History TotalDrama / TropesAToG

* GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies: Inverted. DJ is easily frightened by horror movies; whereas Gwen is a major fan, and Izzy used to listen to horror film soundtracks as ''lullabies'' when she was an infant.

** It’s repeatedly mentioned that every contestant had to sign a contract to enter the show, and Chris occasionally brings up when they question or refuse to do something. However, because the contestants are below the age of majority, their parents/guardians would have to cosign the contract. However, most parents in the series [[NeglectfulParents have either failed]] to ReadTheFinePrint, or in some cases, they ''did'' read it and allowed their child to go on the show anyway.

** It’s repeatedly mentioned that every contestant had to sign a contract to enter the show, and Chris occasionally brings up when they question or refuse to do something. However, because the contestants are below the age of majority, their parents/guardians would have to cosign the contract.
** No reputable reality show production company would award their show's top prize on the spot as a BriefcaseFullOfMoney, or at least one filled with ''actual'' banknotes. Generally, winnings are withheld until the season airs its final episode to ensure the contestant has met all legal requirements to claim the prize, particularly complying with all non-disclosure agreements, and the prize check is either mailed to the contestant's home address listed on their tax claim forms or directly deposited.

** As an ArsonMurderAndJaywalking example, real-life broadcasting standards and practices would have likely prevented Amy and Samey from competing in the same season, as many real-life reality and game shows in which contestants compete individually generally only allow one person per family or household to audition or appear on a show within a given season. While some ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' seasons have relatives or significant others compete as part of the season's twist, the contestants are usually separated during the pre-merge phase in a "Blood vs. Water" format.

** It’s repeatedly mentioned that every contestant had to sign a contract to enter the show, and Chris occasionally brings up when they question or refuse to do something. But the thing is, each contestant is sixteen, and contracts signed by minors aren’t legally binding.
** No reputable reality show production company would award their show's top prize on the spot as a BriefcaseFullOfMoney, or at least one filled with ''actual'' banknotes. Generally, winnings are withheld until the season airs its final episode to ensure the contestant has met all legal requirements to claim the prize, and the prize check is either mailed to the contestant's home address listed on their tax claim forms or directly deposited.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Owen in ''Island''. He gets into a relationship with Izzy and even makes out with her, but he is also constantly smitten by [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Justin's]] looks.

** The tradition for the elimination ceremony is to hand out some form of food to everyone who gets to stay. The default food is a marshmallow, while in ''Action'' and ''World Tour'' respectively the food is a chocolate Gilded Chris Award and a barf bag filled with peanuts. ''Revenge of the Island'' is the only season in which the eliminated contestant gets something too: a radioactive marshmallow, which they'd best avoid catching.

** Episode #22 of ''Island'' was originally called "Haute Camp-ture", a play on "haute couture", and featured a fashion photo shoot challenge. This idea was scrapped in favor of a "look in on the losers" story called "After the Dock of Shame". Some networks aired the episode with the original title, which doesn't fit the replacement story.

** Given the amount of potentially fatal injuries that occur throughout the series, ''Total Drama'' wouldn't be allowed air ''at all'' if it were a real-life reality show.

* ExtravertedNerd: This was originally Cody's shtick. Now that he has SingleTargetSexuality for Gwen, though, Harold seems to have stepped up to flirt with everyone else.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: Season four featured a giant cockroach and a giant spider, though the latter turned out to be [[spoiler:Izzy in disguise]].

* ConfessionCam: As to be expected from a RealityShow. It invokes the Rule of Funny, so expect it to be used when it quite logically and explicitly cannot. In ''Island'', the confessional is also an outhouse. Which is sometimes in use. When the camera is on. Thankfully, above belly button level.

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* DemonicDummy: The Puppet featured in "Sundae Muddy Sundae".

** No reputable reality show production company would ever award their show's top prize on the spot as a BriefcaseFullOfMoney. Generally, the winnings are withheld until the show airs to ensure that the winning contestant meets legal requirements, and the proceeds are often either mailed to the contestant's home or deposited directly.

** As an ArsonMurderAndJaywalking example, real-life broadcasting standards and practices would have likely prevented Amy and Samey from competing in the same season, as many real-life reality and game shows in which contestants compete individually generally only allow one person per family or household to audition or appear on a show within a given season. While some ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' seasons have relatives or significant others compete as part of the season twist, the contestants are usually separated in a "Blood vs. Water" format.

* BrainyBrunette: Alejandro has an IQ of 163 and manages to eliminate Harold, Bridgette, Leshawna, DJ, Noah, Tyler, Owen, Duncan and Cody in ''World Tour'' while seeming perfectly innocent for most of it.

* AllForNothing: ''Total Drama'' apparently operates on this principle, as there is no mention of runner-ups receiving ''any'' compensation. And even the winner is not guaranteed [[AllForNothing to retain their winnings]].

** The Lame-o-sine, complete with a set of bull horns on the hood.

** As an ArsonMurderAndJaywalking example, real-life broadcasting standards and practices would have prevented Amy and Samey from competing in the same season, as many real-life reality and game shows in which contestants compete individually generally only allow one person per family or household to audition or appear on a show within a given season. While some ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' seasons have relatives or significant others compete, the contestants are initially separated in a "Blood vs. Water" format.

** In ''Island (2023)'', Priya and Raj are Indian (though Raj does speak with [[CanadaEh a heavy Canadian accent]]), while Millie is also most likely Indian, but is a bit more ambiguous in her case. Chase, Axel and Zee are all implied to be Hispanic, and Ripper and Nichelle seem to at least be part-Italian, supported by the fact that Ripper mentions eating large amounts of pasta at his Nonna's house and that Nichelle's last name is "Ladonna" ([[BilingualBonus Italian for "the woman"]]).

** It's made clear several times in ''Pahkitew Island'' that Sugar isn't even aware of there being any prize money (unlike every single antagonist before her). So she pretty much has even less reasons than Mal for why she behaves the way she does and the stunts she pulls.

** PlayedForLaughs on two occasions in ''Island (2023)''. Zee becomes awestruck when one of his hands gains a fifth finger while hallucinating after being struck by a lightning, and Julia freaks out when an extra finger pops out in her hand while counting to five in the confessional.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Paintball Deer Hunter", Cody is seen BandageMummy in the confessionals. By the end of the episode, he's mauled by a bear and voted off by his team.
** In the second Action Aftermath, when Geoff states that money is more important than integrity, Ezekiel is the only contestant that agrees with him. A season later, guess who ends up [[spoiler:turning feral and stealing the show's prize money]]?
** In the intro of ''World Tour'' once everyone has settled in front of the plane, Ezekiel unexpectedly crash-lands into the shot. This could be symbolic of his tendency to pop out of nowhere during the season after his elimination, especially in the finale where he suddenly reappears to [[spoiler:steal the case from Heather before falling into a volcano]].
** In "Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan", Alejandro throws up after eating a candy fish tail, indicating that he has a low tolerance for strange food. This ends up being a plot point during the eating contest challenge in "Chinese Fake-Out".
** In the ''World Tour'' finale, when Cody and Alejandro are fighting for a spot in the final two, Harold advises Cody to "aim for the kiwis." In the end, this is [[spoiler:how Heather takes down Alejandro]] in the final challenge.
** Lightning wanted to be a team of one and not only did he almost accomplish that before the merge, after Jo was eliminated he was the last remaining member of his team (if you don't count Scott who switched teams).
** In Dakota's audition tape, [[spoiler:she boasts that by the time it's over she'll be "the biggest thing ever."]]
** After Mike [[spoiler:defeats his other personalities]] in "Grand Chef Auto", a shadow can be seen on the wall for a split second. [[spoiler:Say hello to [[TheSociopath Mal]]]]. For extra points, [[spoiler:it happens after he says "This brain is under new management", foreshadowing [[SplitPersonalityTakeover Mal taking over Mike's body full-time]].]] Further foreshadowing occurs in "Evil Dread", where [[spoiler:Mike doesn't lift a finger to help Sam escape a mosquito attack and even laughs when he gets stung by a jellyfish. Guess who reveals himself at the end of the episode?]]
** Courtney jokingly tells Duncan to enjoy prison in Season 1. Guess where he's sent 4 seasons later?
** In "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon" from Season 1, Leshawna confesses how if it came down to a popularity contest, she wouldn't have a chance in beating the others in popularity. In the very next episode, [[spoiler:she accidentally gets voted off due to how popular she is from the other contestants]], particularly Katie and Sadie.
** In "Sweden Sour", Courtney (uncharacteristically at the time) asks Duncan where an apology for Gwen is [[NeverMyFault but he dodges the question]]. Two seasons later, Gwen and Duncan break up and Duncan has no idea why Gwen could break up with him. [[note]]Duncan spends a good chunk of the season, clearly showing signs of still being into Courtney.[[/note]]

* GoldTooth: Heather gets one to replace the one she lost in "The Am-AH-Zon Race".

** There is also noticeably [[DemographicallyInappropriateHumor/TotalDrama a lot more adult jokes and humor]] in the earlier seasons than the later ones. For instance, compare episodes like "X-Treme Torture" (which showed Heather getting her top snagged on a tree branch), "One Flu Over the Cuckoos" (which had a rectal thermometer joke) and "Broadway Baby" (which had a scene cut from the US version where Cody got stuck in the Statue of Liberty's breasts) to episodes from ''Revenge of the Island'', ''All-Stars'' and ''Pahkitew Island'', all of which have very few, if little, adult jokes.

* CrapsackWorld: Downplayed. While the series doesn't focus entirely on Canada, in a show often filled with idiots, jerks and morons and {{ButtMonkey}}s who have terrible luck ''and'' a state that doesn't do anything about the fact that two contestants have suffered from BodyHorror, ''Total Drama'''s take on Canada seems like a rather crapsack world to be a part of.

** Scott distances himself from the {{Big Bad}}s of the previous seasons with his strategy off [[TeamKiller throwing challenges to vote of his team mates]]. He's also the only BigBad to date who never formed any sort of alliance in the season he was the main villain.

** Bowie is a manipulative schemer like most of the above but unlike them, he has no real malice towards the rest of the cast. Each previous antagonist was a bully in some way whereas Bowie is a PunchClockVillain who gets along with everyone once he's off the clock.