The 115 Funniest Things to Ever Happen on Survivor

#76. I will ALWAYS wave my finger in your face!
Australia - Episode 5

This is one of the most memorable phrases in Survivor history. The only problem is that people eventually got sick of it.

You see... the "Alicia finger wave" was so famous and so overplayed back in 2001 that eventually it turned into a cliche. Because you have to remember that this was back when 40 million people watched the show. Survivor was everywhere, everybody talked about it, and so when a great quote comes along like "I will always wave my finger in your face," inevitably it is going to be run into the ground. And that's exactly what happened. We saw so many clips of Alicia waving her finger in Kimmi's face that eventually it started to lose its appeal. In other words it went from "funny" to "overrated" very, very fast. Because just like any great comedic moment, the finger wave was only funny up through about the three hundredth viewing on TV.

I was actually a little leery about including this moment for that very reason. Did I really want to include the finger wave? Was it really that funny at the time? Or was it a little overrated because Survivor used to be such a big deal? How did it stack up against the funnier Survivor moments after Australia?

So I sat down. And I watched.

And damnit, I enjoyed.

Alicia's finger wave is still one of the funniest things to happen on Survivor. It's not the funniest (obviously, or else I would have ranked it higher), but it still holds up well over time. So I don't care if it was overplayed or if people got sick of it. "I will always wave my finger in your face" is still one of the all-time best Survivor quotes. And the fact that it was ad-libbed just makes it even better.

Need a review of the famous Kimmi-Alicia fight and Alicia's famous wagging finger? Here is the blow-by-blow recap (complete with screen caps):

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Kucha had won some chickens as a reward back in episode four ("Once you go dark meat, you don't ever go back"). But the problem is that Kimmi is a vegetarian and she isn't really thrilled with the idea that the chickens are going to be eaten. Kimmi is an animal lover, you see. In fact, when she was younger, she used to have a pet chicken named Henrietta. Oh, and by the way... it certainly doesn't help that the producers named one of the chickens "Henrietta" just to mess with her. Look it up, it's true! One of the chickens actually has a name tag that says "Henrietta." Sadistic Survivor producers rule!

So anyway Kimmi is against eating the chickens. And Alicia is just against Kimmi in general. So things are bound to come to a head eventually. Alicia isn't one who can keep her mouth shut about people she thinks are ridiculous.

The big fight takes place at the start of episode five. Kimmi makes some comment about how the tribe shouldn't eat a chicken every day. Instead they ought to spread them out over a week or so. And Alicia, of course, doesn't want to hear it.

"We need protein every day, Kimmi. That's ridiculous."

"I'm just saying that if you wait a few days between chickens, you'll be stronger."

Kimmi and Alicia continue this debate for a while until Alicia gets tired of it. So she walks out of the shelter, only to hear Kimmi say in response, "Jeez. What's up your butt today?"

Alicia: "Excuse me? EXCUSE ME? Do you have some sort of a problem with me?"

Kimmi: "Yes I do."

"Oh, REALLY."

The two women start a second argument at this point, and this is where it starts to get heated. This is where Alicia's finger comes out for the first time.

"I'm not getting emotionally attached to the chickens! I'm just saying you should spread out the protein and not eat it all at once!"

The finger wave.

A side view of the famous finger wave. Poor Elisabeth looks like a diver trapped in a shark cage.

The fight goes on for a few more minutes, until Alicia finally gets tired of it. So like before, she turns around and storms off. But not before Kimmi can get one last word in edgewise...

"Don't wave your finger in my face."

And then, the coup de gras.

"I will always wave my finger in your face."

Ha ha ha. Sorry but that's just funny. What a wonderful ad-lib. And I don't know what's funnier. Is it the idea that Alicia literally will always wave her finger in Kimmi's face? Like at her wedding? Or at the birth of Kimmi's child? Or even her funeral? Does Alicia intend to show up at all these events and wave the finger in her face? After all, that's what she promised she would do. Did Alicia walk up to Kimmi's apartment on 9/11 and wave the finger in her face? I'd like to think that didn't happen... but then again with Alicia you never know. Maybe it did.

The second funny thing about this moment is the fact that Jeff Varner started this fight and then walked away. They even comment on it on the Australia DVD. Varner started the fight between Alicia and Kimmi, then he left before he could see the end result. In fact you can even see Varner hightailing it out of there on some of the vidcaps. He's the guy walking away quickly in the background:

Varner fleein' the interview

Or maybe the funniest thing about this fight was the reaction of the Kucha members directly afterwards. Mike Skupin's expression, in particular, is priceless.

Nick reacts to the fight

Mike has no comment

So anyway that's Alicia's famous finger wave, as well as one of my favorite angry ad-libs of all time. I don't care if it got overplayed, this moment is still funny as hell. I will always wave this screencap in your face.

P.S. You can watch this scene over at Youtube.