Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff are relaxing at Goo Lagoon together. They are about to kiss, until Mr. Krabs' stomach rumbles, so he calls Fondue Man to serve them a meal. Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff feed each other, and then head to the ocean after they are full. Mr. Krabs gets swept away by a wave shortly after, which Larry observes, and dives into the ocean towards him. Larry takes Mr. Krabs back to shore and revives him. Mrs. Puff thanks Larry for saving Mr. Krabs, and kisses him. Mr. Krabs passes out from this, resulting in Mrs. Puff having to carry him away, with Mr. Krabs growling at Larry after Mrs. Puff waves at him and thanks him again.
At the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs moans about potentially losing Mrs. Puff to Larry. SpongeBob tries to talk Mr. Krabs out of this, saying that Mrs. Puff loves him for who he is, but Mr. Krabs insists that Mrs. Puff is interested in Larry for his muscles and bemoans his own condition. To convince Mrs. Puff, Mr. Krabs decides he has to get in shape and takes SpongeBob to help him.
Mr. Krabs, in disguise, and SpongeBob head towards Larry's Gym. Mr. Krabs tries to leave upon entering, but SpongeBob encourages him to stay for Mrs. Puff. Mr. Krabs rushes between various workouts, hoping that Larry will not notice him, but he recognizes him anyway. After struggling with bench pressing, Mr. Krabs eventually decides to receive Larry's help. Larry first gives Mr. Krabs weights to lift, but after noticing his physical state, is unsure how to motivate him. SpongeBob pulls bags of money out of his head and puts them on the weight bench, to which Mr. Krabs then lifts afterwards. A montage is then shown of Mr. Krabs succeeding workouts, with money as his main incentive.
After a week, Mr. Krabs is shown coming out of the steam room and reveals himself in front of a mirror, only for him to be revealed to still be in the same state as he was originally. Mr. Krabs questions to Larry why he has not gotten any more muscular, to which Larry replies that one cannot change their phyisque in a week. Larry takes off his shell and hangs it, as he heads for the sauna. Mr. Krabs then removes his disguise and gets the idea to steal Larry's shell.
Mr. Krabs, inside Larry's shell, rides on a motorcycle to Goo Lagoon and approaches Mrs. Puff, with her being impressed. Mr. Krabs leaves Mrs. Puff to show off his muscles to the beachgoers, with Mrs. Puff growing irritated. Larry soon furiously shows up, in Mr. Krabs' shell, and chases him through the beach. Larry trips up on fondue and is swept away by a wave into the ocean. Mr. Krabs notices Fondue Man and takes his cart, using the fork to pull Larry out of the ocean. Larry ends up landing in the fondue as the beachgoers cheer Mr. Krabs for saving him. Mr. Krabs shows off his muscles more, but Mrs. Puff states that he is not interested in Mr. Krabs due to his new state and personality. She picks Larry out of the fondue and takes him for a beach date. Mr. Krabs gets out of his shell and runs after Mrs. Puff and Larry, hoping Mrs. Puff will take him back due to his now soft state.
"My biggest contribution to "Buff for Puff" was the Fondue Man, who we had a ton of fun making this increasingly whimsical magician of cheesy amour".Cite error: Invalid parameter in <ref> tag
This episode was originally called "Krabs Meat."[2]
File:NickVsNicktoonsBFP.pngSimulcasting. By the time Nickelodeon had started the episode, Nicktoons had finished airing it.
This episode's premiere, alongside the other three in its premiere week were simulcasted on Nicktoons.[3] Due to Nicktoons' spacings of commercial breaks, this episode effectively debuted on that network first.
However, on the premiere day, the episode accidentally aired on Nicktoons 15 minutes early before the actual premiere time on the main Nickelodeon channel, paired with a regularly-scheduled rerun of "Single-Celled Defense."[4]
In the United States, this marks the first time any SpongeBob-related media was accidentally fully premiered on Nicktoons before the intended premiere date and time on Nickelodeon.
This marks the second episode in 21 years to have an early premiere fully shown on Nicktoons before airing on Nickelodeon, since "Gary Takes a Bath."
On Nickelodeon, this episode was originally scheduled to premiere at 5:00 PM on the same day, but was later moved to 4:00 PM.
