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1%%
2%% ''Note to editors:''
3%% NightmareFuel has long been subject to rampant misuse, so be sure your example actually qualifies.
4%% Valid examples are things that continued to affect the troper posting the example after said troper finished consuming the work.
5%% Don't post things that merely scared characters in-universe, ''might'' be scary to someone else, or involved phobia objects.
6%% Anything that's PlayedForLaughs is unlikely to qualify. No speculation or hypotheticals, please.
7%% Adding dubious examples in a misguided attempt to make a work look DarkerAndEdgier than it is only makes the troper community look %%[[ProneToTears easily frightened]].
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10%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1628928357043978000
11%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
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13[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2021_08_15_at_112827_am.png]]
14[[caption-width-right:350:One of the ''many'' mutants to see everyday in ''Revenge of the Island.'']]
15%%
16'''The Nightmare Fuel page is for post-viewing discussion, so [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked per wiki policy]].'''
17
18Considering that ''Total Drama'' is a parody of ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', which already has scary moments [[NightmareFuel/{{Survivor}} for its own page]], it's not all that surprising to see [[NightmareFuel moments like these]] on [[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama this show]].
19
20''[[NightmareFuel/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace The Ridonculous Race]]'' has its own page.
21
22----
23[[foldercontrol]]
24
25[[folder:Island (2007)]]
26* In "Who Can You Trust?" one of the challenges was to prepare fugu blowfish sushi[[note]]You need good cutting skills to correctly prepare it, as fugu is poisonous.[[/note]] and give it to a teammate without poisoning them. As it was, Trent made the mistake of allowing [[DumbBlonde Lindsay]] to prepare the sushi for him. After eating a blob of what was left of the blowfish, he fell down, started to puke, and ''[[{{Squick}} turned blue.]]'' As if that wasn't bad enough, the next thing we see is Chef in a nurse's uniform about to give him CPR, then the screen goes black and all we can hear is Trent dry heaving.
27* The entire "Hook, Line, and Screamer" episode. Considering that a serial killer is on the loose in the island and would not hesitate to soak his hook with blood, you know you're in a big trouble when even Chris and Chef Hatchet tries to run away. Of course, it was all an act to scare them and to find a perfect opportunity for them to eliminate one of their teammates. Until, they realize that there is an [[ContrivedCoincidence actual killer]] on the loose, which causes Chris and Chef Hatchet to [[EvenEvilHasStandards lose their shit.]] If not for Gwen panicking and kicking the killer in the face, she would have been chainsaw sushi.
28* [[BodyHorror Izzy's swelled-up face]] after her poison ivy spa treatment in "No Pain, No Game". She's barely recognizable as human.
29* The way Courtney utterly loses her shit in the special episode "Total Drama Drama Drama Island". She goes from abandoning Duncan over the case of money he just got for them (jerkass thing to do, but fairly mild) to violently commandeering a hot air balloon, and then when DJ, Cody, Tyler, and Owen have the misfortune of getting tangled in the ropes of the air balloon, she decides it's OK to risk their lives as long as they won't give her the case of money:
30--> '''DJ:''' You wouldn't let us fall to our deaths!
31--> '''Courtney:''' Oh, ''yes'', I would! ''I don't even like you very much!!''
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder:Action]]
35* Courtney in season two. She can tear a hole through a hotel like rice paper. Hell, Courtney in general is terrifying. On the outside, she looks like your average, normal everyday teenage girl but on the inside, she is violent and bloodthirsty.
36** Seeing how controlling she is with Duncan when they're in a relationship is also nightmarish. She's not happy with how he is and wants him to change himself - that can strike a chord with anyone watching who has ever been in an abusive relationship.
37* Speaking of which, Trent from season two could qualify as well. All of a sudden, he has a strange obsession with both Gwen and the number nine, complete with a creepy {{Leitmotif}} whenever both obsessions are provoked. Also, try comparing his character last season when he was one of the more normal contestants to his character this season when he is one of the crazier contestants.
38* The above is made even worse in the second Aftermath episode where a fan named Kelsey shows just how obsessed with Trent she is. Not to mention her poem...
39-->Your hair is black...\
40My heart is blue...\
41I'll stuff you with rags...\
42And sew you up too!
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:World Tour]]
46* Sierra's stalkerish obsession with Cody. She's lied to his family to get information on him, discovered government protected information about him, watches him as he sleeps, brushes her teeth with his used toothbrush, hugs him so hard that he physically ''cannot breathe'', '''''molests him on a regular basis'''''[[note]]We swear we're {{not making this up|Disclaimer}}[[/note]], forced him to marry her, wanted to strip him in public and even paralyzed his entire body and [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale did who-knows-what]] to him while he was frozen. The fact that she ignores his ''pleads'' for her to stop makes everything all the more horrific.
47** The fact that their fellow competitors and especially teammates seem to be more or less okay with this, essentially seeing it as keeping Sierra happy enough to put an effort into competing with no regard for the fact that Cody has been put in physical danger by Sierra's obsessions. Basically everyone around him regards him with apathy enough to allow this to continue, which is somewhat frightening in itself. Notably, in "Can't Help Falling in Louvre", they force him to fix things with Sierra when she won't stop crying over him trying to vote her off. To clarify: she's been stalking him, he votes her off because he wants her to stop, and then everyone blames him because his stalker got upset. Let ''that'' sink in.
48* A blink-and-you'll-miss-it nightmare fuel that happens just before the cheating scandal breaks: Courtney and Gwen are talking the morning after Gwuncan's kiss about Courtney's relationship with Duncan, and Courtney pulls out a huge list that promptly expands outward, saying that once she changes "these 32 things" about Duncan, then he ''will'' be perfect. Courtney has clearly learned nothing from Season 2, and if [[FromBadToWorse Duncan hadn't cheated with Gwen and all the drama that caused]] hadn't ensued, Courtney likely would have gone back to controlling and emotionally abusing Duncan.
49* In episode 2 of World Tour, Chris explains how the scarabs in Egypt have become dangerous since they're in heat, right before Chef releases a whole swarm of them. We see a bunch crawl onto one of the interns, and less than ten seconds later we see the intern's bones, picked clean of all meat.
50* During the Alps challenge, radioactive mountain goats are used as obstacles during the sled race. Chef opens a black box with a nuclear symbol on the side and a tiny, adorable goat comes out. It bleats at an adult goat, who growls at it, and then the tiny goat lets out a ''hellish roar.'' Chef turns away and covers his eyes...cut to the little goat swallowing the big goat whole, slurping down a hoofed leg before leaping at the campers with a mouth full of fangs.
51* Gwen's allergy in "Picnic at Hanging Dork" is terrifying. Her eyes swell up and turn very red, and looks unpleasant.
52* Ezekiel's gradual transformation into a [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]] lookalike. If that wasn't enough for you, then there's his fate in the finale, NightmareFuel both his face as he has the million and is falling into the volcano, and his expression as he is being launched back out, his skin completely burnt.
53* At the same time, Alejandro looks even worse, with his hair being burnt off, all his skin completely fried, and his limbs mangled from being trampled on by the others - before being merged with a robot in a completely weird [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Revenge of the Sith]] parody.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Revenge of the Island]]
57* Dakota turning into a mutated monster, with plenty of BodyHorror to spare. While it can be debated that the other contestants, such as Alejandro and Ezekiel deserved their fates, her only crime was being a bit of an AttentionWhore. Most of the time, she's actually sweet. All of this without mentioning the huge amounts of torture and humiliation Chris put her through, which might have inflicted her irreversible psychological damage as well.
58* A minor one but during Mike's BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, after he wins, we see a split second of an ominous shadow on the wall. It's ''Mal'', who will take over Mike's body next season.
59* Scott's fate near the end of the season. He has a toxic marshmallow ''burn into him'' after his elimination is announced and ends up covered in a cast on the catapult with Fang the shark, who was eager to maul him all season. The next time he is seen he's placed in a machine, and he can't move or speak.[[labelnote:reference to]]A ShoutOut to the fate of Captain Pike in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''[[/labelnote]]
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder:All-Stars]]
63* Ezekiel has a murderous vendetta against Chris. Even if this is karmic retribution for all the stuff Chris did to him, which Chris giddily admits to, the point is that now there's a feral killer on the loose, and one that still conserves enough human-like intelligence to set up a trap and capture those who might try rescue his prey. Zeke also has acidic spit, thanks to the toxic waste exposure.
64* Sierra is ''still'' obsessed with Cody. It's bad enough that her obsession gets temporarily transferred to Cameron, but the NightmareFuel really comes in when you consider that Cody probably hasn't managed to escape her, since Cameron tells her to go home to him. Plus her screen-saver is an incredibly disturbing picture of Cody, clearly surprised coming out of the shower, trying to cover himself with a towel. It has sexual assault vibes and makes you wonder if she's holding him captive somewhere.
65** The only saving grace to Sierra and Cody's 'relationship' is that Cody considers Sierra quite possibly his best friend by the end of World Tour, and is smiling when on the yacht with her in ''Revenge of the Island''. Which may or may not be Stockholm Syndrome.
66** The other saving grace is, according to an extra scene, after being eliminated from ''All-Stars'', Sierra wound up in Area 51 with a bunch of [[CallBack alien doppelgänger Codys]]... who all flee in terror of her, upon which she claims she's in "heaven". One might hope that she stayed there forever and the real Cody was able to escape her and live in peace.
67* Even though he crosses into LaughablyEvil at times, it's pretty creepy seeing [[BigBad Mal]] for the first time - when Mike's picture is burned away to reveal Mal's face in shadow.
68** He gives a pretty good JumpScare while trying to ambush Gwen in "The Bold and the Booty-ful." It certainly was enough to make Chris flee to his panic room.
69** The way he's able to take over Mike's body at night and increasingly at odd times during the day. Each time Mal breaks an item from his fellow heroic teammates, Mike wonders if he's losing his sanity in addition to control over his body. Definitely a good dose of ParanoiaFuel.
70*** During "No One Eggspects the Spanish Inquisition", at one point Zoey looks up from the ground to see Mal's face framed in shadows, grinning at her. A split-second later in the light, he's Mike, but it was unexpected and creepy.
71** And of course there's his repeated attempts to kill other contestants, usually by creeping up behind them and preparing to strike them in the head with a blunt object. Fortunately, he's always interrupted. None of the contestants have any idea how close to death they just came, especially because he can pretend to be Mike in a split-second.
72** Duncan immediately recognizes him as a fellow inmate from juvie; Mal was "running the place" and "liked being locked up", to the point where even Duncan knew to avoid him completely. It's no wonder he becomes terrified of him when he hears him whistle that tune.
73** In one episode it's seem to imply that Mal is actually who Mike is supposed to be and Mike was a personality Mal came up with to come off as innocent. The character we've been following for most of the show was just a personality created by a sociopath.
74* During "Moon Madness", on full display on one Chris's surveillance screens is none other than ''Franchise/{{The Slender Man|Mythos}}''. Better hope the cast have $20 on hand...
75** The normally docile animals being vicious with razor-sharp teeth in the forest at night can be pretty unnerving.
76[[/folder]]
77
78[[folder:Pahkitew Island]]
79* Chris' PerpetualSmiler face in "Blast From The Past"
80* ''Scarlett Fever'':
81** [[KnightOfCerebus Scarlett]] ''period'' during this episode. Notable mention to her reveal scene.
82-->'''Scarlett:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I. Am. Not. Your.]] '''[[SuddenlyShouting SIDEKIIICK!]]'''
83** The entire island going haywire and almost self-destructing.
84** The robot animals under the island, with glowing red eyes and parts of their "skin" missing.
85** Scarlett pretending to still be on the other contestants' sides in order to trick them into entering a room full of Chris-bots (which are creepy enough by themselves), where she promptly traps them in.
86*** The ''ease'' she manages to convince the others that Chris was lying about where the shut down for the self-destruct is. They all think Chris doesn't care about them that much....and they are most likely ''right''.
87* Dave's SanitySlippage with regards to Sky. What starts off as a crush very quickly becomes an obsession. Which Chris exploits and worsens ''for laughs''. When Dave learns during the finale that Sky had a boyfriend back at home the whole time, he ultimately snaps and attempts to ''kill'' her.
88** What makes it even more terrifying is that much like [[WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog Freaky Fred's obsession with shaving hair]], this is actually TruthInTelevision. It's not uncommon for people like Dave in real life to let their obsessions get the best of them to the point where they [[SanitySlippage lose their sanity]].
89* "Pahk'd With Talent" opens on Sugar's shadow falling over a sleeping Sky. Sugar is armed with a club and a SlasherSmile and only two things save Sky in that moment. The first is that she wakes up in time to see Sugar standing over her and the second is that Sugar doesn't feel like going in for the kill while the cameras are rolling.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Island (2023) Part 1]]
93* There's a reason why everyone calls Lauren [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Scary Girl]], even if most of the examples are used for comedy. From her NightmareFetishist tendencies and her...[[ExorcistHead unique]] [[PerpetualSmiler expressions]] to how she wants to hurt her friends, is one of several contestants on the show to attempt murder, swears revenge on those who voted for her by the time they forget her, and off-handedly mentions that getting to know more people was useful in case [[OrganTheft she ever needs organs]].
94* A few glaring moments mentioned about Emma and Chase's entire relationship stand out. Besides Emma's clear self-esteem issues and clear obsession with Chase (both love obsession and hate obsession), Chase has been confirmed to have been responsible for '''crippling Emma's mother''' and the initial final straw was when he '''cut the brakes on her car and made her crash into a pet store''', an action that could've '''killed her'''. What's worse, Chase is shown to feel absolutely ''no remorse'' for any of this, even treating all of it like a big joke. Her eventually taking Chase back in spite of everyone's warnings against it only serves to start a vicious cycle of toxicity and abuse.
95** Hell, just the fact that Emma got back together with Chase despite the fact that their relationship is toxic. It's a jarringly swift and sudden [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of a DestructiveRomance that is played for both [[PlayedForLaughs laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]].
96** Thankfully, at the first episode of Part 2, she found out about it and broke up with Chase, this time for good.
97* The third episode has Damien and Julia randomly drawn to be placed in a cylinder that slowly fills up with water with no way out except for relying on their team members to complete a dangerous obstacle course to find the combination to let them out. It isn't friendly for those who have claustrophobia or hydrophobia.
98* Episode 5 has freaking ''Velociraptors'' hunting the cast down and, due to Chris feeding them beans for breakfast, are constantly farting, meaning that the dinosaurs are always on them. Pretty much everyone nearly gets eaten at some point during the episode.
99* Episode 8 is the ForeignQueasine eating challenge and the last thing the campers have to eat is a [[{{Squick}} long and sentient tapeworm.]]
100* The finale? Two words: '''Lava. River.''' Plus after Priya previously discovered Millie's book plans thanks to Bowie in the previous episode, Priya is angry enough to potentially '''MURDER MILLIE IN THE LAVA RIVER'''!, The fact that Millie was desperate enough to follow Ripper's plan however convoluted and clever it appeared, certainly only worsened things.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Island (2023) Part 2]]
104* Scary Girl somehow gets even worse with the reveal that, in order to learn how to be more normal, she was spying on the cast from ''inside their closets''. And when this naturally gets her voted off, she breaks into an EvilLaugh while vowing revenge. This does not look good for the members of her team...
105* In the second episode, Millie knowingly and willingly tricking Damien into going down a slide that she was told ''killed people''.
106** We also get to see a view of the slide's insides, the Bone Crushing gears along with the giant boot kick at the end are definitely up there for "most painful obstacles in Total Drama." It's nothing short of a divine miracle that Damien was able to survive let alone be healthy enough to compete by the next challenge.
107* The brakes on the Skunk Butts bobsleigh breaking and them going out of control. While this is played for laughs, their terrified expressions make the situation more dire for them (despite their crash landing making them win the challenge).
108* Chris forcing MK to fight against an angry bear that gives her a beatdown and almost mauls her to death, with it also being implied that she got brain damage from it.
109* The way Julia and MK hold hands and speak in unison to get Zee to share his secret while PlayedForLaughs (especially due to being a clear ShoutOut to ''Film/TheShining''), is still pretty unsettling to watch.
110* The angry guard dogs that are sent after the contestants look super menacing, and the fact they are persistent enough to chew through a tree, fish them out or even ride a jet ski to reach them adds an extra layer of fear to them.
111[[/folder]]

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