Fortunate Ben

"Fortunate Ben" is the fifth episode of Battle for BFDI and the 36th episode overall of the Battle for Dream Island series. It was released on January 13, 2018.

It was most likely going to be released on January 5, 2018, but since the script took two weeks to write, Thomas Chick announced on HTwins Central that he had just gotten the script on it's supposed release date, meaning the episode was delayed.

Team Beep lost again.

Liy was eliminated with 7553 votes and Pie was the runner-up with 3995 votes.

Before the intro
Match and Ruby are seen playing Spongy Cake. Flower then asks Ruby to do her a favor as she pulls her out of the game. Ruby says that the favor should be important and complains that she was in the middle of her favorite game. Flower supposes that game was Flower Power, but Ruby says she hates that game because she always wins. Flower points out that her opponents in her game doesn't grow enough petals to win. Flower then cuts to the favor in which Ruby needs to convince her friends that Flower's pretty. Ruby says something is a bit off even though that she recognized her beauty two months ago. Flower questions that Ruby says she's not pretty, and threatens Ruby to crush her. Ruby finds out Flower's more pretty when she curls up her left arm, and she experiments with many factors, such as leg placement, pose, petal placement, and eye stretch.

Ruby then asks Match if they can play Spongy-Cake again, but Match plays the game with Spongy and refers the game as "name-calling, Spongy-bashing, verbal-bullying." The intro then plays, with Spongy being the placement for Four's intro pose.

Contest
The teams are put onto their team airplanes, and they must fly around above a cliff without falling to the ground. (Flying characters have either been killed, or taped to the ground).

Trivia

 * This is the first episode aired in 2018.
 * This is the first BFB episode to air in the month of January.
 * Pie has the second-highest number of votes. This is possibly due to her lack of appearances and contributions in the past few episodes. The majority voted Pie because she didn't show up in Today's Very Special Episode, but showed up only in the intro.
 * This is the first BFB episode to be made by the newest animator, Caedmon Johnson.
 * SuperScratchkat is his Youtube channel, as the animation in BFB 5 and the channel's BFB fan animation have the same art form.
 * This is the first time in BFB that a contestant whose name doesn't start with "B" gets the least votes (Bubble, Balloony, Bomby).
 * This was pointed out in the episode, although Pen had an excuse that this fact was incorrect.
 * Pen revealed that his legal name is "Ben."
 * This is most likely why the episode is named Fortunate Ben as Pen was the first to get a Cookie
 * This is the fourth time in a row that the record of votes has increased and the votes entirely of the episode.
 * This is first time somebody that is not a team captain is eliminated.
 * This is the second episode that featured no recommended characters.
 * If Why Would You Do This on a Swingset wasn't delayed, then the episode would've been released on December 29th, 2017.
 * In Cary's reaction to Today's Very Special Episode, he said that this episode and future episodes of BFB would have more locations.
 * That was indeed the case, for the challenge's setting took place in an area with a cliff and multiple plants around.
 * This is the first episode where all contestants up for elimination have received at least 1000 votes each.
 * The vote count is 134 more votes than in Today's Very Special Episode.
 * Despite the episode being a week late, the voting period still ends in 48 hours.
 * Cake was promised to have more spotlight, but this was not the case in the official episode for unknown reasons.
 * Beep is the first team to be up for elimination twice in BFB, having previously lost in Lick Your Way to Freedom.
 * This may be so another female doesn't get out.
 * This is the second time a BFB episode came out without a thumbnail (though this episode will most likely come out with one, since this same situation happened with BFB 4, and the thumbnail later came out).
 * This is the first BFB episode to not have a description. (though this episode will most likely come out with one, since this same situation happened with BFB 4, and the description was later written).
 * Nobody from The Losers! had any lines.
 * Everyone from Death P.A.C.T. had lines.
 * Pin though was seen for a split second during the elimination.
 * Ruby has developed and has mixed feelings on Flower's beauty. In her view, it depends on the position.
 * Flower appears to be on the first thumbnail, although it is not official.
 * Liy's previous design (how she looked like in real life (from BFDI APPISIOTE 225555555!!!!!)) was shown to be inside Liy.
 * Liy has shown that she has the ability to switch between levers.
 * David has shown that he has the ability to open his eyes.
 * David uses the advantage to steer his team to victory, although failing due to Free Food's unintentional sabotage.
 * Roboty reveals the ability to speak with text appearing underneath him.
 * Nickel shows a passion in art.
 * This is the third episode named after a contestant.
 * It is also the third time that the intro plays without Four raising his hand.
 * Liy is responsible for most preventions of deaths on her team (2,753).
 * It is the second time Lightning doesn't ask "So, to clarify..." when the challenge starts, the first time being in Today's Very Special Episode.
 * In this episode, a new animator has been hired.
 * It's the first time A Better Name Than That didn't place 6th, because all teams won, except Beep.
 * However, Free Food might be 7th, as they are shown falling with Beep.
 * The sarcasm scene is a reference to Inanimate Insanity, where Nickel is known for his sarcasm.
 * No characters outside of Death P.A.C.T. have a visible walk animation.

Continuity references

 * Match and Ruby plays Spongy Cake just like BFDIA 5d.
 * Foldy was about to twitch her mouth like Ice Cube and Firey in the previous episodes, but instead Foldy and Stapy had a big smile instead.
 * Woody dabs, which is a reference to Lick Your Way to Freedom, where Woody also dabs.
 * When Four said X was in the "Limb Reattachment center", it was a reference to when he said X was in "burn center" in Why Would You Do This on a Swingset.
 * The Emergency Button from Rescission may have been used to obliterate Lightning and Black Hole.
 * Gelatin wanting to use Bomby for the challenge is a reference to Getting Teardrop to Talk.

Controversy
After the release of the new episode, some fans were confused or upset about the episode's animation. Some had stated it was terrible, while others defended it and said it was more expressive.

Fans have been complaining about Beep being up for elimination again, and saying that Cake was going to have more of a role, but he did not.

There were also criticism about the short challenge.