Base-Breaking Character in Disventure Camp.
Season 1
- Dan has a mixed reception. Half the fanbase dislike how irrelevant he is to the story despite being in the competition over more important characters, like Lill or Ashley. Him voting for Gabby in episode 3 despite their bonding did not help matters. The other half likes his underdog status and how he managed to gain more character than his beta version, who did nothing but get eliminated first. His friendships with his teammates are also seen as endearing.
- Ellie quickly became a controversial character starting with the later episodes of Season 1, gaining both a vocal fandom and hatedom for her "do anything to win" attitude towards the game. A frequent point of contention is Episode 11, where fans are split as to whether Ellie's rant towards Jake was a deserved call-out or a Kick the Dog moment. In addition, her Season 1 portrayal as a neutral character rather than being grouped in as a straight villain alongside Fiore and Alec lead to debates on how much fans were intended to root for her, with the character being described as both a Designated Hero and a Designated Villain depending on the fan, which Season 3 corrected by making her role as an antagonist more explicit.
- While some people sympathize with Jake for having his ex cheat on him, his Nice Guy personality, and relationship with Tom, there are others who outright despise him for being unrealistically naïve, considering how he believes the antagonists over his friends, and behaving like a Manchild when he feels like he's been wronged.
- Is Gabby an overly violent, annoying Captain Ersatz of Total Drama contestant Sierra? Or is she genuinely funny with a softer side hidden away? Some fans side with the latter since episode 2 introduced her friendship with Dan with many praising her relationship with Ellie. Her detractors, however, side with the former. They also make special notice of her voice actress making her voice way too high pitched and noting how the narrative often seems to try and paint her in the right despite her often overly harsh and trigger-happy actions and behavior, such as her being sent off of her team for threatening to kill Nick being treated as her being bullied, her random betrayal towards Dan being treated as her standing up for herself, and her betraying her alliance to try and side with the villainous trio with Ellie resulting in her boot being played as her being wrongfully blindsided, and even go as far as accusing her of being a Creator's Pet.
- Some fans think Will’s elimination was undeserved and wish his friendship with Lill and Ashley was explored more. Others think he’s an unfunny DJ bootleg who was too one-note.
Season 2
- Yul. He's either funny and memorable thanks to his Jerkass personality that makes him a Love to Hate type of antagonist, or he's a completely irredeemable Hate Sink who can't even be taken seriously as an antagonist because he spends all his time being an asshole to everyone, therefore costing him his image as a master strategist, unlike James.
- Hunter. He’s either a nice, friendly guy who is a good friend to Ally and Tess, or a Creator's Pet with a bland personality who shouldn’t have had as much luck earning merge immunities as he has. There’s also the way he handles the love triangle around him, with some people claiming he’s merely socially awkward and handling it the best he can while taking care of the two girls such as keeping Tess’s pills before they were destroyed. Others claim him to be insensitive and undeserving of either girl’s love, due to apparently brushing off their asking for an answer with “not til after the competition” and claiming him stealing Tess’s pills, even with apparently good intentions, was extremely creepy and a violation of her privacy. After a brief moment of him being The Scrappy thanks to him kissing Ally despite not choosing between her or Tess yet, some feel like him regretting it afterwards and owning up to it in the finale redeemed his character, while others think that the story is trying too hard to get fans to sympathize with him and his backstory.
- Riya. Some viewers like her plot of I Just Want to Have Friends and Bollywood actress personality, while the others despise her for being rather generic and not adding much to the story for the first seven episodes. Episode 8 further breaks the base after she betrays her alliance with Rosa Maria and Lake by not warning Rosa Maria to use her immunity totem on Lake despite learning she's being targeted for elimination, after becoming paranoid over Rosa keeping her idol a secret til that episode. Some claim this was a foolish and impulsive move that made her a traitor, while others cite her guilt over the action and how it was fueled by paranoia more than outright malice towards Lake. And then Episode 10 breaks the base even further now that she betrayed her closest friend and ally, Rosa, framing her for stealing other belongings, effectively becoming another antagonist of the season, which some will be appalled by while others are glad that she has importance to the plot and that there is someone resembling a more typical main antagonist again.
- James and Aiden. Some people find both characters to be well-written and their chemistry to be entertaining. Others find them bland and undeveloped as characters, and feel like their relationship is too heavily focused on. Their actions in episodes 2 and 9 towards Karol has made them more divisive to the point of being Designated Heroes.
