The family visit tends to be one of the more memorable moments in any Survivor season, but there's one family visit in particular that went down in Survivor history-nay, in the history of all television, ever.

Yes, I'm talking about the Dead Grandma Lie.

The Dead Grandma Lie? Yes, the Dead Grandma Lie. It happened during the family visit on Survivor: Pearl Islands, when Jon Dalton-aka Jonny Fairplay-lied about his grandma's death to garner sympathy from his cast-mates, who ultimately let him win the challenge and spend time alone with his friend.

Wait, what happened?

I know, I know. It's wild. It started when host Jeff Probst called Dalton's buddy, Dan, out onto the beach. Then, the following conversation played out:

Dalton: "Oh, dude! How's Grandma?"

Dan: "Huh?"

Dalton: "How's Grandma?"

Dan: "She died, dude... Did you get the letter?"

*Dalton shakes his head and hugs his friend*

Dan: "It'll be alright man."

Probst: "Jon, you went from really happy to really sad."

Dalton: "It was either gonna be my buddy or my grandmother coming, and, uh, my grandmother's not here for a reason."

Probst: "What happened?"

Dalton: "She's...she's not around, so..."

Probst: "Sorry for that news. I'm sure everybody here is sorry."

Dalton: "I don't know, I can hope to win this and maybe get some more information."

As the castaways competed to win time with their loved ones, Dalton vocally campaigned for the chance to get more information about his grandmother. In the end, Burt got to make the final decision on who got the time with their loved one, and he chose Dalton: "Jon's news is-I mean, it's the worst day of his life," he said. "I've got to let him hear it through."

And now, for the kicker...

Walking back to camp, Dalton high-fived his buddy Dan.

"That was a brilliant performance, sir," he said. The two proceeded to compare their fake-crying abilities.

In a confessional interview, Dalton revealed the shocking truth to viewers: "My grandmother's sitting home watching Jerry Springer right now."

I remember my jaw dropping when I watched it in real-time back in 2003. It was evil, but also...brilliant? I was floored by the novelty of what Dalton had done; while everyone else was swept up in the experience, he was one level removed from the show, manipulating the pieces like a chess player.

At the time, little did I know that Dalton would contribute to the archetype of the reality TV villain we all know-and yes, secretly love-today.