Holy shit.
I can't believe I have to talk about this, but let’s start with the obvious.
Hey Arnold! is without a doubt a really great Nickelodeon show. I remembered how I loved it and enjoyed watching it when it premiered on Nickelodeon starting in 1996, with its good moments, characters, messages, etc. Talk about a very nostalgic show.
But as in most good shows, it has its duds and the one episode that many people consider to be infamous to them is this one, and boy, It's a bummer of an episode and one the boys (and girls) won't be seeing again anytime soon. Nickelodeon fans, behold...
“Arnold Betrays Iggy”
This is the one that many viewers, including critics and fans of the series, call it the crowning achievement of failure and one of the worst of the series, if not THE worst. I'm not gonna lie, when I first heard about it, I instantly got MAD and tried to avoid watching the episode when it premiered on TV, and there's a good reason why I did it.
The episode begins with Arnold walking home from school with Sid and Stinky and talk about their friend and cool kid Iggy and remarks of handing him homework while pretending to be sick. Once Arnold comes to Iggy's, he finds Iggy wearing a white bunny pajamas for unknown reason and amused. Horrified and worried of risking social embarrassment and humiliation from peers at school and losing his cool kid reputation, Iggy makes Arnold to promise not to tell anyone about it.
The next day while on the bus, Arnold chuckle's to himself while thinking about Iggy in his bunny pajamas (why is it funny? It isn't! I don't remember laughing at it), until Sid and Stinky asks what Arnold is laughing about. Arnold makes the mistake by saying "it was just something Iggy was wearing." When Sid correctly guesses, Arnold became horrified (Gee, I never knew that Sid had psychic powers or something) and Sid and Stinky begins blackmailing the other school students about Iggy's embarrassing secret and within 10 minutes, the whole of PS-118 knows about it. Discovering all of this, Iggy blames Arnold for telling everyone about him in a bunny pajamas (despite that it was actually Sid and Stinky telling everyone about it) and angrily refuses to forgive him, even for a year (Really? That long?). Noticing that Iggy gets ridiculed and humiliated by boys and girls all day at school and losing popularity, Arnold thinks of some ways he could make it up to him.
To do so, Arnold buys chocolates for Iggy and even does chores for him, but Iggy still denies forgiving Arnold. When Arnold asks Iggy what he has to do to prove he's sorry, Iggy gets an idea: have Arnold go out wearing a bunny pajamas and humiliate himself. As Iggy gathers a huge crowd of town citizens in front of Arnold's house and prepares to see him suffer embarrassment, Iggy discovers that it was really Sid and Stinky who blabbed his secret while overhearing them talking about him taking things too far with Arnold's punishment and how it was really them, not Arnold, who spread his secret (Why doesn't Iggy just run in the house and stop Arnold from going out and be humiliated?).
Iggy tries to stop Arnold, but it was too late as Arnold wearing a bunny pajamas walks out of the door and suffers intense amounts of embarrassment as the towns people including those that he's friends and acquaintances with (at least Gerald wasn't in it), those that he's friendly and helps out (such as Stoop Kid), and HELL even his own grandfather ("Arnold! I want you to know that when you go down there, its going to be all I can bear to watch... and take pictures for the album! laugh's! "You're gonna look great." Really? You want his own grandfather to turn against him and not even care? Why?) were all laughing, pointing fingers, poke fun at him, and take pictures, while a bratty kid squirts him with a water gun and a man with a news camera is laughing, and broadcasts Arnold's humiliation on TV while kids point and laugh and say "Look, the bunny boy's on TV!". Major nitpick here: Why do people think a kid wearing a bunny pajamas is funny? I don't remember laughing at it, not even one, because I thought it was so harsh and cruel the way everyone treats Arnold and how saddened he was.
Another thing is that the episode wants us to think Iggy is the antagonist, which is inaccurate as it was really Sid and Stinky who told everyone Iggy's embarrassing secret and not only that, both Sid and Stinky were Scott-free and neither of them got any punishment for what they've done. Well then, cue Scarlxrd - 6 Feet, because why not?
As Arnold sadly looks around the whole crowd laughing, pointing fingers, and enjoying the humiliation, he slowly walks back to his house, in which Iggy yells out to him, before Arnold turns to look at him and walks away. Then the next day by evening, the now very bitter Arnold comes out of his door and finds Iggy on his front doorstep, begging for forgiveness for his embarrassing punishment, trying to tell Arnold he regrets doing it, and not knowing that it was really Stinky and Sid who found out. But Arnold simply glares at Iggy and angrily walks away to the sunset as Iggy yells out after him in regret as the episode ends.
So now we all know that despite Sid and Stinky being the true antagonists in it, Iggy was never given a major and important role on the show after this episode and back being a background character and have cameo appearances. There was a widely spread rumor that the show’s creator, Craig Bartlett, even hated this episode and that the staff were forced to apologize and sympathize with fans. But this however, is false as it was a hoax of unknown origin, that has been furthered by sources such as various YouTube users, including Frederator, who was singled out by Bartlett, for their "107 Facts About Hey Arnold" video, and even the likes of TV Tropes. Craig Bartlett debunked the rumor in a response to fans on an Instagram post. But what happens next will shock you: the show actually got better after this, because when you’re hitting rock bottom, the only way you have to go is up.
Arnold Betrays Iggy. If you want to be a role model to kids everywhere, make sure you don’t have a friend like Iggy. Otherwise you end up like Arnold Shortman in this episode… which is a very BAD thing.
