History BrokenBase / TotalDrama

* Depending who you ask, Duncan/Courtney's SlapSlapKiss routine is either praised or hated for its toxicity.

* While it's usually agreed that [[spoiler:Heather]] is the most deserving winner, the identity of the ''canonical'' winner is a point of debate: Was it [[spoiler:Alejandro]]? Due to the inclusion of the [[spoiler:''Franchise/StarWars'' ShoutOut as part of his karma]], followed by [[spoiler:him asking for the money that he never won in Heather's ending]]. Plus a goof was present (Sierra not using her wheelchair), which didn't occur in the other ending. Or was it [[spoiler:Heather]]? As it would have been the perfect end to [[spoiler:her arc of CharacterDevelopment from a VillainProtagonist to an AntiHero over the whole season]]. Also it has been pointed out that [[spoiler:switching the dummy seems like a really poorly written, last-minute stint]]. Plus some goofs that were present (Heather's cleft chin being missing, Hawaiian men who warned the others of the effects of pineapples in volcanos disappearing), which were fixed in the other ending, implying this ending was created first. It's been also pointed out that him asking for money makes sense in either ending as he wasn't present when the winner was announced and slid down significantly further in [[spoiler:Heather]]'s ending (making it harder to hear the announcement of the winner), therefore not being aware who won; and that even if he knew that [[spoiler:she won, he might have been hoping she'd share the prize with him due to her obvious crush on him]].

* Given how [[BaseBreakingCharacter polarizing they are]] amongst the fans, how Mal treated [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains the four remaining Villainous Vultures]] could either be seen as pure, unadulterated CatharsisFactor. Some of the lowest points in the series cementing Mal as a BlackHoleSue, a surprise case of AlasPoorScrappy, or some mixture of the three.

[[AC:Total Drama Island (2023)]]

* The Screaming Gaffers. Are they far more interesting than the Killer Grips due to having some of the most iconic conflicts in the whole series (such as Heather and Gwen, Heather and Leshawna, and Duncan and Harold) and, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork in spite of this]], managing [[CurbStompBattle to completely wreck the Grips in victories]]? Or does said [[AHouseDivided constant in-fighting]] make them extremely tedious to watch and undeserving of being ''Action'''s superior team when the Grips worked much better than them? This last point is made even worse when one takes into account DJ's illegal alliance with Chef and Trent deliberately throwing challenges for the Grips that he otherwise would have won, with this happening in [[Recap/TotalDramaRiotOnSet Riot On Set]][[note]](the challenge is rigged against the Grips by Chef)[[/note]], [[Recap/TotalDramaBeachBlanketBogus Beach Blanket Bogus]][[note]](Trent throws the tie-breaker he likely would've won)[[/note]], and potentially in [[Recap/TotalDramaTheSandWitchProject The Sand Witch Project]][[note]](DJ's alliance with Chef allows his team to win the first challenge, but it's unknown whether Grips would've successfully scared the Gaffers away had they won)[[/note]].

* [[spoiler:Samey getting Amy eliminated in her place and the fallout from it]]. Was it good because it was shocking and epic or awful because the show had to insult their audience's intelligence for it to work? [[labelnote:Explanation]]Chris can't tell them apart at the elimination ceremony even though he could in the first episode as well as ''five seconds'' before and her teammates saw Samey without her fake mole as Amy was eliminated yet still buy that Samey is pretending to be her (excluding Jasmine who was the only one in on it and Scarlett who thought that everyone knew).[[/labelnote]] Another section holds Chris knew what was happening and said nothing for the drama and the others in Samey's team didn't notice or care. [[note]]Chris definitely knew 'Amy' was Samey by the following episode and aside from Jasmine and Scarlett Samey's team was full of self absorbed {{Jerkass}} types (Topher and Max) and ditzes (Max again and Rodney).[[/note]]

* The run-on, dragged out [[spoiler:Cameron VS Lightning]] finale debate. While the finale's plot was fairly well-received, there's still quite a bit of conflict over which finalist deserved to win. Should [[spoiler:DorkKnight nerdling Cameron]] who was [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass unexpectedly resourceful]] and [[CharacterDevelopment developed phenomenally]] rightfully deserve to triumph against [[DumbMuscle brainless]], JerkJock [[spoiler:Lightning]] who had done almost nothing important and was irrelevant until the last few episodes? Or is the [[spoiler:Thunder Man]] the far more hilarious, interesting character, who was clearly the better choice over the whiny {{s|potlightStealingSquad}}creenhogging [[spoiler:BubbleBoy]] who godplayed his way through the finale? Despite [[spoiler:Cameron]] having the better personality, [[spoiler:Lightning]]'s implied DaddyIssues gained him enough sympathy for a fair chance, to the point his crying in the former's ending can be seen as a Tearjerker.

* [[spoiler:Samey getting Amy eliminated in her place and the fallout from it]]. Was it good because it was shocking and epic or awful because the show had to insult their audience's intelligence for it to work? [[note]]Chris can't tell them apart at the elimination ceremony even though he could in the first episode as well as ''five seconds'' before and her teammates saw Samey without her fake mole as Amy was eliminated yet still buy that Samey is pretending to be her (excluding Jasmine who was the only one in on it and Scarlett who thought that everyone knew)[[/note]] Another section holds Chris knew what was happening and said nothing for the drama and the others in Samey's team didn't notice or care. [[note]]Chris definitely knew 'Amy' was Samey by the following episode and aside from Jasmine and Scarlett Samey's team was full of self absorbed {{Jerkass}} types (Topher and Max) and ditzes (Max again and Rodney).[[/note]]

* Who should've won the finale? It's agreed there was no wrong winner in the final 2 having possibly the most deserving final 2 of the entire franchise, but who was more deserving is far more contentious. [[spoiler: Many fans think Priya is the rightful winner for having the most well-rounded gameplay all the while having worked the hardest for it. The fact it made what her parents put her through worth it and having a great use for the money has led many to think she's a deserving winner. Bowie however proved to be a strategic mastermind the whole season who had been playing the game from day one and some feel him winning would've been LaserGuidedKarma to Priya's AbusiveParents.]]

* A bunch of post-''Island'' teams are subjected to this.
** The Screaming Gaffers in ''Action''. Are they far more interesting than the Killer Grips due to having some of the most iconic conflicts in the whole series (such as Heather and Gwen, Heather and Leshawna, and Duncan and Harold) and, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork in spite of this]], managing [[CurbStompBattle to completely wreck the Grips in victories]]? Or does said [[AHouseDivided constant in-fighting]] make them extremely tedious to watch and undeserving of being ''Action'''s superior team when the Grips worked much better than them? This last point is made even worse when one takes into account DJ's illegal alliance with Chef and Trent deliberately throwing challenges for the Grips that he otherwise would have won, with this happening in [[Recap/TotalDramaRiotOnSet Riot On Set]][[note]](the challenge is rigged against the Grips by Chef)[[/note]], [[Recap/TotalDramaBeachBlanketBogus Beach Blanket Bogus]][[note]](Trent throws the tie-breaker he likely would've won)[[/note]], and potentially in [[Recap/TotalDramaTheSandWitchProject The Sand Witch Project]][[note]](DJ's alliance with Chef allows his team to win the first challenge, but it's unknown whether Grips would've successfully scared the Gaffers away had they won)[[/note]].
** Similarly to the Screaming Gaffers, Team Amazon in ''World Tour'' is pretty divisive for the same reasons mentioned above. Despite every member of this team having a conflict with at least another person (especially Heather, who is pretty much HatedByAll), they manage to be one of, if not ''the'' most successful team in Total Drama's history, winning eight times (same as the Gaffers) and coming in last a measly four times, three of which were reward challenges and thus only losing a single member before the merge, which didn't happen until episode ''16'', which was the ''last'' elimination before the merge. Does this make them an extremely fun team to watch and see succeed in spite of their constant bickering? Or are they a boring SpotlightStealingSquad and a source of some of the most egregious cases of PlotArmor in the series?
** Continuing with the trend of superior teams being base breakers, there are the Mutant Maggots in ''Revenge of the Island''. [[HistoryRepeats Once again]], despite this team's members being at each others' throats for most of the pre-merge episodes, Scott's TeamKiller strategy on the Toxic Rats manages to keep the Maggots on a big winning streak in spite of some of their victories feeling undeserved (with special mention going to the premiere episode, as they ''did'' lose but were spared due to Chris bending the rules in their favor), not to mention having the ''very'' divisive Cameron-Mike-Zoey friendship on the team. Are they more interesting to watch than the Rats getting massacred by Scott and generally being TooDumbToLive? Or just another boring team with little reason to root for when [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan-favorite characters]] like Dawn and B are on the other team?