What An Idiot / Total Drama

Sometimes in Total Drama, contestants make stupid moves- and more often than not, that ends their game.

General

•  The contestants are on camera 24/7 on a nationally broadcast TV show with high ratings.
  You'd Expect: They would be careful of what they say, as even if the person doesn't see it, someone could tell them what they saw and have video evidence.
  Instead: They frequently reveal things they intend to take to the grave that would inevitably have real-world consequences, like Mike having Multiple Personality Disorder or performing acts they expect to get away with, like Shawn mocking Jasmine's plans for the money straight to the confessional.

Total Drama Island (2007)

• "Not So Happy Campers - Part 2": Ezekiel has just pissed off all the women on his team by making some sexist comments. Geoff comes over to try and diffuse things, saying that at least Ezekiel doesn't believe that guys are smarter then girls.
  You'd Expect: Zeke to realize that he is in very hot water and not say anything, considering that Eva just tried to strangle him, not to mention they were just talking about who to vote out and making people angry with you when you are talking about who you want gone is not a smart idea.
  Instead: Ezekiel promptly reveals that he does think that guys are smarter then girls.
  The Result: He becomes the first person voted off the show.
• "Not Quite Famous": Heather is scheming to make sure that she has a spot in the final three, manipulating Lindsay and Beth to go along with this. For this episode's talent show, she's revealed to be an accomplished ballet dancer but is annoyed by Gwen walking away for some privacy and not wanting to watch.
  You'd Expect: Heather would pick her battles: win the competition for her team, and then work on humiliating Gwen.
  Instead: She throws the competition by stealing Gwen's diary and reading it aloud at the talent show. Obviously, Chef refuses to score her, especially when Harold on the opposing team wins over Chef with his beatboxing. The only reason she doesn't immediately get eliminated is that she bribes enough people into voting against Justin, whom Heather accurately pinpoints as her greatest threat as we see in Season Two. This isn't just Heather being a Jerkass; it's that she thought humiliating Gwen was more important than securing immunity.
  The Result: Gwen in revenge borrows Harold's red ant farm and dumps it in Heather's bed, and the rest of the team turns on Heather on seeing her backstabbing. A few episodes later, they lock her in a freezer to shut her up, and Heather has to admit that she can't sabotage the team for her ego for risk of getting voted off in "Who Can You Trust?"
• "Up the Creek" has two moments, with the second being a direct result of the first:
  • The first moment is when the teams are building their signal fire. DJ has just encouraged the Killer Bass to find more wood to build theirs up more.
    You'd Expect: Everyone to just grab sticks. They aren't that far from the woods, so it can't be that hard to find sticks.
    Instead: Harold throws the team's oars into the fire.
    The Result: The Killer Bass now cannot row back to camp normally.
  • The only reason that the Killer Bass don't lose is that Izzy makes an equally stupid move. The Screaming Gophers have built the bigger fire and have the additional advantage of the Killer Bass no longer having oars, meaning that they are basically stranded.
    You'd Expect: Izzy to not tell the Bass how they can get back to camp.
    Instead: Izzy outright tells the Bass exactly how they can win.
    The Result: The Killer Bass win the challenge and it's heavily implied that even if the RCMP had not shown up, Izzy would have been voted out legitimately.
• In "If You Can't Take the Heat...", the Screaming Gophers have put together a decent meal for the challenge. LeShawna wants someone to guard it.
  You'd Expect: Her to pick someone she knows won't eat everything. Since she is leading the team right now (since Heather is still in the fridge), she would ask Gwen, someone she is friendly with and has proven reliable in the past.
  Instead: "Owen, guard the food."
  The Result: Owen proceeds to eat the plate of ribs they were going to serve Chris. The only reason he isn't voted out is because Beth cursed the team.
  • From the same episode, Harold has been on the receiving end of a series of pranks from Duncan, Geoff and DJ over leaving his dirty underwear all over the cabin. At one point, Duncan tells him that if Harold fesses up to it being him (even if they already know it is) and agrees to stop doing it, they'll lay off.
    You'd Expect: Harold to just fess up. Even if it might be a little embarrassing because the rest of the team is present, it's better then continuing to suffer.
    Instead: "I told you it wasn't me!"
    The Result: Duncan, Geoff and DJ leave him outside in front of the girls naked the next day.

• In the episode "No Pain, No Game", Eva returns to the island after being eliminated in "The Big Sleep". Previously, she had been voted off because she lost her temper and destroyed the Killer Bass cabin when she was convinced that one of her teammates had stolen her MP3 player. While riding the Boat of Losers, she admitted to herself that she had let her temper get the better of her.
  You'd expect: That she would at least attempt to keep her anger in check this time. Even if the teams have been dissolved, her rage issues make her an obvious target for being voted off, because nobody wants to compete with someone who 1) flips out at the slightest provocation and 2) has freakish Super-Strength.
  Instead: She doesn't even try to control her temper, and walks off the boat threatening everyone who voted her off previously, targeting Bridgette specifically, apparently figuring that she can just intimidate everyone into not voting for her.
  As a result: Practically everyone teams up against her and votes her off. Again.
• In "Search And Do Not Destroy":
  • Heather wants to break up Trent and Gwen's alliance, so she has Lindsay plant a fake letter on Gwen's bunk. Just a few seconds after Gwen finds "Trent's" letter, Lindsay, who had been hiding under the bed, covered in cockroaches, comes screaming out of the door, right past Gwen.
    You'd Expect: That Gwen, fully aware that Heather and Lindsay are in an alliance, and that this is highly similar to the diary incident, would hold Lindsay back and ask about it. Lindsay either could have blabbed, or given Gwen hints, which not only would have resulted in Heather's plan falling apart, but would have given Gwen solid proof to get Heather eliminated if she had not won immunity.
    Or: That Gwen would ask Trent about it beforehand to be absolutely certain. Gwen knows that both she and Trent have completed their challenges for the day, so she has plenty of time to confirm if he did it.
    Instead: Gwen thinks nothing of it, and casually goes on walking.
    The Result: Heather's plan goes off without a hitch, Trent gets voted off, and Gwen is left alone, and it could have been avoided if Gwen had taken two seconds to consider why Lindsay suddenly burst out of the cabin.
  • Shortly after planting the above-mentioned fake note, Heather arranges a meeting with Trent at the dock. She then tells Trent that Gwen is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who only pretends to like Trent to secure his vote, and expounds at length upon how lonely and afraid she feels because no one will be her friend.
    You'd Expect: Trent would realize that Heather is making a monkey out of him halfway through her speech, turn around and leave. Bear in mind that Heather is the girl who's been bullying, sabotaging and plotting against everyone she could for the whole game. Not to mention, she's the same girl who read Gwen's diary in the talent show challenge. At no point has Heather attempted to hide her cruelty or the fact that she will screw others over to win. Gwen, in comparison, has made a few sarcastic comments to nice people...and that's it. Even in her more antisocial moments, she was a helpful teammate whom Trent had no real reason to doubt. And yet, on the basis of talking with the Obviously Evil Alpha Bitch for three minutes...
    Instead: ...he keeps listening and effectively breaks his alliance with Gwen in favour of believing that Heather is a sad, misunderstood girl. Admittedly, he rejects Heather when she forces a kiss on him, but at no point does he suspect that Heather had ulterior motives for meeting with him, or that she lured Gwen to the beach to see said kiss.
    The Result: Gwen undergoes a Heroic BSoD, her friends get angry at Trent, and Trent gets voted off. If his doubt had been caused by anyone but Heather, his reaction could be justified. But it wasn't, and it's not.
• In "Hook, Line, and Screamer":
  • The challenge of this episode is to survive a horror movie scenario. All the campers watch a movie about a serial killer with a chainsaw and a hook, and then see Chef and Chris "fleeing" the island on hearing the killer has escaped. Gwen tries to take charge based on her Genre Savvy nature of horror movies and orders everyone to stay together. This is despite the fact that, if everyone else gets eliminated, she wins, which she does by the end of the episode.
    You'd Expect: That everyone else would defer authority to her since, as she points out, she's trying to keep them "safe". Even Heather, who has it in for Gwen.
    Instead: Everyone bails to do their thing, ignoring Gwen; DJ is the only sensible one to go to the bathroom with a buddy, though he makes the mistake of taking Geoff with him, and Duncan deliberately distracts Gwen so he can beat the supposed serial killer. Leshawna is the worst since she knows Gwen is looking out for her, and she decides to steal brownies from the kitchen after hearing Gwen's rules, which include not going off alone.
    The Result: Chef while dressed up as the serial killer catches everyone except Duncan, who successfully beats Chef with an Indy Ploy. This means Gwen is left alone with the real serial killer who corners her while she's eating sandwiches.
    Fortunately: Gwen's adrenaline kicks in when she realizes the guy with the chainsaw isn't an actor, and she kicks the guy in the face several times, which causes him to bail out. Chris acknowledges that Gwen wins invincibility for the night.
  • Geoff is hiding from the serial killer (really Chef in disguise) when he hears the sound of an ice cream truck. He had gone with DJ when the latter needed a bathroom break.
    You'd expect: For Geoff to stay where he is since the contestants are on a semi-deserted island, and he promised DJ that he wouldn't leave his guard post.
    Instead: He is lured away and gets caught. Chris comments on Geoff's idiocy in-universe, and DJ gives Geoff a What the Hell, Hero? for abandoning him.

• In "Haute Camp-ture", the eliminated contestants are given the power to vote off one camper who's still in the running. Katie and Sadie get the ball rolling by choosing Leshawna, because they want to hang out with her. The other campers object, saying that they shouldn't eliminate Leshawna if they like her. Unfortunately, just saying "Leshawna" counts as a vote against her.
  You'd Expect: Someone to figure out that they should say someone's name besides Leshawna.
  Instead: The other eliminated contestants try not to say Leshawna but fail to do so. "Squawk! Polly want a Leshawna!" goes Polly, and the votes against her continue to pile up, shutting out the other four contestants.
  As A Result: Leshawna gets eliminated by freak accident.

• In "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island", everyone is partnering up to hunt for the million dollars and Harold wants an ally.
  You'd Expect: Harold to ask one of his friends, such as the group of DJ, Cody, Tyler, and Owen or the group of Leshawna, Gwen and Trent, if he can join their group.
  Instead: He asks Duncan and Courtney, the former of which was The Bully to him all season and the latter Harold unfairly rigged out of the game, if he can join them.
  As A Result: Predictably, they turn him down hard and Harold is stuck working with Heather.

Total Drama Action

• Gwen and Trent are made captains of opposing teams. They know it's a ploy to break them up, but Trent has Green-Eyed Monster about Gwen choosing Duncan for her team. Gwen reassures him that Duncan is a friend and there's no replacing her boyfriend. Later, Trent gets the brilliant idea to make his team lose to keep Gwen's wishes, despite her demands that he not go easy on her.
  You'd Expect: Trent would listen to Gwen the first time she tells him to knock it off.
  Instead: He makes his team lose for two episodes in a row. Gwen keeps expressing she's not happy about this.
  The Result: Gwen breaks up with him, his team finds out thanks to Justin, and he gets voted off. Come next episode, Gwen gets herself voted off out of guilt for the other team's understandable anger. Considering that Trent later gets Acquired Situational Narcissism over fangirls loving him, he was bound to not change at all.
• Chef has convinced DJ to ally with him. In exchange for helping him man up, Chef gets half the prize money should DJ win.
  You'd Expect: Chef to keep this quiet and not make it suspicious. Letting DJ help in the kitchen is passable(as everyone seems to just think he cooked the food), but other then that, to keep things to just advice and the occasional tip for a challenge.
  Instead: During "The Sand-Witch Project", he twice interferes with the challenge. First, he forces the Screaming Gaffers to pick DJ as the Serial Killer for the first challenge, even though the team already decided on Duncan. This sets off LeShawna's suspicions. Next, during the scream off, he decides to scare Duncan and Heather, which gets him called into a meeting for interfering with the challenge.
  The Result: DJ's guilt gets to him and he ends up quitting.
  Even Worse: Chef didn't need to cheat in the challenge. Heather alone was already louder then Owen and Izzy, meaning that the Gaffers would have won normally.
• In "Ocean's Eight - Or Nine", Courtney succeeds with her lawsuit and is allowed back into the game. As part of her contract, she has immunity for the week despite being on the losing team. While the option to pick her is still available, Chris makes it explicitly clear that nobody is allowed to vote her off, lest the show get more lawsuits.
  You'd Expect: That even if they didn't exactly get along with her, for everyone to heed the warning and vote for someone else.
  Instead: Everybody (except Leshawna since she's still trapped in the bank vault and thus couldn't vote) disregards this and votes Courtney anyways. Chris gets annoyed and declares said votes invalid.
  The Result: Only Courtney's vote is counted and Owen is sent packing. Justin and Lindsay are shocked when this happens.
• In "Super Hero-ld", the guys form an alliance to vote off one of the girls. Because Courtney had immunity, the guys paint LeShawna as the biggest threat, much to Harold's protest as he and Duncan were supposed to have an alliance with her. Duncan tells Harold to vote off LeShawna or else he would tell her that Harold still picks his nose in his sleep. To get Harold to vote off LeShawna, Duncan visits Courtney to tell her to convince Harold to do so. Courtney comes to the guys' trailer to tell Harold that he is in danger of elimination.
  You'd Expect: Harold to see through Courtney's lies and refuse to vote off LeShawna, especially after Beth told him about the other girls' plans to vote out Duncan.
  Instead: Harold believes Courtney's lie of LeShawna being "untrustworthy".
  The Result: At the Awards Ceremony, Duncan gets the last Gilded Chris Award and LeShawna is voted off in a 4-3 vote with votes from Duncan, Justin, Courtney, and Harold.
• In "2008: A Space Owen" from Action, Harold discovers that the reason why Owen was brought back into the competition was to be Chris' mole and sabotage the game with drama.
  You'd Expect: For Harold to reveal this to the others and convince them to vote Owen off.
  Alternatively: For Harold to agree to keep it a secret from everybody and use the information as leverage against Owen by threatening to reveal it if he doesn't go along with his plans, and even convince Beth and Owen to help vote off Duncan and Courtney.
  Instead: Harold tells Owen that he knows his secret and that he will expose him, without actually doing anything to prevent Owen from acting against him.
  The Result: Harold gets eliminated with 2 votes against 1.
  • From the same episode, Courtney, along with Beth, have just won the first part of the challenge. Their reward is to pick the order the contestants go in for the next part.
    You'd Expect: Courtney to wait to see what the challenge is before she makes the order. After all, challenges on this show are known for unpredictable and Chris is a complete sadist. Not to mention, the previous challenge was an endurance one, so there could be a pattern at play.
    Instead: Courtney picks her order as soon as she learns about it, under the assumption it will be a skill based challenge, resulting with her picking herself to go last.
    Sure Enough: The next challenge is the Vomit Comet, which is an endurance test and is hell on later people in line should someone before them throw up.
    The Result: After Duncan throws up, Courtney forfeits the challenge, costing her safety that night. Even if she turned out not to need it, invincibility is always good to have.

Total Drama World Tour

• In "Anything Yukon Do I Can Do Better", the first teammate to reach the other side of the lake must pull a dogsled to the finish line whilst picking up additional members at one of the numerous checkpoints throughout.
  You'd Expect: Every team to follow these guidelines to increase their chances of winning.
  Instead: Leshawna suggests that in order to save time that any of the other teammates for Team Victory who don't reach the bobsled head straight for the finish line.
  The Result: Despite Team Victory reaching the finish line second, they lose the challenge as Bridgette never reached the finish line thanks to her tongue being stuck to one of the checkpoints.
  Even Worse: They eliminate Bridgette for failing to reach the finish line even though Leshawna was the one who came up with the idea that ultimately cost them the challenge.
• In the episode “Broadway, Baby!”, Heather is given a meat grinder as a reward for winning the challenge.
  You'd Expect: Heather, the master strategist would keep her prize safe, even if it appears to be useless. Besides its intended purpose, it can be sold, traded, dismantled, or even used as a blunt weapon.
  Instead: She instantly thinks it's useless and throws it out of the plane, just because she can.
  Lo And Behold: The very next challenge is to make sausage, a task that would be monumentally easier for anyone who has a meat grinder. After being on this show for three whole seasons, you'd think Heather had learned that the rewards, no matter how useless they might seem at first, always turns out to have a purpose.
  Even Worse: Courtney makes an attempt to tell Heather they should keep it just in case but is ignored. When Courtney brings this up in the next episode, Heather says "You didn't disagree at the time!", even though Courtney was the one person who had tried to stop her at the time.
• "The Am-AH-Zon Race":
  • Gwen is convinced by Cody to carry an Epi-Pen in order to help him if he winds getting bitten by an insect he is allergic to. Later on, Cody decides to inform Gwen on how to use it in the event it is needed.
    You'd Expect: That despite his crush on Gwen, Cody would just tell her to inject it into his vein or muscle. It is his life on the line after all if it has to be used, and he can't risk her getting angry or doing it incorrectly.
    Instead: Cody decides to goof around and tells Gwen that it has to be injected into his butt cheek. An understandably disgusted Gwen becomes irate and throws the Epi-Pen back to him.
    The Result: When Team Amazon is captured by the Zing Zings, Gwen accidentally stabs herself with the Epi-Pen, which not only leaves her hyper for the rest of the challenge but almost gets Cody killed when a red ant bites him. The only reason he survives is that Sierra sucks out the poison.
• "I See London":
  • Duncan has just returned to the game. However, from his time off, he has lost interest in Courtney and moved onto Gwen.
    You'd Expect: Duncan to just break up with Courtney before making any moves on Gwen. He knows how jealous Courtney can be, especially when it came to his friendship with Gwen, and cheating on her would likely make her feel a thousand times worse. Plus, even if he miraculously kept it a secret all season, she would've found out anyway after the season was over through reruns of the show. Sure, Courtney may not be the best at handling rejection, but at least she'd be more likely to get over it and if she can't that's her problem, not Duncan's.
    Instead: He pretty much abandons all logic and reason and proceeds to kiss Gwen while he's still dating Courtney.
    The Result: Courtney becomes incredibly pissed off when she finds out from Tyler and leads to Gwen getting eliminated in Australia. Duncan barely manages to avoid elimination in Greece due to Chris only sparing him for drama, and later on, due to making an alliance with Alejandro.
  • In the exact same scene, Gwen confesses to having romantic feelings for Duncan, and also reveals her guilt in whether having them is wrong while he is dating Courtney. Duncan then comes in to the confession room and makes advances on Gwen.
    You'd Expect: That Gwen, knowing fully well what it is like to feel like a significant other has betrayed them due to Heather's stunt in Island, would reject Duncan's advances, or urge him to break up with Courtney. She knows that Courtney was incredibly suspicious about her and Duncan back in Action, and learning about it would immediately result in Duncan and her becoming eliminated at the first chance possible.
    Instead: Gwen reciprocates the advances and kisses Duncan.
    The Result: Tyler sees the kiss and promptly exposes it to the other contestants next episode. Not surprisingly Courtney is irate, Duncan only manages to avoid elimination then and there because of Chris, and Gwen is eliminated in Australia.
• "Greece's Pieces":
  • Gwen is revealed to be desiring to confess to Courtney the truth about her and Duncan, and urges Duncan in the song they sing to either confess or end the relationship.
    You'd Expect: One of them would confess to Courtney. She would understandably be irate, and they would probably be eliminated regardless, but it is much more honest, not to mention safer, when it is done willingly, as only Courtney would be aware, which would allow the teams to focus more.
    Instead: Neither of them confess, preferring to keep it secret from Courtney.
    The Result: The second Tyler exposes it, Gwen and Duncan become hated on their teams, and Duncan is just barely able to avoid elimination thanks to Chris. Gwen is herself voted off in Australia, and Courtney does not trust anybody from the teams until All-Stars.
• "Chinese Fake-Out":
  • Duncan wants to make an alliance with someone to advance further in the game.
    You'd Expect: Duncan to find someone to team up with who doesn’t hate him personally, like Sierra. Or at least he would play it smart by finding a common enemy like Heather to eliminate. Courtney is interested in Alejandro so this would eliminate the competition for her and a major threat for both of them. Which will also give him time to earn favor from the other players and find a more concrete alliance.
    Instead: He thinks he can try to get on Courtney's good side and tries to get her in an alliance. This is the girl he cheated on and treated like dirt all throughout World Tour.
    Naturally: Courtney sends him face-first into a cake.
  • Blaineley makes an alliance with Chef. During the gross Chinese food eating competition, he gives her delicious food so she'll have no trouble passing the challenge.
    You'd Expect: That she would pretend to be disgusted by the food, or at least keep her head down, eat the food, and finish the challenge so nobody suspects anything and her alliance with Chef can continue.
    Instead: She loudly says things like "Looks delicious, Chef!" and "Simply scrumptious!"
    As A Result: Everyone else becomes suspicious. Chris forces her to trade bowls with Sierra during the last course, who wins the challenge instead. Blaineley is voted off that night, along with Courtney.

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island

• "Grand Chef Auto"
  • Chris gets two of these. The first when he reveals that the challenge will involve messing up Chef's kitchen and stealing from his go-kart collection.
    You'd Expect: Chris to offer some form of consolation for Chef. As Chris himself will prove next season, most people don't like it when their things are destroyed or stolen. Not to mention, Chef has a Hair-Trigger Temper.
    Instead: Chris gives Chef No Sympathy whatsoever, even making a joke that he bought Chef a new mop to clean up.
    The Result: Chef decides to trick the contestants into vandalizing Mount Chrismore as playback.
  • The second case deals with the original contestant Chris brought in for a challenge demo. Namely, Duncan, who Chris claims owes him screen time.
    You'd Expect: Keeping in mind that Duncan is being forced to do this against his will, Chris would make extra sure that he has to do the challenge. Having Chef keep watch on him would be a good option.
    Instead: Chris takes no precautions to keep Duncan from running.
    The Result: Duncan runs off almost as soon as he is freed. Later in the episode, he blows up Mount Chrismore.
    Even Worse: Chris admits that he should have seen Duncan escaping coming.
• In "Eat, Puke, and Be Wary", Scott, having mostly played a very strong game to this point, is trying to get Zoey to vote for Lightning, despite the two hitherto being enemies. Complicating the issue, Cameron just won immunity by climbing on Lightning's back, and Lightning feels cheated.
  You'd Expect: Scott to suspect Zoey might not vote for Lightning, and approach Lightning and offer to help him vote out Zoey, in order for Cameron to be alone, with no allies.
  Instead: He doesn't do this, instead assuming Zoey will vote for Lightning.
  As A Result: Zoey and one other person vote for Scott. The reactions of the other campers suggest it was Lightning, but it's impossible to be completely sure. The other two votes are divided between Zoey and Lightning. Scott gets voted out, when he could have at least had a tiebreaker decide.

Total Drama All-Stars

• It's revealed Gwen feels incredibly guilty about what she and Duncan did to Courtney back in "World Tour" —that is, kiss Duncan while he was still dating Courtney.
  You'd Expect: Off-camera and away from Chris's sadistic challenges, she and Courtney would talk it out, or fight it out if they want to do the same cathartic wrestling match. Courtney is understandably hurt and heartbroken, but at the very least they could talk things out without the distraction of the competition.
  Instead: She willingly enters the All-Stars championship, aka deal with Chris again, to become The Atoner to Courtney, without any intention of winning the money at all. You know, the same ultra-competitive Courtney that fought dirty to beat her crush Duncan in Action and is revealed to be a Control Freak.
  The Result: It takes a lot of work for Courtney to even forgive Gwen, and this is after they beat the tar out of each other in a wrestling match. It all goes down the toilet when it's revealed Courtney was going to backstab her anyway, regardless of their status as friends or bitter enemies.
• In "Heroes vs Villains", the Heroic Hamsters have to choose someone to push the carriage and Courtney gets frustrated at how indecisive they are at choosing a driver.
  You'd expect: Courtney to volunteer to push the carriage herself or make Sierra do it, knowing she and Sierra are strong and athletic.
  Instead: Courtney forces the unathletic and dim Lindsay to push the carriage.
  As a Result: Lindsay does a terrible job at it and the Heroes fall behind thanks due to Courtney's poor choice. Not choosing someone from season 4 is excusable since she doesn't know them very well at this point, but not choosing herself or Sierra is quite a perplexing move.
• At the beginning of the All-Stars episode “Saving Private Leechball”, the members of the Villainous Vultures, including Jo, are vying for control of the team.
  You'd expect: For her to remember that her near-sociopathic treatment of her teammates was what caused her elimination last time, and try something else. Especially since this time, she's on a team full of people notorious for not taking shit from anyone.
  Instead: Jo still does the same thing, to the point that she causes her team to lose the challenge by shooting one of her own teammates.
  As a Result: Jo gets eliminated at the end of the challenge.
• In "Moon Madness", Cameron is getting sick of Sierra harassing him the same way she did with Cody in World Tour. He also is trying to help Mike solve his problem with his personalities this season.
  You'd Expect: Cameron to just convince his friends Mike and Zoey to vote off Sierra when they lose. Regardless if Duncan votes with them or not, it's still a majority to get Sierra out and allow Cameron to fully concentrate on helping Mike.
  Instead: Cameron decides to just quit the competition even though that means he won't be able to help Mike with his personalities problem and eliminating Sierra would be a safer choice. Thankfully Chris reveals it to be a nonelimination round and instead swaps him to the Villains meaning he can still help Mike without dealing with Sierra, but it's still a pretty boneheaded move, especially for someone as smart as Cameron and the fact they didn't know about the team swap at the time.
• In "You Regatta Be Kidding Me", Duncan wants to do something to prove that he’s still a bad guy.
  You'd Think: That he’d do something to show that he’s still bad that he’s sure can’t backfire on him.
  Instead: He decides to throw the challenge and blow up Chris' cottage on the other side of the island.
  Naturally: Chris eliminates him, and to add to this, he also calls the cops to escort him off the island and put him into "big boy" prison instead of just having him go through the Flush of Shame.
• In "No Eggspects The Spanish Opposition",
  • Heather finds the McLean-Brand Chris Head. She quickly hides it behind a nearby rock to retrieve it later. Unfortunately for her, Alejandro saw her discovery and confronts Heather soon after.
    You'd Expect: That Heather pay no mention to the idol, and considering that Alejandro was nearby after she found the idol, relocate the idol to a more secretive hiding place.
    Instead: Heather flat out admits to Alejandro that she's found the idol and that she's hidden it somewhere.
    The Result: Alejandro steals the idol.
  • Later, Heather discovers her McLean-Brand Chris Head is stolen.
    You'd Expect: Heather immediately suspect and accuse Alejandro. They've been in a season's long rivalry, has been suspicious of him in this very season, and not to mention, she outright told him that she had the idol.
    Instead: Heather accuses Chris out of all people, of stealing her idol.
    The Result: Chris predictably, says doesn't know what she's talking about. Later on at the Campfire Ceremony, Alejandro receives all the votes but uses the stolen McLean-Brand Chris Head to eliminate Heather with his sole vote.
    Even Worse: Had Heather cast a vote to someone else other than Alejandro, she could've participated in a tiebreaker challenge and won.
• In "Zeek and Ye Shall Find",
  • Alejandro finds a DVD showing how Mal has been destroying the contestants belongings, along with the fact it was him who tampered with the votes, and is trying to frame Alejandro.
    You'd Expect: Alejandro would immediately expose Mal with the DVD, showing the other contestants how dangerous he is, and that he isn't the real danger. Alejandro knows that because of his actions in World Tour, the rest of the cast does not trust him at all, and having a good dose of goodwill would be beneficial.
    Or: He would take the DVD with him. He only is going to be in the spa hotel until the next challenge, and someone or Mal could stumble on it. Alejandro knows that since Mal is in control of Mike, who lacks any real rivals, he won't win a persuasion check because of his own actions, while Mike will be believed relatively quickly.
    Instead: He hides it in a painting, where anyone could find it.
    The Result: Unsurprisingly, Alejandro's discreet attempt to expose Mal for tampering with the vote fails, and his failure to pull Cameron up really comes back to bite him, as everyone assumes he rigged the votes against Cameron anyway and tried to frame Mike for it. He quickly gets eliminated.
  • Mal left Cameron hanging by a ledge, about to fall into a deep cavern. Alejandro offers to help him up.
    You'd expect: Cameron to accept Alejandro's help. Even if Cameron thought Alejandro didn't have standards, Alejandro may be the person with the biggest target on his back at the moment, and it would benefit him to have Cameron owe him a favor more than it would benefit him to have Cameron fall.
    Instead: Cameron refuses, saying he only trusts Mike.
    The Result: Alejandro leaves, and Cameron falls.
  • After the aforementioned incident, most the cast, including Alejandro and Mal, end up in a cage together. Alejandro says Cameron was missing because he refused help, but didn't word it very well. Mal calls him out for leaving Cameron "hanging there."
    You'd Expect: Alejandro point out that contradiction on the spot. Even if it didn't clear his own name, it would certainly call Mike's character into question.
    Instead: He mentions it in a Confession Cam, but otherwise lets the comment pass.
    The Result: Mal makes it look like Alejandro deliberately let Cameron fall despite Cameron begging for his help, which, given his actions in World Tour, is all the incentive the contestants need to unanimously vote him off.
• In "The Obsta-kill Course", Mal has managed to turn most of the cast against Alejandro over Cameron falling, and Mal makes it clear he will be eliminated. Alejandro reveals he knows that Mal is in control, and Mal points out that no one will listen to him because of Alejandro's history, and Alejandro concedes.
  You'd Expect: Alejandro would not even remotely hint he has irrefutable proof about Mal, especially given that he knows Mal is very willing to resort to dirty tricks in order to win. Instead, Alejandro would merely either be vague as to how he is aware of Mal, and try to keep him on edge until he can expose him directly.
  Instead: Alejandro outright tells Mal he has a DVD full of irrefutable evidence showing who is truly in control of Mike, and that he intends to see Mal eliminated.
  The Result: Mal instantly becomes obsessed with trying to get into the spa hotel to find the DVD and destroy it, knowing it represents a mortal threat to his ambitions. Furthermore, Mal quickly manages to wrap up his scheme to vote Alejandro off with everyone else with very little effort, and Alejandro gets eliminated by a near unanimous vote.
• In “Sunday Muddy Sundae”:
  • Courtney makes a list revealing her strategy for the game (which alone should count) that shows that she was going to betray Gwen. Note that Gwen came back to compete to make up with Courtney and atone for hurting her, and Gwen has been a formidable ally.
    You'd Think That: After the making the list, she'd memorize it then destroy the evidence by burning it, feeding it to an animal, or flushing it down the septic tank.
    Instead: She keeps it.
    As A Result: Mal gets his hands on it and shows everyone, causing her elimination. And this messes up all the goodwill and repaired bond she and Gwen were building, only with the roles reversed.
  • Also, Mal later on incinerates the chocolate sauce needed to complete the sundaes. While Scott decides to use dirt as his topping, Courtney is left at a standstill.
    You'd Expect: She'd just skip the chocolate sauce and keep going. Chris even points this out at the end of the challenge, and the interns (who were starving) wouldn't mind anyway.
    Instead: She puts the burnt chocolate on her sundae, which then followed up by a bird vomiting on it. It goes downhill from there.

Total Drama: Pahkitew Island

• Dave has a crush on a fellow contestant, Sky, who unbeknownst to him is already in a committed relationship with another guy. Dave is persistent and has already shut down Sky's attempt to tell him previously, cutting her off at the "but".
  You'd Expect: Sky would have told Dave that she's not interested specifically because she has a boyfriend, and to make sure this comes through clearly, without allowing anything to interrupt the statement. "Men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them," anyone?
  Instead: After Dave steps on her Berserk Button in an attempt to try winning her over, Sky snaps and tells Dave that the two will never be together, but crucially leaves out the fact that she has a boyfriend. Even Chris tells her off for being that nasty.
  The Result: Dave goes off the rails in the finale when he discovers this, and becomes a legitimate threat to her winning.
• Dave isn't blameless either. He has been rejected by Sky multiple times, and at one point she tries to clarify something, saying that she would like to be with him "but-".
  You'd Expect: Dave would allow her to finish the sentence, in order to figure out what the hangup is and be able to work out what to do from there. There could be a rather serious issue that needs to be addressed first.
  Instead: Dave cuts Sky off and prevents her from finishing what she was about to say, not even beginning to entertain the fact that it could be a serious issue (as he says in the confessional that her "but" could be anything, even that she loves him more). He never asks for clarification on this fact and gets dismissive when Sky tries bringing it up again.
  As a Result: In the finale, Chris weaponizes Sky's audition tape where she mentions having a boyfriend, and this on top of all the other things Dave had to endure up to that point causes Dave's sanity to snap straight in half.
• In "Twinning Isn't Everything", Amy, Samey, and Jasmine spot Shawn from above a cliff and have one balloon left.
  You'd Think: That Amy would set aside her pride and let Samey or Jasmine take the shot, because even if they missed Shawn and assuming he was out of balloons, Team Kinosewak could potentially win the challenge on a stalemate over Team Maskwak by having three unmarked team members against one.
  Alternatively: Samey and Jasmine just let Amy take it this one time, keeping in mind the challenge is at stake.
  Instead: Neither party reaches a compromise, and they start fighting over the balloon.
  As a Result: The balloon pops, resulting in the trio getting covered in paint, causing their team to lose the challenge.
• In "This is the Pits!", the contestants are stuck in a cavern, and Jasmine freaking out causes the cavern to start shaking.
  You'd Think That: The contestants would stay quiet to avoid anything else happening.
  Instead: Sugar shouts "IT'S A CAVE IN!", which actually causes a cave in.
• In "Scarlett Fever", Scarlett has revealed her true evil self and has taken control of the island.
  You'd Think: That she would take down Chris’ helicopter, then threaten to let the island explode if she doesn’t receive the million dollars.
  Instead: She tries to blackmail Chris, a self-admitted selfish sadist with no conscience, to pay her the million dollars by only threatening the contestants' lives.
  As a result: This ensures her being disqualified, but not before Chris throws evil-wannabe Max out as well.
• Also at the end of "Scarlett Fever" once Scarlett is put in the Canon of Shame.
  You'd Think: That Max would watch silently with everyone else so he can gleefully watch her get blasted off the island.
  Instead: He brags that with her being eliminated, he's the only evil contestant left and he can be the villain now..
  As a result: Chris announces he's had enough with evil and stuffs Max into the canon with Scarlett, eliminating him alongside her.

Total Drama Island (2023) Part 1

• In his audition tape, Damien reveals he's never seen the show before and only auditioned because his friends dared him to.
  You'd Expect: After he's gotten accepted, he would binge watch the past six seasons to at least get a basic idea of what he's in for.
  Instead: He goes in completely blind.
  The Result: Damien is left completely unprepared for the harsh reality of Total Drama and wants to get out of there as soon as possible, yet he can't even quit or else he'll owe the show a million dollars, forcing him to try and get himself voted out.
• In "Pirates of the Cabbagean", Zee is the last member of his team left in the challenge and comes up with the idea of ramming the other ship to force a tie.
  You'd Expect: Zee to keep his hands on the steering wheel as well as keep his eyes on the other ship at all times.
  Instead: Zee takes both hands off the wheel to do an "I Can't Look!" Gesture.
  The Result: Because he wasn't looking, a seagull lands on the wheel and sends the ship off course into the rocks, sinking it and ensuring the Frogs win the challenge.
  • Prior to that, Wayne comes up with the actually smart idea of simply knocking out the players which is faster than sinking the boat.
    You'd Expect: The Ferocious Trout to fire their cabbages at the support beams holding the cannons up so they have no means of fire.
    Instead: They think that they can sink the boat before all being knocked out.
    '''The Result:"' The above moment.
• At the end of "Drown Town Abbey", the Frogs of Death have the lead and only need one more number to win. Nichelle, who went last has both just had her number get blown away and has also been revealed to be a massive fraud who uses stunt doubles for all her big action scenes in her films and TV shows and is naturally upset over the reveal.
  You'd Expect: Nichelle to get up and go get the number. Even if she doesn't do any actual stunts, running after a slip of paper is an easy thing to do.
  Instead: She sits there crying over not being able to anything, even with Scary Girl tearing through the challenge and her team trying to encourage her.
  The Result: Even when she does get her second wind, it's too late and the Ferocious Trout win, which directly results in Nichelle getting eliminated.
• In "Numbskull Island", Scary Girl is able to get a hold of the opposing team's skull after relentlessly charging after Damien on her jackhammer.
  You'd Expect: Scary Girl would take it straight to Chris to allow her team to win the challenge.
  Instead: She takes it back with her to give it a makeover instead.
  The Result: She allows an open space where Emma is able to get their skull and get it to Chris first, causing the Ferocious Trout to lose and Scary Girl to get eliminated.
• Damien has been wanting to get voted out for several episodes, as the new contracts state that contestants are no longer allowed to quit without being saddled with a million dollar debt. However, in "Jurassic Fart", after saving his teammates, he has a Heroic Second Wind and decides he now wants to remain in the game.
  You'd Expect: Damien would tell his teammates he changed his mind, considering he's been campaigning to get voted off. After all, considering he saved his teammates, it's not like they would vote him out otherwise and Ripper was the main reason for the loss, meaning he would most likely get the boot.
  Instead: He doesn't say anything.
  The Result: His teammates, out of gratitude for saving their lives, give him what they think he wants and vote him out.
• In "Launch Back of Notre Game", MK has been hacking into the confessional camera in order to spy on everyone and learn their secrets.
  You'd Expect: Her to not hint that she knows about anything anyone has said in the confessionals.
  Instead: She mockingly calls Julia a "buttknuckle" when it seems like she's going to get voted out, a term Julia has only ever used in the confessional.
  The Result: This allows Julia to realize what MK has been up to and expose her to their teammates (as well as make them think she’s watched all of them defecating). MK is promptly voted out.
• In "Severe Eggs and Pain", Ripper manages to get a cassowary egg first thanks to using Zee as a distraction for a female cassowary and is almost near Chris.
  You'd Expect: Ripper to just hand the egg over to Chris immediately.
  Instead: He recklessly spikes the egg into the ground, causing it to hatch.
  The Result: Ripper fails to win immunity due to the egg not being intact before giving it to Chris and everyone is angry with him when Chef mentions him spiking the egg into the ground at the elimination ceremony (and leaving out the part where it hatched and survived) not helped by Ripper doing a poor job explaining the situation, nearly potentially getting voted out had Raj and Wayne not been disqualified for their severe injuries.
• In "Paddle Field Earth", Bowie and Julia have spent the whole challenge fighting each other for immunity. At the top of Honey Mountain, where the bell that must be rang in order to win the challenge is located, Bowie is able to overpower and defeat Julia.
  You'd Expect: After finishing with Julia, Bowie goes straight for the bell and wins immunity for himself.
  Instead: He stops to gloat to Julia over how he is going to win the challenge, and to rub more salt on the wound, tells her that most of her followers are bots.
  The Result: Bowie just so happens to have pressed Julia's Berserk Button, which causes her to gain a second wind, beat him to a pulp, throw him into the mountain's honey pit, and ring the bell herself, winning immunity.
• In "Caved by the Bell", Julia, being in the final four and finding herself with no allies once Millie and Priya kick her out of their alliance, chooses to trust Bowie during the challenge to vote alongside her and get rid of either Priya or Millie and go together to the finals, ensuring that she'd be safe in case she doesn't manage to win immunity again.
  You'd Expect: That because Julia and Bowie are always at each other's throats and have spent most of the merge trying to get each other eliminated, Julia would be extra-cautious around Bowie. After all, she did betray him during "Dial BB for Big Bird", so who can guarantee her that he won't try to backstab her as well?
  Instead: She chooses to fully trust him.
  The Result: Turns out Bowie, being a much more sociable person than Julia (who compares having friends to having zits), had struck a deal with Priya and Millie to get rid of Julia, slowing Julia down during the challenge and allowing either Priya or Millie to win immunity. While not without a few hiccups, the plan is a success: Priya wins immunity, and her, Millie and Bowie vote for Julia, getting her eliminated.

Total Drama Island (2023) Part 2

• The previous season, Julia revealed herself to be a Jerkass with no qualms about lying or doing whatever it takes to win.
  You'd Expect: Everyone to take what she says with a grain of salt and vote her out as soon as possible or convenient since she is good in challenges.
  Instead: They believe every word that comes out of her mouth, even after instances where she told them to their face that she lied, and make no effort to eliminate her (only MK, her ally, tries and even that fails) until the Final 4 when she found the invincibility statue. By the finale, they're all left scratching their heads asking how Julia made it to the finale when they're the ones who let her make it. Granted Julia also won immunity in several merge challenges that prevented everyone from voting her out (in "Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral", " Circling the Drain", and "Working K9 to 5"), but that doesn't excuse anyone from not voting her out the second she's vulnerable.
• Similarly: Priya is a massive threat due to winning last season and in a Relationship Revolving Door with Caleb.
  You'd Expect: They would vote out Priya to take out the biggest threat or Caleb, who is also massive threat as a Genius Bruiser, to throw her off her game.
  Instead: For some reason, nobody considers this once, and the only time that Caleb is considered is after it was revealed that he had initially pursued Priya for alliances sake. And both get into the final 4, at which point Julia finally takes out Priya.
• There is a 1 year Time Skip between the 2 seasons with the cast being already informed that all of them were qualified to participate in the next season. Between that time, Millie is given a guide by her best friend & winner of the last season Priya to prepare.
  You'd Expect: That Millie will spare some time to read them, since it is valuable advice and would prepare herself against getting severely hurt physically & socially.
  Instead: She admitted she didn't read it and focused on her own things.
  The Result: With about half of the cast realizing their Fatal Flaw during the Time Skip and attempted to improve on them to varying degrees, Millie is totally out of her depth in the competition and chose to use underhanded tactics to cover up her own weakness, which later has disastrous consequences for her.
• The season's first challenge had two big idiocy moments. To start with, the contestants are playing a supped up game of red light, green light where they are told to stop running when Chef's grandma (who turns out to be a famed baseball player) turns around. The challenge begins and Grandma Hatchet turns around for the first time.
  You'd Expect: That Millie would stop just like everyone else.
  Instead: She keeps running aggressively.
  The Result: Grandma Hatchet throws a paintball right at her and she's the first one out.
  • Right after Millie is out, Priya is immediately worried about her and wants to help her.
    You'd Expect: Priya would wait for Grandma Hatchet to turn her back to run over to Millie.
    Instead: She runs for her while she's still looking.
    The Result: Like Millie, she also gets a direct paintball to the face, knocking her out the challenge.
  • Later on, Caleb discovers that MK hitched a ride on his back.

You'd Expect: Caleb would wait for Grandma Hatchet to turn her back to yank off MK.
Instead: He does so when they're supposed to stand still.
The Result: They gets paintballed, knocking them out of the challenge.

• When we get to the first Elimination Ceremony, the group are having a hard time deciding who to vote for when Chef starts telling each contestant where they went wrong in the challenge. Scary Girl has also become aware of how creeped out everyone was by her last season.
  You'd Expect: Scary Girl would just keep quiet and listen to what Chef has to tell her.
  Instead: She says no to him and then tells her team that she spent most of the time between the seasons stalking them to learn how to be more normal.
  The Result: The rest of the team are more creeped out by her this season and she's the first one eliminated.
• When the Skunk Butts are way behind the slide challenge, Raj and Wayne decide to do the 3-point Toilet Slide together to give them a total of 6 points to catch up.
  You'd Expect: Raj and Wayne heed to Bowie and Julia's warnings and attempt it one at a time.
  Instead: They ignore their warnings and jump in at the same time.
  The Result: They both end up wedged in the end of the toilet and clog it with Bowie and Julia later getting stuck trying to free them. It's not until Ripper and a bear jump in that they are freed.
• Through the challenge, Chase keeps trying to record his perfect intro before he does the challenge.
  You'd Expect: He'd just stop and participate in the challenge like everyone else when his team tells him to.
  Instead: He keeps telling them to be quiet and let them record his intro (even with most of his team stuck in the toilet slide).
  The Result: The rest of the team get angry for him for not participating in the challenge and he's immediately voted off.
• When the Rat Faces need four more points to win the slide challenge, it is down to Damien and Millie with a blindfolded Damien told to go down the one point slide while having Millie go down the harder three point slide.
  You'd Expect: Millie to just follow orders and guide Damien to the one point slide while going down the three point slide herself.
  Or: If she really doesn't want to go down the three point slide, guide Damien in the three point slide while she goes down the one point slide.
  Instead: She refuses to go down the slides at all and tricks Damien into going down a dangerous four point slide.
  The Result: While this helps the team win, Millie ends up becoming widely disliked on her team (with only Priya still seeing her as a friend, and even then she isn't too happy with Millie's underhanded actions) for putting Damien in danger and brutally injuring him, leading to her elimination the following episode.
• When the Rat Faces lost the challenge and everyone is set to vote of Millie because of what she did last challenge, even after she and Damien made up.
  You'd Expect: Damien would not try to lick off the sap so he can clearly explain what happened to protect her.
  Or: For Millie to have explained it to them with Damien nodding agreement when his tongue got stuck.
  Instead: He tries to lick the sap off and his tongue got stuck, making it difficult for anyone to understand what he's saying, nor does Millie try to explain it f or them.
  The Result: No one was able to get the message that Millie apologized and they made up and stayed mad at her and Millie got voted off.
• When the Would You Rather Challenge happens and Emma tries to help and leads them to the wrong answer.
  You'd Expect: The other contestants would stop listening to her and to have followed their own instincts in stead.
  Or: Emma to realize she was wrong and not keep telling them to depend on her.
  Instead: They continue to rely on Emma's Horrible Judge of Character.
  The Result: A majority of Team Rat Face has been knocked out by her poor decisions for each of them and she is promptly eliminated when the team loses.
• As they are planning to cheat in the challenge again in "Ice To Beat You", Julia and MK draw their plan out on Ripper's stomach due to lacking paper. Keep in mind that Raj and Wayne are the most opposed to cheating.
  You'd Expect: Ripper to keep his shirt on for the entire challenge (or at least when in the same presence as Raj, Wayne, Chris, and Team Rat Face) to make sure no one sees the plan drawn on his stomach.
  Or: For MK and Julia to memorize the plan and then wash it off Ripper's stomach to make sure no one finds out they are cheating.
  Instead: MK and Julia never think to do this and Ripper rips his shirt off inside the ice cave.
  The Result: Raj and Wayne find out about the cheating once they reunite with the rest of the team and see the plan drawn out on a shirtless Ripper, leading them to get into a fight with Julia, MK, and Ripper about it and giving Bowie the final push to support Raj and Wayne in refusing to cheat, causing the team to fall behind Team Rat Face due to their fight. It is only through dumb luck that they manage to still win the challenge.
  Even Worse: Julia always has a phone with her at all times. Why didn't she just think of snapping a photo of the map with it?
• When Zee has chugged so much soda tust he really has to pee.
  You'd Expect: He would go pee by a wall or in another area they can't see them.
  Instead: He pees on the ice platform closest to them.
  The Result: He shrinks the platform so much that the rest of the team can no longer reach or use it. Had Nichelle not quit, he'd most likely have been voted off when Rat Face lost.
• When the Rat Faces lose the challenge in "Ice to Beat You" and Nichelle finds a contract laying in her bed
  You'd Expect: She'd look closely at the contract to see how real it is.
  Or: Ask about the contract to see how real it is.
  Instead: She jumps to the conclusion it's real and Hollywood wants her back.
  The Result: She falls for Julia's trap and quits the show immediately.
• Throughout the season, MK plans to infiltrate production meetings by disguising herself as an intern to get information on challenges in order to have the team cheat their way to victory.
  You'd Expect: MK to try and be subtle as possible, and not do anything to inconvenience Chris to make sure she doesn't end up on his radar.
  Instead: She steals Chris' hair dryer and causes him to face a Bad Hair Day in "Ice To Beat You".
  The Result: Chris finds out about her cheating and proceeds to punish her in "Canoe Believe It?" by singling her out, exposes her act in front of everyone else, deliberately makes the challenge as much of a living hell for her as possible by forcing her to carry the canoe to the beach on her own and to fight a bear (who promptly beats her up). She is only saved from elimination due to Julia managing to convince Rat Face that cheating was Bowie's idea.
• During the cake baking challenge, MK is cracking under pressure to try to get her cake done perfectly to win the challenge.
  You'd Expect: Axel and Ripper would pause their love making and flirting and actually help her with the challenge and they can be all romantic together after.
  Instead: They ignore her demands to stop and keep making out and being romantic, even messing with the ingredients.
  The Result: MK is forced to do everything herself, where she messes up by forgetting to grease her tins and is forced to use garbage, losing the challenge.
  Even Worse: Because they've been absolutely no help and everyone got sick of them making out all the time, Axel is eliminated and Ripper quits afterwards.
• During the Human Pinball Challenge, Zee watches Caleb and Priya share their first kiss and become a happy couple.
  You'd Expect: He'd come to realize Caleb's stopped trying to use Priya and they formed a genuine relationship.
  Instead: He straight up tells everyone how Caleb is using Priya to form an alliance and doesn't love her (despite it no longer being the case).
  The Result: Priya ends things with Caleb and runs away crying then suffers a Heroic BSoD, leading to Caleb becoming disliked to the point where no one wants to sit near or talk to him.
  You'd Then Expect: Zee to just keep his mouth shut after confessing Caleb's initial plan to use Priya to get further in the game, and just let everyone vote off Caleb.
  Instead: He decides that it is a good idea to spill Chef, Damien, Julia, MK, and Raj's embarrassing secrets on international TV.
  The Result: Zee also ends becoming just as disliked by everyone as Caleb because of his Loose Lips and is voted out as a result.
• Connected to the above, Zee's misunderstanding makes everyone believe Caleb was just using Priya in a similar vein to how Justin and Alejandro kept using several female contestants in the past.
  You'd Expect: Caleb would try to explain that he simply wanted to ally with Priya, the previous season's winner, at the start but developed genuine feelings for her after realizing they have so much in common and that he didn't try to flirt with her beforehand. Sure, given the serious accusation against him, some would still find it hard to believe (while Julia and MK wouldn't care regardless), but it wouldn't hurt to try to clear the misunderstanding up.
  Instead: He acts as if he cannot explain the situation to anyone, be it Priya or the others.
  The Result: He ends up being Hated by All for the accusation against him, barely avoiding being voted out immediately then and there due to Zee spilling everyone else's embarrassing secrets on TV and becoming more disliked.
• When preparing to smash up the fridge so he can send it through the small door, Raj ends up finding a plate of 15 year old expired food in the shelf.
  You'd Expect: He'd either get rid of it or at least throw it into the door since it's considered part of the fridge.
  Instead: He starts eating it.
  The Result: He ends up getting food poisoning that causes him to get disqualified from the challenge. He remains sick during the elimination ceremony.
  Even Worse: He already threw up after taking one bite even after Chef warned him not to. He then ends up eating more afterwards, rendering him too sick to continue.
• In "Circling the Drain", Julia has just won immunity and also has the ability to give immunity to one other person. She approaches Caleb and offers to give him the second immunity if he votes with her for the rest of the game. In exchange, she claims she won't target Priya and that the final three will be her, Caleb and Priya.
  You'd Expect: Knowing that Julia is a backstabbing liar who had ties to a known cheater, Caleb would refuse the deal as even if he did what she said, who's to say that Julia won't turn around and backstab him?
  Instead: Caleb agrees to the deal.
  The Result: In accepting, Caleb ruins his relationship with Priya yet again and, as it turns out, Julia was never intending to bring Priya to the finals anyway as she's already too strong on her own, won already and bringing a couple into the finals means Julia herself would stand no chance, meaning that everything Caleb did was All for Nothing.
• During the finale, Julia is the first to reach the tightrope phase of the challenge, with her only helper MK picking up a t-shirt cannon to help hinder anyone else. Scary Girl, who wasn't allowed to pick a team, comes over and asks to see the gun.
  You'd Expect: MK to refuse. Scary Girl is The Dreaded for a reason so MK can't predict what she'll do with it.
  Instead: MK lets her see it.
  The Result: Scary Girl blasts Julia off the tightrope with zero hesitation and then refuses to give the cannon back when MK asks. MK can only lampshade her major lapse in judgement in the confessional.
• Also, during the finale, Julia and Caleb have both reached the glide suits at the same time and, while it takes him a second, Caleb figures out how to glide with it when he notices Julia still falling.
  You'd Expect: Caleb to let Julia fall. She's been manipulating everyone the whole game and is a pretty strong challenge competitor, so letting her fall and be forced to run to the finish line could put her at a major disadvantage, as well as get payback for sending Caleb's girlfriend home.
  Instead: Caleb, not learning anything from trusting Julia to do the right thing from earlier in the season, tells her how to work the suit.
  The Result: Julia repays him by ramming into him in hopes of making him fall and he and Julia later get into a fight that results in both of them crashing, and it gives Wayne enough time to swoop in and steal the victory from both of them.

Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race

• In "None Down, Eighteen to Go - Part 2", the LARPers Team, Leonard and Tammy are a fair distance in front of the Vegans and Father and Son. The Chill Zone is just ahead.
  You'd Expect: For Leonard and Tammy to keep running and reach the chill zone on time.
  Instead: They try to cast a slow motion spell on them.
  The Result: The above two teams pass them without even acknowledging them. By that point, the LARPers have fallen to last place and are unable to get out of it before making it to the Chill Zone, causing their elimination. To rub salt in the wound, Don calls them out on this when they get eliminated.
• In "French is an Eiffel Language," the Tennis Rivals are just behind the Reality TV Pros in a battle to avoid elimination. With their cheese wheel, the Tennis Rivals make it to the stairs.
  You'd Expect: Them to roll the cheese up the stairs.
  Instead: They, a pair of men said to be in their sixties, try to physically carry the cheese.
  The Result: They fall further behind due to their struggling, and after losing a photo finish to the Chill Zone to the Reality TV Pros because Gerry's foot wasn't in the Carpet of Completion, they get eliminated.
• In "Mediterranean Homesick Blues" the Geniuses, Ellody & Mary, have to build a sandcastle as part of the challenge. This is an elimination leg.
  You'd Expect: Just... build a sandcastle.
  Alternatively: Write plans down on paper, preferably in a notebook.
  Instead: The Geniuses not only waste their time on writing down a large formula on the beach, but they write the equation down where the tide comes in.
  As A Result: The sea washes away their formula. This makes them waste even more time trying to perfect the castle without any plans, resulting in them being one of three teams to be eliminated without even making it to the Chill Zone.
• In "Bjorken Telephone", the Vegans, Laurie & Miles, have already retrieved the frozen fossil and pushed it out of the cave.
  You'd Expect: Seeing that the clue doesn't specifically say that they need to chip out the fossil but to bring the fossil to Don at the chill zone, they follow what the other teams do and gain a lead.
  Instead: They decide to 'take' out the fossil... by praying to it while closing their eyes!
  Even Worse: They do it on a steep hill and the frozen fossil slides towards Father and Son (Dwayne and Junior). They only realize that the fossil is gone after Dwayne finds it.
  The Result: After Dwayne and Junior check in, the Vegans try to tell them they stole it but Don refuses to check them in (despite Dwayne's kindness in giving them back), causing them to be in last place. Luckily this is a non-elimination race.
• In "Hawaiian Honeyruin", Josee finds a lava rock shaped like a trophy and wants to use it as a replacement for her lucky rabbit's foot that she lost in Transylvania. Before she can run off, one of the locals tells her not to take it as a souvenir because it's cursed.
  You'd Expect: For her to listen and throw it away.
  Instead: She shrugs off the warning and takes it anyway.
  As a Result: She and her partner end up having a ton of bad luck, culminating in the team not making first place.
  Luckily: Once in Finland they realize the truth; they fly back to Hawaii and toss it back. They were also last place in a non-elimination leg.
• In "Hello and Dubai", after having enough of Taylor's childish tantrum, Kelly decides to give her a timeout but after both end up in the bottom two, Kelly tells Taylor that instead of this argument they should be already going shopping by now. Note that the Chill Zone in this episode is located in a mall full of gold.
  You Expect: That they reconcile and head straight to the Chill Zone before going shopping.
  Instead: They do reconcile, but then they go on a shopping spree before anything else, resulting in their elimination.
• In "Lord Of The Ring Toss", Ryan and Stephanie were lucky enough to get the boomerang attached to their Travel Ticket, meaning that they can force one team to repeat the last challenge. However, upon arriving at the second challenge, they get into a fight, where Ryan challenges Stephanie to use the boomerang.
  You Expect: Stephanie to do anything other than what she actually does next.
  Instead: Stephanie boomerangs Ryan, forcing the team to not only repeat the last challenge (a ring toss game with narwhals, which is already challenging enough without having to factor in that the narwhals pop in and out of the water as they please), but forcing Stephanie to do it instead.
  As A Result: While it does come down to a close finish with the Cadets, Ryan and Stephanie place last, only getting saved because it was a non-elimination.
• In "Darjeel With It":
  • Ryan and Stephanie are in dead last, behind the Best Friends, Police Cadets, the Sisters, and the Ice Dancers, who have to wait out a penalty. They apologize for their feud and try to make it to the Chill Zone.
    You Expect: That they head to the Chill Zone without any distractions and secure fourth place.
    Instead: When Don refers to them as the Haters, Ryan corrects him and announces that he and Stephanie are back together. They then stop in their tracks to have a sentimental talk, which is long enough for the Ice Dancers' penalty to expire.
    As A Result: After the Ice Dancers cross the line, the Daters get eliminated.
  • The Ice Dancers had a WAI moment themselves in this episode. During the train challenge, they want to come up with a way to slow down the other teams. They also know that Don won't hesitate to slap penalties on teams that cheat.
    You Expect: For them to lock of the doors to the train car. That would be hard to notice and Don may assume that someone else on the train did it.
    Or: Do nothing. The other athletic team is in the last train car and the Ice Dancers could beat the others in a footrace.
    Instead: They disconnect the train cars.
    As a Result: For this highly noticeable and obvious act of cheating, Don hits them with a one hour penalty, which not only costs them first place, but also nearly gets them eliminated.

Total Dramarama

• In "Not Without my Fudgy Lumps", Owen and the kids retrieve Owen's box of fudgy lumps. Afterwards, a drone, controlled by Izzy, starts to fall into the ground.
  You Expect: For Owen to take the box of fudgy lumps with him and run away.
  Instead: He leaves the box behind and runs away with the other kids.
  As A Result: The box gets destroyed and Owen's mission to get the fudgy lumps fails. However, it's revealed that he had an extra box of fudgy lumps, and he just wanted to see if his friends cared for him.
• In "The Gold And The Stickerful", Courtney has gone insane over her desire to get more stickers for good behaviors and is currently hiding in the vents. With Chef refusing to help, the kids decide to make their own plan to stop her.
  You Expect: The kids to make their plan to burn the stickers somewhere where they know Courtney won't be able to find or hear them. Seeing as she is in the vents, they could possibly plan it outside.
  Instead: They not only plan it inside, but right in front of a vent cover.
  As A Result: Courtney overhears them and intercepts them before they can reach the vent, making things way harder then it would be otherwise.