# Your questionable Macgyver move
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 12, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838 "2018-10-12T04:49:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/1 "2018-10-12T04:49:54Z")
Since someone posted on FB that the first episode aired this day 33 years ago. I’m guessing that in CS you can start a dedicated thread. If you were to ask at GQ, you’ll have to start a new thread for every questionable scene. So, what particular move by Mac just wouldn’t work in the real world?
The first that comes to mind is fixing a perforated radiator by cracking several fresh eggs into the filler mouth. He said it will work, assuming the leaks aren’t too big. My take is that the cooked eggs will just clog the radiator and foul the engine.
What’s yours?
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### Author:  [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/2 "2018-10-12T08:30:18Z")
I think Mythbusters tried the egg thing and it worked.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/3 "2018-10-12T09:50:25Z")
Are you talking about in the original series or the reboot? I just saw the latest episode of the reboot and there was one bit where Mac does something to a walkie-talkie (or some other kind of radio) and the walkie-talkie makes a sustained high dB squeal which causes the bad guys to stop their attack. (At least I don’t think I dreamed that event in the episode.)
p.s. It’s spelled _MacGyver_.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/4 "2018-10-12T10:30:41Z")
I’m not sure how successfully an enemy can be distracted if you shove a celery stalk up your butt.
Oh, wait, that was MacGruber.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/5 "2018-10-12T14:22:51Z")
There was one where he started a fire from about 20 feet away by using the lens from a pair of binoculars to focus sunlight. In order for focused sunlight to start a fire, the size of the optics needs to be at least comparable to the distance away.
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/6 "2018-10-12T14:47:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> There was one where he started a fire from about 20 feet away by using the lens from a pair of binoculars to focus sunlight. In order for focused sunlight to start a fire, the size of the optics needs to be at least comparable to the distance away.
I don’t see that on the list of problems MacGyver solved.
> **[List of problems solved by MacGyver](https://macgyver.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver)**
>
> This is a list of problems that have been solved by Angus MacGyver. Demonstrating resourcefulness, he employs his knowledge of science, technology and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life or death crises. His ingenuity is normally put to...
The only instances of him using binoculars was in Season 1, episodes 1 and 18.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/7 "2018-10-12T14:59:11Z")
I thought this was going to be about _our_ questionable MacGyver moves. ☹
I could write a book!
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/8 "2018-10-12T15:04:48Z")
Not carrying a gun is his most questionable move. If he’s that non-violent he shouldn’t be in that line of work.
The episode I watched where he got caught and had to escape THREE times in one episode was the last one I watched. Just shoot them already!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/9 "2018-10-12T15:08:38Z")
It was probably season 1, but I don’t remember the exact episode number. IIRC, he was hiding behind some bush or tall grass in a field, with a youngster he had met in that episode, with the baddies some distance away.
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/10 "2018-10-12T15:12:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Not carrying a gun is his most questionable move.
Maybe he couldn’t get a license to carry?
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/11 "2018-10-12T16:05:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Not carrying a gun is his most questionable move. If he’s that non-violent he shouldn’t be in that line of work.
Or maybe he set the pattern for Michael Westen:
> [@](#):
>
> Guns make you stupid. Duct tape makes you smart.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/12 "2018-10-12T16:45:50Z")
Even though I saw a bunch of reruns fairly recently on MeTV, I can’t actually remember any of the unlikely solutions, except for [once escaping his enemies by teleporting into a 1969 movie](https://jalopnik.com/5488436/how-macgyver-ripped-off-the-greatest-car-chase-ever-filmed).
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/13 "2018-10-12T16:54:10Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> Are you talking about in the original series or the reboot? I just saw the latest episode of the reboot and there was one bit where Mac does something to a walkie-talkie (or some other kind of radio) and the walkie-talkie makes a sustained high dB squeal which causes the bad guys to stop their attack. (At least I don’t think I dreamed that event in the episode.)
>
> p.s. It’s spelled _MacGyver_.
Were the bad guys dogs?
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/14 "2018-10-12T17:04:52Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> Or maybe he set the pattern for Michael Westen:
Michael was smart.
But he killed a lot of people during the show run, some actively, some passively (manipulated one baddie to shoot the other). He outright murdered Tom Strickler.
And he was not adverse to guns - he had more guns than your average Arizonan. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/15 "2018-10-12T18:34:40Z")
I seem to recall him stopping a major leak in a radioactive? toxic? waste tank. With a couple of pieces of chewing gum.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/16 "2018-10-12T18:43:10Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#):
>
> I seem to recall him stopping a major leak in a radioactive? toxic? waste tank. With a couple of pieces of chewing gum.
Better than his butt, I guess. 😉
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/17 "2018-10-13T18:44:06Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Even though I saw a bunch of reruns fairly recently on MeTV, I can’t actually remember any of the unlikely solutions, except for [once escaping his enemies by teleporting into a 1969 movie](https://jalopnik.com/5488436/how-macgyver-ripped-off-the-greatest-car-chase-ever-filmed).
Oh My God! :eek:
:smack:
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/18 "2018-10-13T23:10:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> It was probably season 1, but I don’t remember the exact episode number. IIRC, he was hiding behind some bush or tall grass in a field, with a youngster he had met in that episode, with the baddies some distance away.
That describes Season 1, episode 18 which is one of the episodes I mentioned. I fast forwarded to that scene below.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Ed2IXNAr4&t=32m48s)
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### Author:  [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/19 "2018-10-15T13:55:10Z")
I don’t recall the set-up, but he was standing by a table with C4 on it and photography equipment. He and another were surrounded by baddies. He stuck the plug from a camera flash into a block of C-4, activated the flash timer, and when the timer went off it triggered the C-4 because, well, electricity sets off C-4.
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### Author:  [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-questionable-macgyver-move/822838/20 "2018-10-15T14:45:03Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#):
>
> I seem to recall him stopping a major leak in a radioactive? toxic? waste tank. With a couple of pieces of chewing gum.
I believe it was a chocolate bar and some type of acid.
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