The WORST episodes of Gilligan's Island

Every episode of Gilligan's Island ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Gilligan's Island!

A group of castaways are stranded on a desert island, left there after a boat trip got caught in a storm. In each episode the eclectic group of castaways attempt an escape from the island, but are frequently foiled by infighting and bitter recriminations breaking out between the crew.

Last Updated: 8/13/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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New Neighbor Sam
star
6.46
131 votes

#1 - New Neighbor Sam

Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/3/1965

The Castaways overhear the voices of gangsters discussing buried treasure and threatening their lives. The voices turn out to belong to a parrot, who then leads the castaways to the ""treasure"" .... a box of crackers!

Directors: Ray Montgomery
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Big Man on Little Stick
star
6.47
171 votes

#2 - Big Man on Little Stick

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/20/1965

Handsome surfer Duke Williams rides a giant tsunami to the island. At first, the castaways are excited as Duke thinks he will turn around and surf back to Hawaii (and send help). However, after seeing Mary Ann and Ginger, he decides he may want to stay for a while. The castaways must come up with a plan to make him want to leave for Hawaii.

Directors: Tony Leader
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The Return of Wrongway Feldman
star
6.54
139 votes

#3 - The Return of Wrongway Feldman

Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/13/1965

The castaways are revisited by 'Wrongway' Feldman.

Directors: Ida Lupino
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Meet the Meteor
star
6.84
74 votes

#4 - Meet the Meteor

Season 2 - Episode 32 - Aired 4/28/1966

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!).

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Gilligan, the Goddess
star
6.89
37 votes

#5 - Gilligan, the Goddess

Season 3 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/17/1967

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.""

Directors: Gary Nelson
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It's Magic
star
6.90
127 votes

#6 - It's Magic

Season 1 - Episode 33 - Aired 5/15/1965

The Castaways discover a trunk belonging to a magician. They use a magician's props to scare away unfriendly natives from nearby islands.

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Bang! Bang! Bang!
star
6.92
36 votes

#7 - Bang! Bang! Bang!

Season 3 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/10/1967

A crate that washes ashore contains a top secret plastic explosive developed by the US Government. The Castaways make use of the plastic in a variety of objects, including nails for the Skipper, dishes for Mary Ann, jewelry for Ginger, golf balls for Mr. Howell, and even fillings for Gilligan's teeth, unaware that once hardened it becomes a dangerous explosive which will detonate on impact!

Directors: Charles Norton
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Slave Girl
star
6.93
61 votes

#8 - Slave Girl

Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/20/1967

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!

Directors: Wilbur D'Arcy
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Three to Get Ready
star
6.95
129 votes

#9 - Three to Get Ready

Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/17/1965

The Skipper insists a stone found by Gilligan will grant the finder three wishes before sundown. The professor, of course, insists it is just superstition. Two gallons of ice cream later, Gilligan has only one wish left.....and the sun is going down!

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Feed the Kitty
star
6.95
39 votes

#10 - Feed the Kitty

Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/3/1966

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.

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High Man on the Totem Pole
star
6.96
26 votes

#11 - High Man on the Totem Pole

Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/27/1967

Gilligan and the Skipper find an ancient Kupaki totem pole which is topped with a head that looks just like Gilligan. When fierce Kupaki headhunters come to the island, Gilligan must convince them that he is their ""mashuka"" or sacred ancestor.

Directors: Herbert Coleman
Writer: Brad Radnitz
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Forward March
star
7.00
40 votes

#12 - Forward March

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/17/1966

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.

Writer: Jack Raymond
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The Pigeon
star
7.00
31 votes

#13 - The Pigeon

Season 3 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/3/1967

The Professor sees the arrival of a homing pigeon on the island as an opportunity to be rescued, and immediately begins to feed it a special diet designed to strengthen it so that it can fly again. In an attempt to speed the recovery time, the other Castaways also feed the pigeon, causing it to become too fat to fly. The pigeon is also trapped for a short while in a cave by a ""deadly six-foot black morning spider.""

Directors: Michael Kane
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Splashdown
star
7.00
35 votes

#14 - Splashdown

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/20/1967

The Professor determines that a manned space craft will pass over the island, and attempts to fashion a telegraph machine. When that fails, the Castaways try to spell out SOS using burning logs as a rescue signal, but Gilligan catches fire and runs into the logs, causing them to spell out SOL, the name of one of the astronauts! Blooper watch: as Gilligan is lighting the logs, you can see his pants smoking before he backs up into the flaming logs!

Directors: Jerry Hopper
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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
star
7.03
62 votes

#15 - Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/31/1966

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 with 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.

Writer: Brad Radnitz
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Allergy Time
star
7.04
67 votes

#16 - Allergy Time

Season 2 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/31/1966

The Skipper begins to itch and sneeze whenever he is around Gilligan. Soon all of the Castaways appear to be allergic to him. The Professor develops a vaccine, but it doesn't seem to work. It turns out that everyone is allergic to the papaya oil used in Gilligan's hair tonic.

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Take a Dare
star
7.05
43 votes

#17 - Take a Dare

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/2/1967

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.

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Mine Hero
star
7.07
96 votes

#18 - Mine Hero

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/23/1965

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.

Directors: Wibur D'Arcy
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My Fair Gilligan
star
7.09
129 votes

#19 - My Fair Gilligan

Season 1 - Episode 35 - Aired 6/5/1965

After Gilligan saves Mrs. Howell's life, Mr. Howell decides to make him his son. He immediately puts Gilligan through basic training to be a millionaire's socialite son (dream sequence), changing the way he walks, talks and dresses. However, Gilligan and the rest of the castaways miss the ""old Gilligan.""

Directors: Tony Leader
Writer: Joanna Lee
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Ship Ahoax
star
7.10
40 votes

#20 - Ship Ahoax

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/24/1966

The Castaways begin to suffer from 'island madness' due to the isolation. The Professor attempts to come up with a plan to lift everyone's spirits.

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The Chain of Command
star
7.11
36 votes

#21 - The Chain of Command

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/2/1965

The Skipper worries that something is going to happen to him, so he begins to train Gilligan to be a leader. The Skipper then disappears leaving Gilligan in charge, with predictable results!

Directors: Leslie Goodwins
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Ring Around Gilligan
star
7.11
35 votes

#22 - Ring Around Gilligan

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/7/1966

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!

Directors: George Cahan
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Topsy-Turvy
star
7.12
33 votes

#23 - Topsy-Turvy

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/14/1966

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!

Directors: Gary Nelson
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Seer Gilligan
star
7.13
71 votes

#24 - Seer Gilligan

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/27/1966

Gilligan discovers an island bush that produces seeds which, when eaten, give a person the ability to read the minds of others. This leads to disaster when everyone insults each other through their honesty and thoughts.

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Gilligan's Living Doll
star
7.15
48 votes

#25 - Gilligan's Living Doll

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/10/1966

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.

Directors: Leslie Goodwins
Writer: Bob Stevens
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