Airdate: March 14, 2004
Drake and Josh make a bet that the former can lay off junk food while the latter gives up playing video games, with the loser having Megan dye his hair pink.
This episode contains tropes of:
- Artistic License – Biology: Drake's skin breaks out in a horrible rash after he cuts out junk food from his diet. While suddenly overhauling your diet overnight can occasionally cause weird effects for a couple of days as your body adjusts, a major facial rash because of constant consumption of sweets and sodium-enriched foods suddenly stopping has no basis in realitynote .
- The Bet: Well duh. Drake and Josh decide that they will see who can go without their vices for the longest. The person who caves first has to dye their hair pink.
- Brick Joke: While reading over the contract Megan drafted up, Drake and Josh both react to "Loser... must die?" Megan then sighs and turns the page. "...his hair pink. Ohhhhh!" The exact same thing happens later in the episode when Audrey and Walter agree to a similar contract over which of them will cave first.
- Captain Obvious: Josh, when finally noticing that Megan is soaking wet.Megan: Everyone can see I'm wet, you boob.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: After Josh gives up video games, he starts hallucinating them in his everyday life, leading to an embarrassing moment at school where he thinks his science teacher is a video game princess telling him to press "B" to rescue her.
- Competition Freak: In the Cold Open, Drake, and Josh both admit they are one. Losing a bet to their brother makes them cringe. Drake only considers losing Worth It if Josh gets ill as a result.
- Double Agent: Megan plays both sides to Drake and Josh's bet, telling both of them separately that they must sabotage the other in order to win.
- Exact Words: After Drake and Josh both succumb to temptation, they bicker over which of them caved first. (They did at the same time, saying "Give me that!") Megan then walks in and informs them who caved first doesn't matter: the contract stated that whoever caved had to dye their hair pink, which they both did.
- Forbidden Fruit: The GameSphere becomes this to Josh when his Grammy sends one to him (three months before it's even out) but he can't play it because of the bet.
- Humiliating Wager: The loser of the bet must dye their hair pink. Inevitably, both Drake and Josh have to do so, as do Audrey and Walter when they make the same bet over which of their kids caves first. Subverted by Drake when he reveals that he secretly put on a wig.
- Hypocritical Humor: The science teacher pulls out a real human eyeball and scolds her class for going squeamish at it, saying there is nothing disgusting about the human body. She then tells Drake to put his book down and he does, revealing his facial rash. She becomes instantly revolted and leaves the room to gag.
- Idiot Ball: Seriously, why let Megan designate a contract over a bet? The way that the contract is worded, the boys would have to give up their desires forever.
- Given what we learn in Smart Girl, it's likely Megan was listening in on their argument, planning out her revenge. Heck she may have also been behind Josh getting the gamesphere from "Grammy" and Drake's rash.
- Ironic Echo: When Drake and Josh protest over the wording of the contract after they both cave, their parents admonish them...Audrey: You boys signed a contract. You made a commitment.Walter: You have to honor a commitment.
- ...only for Megan to then remind them they had made a similar contract, causing them to protest...
Drake: You signed a contract.Josh: You have to honor a commitment. - Laser-Guided Karma: Goes both ways for Megan and her brothers:
- Megan has been such a pain in the ass and a little monster that it's fitting she had to walk back home in a thunderstorm. All she can do is glare at them and shake the water off her hair at them.
- On the other hand, the bet happens because their mother grounds both Drake and Josh for failing to pick up Megan from her playdate, with an umbrella. Megan gets her revenge when they ask her to devise a contract for them.
- Madness Mantra: Josh becomes so depressed over not being able to play his new GameSphere that he resorts to sitting on the couch clutching it while just muttering "GameSphere, GameSphere..." to himself.
- Never My Fault: After Drake and Josh both get grounded for failing to pick up Megan due to sitting around eating junk food and playing video games all day respectively, they put all the blame on each other for not doing the task and being obsessed with their own activity.
- Off-the-Shelf FX: The prop for the GameSphere is a Memorex Boomball, a spherical CD player and radio, with the decals replaced to match its in-universe branding.
- Parents as People: The parents could stop the bet from going on, pointing out that it's stupid the boys are being this competitive and petty. Instead, they do a similar contract with Megan.
- Poor Communication Kills: The reason the Boys failed to pick up Megan was because Drake told Josh to do it with a mouth full of junk food. Josh, who was too focused on his video game, mistakenly thought Drake was telling him he was going to do so himself.
- Shout-Out:
- The GameSphere is an obvious parody of the Nintendo GameCube. At one point, Drake pulls out a "Wireless Battle Pad" which upon close observation is a reskinned Nintendo 64 controller.
- The candy room Josh sets up to tempt Drake is inspired by Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, complete with Josh wearing a similar brown top hat.
