Everyone associates MacGyver with paperclips, it seems. I remember when I was in college and I had the whole MacGyver look going on, some girl at the train station walked up to me and said, "Got a paperclip?" When I looked a bit confused, she said, "Well, you're MacGyver, right? You gotta have a paperclip!" And almost everytime there's an article referencing MacGyver, they'll say something like, "Just give him a paperclip and some duct tape...." But I don't really recall him using a paperclip all THAT often in the series.

So I'm sure one of you diehard fans must know-- how many times over the course of 7 seasons did Mac actually use a paperclip to get himself out of a jam?

The MacGyverism list will tell you.

He disarmed a bomb with a paperclip in the Pilot.
Though not in the list, he used one as well in Three For The Road in an attempt to fix his rental car.

And that's about it?
That's actually like never. He used it for disarming a bomb and to make a spark plug.

Probably because the Pilot was such a hit they associate it with MacGyver. After all a paperclip is such an ordinary thing that it can be used for so many occassions.

Besides wasn't there a mention by Diane in For Love or Money that he fixed a computer once with a pencil, paperclip and a piece of lemon?

By the way Rock, just noticed that the MacGyverism of Phoenix Under Siege when Harry and he escapes from 'where they keep the good stuff vault' is not on the list.

He used a paper clip to escape from Murdoc in their very first encounter with the bazookas in the cab.

I think the whole paper clip thing came from the disarming of the bomb in the pilot episode. That MacGyverism became somewhat of an icon of what the show was about.

Did Pete tell that kid in DOA MacGyver that Mac can fix a computer with a paper clip and duct tape?

Oh boy, this eh? Well I remember him using it in the Pilot no the missile, in the pipe wrench in the Taxi with Pete when they met as Rocky said as well as in Three for the Road when he failed with it, then I definitely remember him using one in the Prodigal to start the Camaro.

MacGyver used a paperclip in THE HEIST.

Oh man, I'm going to have to really put my thinking cap on for this one... alright it came to me, that brilliant stunt where he unzipped the woman's dress with a paper clip, tuxedo thread, and a light nudge