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The Worst Episodes of Gilligan's Island

Every episode of Gilligan's Island ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Gilligan's Island!

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The slapstick adventures of hapless Gilligan, long-suffering Skipper and their gang of mismatched castaways, all stranded on an uncharted desert isle after their tiny ship hit stormy weather.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Gilligan's Island Season 2 Episode 15 - Erika Tiffany Smith to the Rescue
    6.6/10(276 votes)

    S2:E15

    Erika Tiffany Smith lands on the island looking for a place to start a new resort, and a new husband.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Gilligan's Island Season 2 Episode 22 - Forward March
    6.6/10(240 votes)

    S2:E22

    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.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 11 - Angel on the Island
    6.7/10(293 votes)

    S1:E11

    Mr. Howell decides to put on a play, starring Ginger, after she begins to suffer from home-sickness. But trouble begins when Mrs. Howell decides she wants to play the starring role.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 22 - Diamonds Are an Ape's Best Friend
    6.7/10(270 votes)

    S1:E22

    A gorilla is enchanted by Mrs. Howell's perfume and kidnaps her. After Gilligan accidentally spills the perfume all over his shirt, the gorilla decides to release Mrs. Howell and exchange prisoners.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 34 - Goodbye, Old Paint
    6.7/10(259 votes)

    S1:E34

    A famous painter who has renounced civilization, Dubov, visits the island (with a short-wave radio, of course). The castaways are hopeful that Dubov will give them his transmitter, but soon discover he does not wish to go back to civilization. They must come up with a scheme to make him change his mind, and attempt to make him jealous by pretending Gilligan is an artistic genius.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 33 - It's Magic
    6.8/10(239 votes)

    S1:E33

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

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Al Schwartz

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  7. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 19 - Lovey's Secret Admirer
    6.8/10(235 votes)

    S3:E19

    Mrs. Howell starts receiving mysterious love notes, and the source remains a mystery until Mr. Howell is caught in the act. Mrs. Howell dreams that she is Cinderella, and Gilligan is her fairy godfather. The Professor rigs up a lie detector using the ship's horn and batteries from the radio.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 20 - Our Vines Have Tender Apes
    6.8/10(230 votes)

    S3:E20

    An loin-cloth clad ape-man (Tongo) comes to the island, and makes off with their food and supplies. Actually, he is an out of work actor, who tries to convince the Castaways that he is a real uncivilized ape-man while studying for an upcoming role. After he cowers when confronted by a ""real"" gorilla, he leaves the island and the Castaways behind.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 30 - Gilligan, the Goddess
    6.8/10(274 votes)

    S3:E30

    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.""

    Director:Gary Nelson
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 6 - President Gilligan
    6.9/10(311 votes)

    S1:E6

    The castaways decide that they need someone to be the leader on the island, and so they hold elections. As you might imagine, both Mr. Howell and the Skipper imagine themselves to be the natural choice to lead the Castaways in their island society. However, when the votes are counted Gilligan is elected president of the island! Just as we recently learned in Florida, every vote counts!

    Director:Richard Donner
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 7 - The Sound of Quacking
    6.9/10(310 votes)

    S1:E7

    The Castaways are faced with running out of food, when a blight threatens to destroy many of their plants. When Gilligan finds a duck in the lagoon, a difficult decision must be made. Should they eat the duck, or tie a rescue note to it and let it fly away?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 12 - Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk
    6.9/10(319 votes)

    S1:E12

    During Christmas, the Castaways get homesick and remember the first day they were shipwrecked. When Santa Claus "appears" on the island, many suspect he is the Skipper in costume. However, just as Santa departs while wishing the Castaways a Merry Christmas, the Skipper appears from the other direction.

    Director:Rod Amateau
    Writers:Sherwood Schwartz, Austin Kalish, Elroy Schwartz

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  13. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 20 - St. Gilligan and the Dragon
    6.9/10(269 votes)

    S1:E20

    Angry because the men haven't kept their promise to build them private houses, the women decide to move to the other side of the island in protest. Gilligan and the Skipper dress as a monster, in an attempt to frighten the girls and cause them to come running back.

    Director:Richard Donner
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 27 - New Neighbor Sam
    6.9/10(255 votes)

    S1:E27

    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!

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 28 - They're Off and Running
    6.9/10(250 votes)

    S1:E28

    Mr. Howell wins all of the Skipper's possessions betting on turtle races. Even when he feels bad and switches the turtles so that Skipper will finally win, he still wins!

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Gilligan's Island Season 2 Episode 3 - The Little Dictator
    6.9/10(285 votes)

    S2:E3

    The exiled president of a revolution-torn country visits the island.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Gilligan's Island Season 2 Episode 24 - Feed the Kitty
    6.9/10(251 votes)

    S2:E24

    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.

    Director:Leslie Goodwins
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 7 - Man With a Net
    6.9/10(249 votes)

    S3:E7

    Lord Beasley Waterford, a famous butterfly collector, lands on the island searching for the world's rarest butterfly, the pussycat swallowtail. While he vows that he will not leave the island until he has found his prey, the castaways eagerly try everything to persuade him to fire his flare gun early. He (like all of the other visitors to the island) leaves without sending help.

    Director:Leslie Goodwins
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 12 - The Kidnapper
    6.9/10(232 votes)

    S3:E12

    Someone kidnaps Mrs. Howell, Mary Ann, and Ginger, and then demands ransom money. The kidnaper turns out to be a compulsive gambler who fled civilization to avoid temptation. While the Castaways attempt to rehabilitate him, he ends up leaving the island, accompanied by Mrs. Howell's pearl necklace, Mr. Howell's wallet, and Ginger's earrings!

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Gilligan's Island Season 3 Episode 14 - All About Eva
    6.9/10(244 votes)

    S3:E14

    A drab, plain-jane woman lands on the island seeking privacy. The girls give her a beauty make-over to lift her spirits, and she ends up looking like Ginger's twin. While the castaways were hoping to lift her spirits enough so that she would want to return to civilization (she has a boat, but has hidden the key), she ends up leaving them on the island and going back to Hollywood to attempt to assume Ginger Grant's movie career.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Joanna Lee

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  21. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 3 - Voodoo Something To Me
    7.0/10(351 votes)

    S1:E3

    The Skipper fears that the island is full of 'voodoo' when he thinks that Gilligan has been turned into a monkey.

    Director:John Rich
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 4 - Goodnight Sweet Skipper
    7.0/10(346 votes)

    S1:E4

    The castaways hear on the radio that a plane is going to be flying over their island, but they will be unable to contact them because their transmitter is broken. Gilligan overhears the Skipper dreaming about repairing a transmitter as he sleeps. The Skipper is unable to remember how he fixed the transmitter from his Navy days, so he attempts to have the dream again, but is unable to fall asleep. Each castaway attempts to help by sneaking two tranquilizers into Skippers mango juice. When Gilligan hits the transmitter out of frustration, it suddenly works! However, when he hits it again in an effort to show the other castaways how he fixed it, it falls completely apart just as the plane flies overhead.

    Director:Ida Lupino
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 17 - Little Island, Big Gun
    7.0/10(288 votes)

    S1:E17

    A well known crook tries to evade police after a heist and is dropped off on the island by his henchmen to be picked up later after the heat cools down. After being discovered by Gilligan he poses as a doctor but the truth is soon revealed. Now he must keep the castaways at bay and get off the island with his money. Of course with Gilligan on the island this is much easier said than done.

    Director:Abner Biberman
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Gilligan's Island Season 1 Episode 31 - Diogenes, Won't You Please Go Home?
    7.0/10(248 votes)

    S1:E31

    The Castaways discover that Gilligan has been keeping a secret diary. When they read it, they all seem to disagree with how certain events unfolded and tell their side of the story.

    Director:Christian Nyby
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Gilligan's Island Season 2 Episode 1 - Gilligan's Mother-in-Law
    7.0/10(305 votes)

    S2:E1

    A native family from another island comes seeking a husband for their lovely, large, robust daughter.

    Director:Jack Arnold
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Erika Tiffany Smith to the Rescue" is the worst rated episode of "Gilligan's Island". It scored 6.6/10 based on 276 votes. Directed by Jack Arnold and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/30/1965. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Forward March".