"Le Big Switch" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 5. In this episode, Mr. Krabs enters SpongeBob in a chef exchange program.
Characters
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Squidward Tentacles
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Mr. Le Schnook Luigi (debut)
- Mr. Crustacean (debut)
- French Narrator
- Incidentals
- Incidental 108
- Incidental 48
- Incidental 60
- Incidental 42
- Incidental 41
- Incidental 6
- Incidental 14
- Incidental 67
- Incidental 68
- Incidental 107
- Incidental 30A
- Incidental 2
- Incidental 73
- Incidental 34
- Incidental 63
- Incidental 64
- Fred
- Incidental 20
- Incidental 16
- Incidental 37B
- Incidental F18
- Incidental F1
- Incidental F6
- Incidental F14
- Incidental F2
- Incidental 4
- Incidental F17
- Incidental 40
- Incidental 15
- Incidental 23
- Incidental 118 (colored like Incidental 118C)
- Incidental F9
- Incidental F4
- Incidental F8
- Incidental 118C (color palette only)
- Teen 2 (pink; green)
- Teen 4A
- Teen 5
- Teen 6
- Teen 7
- Teen 10 (pink)
- Teen 13
- Teen 15
- Female spiked fin fish
- Puffy-haired lady
- Toupee fish
- Fish wife
- Spotted nose fish
- Hunched fish
- Sideburn fish
- Face stripe fish
- Curly-haired lady
- Fancy dandy fish
- Other Fancy! customers
- Slanted eyes worker
- Short construction worker
- Worker fish
- Pearl Krabs (voice only)
Synopsis
As the episode starts, Mr. Krabs, in an effort to increase profits and decrease costs, puts SpongeBob into a chef exchange program. SpongeBob goes to work for a restaurant named Fancy!, while the head chef, Le Schnook, works for the Krusty Krab.

SpongeBob leaving the Krusty Krab.
Things do not start out well for SpongeBob, as the owner Mr. Crustacean demands that he cook quality gourmet. Unfortunately, SpongeBob is quite literally incapable of cooking anything but Krabby Patties, to the degree where he cannot even fry an egg without it instantly transforming into a patty. Mr. Crustacean continues to yell at him until he actually tastes a patty. Realizing how good it tastes, he begins to sell them, to which all the rich clienteles enjoy. Eventually, SpongeBob's time there is up and he is about to return to the Krusty Krab. Unfortunately, that is not what Mr. Crustacean or the customers want. They attach themselves to his ankles and beg him not to go. SpongeBob has to drag them out of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, things are not going well at the Krusty Krab. Le Schnook is none too pleased by Mr. Krabs' cheap attempts of setting up a lavish establishment. He refuses to cook unless his demands for expensive furniture, ingredients, and real silverware are met. As a result, the Krusty Krab goes completely bankrupt and out of business.
Mr. Krabs sells the decorations, his home possessions, his office desk and chair, along with Squidward to pay his debts and protect himself from the angry loan sharks. Pearl even calls him, thinking that their house has been infiltrated by burglars; Mr. Krabs assures his daughter that they are just repo men. Before returning to Fancy!, Le Schnook gives Mr. Krabs a long bill for his services. Mr. Krabs breaks down crying, realizing what giving away SpongeBob cost him. It is at this time that SpongeBob returns with a massive chain of customers still attached to his ankles. Mr. Krabs is delighted and apologizes for ever letting him go.
As the episode wraps up with the Krusty Krab opening again, old, new and rich clientele happily eat Krabby Patties off the floor like pigs. Squidward asks if they should even be eating on the floor. Mr. Krabs responds that the only thing they need is food and love.
Running gags
- Squidward choking on 'love'.
- SpongeBob making Krabby Patties every time he tries to cook.
Production
Storyboard
Music
( ‣ ) Production music |
( • ) Original music |
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ Allo Paris! - Nino Nardini [title card]
‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [opening]
‣ Unknown Track 97 - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob kisses]
• Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Squidward choking]
‣ Once Upon a Dream - Clive Richardson [SpongeBob brings food to a customer]
‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Squidward gets up]
‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [customer cries]
• What's This - Nicolas Carr ["Fine, have it your way."]
‣ Drama Link (D) - Hubert Clifford [Krabs kicks everyone out]
‣ The Girl I Left Behind Me - Brian Peters [chef exchange program]
• Steel Licks 3 - Jeremy Wakefield ["It was that easy?"]
‣ La Tour Eiffel - Nino Nardini [French chef arrives]
‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob dropped off at a French restaurant]
‣ Une Nuit au Cabaret - Victor Cavini [inside the kitchen]
‣ Left Foot Forward - Graham Preskett [meanwhile at the Krusty Krab...]
‣ Accordeon Sur Seine 1 - Daniel Jean Jeannin [everyone eating Krabby Patties at the French restaurant]
• Steel Licks 1 - Jeremy Wakefield [Krusty Krab out of business]
‣ Furtive Footsteps - Paddy Kingsland [phone call from Pearl]
‣ Down in the Dumps - Paddy Kingsland ["Oh, Mr. Le Schnook, I lost everything."]
‣ Dramatic Encounter - Gregor F. Narholz [the bill]
‣ Down in the Dumps - Paddy Kingsland [Krabs' desk taken away]
‣ Sad Parting (a) - Paddy Kingsland [Krabs crying]
‣ When Daylight Shines/Captain Lenoe's - The Folk Players [SpongeBob returns]
• Unknown Track 97 - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob kisses again]
• Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Squidward chokes again]
‣ Captain Lenoe's - The Folk Players [ending]
Release
- This episode is available on the To Love a Patty, Season 5 Volume 2, Complete Fifth Season, The Fifth & Sixth Seasons, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, Kids Double Pack: Volume 6, Easter with SpongeBob, Welcome Aboard, Holidays with SpongeBob 3-DVD Gift Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 8, From the Beginning, Part 2, Best of SpongeBob, Get to Work!, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, First 100 Episodes, and SpongeBob, You're Fired! DVDs.
Trivia
General
- After this episode originally premiered in 2007, it did not air again until nearly two years later, when its sister episode, "Goo Goo Gas," premiered.
- This episode was paired up with "Fungus Among Us" when it first aired, but since it has re-airing with "Goo Goo Gas."
- Along with "Fungus Among Us," these two preceded the series premiere of the Nickelodeon animated series Back at the Barnyard.[2]
- In this episode, Squidward says that only pathetic losers with horrible taste would eat a Krabby Patty, but in "Just One Bite," Squidward discovers that he loves to eat Krabby Patties.
- Mr. Krabs states "Fancy! is far, far away," although Mr. Krabs dates Mrs. Puff there in the episode "Krusty Love" and it is still in Bikini Bottom.
- This is the only episode in the series where the Fancy! restaurant is seen during the daytime.

SpongeBob tries to fry an egg, but then it turns into a Krabby Patty.
- When SpongeBob puts the eggs in the pan frame-by-frame, the eggs immediately turn into a Krabby Patty, rather than gradually "growing" into one, as what cartoons usually do.
- Irony: The Krabby Patties are eaten by hand, so the people would not have to eat them off the floor.
- One of the French customers is the fancy purple fish from "That's No Lady."
- It is revealed that one of Pearl's friends who is orange with a purple dress and blue hair ate at Fancy!, meaning that she is rich, because a table for one at that restaurant costs $50,000.
- This is the only season 5 appearance of Pearl, even though only her voice is heard. She doesn't physically appear in any episode of the season.


Parts of Pearl's cut scene.
- In the original storyboards (pictured to the right), there was a full scene showing Pearl in her room as she talked on the phone with Mr. Krabs. Their conversation was longer. This scene was cut from the final episode.
- In this episode, Mr. Krabs exclaims that SpongeBob was the best fry cook he ever had, but in "The Original Fry Cook," he states that Jim was the best fry cook that he ever had.
- Incidental 6 appears with a mustache in this episode.
- In the Indonesian dub, Le Schnook does not say "My eats." Instead, he says "My ex." Also, the scene where Mr. Krabs and Squidward meeting Le Schnook for the first time after sending SpongeBob away to Fancy! was cut. Like most of season 5 episodes, this was done due to time constraints.
- It means Le Schnook did marry and divorce, but he is still living with his ex.
- Mr. Le Schnook doesn't make another appearance until nearly 15 years later when he appears in The Patrick Star Show episode "X Marks the Pot."
- In the French dub the title for this episode is "Échange de chefs," which is approximately "Chefs' Exchange" when translated.
- The Welsh dub has a title which translates similarly. It is called "Cynllun Cyfnewid Cogydd," which translates to "Chef Exchange Scheme."
- The "Meanwhile at the Krusty Krab" time card is similar to the title card of "Dying for Pie."
Errors
- When SpongeBob puts the bag of Krabby Patties in his briefcase, the bag is red, but in the next shot, the bag is brown and there is another bag in the other briefcase.
- When Mr. Crustacean sips the boiling water, less water is sipped. However, when he spits the water to Paco, more water is spat out.
- When Mr. Crustacean slaps Paco twice, Paco's chef hat disappears. After he does so, Paco's chef hat reappears.
- Before Le Schnook comes out from the kitchen, walks to and talks to Mr. Krabs, one frame of Le Schnook freezes on the right of the scene.
- Mr. Krabs could not have sold Squidward, as he does not own him, not to mention the fact that it is illegal to sell a person as property.
- When Squidward is being carried out of the Krusty Krab, the fish's eyes on the right are closed, and when he blinks, they open, the opposite of what normal eyes do.
- Also, when they take Squidward out, his eyes do not have an iris or pupil.
- Le Schnook appears much shorter when he appeared at the entrance of Mr. Krabs' office after Squidward was dragged out.
- Then, when he walks up to Mr. Krabs, he is back to his normal size.
- Le Schnook gives Mr. Krabs a bill for his services when he was there as part of a temporary chef exchange program.
- When the movers lift Mr. Krabs' desk, the chair appears to be connected to it.
- Theoretically, SpongeBob would need to come up with a different name for his burger at the Fancy! restaurant, because "Krabby Patty" is copyrighted by the Krusty Krab.
- In Indonesian version, the "Meanwhile at the Krusty Krab" time card was cut for unknown reasons. This error also happens in episode "Sing a Song of Patrick."
- In the Welsh dub, Luke Brookshier, Tom King, and Steven Banks are all listed as writers of this episode, even though none of them wrote this episode. Brookshier and King are also erroneously listed as storyboard directors.[3]