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"Arnold Betrays Iggy" is an episode of Hey Arnold!.
Synopsis
When Arnold sees Iggy wearing bunny pajamas, he promises he won't tell anybody. But when Sid and Stinky guess, Iggy believes Arnold blabbed.
Plot
Iggy in his bunny pajamas
Arnold's humiliation
The episode begins as Arnold, Sid and Stinky walk home from school and talk about their friend Iggy. Arnold remarks on how he's been assigned to take Iggy his homework, because Iggy is pretending to be sick. When Arnold arrives at Iggy's house, he finds out Iggy wears bunny pajamas. Arnold finds it funny that a boy of Iggy's age wears such a thing - risking social humiliation from peers at school. Iggy makes Arnold promise that he won't tell anybody.
The next day on the bus, Arnold is chuckling to himself, thinking about Iggy wearing the bunny pajamas. When Sid and Stinky ask what's funny, Arnold makes the mistake of saying "it was just something Iggy was wearing." When Sid correctly guesses, Arnold's cheeks turn red, and within ten minutes the whole school knows Iggy's humiliating secret.
Iggy is convinced that Arnold told all the kids of his secret and refuses to forgive him. Arnold witnesses Iggy being made fun of by the kids all day at school, so he thinks of how he could make it up to Iggy. He buys him chocolates and even offers to do his chores for a whole week. However, Iggy still refuses to forgive Arnold. Arnold becomes angry and tells Iggy that he thought they had a deal. Iggy tells Arnold that he never intended to forgive Arnold after doing all of his chores. Frustrated, Arnold demands that Iggy tell him what he has to do to prove he is sorry, and Iggy gets an idea. He takes Arnold to his closet and shows him that he must humiliate himself in front of the whole neighborhood.
Soon, Iggy has assembled a crowd of people to stand outside Arnold's house. There is a long, red carpet stretched down the steps of his house, going all the way across the street. Iggy is sitting in a lifeguard chair at the end of it smiling smugly, with a sign that reads "Grovel Here". Even Arnold's own grandfather is looking forward to seeing his own grandson humiliated, and says he'll be "taking pictures for the album" and laughs at him.
However, Iggy discovers it was really Stinky and Sid who blabbed his secret whilst overhearing them talking about him taking things too far with Arnold's punishment. Moreover, that they merely figured it out on their own and Arnold didn't actually spill the beans. Realizing that he's about humiliate someone who doesn't deserve it, Iggy tries to stop Arnold, but it's too late - Arnold's door creaks open, and there is a close up shot of bunny slippers slowly walking onto the carpet. It's Arnold in the bunny pajamas, not noticing that Iggy was trying to stop the dilemma. The scene is shot in slow motion of Arnold walking past dozens of citizens, pointing and laughing at him and taking pictures. A young boy takes a water gun and squirts the tail on the seat of the pajamas and laughs as Arnold becomes increasingly humiliated. Even a news reporter broadcasts Arnold's humiliation on TV.
Arnold looks around and takes a long glance at everyone pointing, laughing, taking pictures and enjoying the humiliation before slowly walking back toward the house, in which Iggy yells out to him. Arnold turns to look at him then walks away.
Later, a very upset Arnold finds Iggy on his front doorstep begging for forgiveness for his humiliating punishment, trying to tell Arnold he regrets doing it, and not knowing that it was really Stinky and Sid who found out. However, Arnold simply calls Iggy "you" and begins to walk away. Iggy tries to explain that he tried to call it off and couldn't get through the crowd, but Arnold glares at him, signifying he didn't want to talk to him and walks away as Iggy yells out after him in regret, promising to do everything he forced Arnold to do.
Reception
Bartlett officially debunking the rumors.
Among fans and critics, this is almost unanimously considered the worst episode in the series, due to Sid & Stinky being portrayed negatively while getting no consequences for their actions, Arnold putting himself through humiliation just for wanting Iggy's forgiveness, Iggy refusing to forgive Arnold, many of Arnold's friends/acquaintances laughing at him in the end, and simply being more mean-spirited and unpleasant than the rest of the series. As a result of this episode's poor reception, Iggy never had another major role on the show, and was back to background appearances in later episodes (despite Stinky & Sid being the true antagonists of the episode). At the same time though Arnold continues to associate with Iggy without conflict among the former's extended friend circle, not mention the fact that both boys have their reputations restored in subsequent episodes and are never mentioned of their humiliation from this episode again, which very well indicates that either bygones have become bygones given Arnold's nature or enough time has simply passed to make it seem as though it never happened.
There was a widely spread rumor that Craig Bartlett hated this episode and that the staff were forced to apologize and sympathize with fans. This rumor, however, is false as it was a hoax of unknown origin, that has been furthered by sources such as various YouTubers (ChannelFrederator was singled out by Bartlett, for their "107 Facts About Hey Arnold" video), and TVTropes. Craig Bartlett debunked the rumor in a response to fans on an Instagram post and later in an interview with Arun Mehta.
However, ChannelFrederator uploaded a new 107 Facts video about Hey Arnold! on November 10th of 2017. Made this time with help from Bartlett, in the intro to which he alluded to the mistakes of the original video, calling them "actual facts". The original video is still uploaded.
Home Media
DVD
- Hey Arnold: Season 3
- Hey Arnold: The Complete Series
- Out of the Vault Returns