated to the interior.
 * Ginger gets offended when Barkley returns her advances. She was also offended when Howard Hecuba insulted her in The Producer and when Gilligan offered to pay her admittance fee into the Howell's club in The Sweepstakes.
 * The Howells' must have found some paper checks they didn't know they had on the island since Little Island, Big Gun when they tried to give Jackson Farrell a check made out of driftwood.
 * It is unrevealed as to why the Professor didn't incapacitate Barkley's radio to keep him from using it or just set bonfires to alert the helicopter pilot.
 * When the Castaways hear about Barkley on the radio, Mary Ann has her hair down. She also wears it down in A Nose by Any Other Name and It's a Bird, It's a Plane.
 * It is widely accepted that the Gilligan's Island series was an inspiration for the CBS reality series "Survivor". This episode reinforces the series' concept of an ordinary person forced to survive in a remote location for a monetary reward.

Quotes
Gilligan - "It can't be, he's on a deserted island and this one has people!"
 * Skipper - "It's the man on the Take A Dare show."

Mary Ann - "Why? You've already got him out-numbered."
 * Ginger - "Mary Ann, want to come with me?"

Skipper - "So he can hear us?" Gilligan - "No, so the people on the radio can hear us!" Skipper - "There's something wrong with that, but I don't have time to figure it out...."
 * Gilligan - "Let's yell when we get close to him."


 * Mr. Howell - "Interest seems to follow me wherever I go!"