Gambit

In the Pyrenees Mountains, MacGyver sneaks into a camp where a US scientist is being held captive. Using an overheated shower as a distraction MacGyver and the scientist make their escape, however they are spotted by the captures and chased over a cliff and onto white water, where they eventually escape thinks to a line of razor wire.

Episode

MacGyver heads into the Amazon jungle with his anthropologist friend on an expedition to find out what’s scaring all the animals out of their habitat. Unable to find a guide they seek help from Lucien Trumbo, a local Cocoa plantation owner, who offers to guide them himself. As they travel deeper into the jungle, they find the source of the animal disruptions to be an army of solder ants cutting a path through the jungle directly toward Trumbo’s plantation. With Charlie’s death from the ants fresh in their minds, Trumbo and MacGyver set about trying to stop the ants from destroying the plantation.
  

Cast 

Data

    SAK uses:
      - Used SAK to hook towel off clothes line
      - Chopped up plant stems while making explosive

    SAK type:
        Golfer Original / Wenger Pocketmate

    Duct Tape:
      - Taped ant suit together

     Skills used:
     - Ab sailing
     - River Rafting
     - Arc Wielding
     - Mechanical Engineering
     - Chemistry
         

Trivia

• This episode borrows its plot from the Carl Stephenson short story "Leningen vs. the Ants"
• Much of the killer ant, plantation, and flooding footage in this episode is from the movie The Naked Jungle, starring Charlton Heston.
• The filming location for Trumbo's cocoa plantation was also used as the orphanage in the season 2 episode"The Road Not Taken"
• Although this episode only identifies it's location as the Amazon jungle, the TV Guide specified the location as Brazil.
  

Memorable quotes

• My mom was one of the great kitchen experimenters. Japanese soup,Italian pasta, a terrific bask stew. This one didn't even come close. - MacGyver
• That's usually when I get a call, when somebody's in trouble and needs rescuing. - MacGyver
• Here be tigers and unknown beasts - MacGyver
• You know you're the only person in the world who calls me Charlie? - Charles Alden
• Last time I saw Trumbo, he took a shot at me. - Governor Santos
• You got that one Trumbo. Trouble is, a couple of billion of his relatives are coming to his funeral. - MacGyver
• Power of the American dollar; Half dollar actually. - MacGyver
• I don't know how good ants are at swimming, but I'd be willing to bet a good fire would get their attention. - MacGyver
• Personally I like a little variety and some good people to share it with - MacGyver
• It's a shame to see a nice piece of machinery like that just ruin itself - MacGyver
  

Nit-picks

• When MacGyver starts using his makeshift flamethrower, his position on the wall changes back and fourth with the camara angles.
• In the opening gambit, MacGyver covers the rope with kerosene, splashing some on his hands. Then later he climbs down the kerosene-covered rope. At the bottom, he lights the rope on fire and the flames cover his left hand momentarily, and yet the kerosene doesn't set him on fire.

MacGyverisms

• Used knife on a string to hook a towel
• Moved shower pipe on fire, "hot water"
• Used log to lift door off it's hinges
• Lit Kerosene soaked rope so bad guys wouldn't follow
• Ran barbed wire across river to puncture bad guys boat
• Twisted rope with bamboo to lift canoe off of trapped women
• Jumper cable, generator, two half-dollars made arc welder
• Turned hose, metal pipe, gasoline into flame thrower
• Used Nitrate, cellulose, acid to make nitromannite explosive.
• Melted garden hose spread on net and sealed with duct tape to make ant-repellent suit.