The Where's Gary? Sweepstakes was a contest held from November 7-11, 2005, hosted by Nickelodeon. The contest was based on the promotionally named episode "Have You Seen This Snail?" The contest only lasted five days prior to the episode's release. The plot was written by Wendy Ott.[1]
By visiting Nick.com, the viewers could receive a "Trail of the Snail" tracking card to enter Patchy's search locations in order to win the sweepstakes. The prize was a trip to the Nickelodeon Animation Studios to meet the production team of the show and to sit in on a voice recording session with the series cast. The winner for this sweepstakes remains unknown.
Plot[]
Patchy the Pirate is "chilin' out," before the premiere of a brand new SpongeBob episode. He's then suddenly interrupted by Potty, who says that Gary is missing. Patchy says that it's his duty to find SpongeBob's missing pet, and he starts the search.
The first celebrity to come and help him is Tony Hawk. Potty also finds a clue, a paper with the writing "Head for a Deep hole." Patchy and Hawk head for The Grand Canyon. Hawk screams "Garyyyy!!" as a way to find him, but Patchy doesn't think there will be any snails nearby. Suddenly, Potty finds another clue, a paper reading "Head to the Hoosier State."
Patchy and Hawk are seen in a cornfield, in Gary, Indiana. Hawk is unsure if there's really a snail in a cornfield. Hawk starts complaining, and Potty finds another clue, a paper writing "escargot and a tower there be." Hawk says to Patchy that "escargot" means "snail," and to follow him.
Hawk and Patchy are then eating inside of a French restaurant. With no sign of Gary yet, Hawk and Patchy praise the escargot they were eating, only to realize that that they're actually eating cooked snails. Patchy and Hawk scream in horror, thinking that they might have been eating Gary, but they dismiss the idea. Potty comes with another sign, a paper writing "Gary's in a huge shell." Patchy then says that there's an echo nearby.
Patchy finds a "huge shell" that obviously has to mean that Gary was found. But in the contrast, what they find is an attraction in Sydney, Australia, rather than Gary. Potty comes with the last clue, a paper writing "Slime Time," and Patchy with Tony Hawk, end up ripping the paper in two parts. Patchy holds the part that says "Slime," and Hawk, the part that says "Time." The search ends with each one of them heading into the place he thinks the clue he holds talks about.
Video[]
Head Writer- SpongeBob SquarePants, "Where's Gary?" - Nickelodeon
