Episode of Hey Arnold! Arnold Betrays Iggy Season 3 No. in series 46a Written by Steve Viksten Directed by Dan Povenmire Air date October 19, 1998 Chronology Previous Next Harold the Butcher Helga and the Nanny

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 refuses to forgive Arnold.

Plot

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 demnads that Iggy tells 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 finds out 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 that they merely figured it out on thier 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 is 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 glares at Iggy and walks away as Iggy yells out after him in regret.

Reception

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).

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.