The
Funny 115 - version 2.0
#15.
Amanda runs to James
Heroes vs Villains - episode 5
There are a bunch of Survivor moments out there that, when I first saw
them on TV, I immediately thought "Yep, that's going to go on the Funny
115 one day."
There are only a handful of moments, however, where when I first saw
them, I immediately knew they were going to wind up in the Top 20.
And then there are moments like this one-- the Amanda Run-- which were
so funny the first time I saw them, that I didn't even have a chance to
think about what placement they were going to have on the Funny 115.
The only thing I could think of the first time I saw them was
"HOLY SHIT! REWIND THAT! I HAVE TO SEE THAT
AGAIN!!!"
So anyway, here you go. This is one of those rare "Holy shit,
I am rolling around on the floor because I am laughing so hard.
Please rewind that and tell me that happened for real"
entries.
The stars of our legendary #15 entry - Amanda and James
It is the fifth episode of Heroes vs Villains, and the two tribes are
competing in a particularly brutal reward challenge today. In
fact, some would say it is the most brutal challenge ever devised in
the history of Survivor.
Basically, what happens is a bunch of people run out into the middle of
an arena, and they all start hurting one another.
I believe the official name of this challenge is "Hurt People."
The Heroes and the Villains line up for a spirited game of Hurt People.
The Heroes are ready to go
Time for some hurtin'.
James is about to see the inside of his knee
So the challenge begins.
And, sure enough, somebody immediately gets hurt.
It is the most successful game of Hurt People in the history of mankind.
James lines up for a rebound
James jumps up for the ball
Russell shoves James on the way down, and James comes down awkwardly on
his knee
James' knee buckles. Either that or Russell just idoled it.
Bliiiiiiindside!
James goes down in a heap
The grisly aftermath
James has either torn the tendons in his knee, or he has severely
sprained them
Amanda looks on in horror
The medic comes out to look at James, and he has some bad news for her
So she wraps up his knee, and after the challenge she says they are
going to take him to see a doctor
This sucks
So anyway, that's that. The game of Hurt People has claimed
yet another victim, and it looks like James Clement is about to be
medevaced for the second time in his Survivor career.
It has been a very sad day.
It has been especially sad for Amanda
Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that part.
You know how I said it was a very sad day when James got hurt?
Well it was a particularly sad day for another player on the
Heroes tribe as well.
It was also a particularly sad day for Amanda.
Why was it a particularly sad day for Amanda?
Well for starters, James Clement was like her big brother.
Whenever they were on the same tribe in Survivor, he looked
out for her. He protected her. They were the best
of friends and they shared everything. So to lose James, in
the manner they did, especially after he had already been medevaced
once before (in Fans vs Favorites), well this was a particularly
crushing blow. Amanda just lost her best friend in the game,
she did so in the cruelest and the most heartless way possible, and it
is tearing her up. So she goes back to camp after the
challenge is over, and she completely breaks down.
Oh, and also, I think James might have been boning her. So
then there's that.
Awww yeah
Okay, so here we go. Here comes the good stuff
Amanda goes back to camp, and she gives us one of the saddest, most
pathetic, most teary-eyed confessionals in Survivor history.
She is completely distraught that the guy who has
been T-boning
her her best friend in the game is about to be medevaced
out for the second time in a row, and it is just
breaking her
heart.
She sits down for the cameras and we get this very sad interview.
"James wants to be here sooooo bad."
"I was trying to make myself think, okay if James doesn't come back,
what am I gonna do?"
(barely audible, through tears) "And I can't even think about
it right now."
"I just hope that tonight... *sniff*... I see him walk down that beach."
*sob*
"I really do."
As you can see, Amanda is just absolutely devastated that James might
not ever be coming back to camp again.
Meanwhile, are her teammates on the Heroes tribe as broken up about
this as she is?
Yeah, maybe not so much.
"I don't think James is comin' back."
"Yeah it's been way too long."
Thanks guys.
So the Heroes hang around camp all day and they wait for the
inevitable.
They wait for the announcement that James has been evacuated from the
game for good.
They wait for the moment where Jeff Probst is going to walk up the
beach and deliver the bad news to everyone.
The Heroes, just waiting
"This is terrible. I mean, that's something that could affect
him the rest of
his life."
Tom stands guard, as he waits for the news
And then? Suddenly?
Without warning?
"I see someone. It's James."
The prodigal Stephenie-beater has returned
"Oh my Goddddd!"
And then... ah yes.
Here is the scene that I
described earlier as a "holy shit, I'm rolling on the floor laughing,
please rewind that and tell me that happened for real" moment.
Swear to God, the first time I saw this, I laughed so hard that I
physically fell down off the couch..
Amanda is so excited to see James coming back to camp that she decides
to run to him
Only it's not, like, a human run
For some ungodly reason, Amanda bounces up and down and flops her arms
around like a fish when she is running
I
so wish I could convey the awkwardness of the Amanda Run in pictures.
But I can't. It is impossible. There is
no way that
pictures can convey how goofy her running style is.
All I can do is present the Amanda Floppy Arm run in gif format, and
you can enjoy it for yourself.
So here you go. The beginning of the Amanda Run.
I really hope you aren't drinking soda right now.
By the way, want to turn this scene into, as they say on The Daily
Show, "a moment of zen"? Well click on this link
and watch the Amanda Bouncy Run set to the Chariots of Fire
music. Your life will never be the same again.
Yay! More running!
What
I love about this scene is that the editors managed to capture every
single second of it. Yep. Every single little
millisecond
of the goofiest run in Survivor history is preserved for us in the
fifth episode of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. The camera
follows
her right along the beach and she bounces and flops and flails like a
fish all the way.
Yay! James is back!
Oh, and then the icing on top of the cake?
As if Amanda's goofy floppy armed running style wasn't enough?
James sees her coming, so he just stops and puts his hands on his hips
and waits for her. As if to say...
You want this body? Come and get it.
Yay!
And
so there you have it. One of the single funniest things I
have
ever seen on TV-- the Amanda Run. It was a top 20 Funny 115
entry from the moment I saw it.
Oh, and you say you want to see the entire scene in gif format,
complete with the crying confessional?
Well here you go. This is one of the best gifs on the entire
countdown.
Tears - floppy arms - bouncing - and come and get it. The
complete package.
And of course we can't finish the entry without Amanda's bi-polar flip
flop of a confessional immediately afterwards. This is where
Amanda Kimmel goes from extreme low to extreme high in the span of
about 30 seconds. Or, as we like to call it in the
psychiatric
industry, "pulling a Sugar."
"James is back, and I'm so happyyyyyyy!"
Eeeeeeeeee!
P.S.
Here are a bunch of great quotes from readers about
the infamous Amanda run.
From Lee
in the guestbook: "We never saw it, but I'm willing to bet
that
Amanda got injured in the Hurt People challenge, and that the medics
had to remove the bones in her arms. At that point, it's just skin,
muscle, and fat flopping around."
From Shelly in the guestbook:
"I love Amanda's run, but she did it before HvV.
She did it
in China too when she won immunity and it was ridiculous then also.
Plus I think it was accompanied by "Ohhh my goddddd you
guyyyzzzz." Classic Amanda."
From KittyPryde1 at Survivor Sucks:
"It's kinda funny that Amanda has a doe-run to go with her
doe-eyes. Seriously, looking at that gif and I half expect Bambi to
start crying when she gets shot."
From a friend of mine named Cindi:
"Amanda's run makes me want to bribe someone to crowbar her knee."
P.P.S. Here is a video that a fan named
Randal made for this moment and posted over at Youtube.
P.P.P.S. Sorry. Cheap shot, I know. But I
can't resist:
P.P.P.P.S. Wow, four postscripts in one entry!
Anyway,
here is a scene from China where Amanda did her first bouncy
run.
I had forgotten all about this clip, but a reader named
Juhani
remembered it and made it into a gif for me so I could post it on the
Funny 115. So here is the very first instance of the world
famous
bouncy Amanda run. I love that her first instinct when
she runs is to go up.
