The 115 Funniest Things to Ever Happen on Survivor
#15. The Rooty-Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity
Borneo - Episode 10
It was the spin dance heard 'round the world!
A lot of people thought I might put this moment at #1. In fact, it
probably would have been #1 a couple of years ago.
But in time, like just about every other iconic Survivor
moment, the Fresh 'N Fruity dance has been overplayed
and overplayed to the point where it has kind of lost its sense of
newness. And that's too bad, because it really
is one of the funniest moments of spontaneity we have ever seen on the
show.
More than anything else, this moment shows Richard Hatch in a rare
moment of giddy delight. It's that rare instance
in the game where he actually drops the veneer of being a control freak
for just a split second. Richard forgets
he's on Survivor, he forgets that he's supposed to be a strategic
mastermind, and he forgets that all of this is
being televised on national TV.
After all, sometimes you're so happy that you just
have to do a little spin dance. You know?
It's the tenth episode of Survivor: Borneo, and
Richard Hatch is edging dangerously close to the proverbial
chopping block. His own alliance is threatening to crumble at the
seams, the Pagongs left in the game are all gunning
for Richard's head, and Richard is in the most hot water he has ever
been (or will ever be) in this game.
Because of numbers, this is the last point in the game where the vote
could ever be turned against the Tagis, and
that makes this the single most crucial moment in the game for Richard
Hatch. This is the make-or-break moment
in his quest to win a million dollars, and he knows that if he pulls
off a win in the episode ten immunity challenge,
that check is going to be his.
In other words, his entire fate in this game now
hinges on one little fire-building immunity challenge.
And he desperately wants to win this one.
So here comes the fire-building challenge, here comes a very focused
and intense Richard Hatch, and... guess what.
He actually pulls off a miracle victory. Richard burns through his rope
first. Richard is guaranteed a spot in
the final six. And for all intents and purposes this season is now
essentially over. Richard's win in the immunity
challenge just handed him a million dollar check.
And how does he spontaneously celebrate this?
By doing the gayest little spin dance possible.
Hooray for stereotypes!
Richard wins immunity!
Time to celebrate!
Luckily, this is one of those special moments that has been
captured
on video over at YouTube (or at least it was, it looks like YouTube has
removed it recently). Which is good, because there's no
way to accurately convey the goofiness of this
dance just through pictures. Richard's giddy spin dance comes
completely out of nowhere. We had no idea he could
move that fast in a little circle. And quite frankly, I don't think
most of us were really even ready for it. There
are some things you see in life that can never really be unseen,
you know? And Richard's little spin-dance
is right at the top of that troubling (and horrifying) little list.
Plus... he looked a lot like Snoopy.
P.S. I didn't make up the term "Rooty-Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity." That was
the actual term that people used
when talking about Richard's dance on the message boards back in the
summer of 2000. People laughed about the Fresh
'N Fruity all the time, and it ended up being one of the most
oft-mocked moments from Borneo. In fact, "The
Fresh and Fruity" was such a popular phrase that
one of the players actually mentioned it during the
Borneo reunion show! Gervase Peterson actually used the phrase
"Rooty-Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity" during the
Borneo reunion show when talking about Richard's dance. Thus proving
that the Survivor players really do
read the message boards and really do get into some
of the online terminology. So that was pretty cool.
Way to go Gervase! Or "Gervis", as Sue would say.
P.P.S. Yes I know that the Rooty-Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity is the name of a
breakfast selection at IHOP. Don't send
me emails reminding me of this.
P.P.P.S. This is a funny quote that will probably get me in a lot of
trouble, but what the hell. If it makes one
person laugh, it's worth it. A friend of mine was once trying to
describe the "Fresh 'N Fruity" dance
to someone who had never seen Survivor. He was trying to properly put
into words the image of Richard flapping
his elbows and spinning around in a girly little circle. And this was
the analogy he used: Just imagine the most
heterosexual image you can think of. Like Conan the Barbarian having
sex with Pamela Anderson up against a wall.
Okay, take that image, and now think of the exact opposite. And then
you have Richard's little spin dance.
Works for me.
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
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