Characters / Stand by Me

The characters from Stand by Me.

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Protagonists

Gordie Lachance

Played by: Wil Wheaton (child), Richard Dreyfuss (adult)

The main protagonist and an aspiring writer.

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• Adaptational Badass:
  • In the novella, Chris is the one who pulls the gun on Ace and threatens to kill him. In the film, it's done by Gordie.
  • Inverted with Teddy's train scene. In the novel, Gordie is the one who pulls Teddy off the tracks when he is trying to dodge the train. In the movie it's Chris.
• Author Avatar: To Stephen King.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a meek, good-natured and generally sweet kid but he can also be legitimately frightening when pushed as the finale shows when he makes Ace back down by threatening to kill him in a tone which heavily implies he's perfectly willing to do so.
• Big Brother Worship: Gordie greatly idolized Denny and his death really shook him. Averted in the book, however, as Gordie points out that the age difference renders Denny "just a guy."
• Book Smart: Gordie is noted for being the only one among his friends to actually excel in academics.
• Brainy Brunette: Gordie is the smartest one of the gang (aside from Chris, who is the wisest), who can create his own stories, and eventually goes to college and becomes a professional writer.
• Butt-Monkey: Not as much as Vern, but still gets more bad luck than the others. After he loses a coin toss, he must buy food for all his friends and then run from Angry Guard Dog Chopper through the junkyard. He was behind Vern in the Railroad Tracks of Doom and is nearly run over by a passing train. In the swamp scene, he's the only one who ends up with a leech in his pants... and faints.
• Deadpan Snarker: His younger self when he interacts with his friends, but also his older self as the narrator.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The ending shows that Gordie went on to become a successful author and has a much better relationship with his own son than he had with his father.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic - friendly and supportive, but still suffering from the loss of his beloved older brother.
• Girly Run: Used by Wil Wheaton as an acting technique.
• Good Parents: If the brief interaction we see at the end is any indication, Gordie is a much better father to his own son than his dad was to him.
• Most Writers Are Writers: This is a Stephen King adaptation, after all.
• Nice Guy: The most mature and kind-hearted.
• Nostalgic Narrator: The Writer (aka the adult Gordie) recalls and narrates the events of the film after learning that his friend Chris was stabbed to death while trying to break up a fight at a restaurant.
• The One Who Made It Out: He grows up to become a successful author.
• Only Sane Man: He's the most mature in his group of friends.
• Parental Issues: He has emotionally abusive parents who treat him like The Unfavorite over his now-deceased older brother.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Chris' Manly Man.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his brother Denny. Denny was outgoing, athletic, popular and confident while Gordie is bookish, shy and has only a small circle of friends. And while his parents loved Denny, they mainly ignored and barely tolerated Gordie.
• Shrinking Violet: Downplayed, but he's very shy and soft-spoken. He's not afraid to be a Mouthy Kid around his friends, but he's still the most mild-mannered of the four.
• The Smart Guy: He's the most academically talented of his friends and comes up with the plan to go and find Ray Browers without their parents knowing.
• The Storyteller: He has a penchant for writing and telling stories.
• Time-Shifted Actor: Although Richard Dreyfuss is only credited as "The Narrator," the older and younger Gordie are played by two different actors.
• Took a Level in Badass: Gordie, like every kid in his town, was deathly afraid of Ace. Come the climax, Gordie threatens Ace with a gun to get the older teen to back off. It works.
  Gordie: Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood.
  Ace: Are you going to shoot us all?
  Gordie: No Ace, just you.
• Tragic Keepsake: Denny gave Gordie his favorite hat. Too bad Ace stole it from him.
• The Un-Favourite: His parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyway. As it is, Denny (the brother) was the one who paid the most attention to him.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Gordie desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like his father hates him. In the "making of" on the DVD extras, Rob Reiner says he based some of Gordie's character on his own relationship with his father, Carl Reiner.

Chris Chambers

Played by: River Phoenix

Gordie's best friend who is lowly thought of by everyone in town because of his family.

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• Abusive Parents: His father is violently abusive.
• Alcoholic Parent: Again, his father.
• Alliterative Name: Chris Chambers.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Along with his family, he's shunned and put down by most of the town.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Gordie.
  Chris: Kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look out for them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it, then maybe I should.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: A variant in that, despite his intellect, Chris knows that he's been written off already and is expected to become a washed up, drunken loser and thug like his dad and the rest of his family and has resigned himself to that.
• The Conscience: He tends to be the mediator and the voice of reason in his group. Ultimately, his peacekeeping traits would lead to his later death.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic - dealing with his own insecurities, but perceptive and supportive when it comes to Gordie's.
• Good Is Not Nice: He gives Gordie a lot of tough love. He flat out says he wished he was Gordie's dad so he could ensure that he didn't waste his writing and storytelling talents by just taking shop courses and staying in Castle Rock.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's a good guy who has a bad reputation because of his family.
• Hidden Depths: It's shown that, despite his seeming resignation and acceptance to such a fate, he's deeply hurt at knowing how he's regarded as a bad kid due to his family and how pretty much every adult in his life has either betrayed his trust or written him off as a lost cause.
• The Leader: Of his group of friends.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: In the book, Chris has two older brothers and three younger siblings.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Many years later, he tries to stop a fight in a restaurant and is stabbed in the throat. He dies almost instantly.
• Nice Guy: Despite his background, Chris is a good-hearted, sensitive kid who manages to fill the big brother role that was left by Denney and that Gordie needed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Throughout the story (both novel and movie), Chris is described as the member of the group who makes the best peace. In the novel, he points a gun at Ace and nearly shoots him to get him to back down.
• The One Who Made It Out: Subverted. He grows up to be a lawyer, but dies a meaningless death.
• Parental Neglect: In the book, Chris' father was on a bender, and his mother went out of town, leaving Eyeball to care for Chris and three younger siblings (the youngest just a toddler). Both Eyeball and Chris also promptly took off.
• Posthumous Character: As revealed in the opening scene, Chris was recently stabbed and killed when he attempted to intervene in a fight in a fast food restaurant.
• Self-Made Man: As an adult. He worked hard all his life to study and finally become a lawyer, and that makes the Downer Ending even more depressing.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Gordie's Sensitive Guy.
• Supporting Leader: Chris is the leader of the group, but Gordie is the main character.
• Team Dad: To all his friends, especially Gordie.
• The Teetotaler: In the book, Chris has no desire to try alcohol for fear of becoming like his Alcoholic Dad.
• Token Good Teammate: In his family of criminals and alcoholics. This also makes him the White Sheep of the Chambers family.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Just when he makes something of his life, he is stabbed to death after attempting to break up a fight in a restaurant.
• Troubled, but Cute: Angsty, rebellious, tough but kindhearted, with a horrible homelife, bad reputation etc. No surprise he's the most popular character among viewers.
• White Sheep: His dad is an abusive drunk, his oldest brother is in jail for a violent rape, his second oldest brother is a gang bully, and he... busts his ass to get through the college courses and become a lawyer.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He's smart enough to enroll in the college courses with Gordie, but he's already resigned himself to living up to his family's bad reputation. Gordie ultimately manages to talk him into getting out.

Teddy Duchamp

Played by: Corey Feldman

The resident goofball of the group, who deeply admires his father.

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• Abusive Parents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Despite this, he doesn't hold a grudge against his father for it and genuinely admires him.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Teddy is still abrasive in the movie, but was a lot worse in the novel.
• Berserk Button: He goes ballistic after Milo Pressman calls his father a "looney".
• Bullying a Dragon: Not the dragon himself, but close. He makes fun of Billy and Charlie, who are members of Ace's gang, in front of Ace and the entire gang.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He's very weird and eccentric. He often says completely random things, and he has absolutely no regard for his personal safety.
• Deadpan Snarker: All the four boys have their moments, but Teddy is arguably the snarkiest.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric - confident and witty while also extremely temperamental at times.
• Fearless Fool: Most of the time, he's not scared of anything, to the point of doing very stupid things like "dodging a train" and risking his own life. Only towards the end, he's visibly scared when Ace pulls out a knife.
• Freudian Excuse: Despite his jerkish personality, his homelife sounds so horrible you can't help but feel for him.
• Future Loser: He's never able to join the Army and ends up in and out of jail and doing odd jobs around town.
• Jerkass to One: While he also insults Chris or Gordie at times, he's especially mean to Vern, but it's Played for Laughs.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After his confrontation with Milo, he breaks down crying and then apologizes to his friends for the abrasive and obnoxious way he behaved. He also genuinely loves his father. He also apologizes to Chris for everything at the end.
• Nerd Glasses: Of the horn rimmed, Buddy Holly variety.
• Parental Issues: He has a mentally ill father (likely due to undiagnosed PTSD as a WWII vet) who almost killed him.
• Relative Button: Teddy goes ballistic after Milo Pressman calls his father a "looney".
• Scars Are Forever: Teddy's ear is discolored as a result of being held against the stove, and that injury is part of why he fails his Army physical.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Vern's Sensitive Guy.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the book, Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk. He doesn't die in the movie but his life has gone absolutely nowhere.
• Token Evil Teammate: He's far meaner than his friends.
• Too Dumb to Live: He stands in front of the tracks because he wants to dodge a train a few seconds before it speeds over him, until Chris forcefully drags him off the tracks. And apparently it wasn't the first time Chris saved his life.
• Tragic Dream: His ambition is to join the military, but his eyesight and his bad ear put an end to that.
• Ungrateful Bastard: He's ready to fight Chris for his above rescue. In the book, he also once almost attacked Chris for saving him from from a possibly fatal fall from a tree he and Chris were climbing, because he did it by grabbing his hair.

Vern Tessio

Played by: Jerry O'Connell

The Butt-Monkey of the group, who kicks off the plot.

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: In the book, he's not very bright, but most of his Butt-Monkey and Fat Comic Relief traits are just part of his film characterization.
• Butt-Monkey: He's overweight, emotionally sensitive, and rather easily scared. He gets picked on a lot, even from his friends.
• Catchphrase: "Sincerely!"
• Character Exaggeration: In the novella he was still naive, and something of a wimp, but nowhere near to the level he is in the movie.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In the film, at least. Not to the extent of Gordie but he ends up married with kids and a decent job, which is pretty good considering Teddy and Chris' fates.
• Fat Comic Relief: In the book, however, Vern is described as very skinny. This characterization of his is strictly in the film.
• Fat Idiot: In the movie he's chubby, and painfully naive and oblivious. In the novel he's not necessarily fat but it's mentioned that it takes him over an hour and a half to read the Sunday comics (which granted were a lot bigger back then, but still).
• Flat Character: Unlike his friends Vern doesn't have much going on other than being a fat wimp. Aside from setting the story in motion by overhearing his brother his only purpose in the story is Comic Relief.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Teddy bullies him all the time, while Chris and Gordie are too busy being Heterosexual Life-Partners with each other, and they clearly see him as a wimpy loser and little else. In the novella, Gordie has a very low opinion of both Teddy and Vern in his narration.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine - generally the most awkward of the boys, well-meaning but often picked on.
• Lovable Coward: He's scared very easily but a decent kid all the same.
• The Millstone: His cowardice holds the boys back several times. It almost gets Gordie and Vern crushed by an oncoming train when he won't get up and run out of fear of falling off the bridge.
• Nice Guy: He may be a coward and not very bright but Vern is a good kid overall.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Teddy's Manly Man.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Like Teddy he dies in the book (where he's killed in a house fire), but not in the movie. Adult Gordie says he just became another face in the crowd after a while.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: While the film makes him more of a Butt-Monkey than he was in the book, at least it's mentioned that, as an adult, Vern ended up having a peaceful small-town life in the end (married, with kids, and a simple job). It's much better than his sad fate in the book, where he's the first one to die of Gordie's friends, killed in a house fire.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • When on the Railroad Tracks of Doom, Gordie and Vern (who is crawling on all fours at the time) end up having to outrun a train. Vern's reaction? Crawl faster.
  • Interestingly, this is both discussed and averted in the novella; older Gordie states in the narration that none of the boys crawled over the trestle because they'd learned from the movies that "Only Losers Crawl."
• Trademark Favorite Food: That's easy. Pez. Cherry flavor Pez. His reveal of this became one of the movie's taglines.

Antagonists

Ace Merrill

Played by: Kiefer Sutherland

A jerkass older teen.

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• Adaptational Badass: The scene where he plays chicken with a truck was not in the novella, nor were his Nerves of Steel when the boys start insulting him.
• Adaptational Sympathy: Minor but there's no mention of him having brutally beaten up the boys at a later date as occurred in the story.
• Adaptational Villainy: He doesn't threaten to burn out Chris' eye or play chicken with a truck in the novella.
• Ascended Extra: He only has one scene at the end of the novella, but gets his own subplot in the film.
• Badass Driver: He plays chicken with a lumber truck, and wins - while drinking a beer, mind you.
• Big Bad: Actively antagonistic towards Gordie and his friends, even threatening to kill them during the movie's climax.
• The Bully: Towards Gordie and his friends, though it's certainly not exclusive to just them.
• Delinquents: Along with his gang.
• The Dreaded: All the kids are deathly afraid of him. Even other gang members seem to fear him.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Even at nineteen, Kiefer Sutherland's voice was already raspy and menacing and its fits Ace's vile nature perfectly.
• Faux Affably Evil: Will sometimes put on a mocking polite tone while doing something horrible, such as his claims that he "feels all better" after forcing Chris to apologize for an insult by nearly burning his eye out.
• Formerly Fit: As revealed in the epilogue he will become a fat mill worker years later. However, he shows up looking like his old self in Needful Things.
• Hate Sink: He's a truly vile person with nothing redeemable or sympathetic about him.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: He and his friends are described in the book as having pimply, mustachioed girlfriends. It's implied that it's because they're the only girls in town who put out.
• Jerkass: A cruel and violent bully who is even willing to murder a younger boy.
• Karma Houdini: He and his gang get no immediate comeuppance for all of the things they pull, including threatening Gordie and his friends with a knife in the climax. Ace's threat of "we're going to get you for this" even pays off in the book. In this movie, the climax is the last time Ace and his gang are seen onscreen.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • At least in the book. The adult Gordie spots Ace in town years later and observes that he's become a fat, crew-cutted millworker whose sole enjoyment in life is apparently hanging out at a local dive bar every night while Gordie has gone on to become a successful author.
  "I thought: So that's what Ace is now."
  • Karma catches up to him fully when he reappears in Needful Things.
• Kick the Dog: Steals the Yankees cap Gordie got from Denny for no reason other than that he can.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He realizes that approaching the dead kid with a gun pointed at him by Chris (in the book) or Gordie (in the movie) is going to get him shot, and it's simply not worth it. Ace vows that the four boys are going to pay for it, though.
• The Leader: Of his Gang of Bullies.
• Nerves of Steel: He wins a game of chicken with a lumber truck, while the rest of the gang is freaking out and begging him to stop. And when held at gunpoint, he barely bats an eye and continues to taunt Gordie (Chris in the book), even threatening to make him eat the gun.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: They never say his real name in the movie.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When Billy and Charlie want to beat up Vern and Teddy, Ace stops them, knowing that they not worth bothering with because he and his gang have bigger fish to fry with Chris.
• Riddle for the Ages: His parting threat to the boys marks his exit from the narrative. We're never told what form his revenge took, or if, despite everything, he declined to take it.
• The Sociopath: Holds a cigarette to Chris' eye and would have casually stabbed him, and barely blinks. Also maintains a cool demeanor during the Chicken game.
• What the Hell, Hero?: While Ace has no problem threatening kids Gordie's age with knives, he thinks Gordie holding him and his friends at gunpoint is taking things too far.
• Would Hurt a Child: Or even kill a child, when he pulls a knife on the four boys.

Eyeball Chambers

Played by: Bradley Gregg

Chris's older brother and Ace's best friend apparently.

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• Big Brother Bully: He's verbally abusive to his little brother, Chris. It's even worse in the novella, where Eyeball doesn't hesitate to beat Chris to a bloody pulp and breaking his arm.
• The Dragon: Ace's right hand man.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Eyeball's one tiny moment of humanity comes when he puts up the feeblest protest possible upon seeing Ace intent on murdering his little brother.
  Eyeball: Ace... come on, man...
• Evil Counterpart: To Denny. Both are the older brothers to two of the main characters (Denny to Gordie, Eyeball to Chris). Denny (who is dead) was a Nice Guy who cared about his little brother and everyone liked him; Eyeball (who is alive) is a straight up Jerkass who seems to be indifferent to his younger brother, except for one moment (see Even Evil Has Standards), but wasn't well-liked by anyone in town because of his own actions and his family history.
• Jerkass: Like the rest of Ace's gang, he's a complete jerk and a delinquent.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Like Ace, they never say his real name in the movie. In the book, his real name is Richard. In the book, he has a jittery eye that is the cause for his unusual nickname, but this isn't addressed in the film unless you look close. He has a scar over one eye, but how he got the scar is not addressed, either.

Billy Tessio and Charlie Hogan

Played by: Casey Siemaszko and Gary Riley

Vern's older brother and his friend who are members of Ace's gang.

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• Big Brother Bully: Billy is implied to be this to Vern. In their only interaction, he threatens to beat him up and Vern seems afraid of him (but to be fair, he's scared of everything).
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Charlie and Billy separately blab to their friends about Ray's body just a few hours after solemnly promising each other that they'll never tell anyone what Billy saw. Gordie claims that keeping the secret for even that long was a record for the two.
• Chastity Couple: Billy mentions that his Catholic girlfriend Connie lets him grope her breasts but refuses to have sex with him.
• Everyone Has Standards: While they are petty criminals, they are not as amoral as Ace and seem somewhat reluctant to follow him to find the body of Ray Brower. At the beginning Charlie even wanted to call the cops.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite their minor role in the movie, Vern overhearing them talking about Ray Brower's body is the reason why the whole plot happens.
• Those Two Guys: Two minor characters who are usually seen together.

Milo Pressman

Played by: William Bronder

The owner of the junkyard.

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• The Dreaded: His dog, Chopper. Turns out Chopper is nowhere near as terrifying as the legends say he is.
• Everyone Has Standards: He seems genuinely sickened by the abuse Teddy suffered from his father.
• Fat Bastard: He's very overweight and a complete jerk.
• Grumpy Old Man: He gets angry at the boys for teasing his dog.
• Jerkass: He's a cantankerous, foul asshole who doesn't see anything wrong with hurting children just for trespassing.
• Kick the Dog: Calling Teddy's father a "loony" repeatedly.
• Troll: Towards Teddy.
  Milo: I know who you are. You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a loony. A loony up in the nuthouse at Togus. He took your ear. And he put it to a stove. And he burnt it off.
  Teddy: My father stormed the beach at Normandy.
  Milo: He's crazier than a shithouse rat. No wonder you're actin' in the way you are. With a loony for a father.
  Teddy: You call my dad a loony again and I'll kill you.
  Milo: Loony, loony, loony!
• Would Hurt a Child: He doesn't see anything wrong with hurting children just for trespassing.

Other Characters

Dennis "Denny" Lachance

Played by: John Cusack

Gordie's older brother who is dead by the time the movie has started.

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• The Ace: He was a star football player, popular with just about everyone to the point that even Ace acknowledges his "good sense", and overall a really cool and likable person.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: While Denny was a nice guy in the novella, he was also as distant to Gordie like their parents were due to their age difference. In the movie, he makes an effort to get Gordie's talents noticed.
• Big Brother Mentor: Denny was this to Gordie. In the book, because of their age difference, Denny is nearly as distant as Gordie's parents, with a few exceptions: "He was just a guy, you know?"
• Big Man on Campus: Everyone seemed to like and have nothing but praise for him. Even Ace, if his attempts to talk down Gordie, saying he "must have at least some of his brother's good sense", are any indication.
• Cool Big Bro: Flashbacks show Denny encouraging Gordie's writing skills and attempting to get his parents to pay attention to his little brother and his budding talent.
• Hidden Depths: He was a jock but smart enough to appreciate Gordie's writing and the two shared a similar sense of humor. It's also implied he struggled with the pressure his reputation brings, especially from his father.
• In-Series Nickname: Referred to as "Denny".
• Lovable Jock: He was a star football player and flashbacks show him as an extremely nice and caring older brother and the only one, aside from Chris, who encouraged Gordie in his writing.
• Nice Guy: A caring and loving older brother to Gordie, as seen in the flashbacks.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He was outgoing, athletic and popular while Gordie is shy, bookish and has only a few friends. Despite this, they were still very close.
• Trophy Child: Implied, as his parents, particularly his father, seemed to love him more for his popularity and accomplishments than him as a person.
• Posthumous Character: When the story starts, Denny is already dead.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: The only relative of the main characters who was a decent person is obviously dead.

Mr. Lachance

Played by: Marshall Bell

Gordie's father.

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• Abusive Parents: Emotionally to Gordie. Gordie said he was never violent like Chris's father or Teddy's father. He simply ignores him and treats him like The Unfavorite. And it's implied that his love for Denny is more about Denny's popularity and achievements than genuine love.
• Faux Affably Evil: "Evil" is overstating it. But he's always soft-spoken and polite, even though he's a shallow, superficial prick who dehumanizes Gordie for not being as "good" as Denny.
• Hate Sink: He's a callous asshole who doesn't give a rat's ass about Gordie and treats him like he is less than worthy, and always deliberately rubs that in Gordie's face. On top of that, he has zero sympathetic moments, and it's clear the audience is meant to feel nothing but disdain for him.
• Jerkass: An awful father and an awful human.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Jock Dad to Gordie's Nerd Son. In a flashback, he couldn't care less about Gordie's writing talent, he just wanted to talk about Denny and his football game.
• Kick the Dog: It's bad enough he makes Gordie feel like he's The Unfavorite, but his son has a dream about his father telling him he should have died instead of Denny.
• Lack of Empathy: His overall treatment of Gordie makes it quite clear he falls under this. And his "love" for Denny is heavily implied to be more superficial than genuine love.
• Parental Favoritism: Clearly prefers Denny over Gordie. Gordie thinks his father hates him.
• Unnamed Parent: His first name is never revealed.
• Villainy-Free Villain: He's definitely not a villain by any stretch. However, his treatment of Gordie still makes him fall under this trope.
• You Should Have Died Instead: Gordie has a dream about his father telling him, "It should have been you, Gordon" at Denny's funeral. Given how cold he is to Gordie, you can hardly blame him for thinking that.

Davie "Lard-Ass" Hogan

Played by: Andy Lindberg

The main character of Gordie's Story Within a Story.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: He's constantly teased and humiliated about his weight.
• Disaster Dominoes: He gets revenge for being bullied by puking his guts out during a pie-eating contest, causing everyone around him to do the same.
• The Dog Bites Back: He enters a pie-eating to get revenge on everyone who made fun of him.
• Fat Idiot: Averted. He's overweight and pulls of a very impressive revenge scheme.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, he has the same name of Charlie Hogan but obviously there's no relation. Vern even lampshades it.
• Vomit Chain Reaction: He deliberately threw up in the grossest possible way to set off a chain reaction of vomiting in all the other contestants, officials, and spectators.
• Weight Woe: He's constantly bullied and put down for his weight. Even worse is that Gordie claims it's mainly genetics and not something he has any control over.

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