<?php
$array = array(5, 3, 2, 1, 7);


function worse_recursive_ordering($array) {
  if (count($array) <= 1) {
    return $array;
  }
  // Find minimum
  $minimum = $array[0];
  foreach ($array as $i => $el) {
    if ($el < $minimum) {
      $minimum = $el;
    }
  }
  // The weird ordering happens here
  while ($array[0] != $minimum) shuffle($array);
  return array_merge(array($minimum), worse_recursive_ordering(array_slice($array, 1)));
}

$result = worse_recursive_ordering($array);
var_dump($result);