YMMV tropes for the Total Drama series

The Ridonculous Race and Total DramaRama now have their own pages.

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A-B

Abandon Shipping:
- Courtney's antagonistic behavior in Action caused many fans of Courtney/Duncan to jump ship to Gwen/Duncan or (later) Courtney/Scott. Ironically, she got better in World Tour...and the Courtney/Duncan ship was then canonically sunk.
- Courtney's improved behavior is what led to shippers jumping Gwen/Duncan, due to how they got together. General opinion was that it was one thing when Courtney was acting antagonistic to Duncan, but it was another when she was genuinely trying to make the relationship work. While the show flipped-flopped on whether or not Courtney and Duncan were still together when it happened, at the very least Duncan was leading Courtney on and he should've made his intentions clear to her before getting together with Gwen. It soured so many on the relationship and on Gwen and Duncan that it affected the show's treatment of Duncan in All-Stars and eventually led to them being canonically sunk too.
- A good number of fans abandoned Geoff/Bridgette in Action due to the two's frequent makeout sessions annoying many and being seen as shallow and unhealthy, plus Geoff's Acquired Situational Narcissism in the Aftermaths painting him in a bad light. Although Geoff was restored to his usual self and the makeout sessions were massively toned down in World Tour, Bridgette falling for Alejandro that season did little to restore many's faith in the pairing.
- A few fans abandoned Dave/Sky in favor of Dave/Ella after witnessing their fight in "Hurl and Go Seek!", then quite a few more abandoned it when the finale revealed that Sky was already in a relationship when she met Dave. It didn't help that this was followed by Dave deciding to spend the rest of the episode fighting to keep Sky from getting the million just so that he could have the opportunity to burn it to ashes in front of her.
- Lots of people abandoned Noah/Cody in favor of Noah/Alejandro, Noah/Owen and Noah/Emma (the Emma that appears in The Ridonculous Race). This was mainly due to a lack of interactions between Noah and Cody after Action, as well as a general feeling of boredom with NoCo due to its insane popularity in the earlier days of the fandom.
- Similarly, many Izzy/Owen shippers ditched that ship for Noah/Owen or Owen/Kitty.
- When the reboot's first trailer was released, there was a decent amount of fanart featuring Chase and Priya together. Once the reboot premiered and Chase is revealed to be a narcissistic Jerkass, the ship's popularity completely vanished.
- Many Wayne/Raj shippers abandoned the pairing in favor of Raj/Bowie due to many enjoying their adorable interactions with each other, as well as Wayne being very supportive of Raj and his relationship with Bowie. There are some people who fancy the idea of Bowie and Raj letting Wayne into their relationship, however.
- Several people who shipped Wayne and Julia moved to shipping Julia with MK due to their Les Yay filled alliance in the second season of the reboot, as well as Julia being clearly shown to find Wayne extremely annoying. That said, the pairing still has a decent amount of supporters all things considered.
Accidental Innuendo:
- Izzy's Affectionate Nickname for Owen is "Big O", which is also slang for an orgasm.
- Alejandro constantly walking on his hands in All-Stars leads to several shots where he's looking up at characters, but seems to be looking at their behinds. It's particularly amusing when it happens with Heather.
Alternate Self Shipping: There are fans that enjoy pairing Mike with his alternate personalities (or just pairing off the alters with each other). Perhaps the most strange of them all is shipping Mike with his evil alter, Mal.
Aluminum Christmas Trees:
- While it may seem made up, Chris was right about there being rare freshwater sharks.
- When they're not in control of the body, Mike's personalities reside in "the subconscious", a place in Mike's head where all his alters can interact. To many people, this might seem kind of outlandish, and most would probably assume it's just another thing about DID the show just made up. Although it almost certainly wasn't done on purpose, the subconscious actually heavily resembles headspaces/inner worlds, which are a real and very common symptom of DID.
- The idea that digging a series of trenches on an island could cause the island itself to sink seems absurd, but the science is sound. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is very dangerous to use on a small island, especially one that has a large maze of mining tunnels already dug into it (since those tunnels could easily be breached by the extremely pressurized liquid and cause the island to collapse in on itself, which is exactly what happened).
- There really is a poisonous apple known as the Manchineel, also known as the manzanilla de la muerte. Furthermore, the show actually got its effects fairly accurate, from the blisters on the skin to the symptoms caused if ingested.
- The idea of Izzy becoming a scientific super-genius after having a plane dropped on her head sounds like typical cartoon fantasy, right? It's actually closer to reality than one might think: Acquired Savant Syndrome is a very rare (read: there are only 40 cases known worldwide) but very real condition where a person who experiences injury or trauma spontaneously develops new talents or abilities, such as a man who was assaulted outside of a nightclub who became a mathematical genius.
Angst? What Angst?: Contestants frequently suffer grave injuries and severe humiliation, only for their worries to be pushed aside so they can continue their pursuit for money and fame:
- Cody is mauled by a bear so badly that he ends up in a full body cast, then at his elimination, he rolls into the ocean unable to scream for help. Other than a passing mention of these injuries early in "Haute Camp-ture," he never shows any psychological or physical distress from this incident.
- A plane lands on Owen in "Jamaica Me Sweat," and he loses his girlfriend on the same day. After he sings a song bemoaning her, he shows no physical injuries from the plane nor does he worry about Izzy for the rest of the game.
- Alejandro spent a year trapped in a bulky robot suit, unable to communicate, and was enslaved by Chris. However, he eventually just continues the game normally as if nothing happened. Even his supposedly broken legs turn out to have healed just fine. The fact Heather was indirectly responsible for these serious injuries almost never comes up in the continued Alejandro/Heather subplot either — she's more concerned that he didn't text her.
- When they discover the reset button, Mike's personalities have very minimal reaction to learning that they are effectively going to die. They agree to this murder-suicide pact with very little hesitance and Mike is the only one who needs convincing.
- In the finale of Pahkitew Island, Sky doesn't seem bothered at all by the fact she has lost both her boyfriend and potential boyfriend (the latter even putting her life in danger) in the span of a single episode, looking completely happy as she leaves the island even in the ending where she loses and her sacrifices end up being entirely worthless.
- Priya doesn't seem to be that affected after Millie was eliminated in "You Poor Saps", even though the two are best friends.
Anti-Climax Boss:
- Justin, the original villain of Action, ended up falling in love with Courtney, who betrays him by pushing him off a tower. Kind of fitting considering she usurped his position of Big Bad.
- Mal, who was literally defeated at the push of a button.
- Both of the arguable villains of Pahkitew Island were defeated in ways that were just sad and pathetic:
  - Scarlett, who got tricked by Max, who she had strung along for the whole season, into opening the door (even though the plan was Sky's idea) and falling victim to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown courtesy of Sugar.
  - Sugar who is eliminated through her own stupidity in an attempt at Laser-Guided Karma that backfires due to how rushed it is.
Arc Fatigue:
- One of the most prominent cases of this to date for some was the love triangle between Gwen, Duncan and Courtney, which was a frequent focus across two seasons before coming to an abrupt end in All-Stars.
- The romantic arc between Mike and Zoey, which is a central focus in two consecutive seasons and a bitter topic among fans.
- Even if you're one of the few fans who don't mind the "Feral Zeke" arc in World Tour, you're probably still annoyed that they kept bringing it back for two more seasons.
- The romance plotline between Caleb and Priya took up a lot of screentime in the second season of the reboot, to the point everyone else sans for Julia and MK felt Out of Focus.
Audience-Alienating Ending: Both halves of the fifth and final season (before the show was revived in 2023) have this reception for different reasons:
- Few, if any, fans approve of the last episode of All-Stars (the last season to feature the Island or Revenge casts), as it leaves many loose plot threads hanging and abandons several beloved characters unredeemed in the show or fandom. The fact that Fresh TV then abandoned the main series for several years in favor of Total DramaRama only adds to fans' dislike of it.
- The ending of Pahkitew Island is disliked for the same reason as All-Stars; several plot threads introduced in the season (such as Amy and Samey's dysfunctional relationship and Dave's ultimate fate) are left hanging without resolution, only exemplified due to it being the absolute last episode of the main series. The finale is also considered disappointing due to not bringing back any of the previously eliminated contestants beyond Dave and Jasmine, introducing a plot twist (Sky had a boyfriend before coming on Total Drama, and while she planned to break up with him, this sends her on-and-off love interest, Dave, off the deep end) that makes Sky and Dave look much less likable, and the endings not varying to any significant degree beyond a few seconds at the very end.
Awesome Ego:
- Justin. He's dashing, beautiful, irresistible to girls, and he knows it. He wastes no time in admiring and bragging about how perfect he is.
- Alejandro. He's a Master of All, a brilliant strategist, and a Chick Magnet. He's all too keen at showing off how amazing he is and once he drops his nice guy act he'll happily remind his enemies on how he thoroughly outclasses them in every way.
- Lightning. He's highly athletic and muscular and while it doesn't come up in the show itself, his biography states that he's a Chick Magnet. He speaks in third person and always boasts about what he's accomplished or going to accomplish.
Awesome Music: While practically all of the songs the cast sings qualify, one Cartoon Network commercial features a chorus of kids dressed as pilots singing a little number about the season. It's short, but just awesome.
Badass Decay:
- Duncan's status as a badass is inconsistent, but he sure gets his butt kicked a lot for a such a supposedly tough guy: Courtney frequently beat him in Action and both Harold and Cody are able to knock him out with a single blow in "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen" and "Greece's Pieces" respectively. All-Stars took this and ran with it. Duncan's trying to prove he's still a bad boy, but he just can't stop being a kind hero.
- In Island, DJ was one of the strongest members of the Killer Bass, only held back by his own fears which he often overcame, as well as capable of standing up for himself. In Action, he was roped into Chef's illegal alliance, but was still a strong team member who ultimately stood up for himself and took the noble way out. In World Tour, however, he was a pathetically wimpy manchild who was tormented by an "animal curse" while almost single-handedly (with Alejandro's deliberate help) running Team Victory into the ground. Notably, by the time he was the last member of the team, he was actively ''trying'' to get voted out, and yet didn't manage it until he started trying to win again.
- In Revenge of the Island, Scott was a Manipulative Bastard and a Team Killer. In All-Stars, he was demoted to a dumb redneck and Butt-Monkey.
- In Island, Gwen was a strong and viable contender who won several challenges, singlehandedly clobbered a real psycho killer, and survived long enough to make it to the finals. After that, her competitive edge wore down as the writers instead decided to exploit her relationships with Duncan and Trent to stir up romantic drama, resulting in her pre-merge eliminations in Action and World Tour^note. She started to pick up the pace again in All-Stars, to the point where she's the last first generation competitor, only for her chances of winning to be derailed once again to get her out of the way of the Mal vs. Zoey finale.
- In season three, Sierra is practically The Ace, being both Strong and Skilled and winning many challenges for both herself or her team. Come season five, she has become The Load for her team and fails to win a single challenge or even give her team a winning edge, and that's before her already fragile sanity worsens.
- In World Tour, Alejandro, as the main antagonist, was a Manipulative Bastard bordering on Parody Sue, with numerous physical talents and amazing charisma knocking out several competitors and carrying him to the final two. In All-Stars, while he has some physical prowess and manipulative skill, he's also much more sensitive about his appearance and is easily ousted by the new villain, Mal, because he can't convince anybody else to trust him over Mal.
- Priya in the first season of the reboot is The Ace able to bring herself and Millie to the final 3 under her own strength and intelligence. Come Season 2, she's so lovestruck by Caleb that he's become the one carrying her through challenges and has to force herself to show the skill set she was so acclaimed for in Season 1.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- Chef howling at the moon like a wolf before the elimination ceremony in "No Pain, No Game". It's a humorous moment that comes out of nowhere and is neither explained nor mentioned again.
- In "Wawanakwa Gone Wild", there's a brief scene of a unicorn drinking water before being shot with tranquilizer darts by Izzy. What a unicorn is doing on the island is never explained.
- In the first season's special, there's Courtney randomly discovering that Camp Wawanakwa is, in reality, a TV set that's always been close to civilization and not a real island. This only serves as an one-note gag that's never touched upon again, and subsequent events in posterior seasons (such as the island sinking at the end of All Stars) seem to leave clear that Camp Wawanakwa is, in fact, a real island.
- After the team merger announcement in Action, there is a sudden 6teen parody sequence. It's out of nowhere, doesn't have to do with the rest of the episode, and is never mentioned again. It's likely intended as a Company Cross Reference since the shows share creators, but is even more confusing for those who don't know the reference.
- In the third World Tour aftermath, right after Gwen comes on stage, an angry bear tries to come out after her and is pulled back by a vaudeville hook. This never gets explained or brought up again.
- The episode "Twinning Isn't Everything" has a bizarre reference to The Hunger Games. Dave finds Shawn covered from head to toe in cake icing that looks like tree bark. After Dave and even Shawn point out that that doesn't make much sense how he learned to do that from decorating cakes, the episode moves on and the next time Shawn appears he is back to normal. His camouflage is never brought up again.
- Zee's Disney Acid Sequence after getting struck by a lightning in "Stranger Flings". The fact it leads to him waking up in the point zone and winning the challenge for his team doesn't make it any less random.
Bizarro Episode: The Island episode "Camp Castaways". It's total filler, as the only "camper" eliminated is Mr. Coconut, is very different in tone and content than the rest of the season, and is never mentioned again outside of the next episode's recap and the Running Gag of Mr. Coconut cameos in later seasons.

C-D

Cargo Ship:
- In the Cartoon Network exclusive series of clips about the post-TDI lives of various contestants, Ezekiel is shown to have taken a scarecrow as his girlfriend, with whom he poses a la American Gothic Couple. Shippers have run with it.
- After going bald in "I Triple Dog Dare You!", Heather develops an obsession with getting hair on her head again. Starting "One Million Bucks, B.C.", she specifically targets Courtney's hair and goes through the roof when she manages to cut off a small tuft for herself.
- Bridgette getting stuck to a flagpole in "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better" has led to jokes about her kissing poles both in-universe and in the fandom (the ship name being "Bridgepole"). Beth also gets shipped with the pole due to a gag in the aftermath where she flirts with the pole backstage.
- Alejandro has been shipped with the pineapple-headed, Heather-shaped dummy from the World Tour finale, as he was shown french kissing it near the end of the episode.
- Sierra has been shipped with her smartphone, which has a picture of Cody in the shower.
- When Lightning's protein powder gets stolen in "Backstabbers Ahoy!", he promises the scoop, nicknamed Scoopy, he'll get it all back. The utterly disheartened way Lightning speaks to Scoopy was good enough for a ship.
- In "Saving Private Leechball", all villains want the leech cannon, but none more than Jo. And so a ship was born.
- Zee gets shipped with his soda cans due to his addiction to the drink.
Catharsis Factor:
- Heather would usually get what was coming to her whenever she messed with the other contestants in the form of revenges by her arch enemies Gwen and Leshawna such as Gwen dumping ants on Heather after Heather read her diary to everyone or Leshawna locking Heather in the freezer for her Bad Boss behavior in "If You Can't Take the Heat". However her defeat in Island was the most satisfying. After spending the whole season treating Lindsay like trash, and betraying her, Lindsay ends up being the one to cause Heather's downfall by daring her to have her head shaved by Chef... which does happen to her but she gets eliminated anyway since she accidentally kicked the razor out of Chef's hand and onto her head instead of willingly doing it.
- Given how thoroughly hateable he is, watching Chris McLean suffer is satisfying every single time.
  - In "Eat Puke And Be Wary", Chris gets flung into a toilet and is stuck there for the entire episode.
  - In "Brains Vs Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown" Chris gets blown up by his explosives then arrested for his waste dumping. The best part, his prison sentence lasts a whole year.
  - Being that he was the one most victimized by Chris, it a special treat to watch Ezekiel torture him in "Zeek And Ye Shall Find".
- After spending the entirety of World Tour being a Manipulative Bastard, it was very satisfying to see Heather knee Alejandro where it hurts. However, what followed with him getting burned alive by the erupting volcano and stuck in a robot suit for a year has been criticized for being too harsh and earned him a few sympathy points.
- Bowie calling out Emma for going back to Chase, a selfish, idiotic jerk, is satisfactory to watch after Emma blames Bowie for Chase being eliminated.
Character Perception Evolution:
- Cody went from a fan-favourite in Island (courtesy of his dorkiness and his decision to let Gwen be with Trent) to a Base-Breaking Character after World Tour due to being carried by Sierra most of the season, hence why many fans, even those that initially enjoyed his performance in this season believe he didn't deserve to make it all the way to the final three. In addition, many people think Cody comes across as a Hypocrite for being creept out by Sierra and trying to vote her off many times despite being a stalker himself towards Gwen. His obsession with Gwen also contributes to the fans' changed attitude towards him.
- While Gwen was initially one of most beloved female characters on the show, she's also a more Base-Breaking Character now. Her problems were initially taken as sympathetic, however now that Gwen (and Duncan) have gotten more detractors and Courtney gaining more defenders over the years, this is no longer the case. Many have stated that (until All-Stars) Gwen was more sad about the fact she got caught than actually hurting Courtney, and her tactics to get Courtney eliminated were too out of character to properly root for her. Even her once praised Island characterization has become base-breaking, with her snark and attitude towards the nicer characters no longer being as tolerated and if anything makes her complaining about being on the villains team in All-Stars Unintentionally Unsympathetic at best and Wangst-y at worst. There's also the fact she ditched Courtney in the infamously hated 'Sundae Muddy Sundae' after spending the whole season wanting to make amends.
- Thanks to his failed villain role and being effectively replaced by the much more effective Alejandro in subsequent seasons, Justin ended up as one of the least popular characters in the entire show for a long time, with many fans citing his incompetence as an antagonist during the first half of Action as a big factor for the season's mediocre reception. However, fans started warming up to him after the series was put to rest^noteat least until the reboot due to re-watches painting him on a new light for them, seeing him as a Laughably Evil Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who helped make the first half of Action Lighter and Softer than Island before the real villain Courtney showed up. As a result, Justin is now seen as one of the best comic reliefs on the show and a source of sympathy for fans who wished to see him do more during the second half of his best season.
- Lightning became a Base-Breaking Character after Revenge was finished, with his detractors believing he didn't deserve to make it to the finale after being a comic relief most of the season and becoming more evil in the last two episodes to have somebody against Cameron in the finale. Nowadays, most people consider him one of the funniest characters in the entire series and he's even the preferred finalist over Cameron.
Character Rerailment: Chris became a Base-Breaking Character in later seasons, as his cruelty was cranked up a notch and he became a full blown psychopath. In the revival, his sadism is toned down considerably and fans feel he’s more in line with his characterization in earlier seasons, where he’s still a jerk, but not completely devoid of humanity.
Cliché Storm: The plot of Priya and Caleb is basically She's All That that has been done to death since.
Common Knowledge:
- Total Drama Island is frequently used to describe the series as a whole, despite only being the name of the first season. However, the reboot actually went with this misconception and began naming each season like that.
- It was widely believed that Lindsay was meant to be a finalist in Action, but due to her voice actress having scheduling issues, it was changed to Beth. However, none of the creators have said or hinted at that being the case, outright saying that availability of the voice actors has no role in the elimination order.
Contested Sequel:
- World Tour is either considered a Surprisingly Improved Sequel to Action for its catchy musical numbers, Heather's Character Development into an Anti-Hero and the introduction of Sierra and Alejandro, or considered inferior because of the infamous Duncan/Gwen/Courtney Love Triangle, Alejandro coming off as an Invincible Villain, and Ezekiel being derailed into a feral monster.
- Some fans think Revenge of the Island gave new life to the series with its new cast of contestants wiping the slate clean and giving the show a fresh restart, while others think throwing away the original cast just like that is what ruined it.
- Some have praised Pahkitew Island for doing many things right, like the first season did (including starting fresh with a new set of characters and shaking up the formula by making the season more survival-focused). Others have claimed it's more proof that the series lost its touch due to yet again tossing away the old characters like that and having some very controversial plot choices, like Dave and Sky's failed relationship.
Continuity Lockout: Total Drama was one of the few Western animated series of the mid-2000s with a serialized narrative.
- Both Action and World Tour built upon the narratives from their preceding seasons, and All-Stars heavily relied on call backs from its four preceding seasons, right down to reusing past challenges.
- Even though Revenge of the Island introduced a new slate of contestants, it had several cameos from prior contestants; in particular, Heather's cameo was central to the plot of "Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon".
- Besides Island, Pahkitew Island, The Ridonculous Race, and Island (2023) are the only newcomer-friendly seasons in the franchise, even though The Ridonculous Race is a spinoff with a handful of contestants from the original series.
Crack Pairing: Due to the massive cast list but limited number of interactions, far too many examples to list here have been produced by the fandom. One example, Duncan/Sadie, briefly became memetic as a result of a Tumblr inside joke.
Crazy Is Cool:
- Izzy is absolutely off the rails, and fans love her for that. Widely considered the most unpredictable character, she always brings something fresh and funny with her assortment of gags.
- Sierra also qualifies. Being a Loony Fan, her bizarre facts on the contestants as well as her stalkerish tendencies, especially toward Cody has become a source of humor for many fans.
- Shawn to an extent. He's a Doomsayer who believes the Zombie Apocalypse is inevitable, but also has all the insane physical abilities of an Action Survivor to go with his paranoia.
- Scary Girl. She's an absolute murderous psycho who makes Izzy look sane in comparison, but her extravagant design, creepy mannerisms, and hilarious interactions with the rest of the cast have made of her one of the biggest Ensemble Darkhorses in the franchise.
Creator's Pet:
- Owen, especially in the first two seasons. The writers and voice actors of the show often wrote glowingly of him and he placed 1st/2nd and 3rd in his first two seasons, yet he is considered a Base-Breaking Character due to his constant Toilet Humor and floating through the first two seasons without having any Character Development. Many characters give him praise throughout the seasons, such as Gwen calling him sane even when he does exceedingly odd or stupid things, and the rest of the cast talking about how awesome he was during his elimination in the 2nd season, despite the fact that he cost the team the challenge and spent the entire episode trying to eat two of his teammates. He gets irrelevant Character Focus in the form of extended dream sequences. While it’s toned down later on, with Owen being the first boot of the merge and not participating in “All-Stars”, he still makes cameos signifying the writers’ bias. Most notably, he's the only contestant to appear in every single season aside from Pahkitew Island (including both spin-offs, and considering that All-Stars and Pahkitew Island are considered a single season in production order, that technically means he made an appearance in every season) and his ending is heavily favored over Gwen's, with Word of God stating it as the preferred ending, with there being a pre-TDI special exclusive clip about his ending but none for Gwen's, with him referencing in Ridonculous Race that he had already won (although he must have meant a different show, given that he got to keep a one million dollar prize), and most jarringly - with the reboot outright treating his ending as the canon one.
- Beth is a very divisive character within the fanbase, as her general traits (naivety and social awkwardness) are much better explored in other competitors (Lindsay and Harold, respectively). However, she is a finalist in the second season and, although she does not compete in World Tour, the Aftermath episodes give her a lot of focus, as she plays a major role helping Bridgette and Geoff reconcile and is the only member of the Peanut Gallery to be offered the chance to re-join the competition.
- Mike and Zoey, especially once All-Stars aired. While Mike was more tolerated by fans for at least having a story arc (at least until the reset button reared its ugly head), Zoey was just a plain, generic girl that the writers tried to promote as an ultimate heroine and embodiment of goodness. This only got worse as both coast their way to the finish with very little effort and in the latter's case wins more challenges than anybody else in the season, and are the only two to receive anything resembling a happy ending to their main conflict in the season. Also, them and their friends (Gwen and Cameron) are the only contestants to not leave the finale in an Uncertain Doom scenario.
- Sugar is one for Pahkitew Island. They really hype her up as a main antagonist throughout the season to the point where she placed 3rd, but she spends most of the season flip-flopping inconsistently between being that and essentially a female clone of Owen except without any of the traits that made him at least tolerable and having an IQ that could rival Lindsay or Lightning's. Virtually all of her successes are a result of an insane amount of dumb luck and are events that still would've happened anyways had she not been there (barring being the cause of Ella and Jasmine's eliminations, which again were due to dumb luck and were both severely criticized in regards to how poorly they were played out). Additionally, many fans found her utterly annoying and unlikable (and not in a Love to Hate kind of way) due to her over reliance on Toilet Humor, her overall rotten personality which likely stems from her being a parody of both Honey Boo Boo and Mama June and having nowhere near the same amount of charisma that the likes of Heather or Alejandro or the ferocity that Mal had in previous seasons. If anything, fans more preferred Scarlett due to just how hammy she was and at least how well she hid her evil side and how she could've likely been a far better villain in a season that wasn't so short.
Creepy Awesome:
- Mal. Despite his haters, there are many who still adore him for his Obviously Evil theatrics.
- Scarlett. Full blown maniacal and psychotic once she unleashes her true colors.
- Scary Girl. She's a deranged psychopath who has attempted to murder a bunch of contestants for her own amusement, which many fans find unnervingly hilarious.
Creepy Cute: As mentioned above, Scary Girl is a very unnerving and unpleasant person, as she's shown hints of being an actual psychopath who enjoys watching people suffer and has even attempted to murder a couple of the contestants for her own amusement. However, her cutesy voice, Perky Goth design with Girlish Pigtails, and somewhat endearing expressions whenever she's not giving Slasher Smiles can make her downright adorable in the eyes of some fans, who consider her to be even more Cute and Psycho than Izzy.
Crosses the Line Twice:
- In the Canadian version of Island, there is one scene where Lindsay happily tells the others that she has been featured in a celebrity magazine. Noah sarcastically compliments her, saying she's just reached the top of her career and will only go downwards from there. Surely enough, Lindsay immediately proclaims that she will try to get an eating disorder in order to appear in the magazine's cover.
- DJ's adorable pet bunny gets tragically eaten by a snake in "Who Can You Trust?" while Geoff was supposed to be watching it. What truly makes it funny is that the snake then gets captured by an eagle, and the eagle gets eaten by a shark, ensuring Geoff will never get that bunny back.
- Chris making DJ and Trent (who are about to skydive onto a cruddy sofa bed) sign organ donation forms? Seems like a pretty standard joke... but then Chris clarifies that he wants to get free props for a cannibal challenge, all with a smile on his face. Chris is hilariously messed up.
- In "Super Crazy Happy Fun Time in Japan", Harold eliminates himself by simulating a Seppuku with a toy light saber. When an unimpressed Leshawna points out the ridiculousness of the scene, he responds by jumping out of the plane without a parachute (although Chris tosses one after him).
- In "The Ex-Files," Courtney sings about Gwen kissing Duncan, fantasizing about being a general and brutalizing Gwen over and over. The visuals show Gwen getting hit with a rock... then getting hit with another rock while she's on crutches... then getting hit with another rock while she's in the hospital. There's also a scene where Gwen gets blasted with an entire armada's worth of guns.
- Priya being trained from birth by her fanatical Abusive Parents to star in Total Drama sounds morbid... but then we see that when we say she was trained from birth we mean it: she was born bungee jumping from her umbilical cord. Now it's funny.
- Chase's numerous attempts at sounding selfless reveal that he's so comically horrible that he stops being infuriating and comes back to being funny. For one, the fact he named a star after Emma called "Chase's Girlfriend" and tried to legally change her name to "Chase's Girlfriend" is so ridiculously narcissistic it really just circles back into being hilarious that he actually thought she'd be okay with that.
Designated Monkey:
- Ezekiel. Apparently, being really determined to win qualifies him to devolve into Gollum.
- Harold in Island and Action. While a lot of his injuries are Played for Laughs, a vast amount of it is directly the result of being bullied by Duncan, which made Harold standing up for himself and getting him back all the more satisfying.
- Tyler in World Tour. Sure, his injuries are funny, but he tries so hard many fans couldn't help rooting for him and wanted his string of badluck to spell a victory.
- Scott in All-Stars to a degree. While his punishment appears to be a continuation of the Laser-Guided Karma from his tenure as the Big Bad of Revenge of the Island, many fans feel it's overblown and he has genuinely become a better person at this stage, yet he gets physically abused far worse than he did as a villain.
Designated Villain:
- Gwen:
  - In Action, when Trent's teammates discover that Trent was throwing challenges for Gwen's benefit, they immediately blame her for it, despite her not knowing about it at all. Furthermore, she made it clear to Trent (more than once) that she doesn’t want him to throw challenges for her sake, while he kept worrying that Gwen might leave him for Duncan only because the latter two were bonding over their shared interests. Later, she gets demonized for breaking up with him despite having a perfectly valid reason for doing so, and on the next challenge she repays the favor by throwing a challenge, and voting herself off. Even Bridgette, who is not only one of the most down-to-earth contestants but also one of Gwen’s friends, candidly gets in on the Gwen-hate in the aftermath show.
  - In World Tour, she gets the most harassment and blame for Duncan's adultery, even though she wasn't the one who initiated their kiss. This also extends into All-Stars, where she's placed on the Villainous Vultures despite having done more good than bad. To make things worse, every time she tries to apologize or do something nice for Courtney, she ends up either injuring or humiliating her instead, resulting in a delighted Chris telling her she's on the right team after all.
- Heather in World Tour. She has become (if only slightly) more of a team player, and is actively trying to dethrone Alejandro but nobody wants to trust her after what she pulled in season one. Probably the best/worst example is when Leshawna knocked Heather's tooth out when Heather tried to explain that the new villain, Alejandro, was manipulating her. Even when Leshawna finds out that this is true, she still openly brags about attacking Heather and never seems to consider that it was completely unjustified.
- Lightning in Revenge of the Island is immediately granted status as the new Big Bad after the season's original villains Scott and Jo are eliminated. He had certainly shown villain potential in the early episodes, but for the middle episodes was no worse than an arrogant Dumb Muscle with a fear of losing, and his level-up to hyper-aggressive combatant is sudden. It's implied that Jo's betrayal and Cameron's accidental-but-owned trickery are what set him off, but it's far from as clear a case as what sets off Zoey that same episode.
- Anne Maria in Revenge of the Island is treated as the other woman to the budding relation between Mike and Zoey and for good measure is called dirty by Chris ("This tension is so delish, I could kiss someone. Not you Mike, we all know where those lips have been," in reference to Anne Maria kissing him). However, Anne Maria has no interest in Mike, but in Vito, Mike's alter-ego who explicitly has no interest in Zoey but likes Anne Maria, to the point he asks twice about her whereabouts after she's already been eliminated. For the longest time, Mike tells no one about his condition, so Anne Maria has every reason to think he's interested in her — she explicitly believes that the "Mike" persona is an act and that Vito is Mike's true self. It also doesn't help that a lot of her behavior is recontextualized as more negative than it is. A particular example is when she pushes Zoey off an oxygen tube in order to prevent Jo from suffocating and is immediately reprimanded for "shoving (Zoey away from Mike)", while nobody acknowledges that she just saved someone's life.
Diagnosed by the Audience:
- Due to her all-consuming obsession with Total Drama and lack of social skills, many fans believe that Sierra is autistic. Alternatively, given her obsession with Cody, as well as Total Drama as a whole (to the point of knowing obscure personal details), some fans believe that Sierra suffers from Celebrity Worship Syndrome.
- Harold is commonly thought to be autistic due to his odd behavior, tendency to be blunt, and the amount of random knowledge he knows.
- Some people headcanon Ezekiel as autistic due to his lack of social skiils, with his first introduction being him acting Literal-Minded.
- Fans have speculated Millie to be autistic due to her low social skills, her tendency to study other contestants and write down everything about their personal lives, being a picky eater, and being overly anxious over everything.
- Quite a few people have speculated that Chase, due to his overinflated self-importance and inability to understand how his actions have harmed others, has Narcissistic Personality Disorder or is a clinical sociopath.
- Trent's obsession with the number nine isn't explicitly stated to be OCD, but he has so many symptoms that track with it that fans almost unanimously agree that's the case. Some also read him with other disorders like depression and anxiety tying into the OCD. It's assumed him returning to his more mellow personality in TDWT is due to receiving treatment and/or medication for these conditions.
Draco in Leather Pants:
- Some viewers believe Chris McLean isn't a villain. Although he has some likable moments and standards, he still committed various evil actions: getting many of his interns killed, starving two of them, sadistically tormenting multiple teenagers, etc. Some people give him a Freudian Excuse despite nothing in the show itself suggesting this (save a vague comment by his old voice actor that Chris may have a traumatic incident in his youth making him who he is today). He also gets this In-Universe; Sierra thought he was a great host, originally.
- Chase is designed to be a Hate Sink Bad Influencer with no capacity for empathy, not even knowing the meaning of the word "selfless." Despite this, he quickly developed a fanbase who depicted him as a nicer person than he is, latching onto his few friendly interactions with characters like Zee and Ripper and completely downplaying his reckless disregard for his ex-girlfriend's feelings and his casual misogyny. This is often done for the purpose of shipping him with other characters, usually Ripper, who himself is a Jerkass who gets his edges sanded off a bit in shipping fic and art. However, some Chase/Ripper content is tongue-in-cheek from people who know how contested these two characters are, and want to ironically depict them as a fluffy romantic couple as a bit.

E-F

Epileptic Trees:
- DJ's momma shown in his audition tape and the momma shown in the actual show look very different. Now, everyone understands that the real reason for this is simply that Fresh changed their mind about her design, but several fans have tried to create an in-universe explanation for this.
  - Since DJ started crying in his audition tape after her mentioned his mom, it's a common theory that she died and the momma shown in the show is actually his stepmother.
  - Another theory is that DJ has two mothers due to his mother having a different design in his video from home.
- The Unexplained Recovery of Camp Wawanakwa in the reboot, given that the island sank into the lake at the end of All-Stars, is usually waved off by fans as either being the result of Chris setting Pahkitew Island to look exactly like Wawanakwa, or the island being an actual TV set that was rebuilt after its destruction, which is supported by the fact Courtney apparently discovered the island is artificial in the first season's special.
- Due to their similar skin tones and the fact she seemingly didn't have a real name, many fans believed that Scary Girl was actually Dawn in disguise, as Lightning called Dawn the very similar "Creepy Girl" during one episode. This was disproven immediately when the show actually released, first by establishing that the series takes place in real-time since the original show (placing Dawn in her late 20s at least) and quickly establishing Scary Girl's real name (Lauren).
Esoteric Happy Ending:
- Mike and Zoey's first kiss at the conclusion of All-Stars, as well as Mike regaining control of his body from Mal was clearly meant to be heartwarming, as was their reunion with Cameron and Gwen. However, the destruction of Wawanakwa, the debate around the infamous reset button and the unexplained fates of the eight contestants who were sent floating away (as well as most of the season's plotlines ultimately going unresolved) did little to win over most fans.
- Caleb and Priya's relationship ends with Priya assuring she loves Caleb even if they lost. It's supposed to be a Happily Ever After ending, except the final few episodes had Priya hounding Caleb for minor slights like not letting her win the Final 4 challenge despite the fact he spent most of it not knowing what was going on or not keeping up with Julia in the chariot racing despite the fact he was carrying five times the weight she was carrying. Priya has basically started acting like not just her parents, but Caleb's parents and unlike Priya, he resents how his parents treated them and it calls into question how long or happy their relationship would be.
- Wayne winning the second season of the reboot is supposed to be a "kindness wins" ending with Wayne being Loved by All. However, Wayne is a textbook example of Dumb Is Good and the sports world is notorious for athletes with large sums of money to shady investments, even among those with average intelligence. There's a very good chance he'll lose that money fast.
Fandom VIP: The Kobold Necromancer was a prolific fan writer who created one of the first popular fanfictions, Total Drama Comeback Series, and is largely responsible for Ezekiel's Ensemble Dark Horse status in the early days of the fandom.
Fan-Preferred Couple:
- Duncan/Gwen was initially preferred over Gwen/Trent, but when it became Canon in World Tour, the way it was handled caused fan preference to switch back to Trent/Gwen and Duncan/Courtney. The results of some polls from the show's official YouTube channel revealed that Duncan/Courtney was preferred over Scott/Courtney and Trent/Gwen was preferred over Duncan/Gwen.
- In spite of Scott's extremely brief hookup with Courtney in All-Stars, many fans still prefer to ship him with Dawn because of their Angel/Devil Shipping dynamic (despite the fact Dawn hates Scott in canon). This was popular long before All-Stars even came out, Scott's kinder behavior in ‘’All-Stars’’ helps make it more believable. However, this did not last; Dawn has since become a popular shipping target and her hatred of Scott is more recognized nowadays, so Scott and Courtney's relationship are more shipped these days.
- For a time, many fan works preferred to ship Izzy with Ezekiel rather than Owen, due to the dynamic of a sheltered farm boy and a crazy girl who encourages him to take risks appealing to many people despite their minimal interactions in canon. This trend was started by Fandom VIP The Kobold Necromancer and was adopted by many fanfic authors to use in their fan works. Izzy/Owen being a Beta Couple and their eventual breakup in "World Tour" certainly contributed to this as well. However, Izzy/Ezekiel fell out of fashion in around 2012 or so and was eclipsed by Izzy/Owen once again.
- Despite her having a crush on Dave in canon, you'll most likely see Ella being shipped with Topher (mostly due to fanart) or Dawn (due to their similar personalities).
  - Alternatively comparative to Dave/Sky, Dave/Ella are more popular due to her touching I Want My Beloved to Be Happy moments, the fact that Dave was far nicer to her than most of the other players, and having a lot of Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl and Defrosting Ice Queen potential.
- Priya/Damien is shown to be a very popular ship, even after Priya/Caleb became canon. This is probably because Priya and Damien had moments of Ship Tease in Part 1, with fans enjoying their Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy dynamic with the two always being genuinely friendly and supportive with one another, with Priya's relationship with Damien being the only one not to have any issues. Fans also felt that Priya's go-getter nature would help push Damien to overcome his anxieties, while Damien's supportive nature is what Priya needs given her upbringing. They also have polar opposite relationships with Total Drama (Damien is completely unfamiliar with it prior to joining it while Priya's life was defined by it), which makes them great potential Foils. Since Priya’s romance with Caleb takes over the back half of Part 2 and is one of the least popular canon ships in the reboots, many fans still wish a Priya/Damien arc had taken its place.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content:
- While it's generally agreed that adding Gwen to All-Stars cast was a positive change, even if her portrayal in the season was the case of a Base-Breaking Character, fans often agree that Anne Maria, Cody, Brick, and Owen shouldn't have been cut from the season◊. Most fans tend to keep them in their rewrites, especially the latter two who are universally agreed to be All-Star worthy and a better choice over Sam.
- Many fans were disappointed when the episode "Break Back Mountain" was renamed as "Sky Fall" before airing, since it's slightly more clear about the challenge than the new title and a more creative pun. Some even worried it was changed because the film the original title was referencing was a film with gay themes. Many Pahkitew Island rewrites will reinstate the original episode title.
- Two of the original character concepts cut from Revenge of the Island, back when it was known as ''Total Drama Reloaded',' were reworked into Zoey: a girl named Molly (who was the beta design for Zoey's character according to Word of God) with a black pixie cut and loose clothing and another girl named Zoey (whose name was used for Zoey) with glasses and a high ponytail. Zoey's design is contested with some fans who believe it doesn't clearly reflect her "indie chick" persona, and believe both alternate designs show more individuality and could highlight this aspect of her better.
Fans Prefer the New Her: There are some fans (often queer women) who actually like the Traumatic Haircut Julia gets in the second revival season's finale, despite how disgusting she finds it. Even those who don't like the specific design think she looks more distinct with shorter hair. It helps that it's a subversion of the reviled trend of antagonists losing their hair at the end of a season.
Fanfic Fuel:
- The series' very premise has sparked hundreds of fanfics about various OCs being introduced, and one of the most popular ideas for crossover fanfiction is to gather up all sorts of characters from different series and see how they'd participate there.
- Due to reality TV's reputation for Manipulative Editing, the difference between what we see in the show and what's actually happening in-universe is sometimes explored in fandom. We don't get much of the crew and contestants working together besides DJ and Chef, but it's sometimes theorized that the Elimination Houdinis of the game, especially Heather, work with the executives to maintain immunity in exchange for causing more drama.
- According to his contestant biography, Mike's never had a happy childhood. Considering that MPD is often caused by severe trauma, this should give fanfiction writers a ton of ideas for what their next story should be.
- The first episode of Island (2023) says that it's been fifteen years since the first season and, by extension, twelve years since Pahkitew Island and The Ridonculous Race. What all the past contestants are doing now is ripe to be explored in fanfiction.
First Installment Wins: Island is the only season to get near-universal acclaim by the fanbase. As a result, the original 22 contestants are the most well-known and beloved, and Camp Wawanakwa is the most iconic location of the series. Characters that succumbed to Flanderization in later seasons retain their charm, Chris is not as callous towards the cast, and the romantic subplots aren't as heavily focused on compared to later seasons, with the fan favorite couples flourishing here.
Foe Yay Shipping:
- Heather and Gwen.
- Courtney and Gwen.
- Scott and Dawn.
- Cameron and Lightning.
- Sugar and Ella.
Fountain of Memes:
- Noah has rattled off countless quotable lines.
- In part due to lack of screentime and his odd accent, Ezekiel has developed a semi-ironic fandom as the face of Total Drama-related shitposting on places such as the Wiki and Reddit.
Franchise Original Sin:
- The show has always had non-elimination episodes going back to the very first season, but it's how the show abused them later on that became a problem. In Island, there was only one non-elimination (debatably two if one doesn't count Mr. Coconut as a contestant) and it happened at the halfway mark of the season. The problem arguably began with the very next season Action where due to a smaller cast the number of non-eliminations was noticeably increased in order to fill the 26 episode limit meaning that 8 of the 26 were a non-elimination (if one doesn't count two-parters or Aftermaths) and they normally happened every 2nd episode making it very predictable in terms of when these episodes were gonna happen. World Tour was the point where most will agree that these kind of episodes really started to become a problem. Unlike Action, this season also had the extra incentive of deceiving viewers into thinking that the episode in question is a normal one complete with an elimination ceremony and Chris announcing the eliminated contestant... Only to say at the very last second that they're actually spared and get to stay in the game (and usually one who was blatantly wearing Plot Armor)! Of the seven non-elimination episodes in this season (again, not counting two-parters or Aftermaths), only two of these episodes didn't pull this ("Broadway, Baby!" and "Newf Kids on the Rock"). Revenge of the Island through Pahkitew Island due to having only half of the episodes compared to the first three seasons only had one non-elimination each, but they were also guilty of what World Tour would do and usually for the sake of a random team switch that was likely to be in effect for only a few episodes before the merge rendered it pointless as well as forcing a double elimination somewhere down the road.
- A recurring complaint about the later seasons was the use of scenes that could not plausibly be filmed on a reality show, particularly the subplot inside Mike's headspace in All Stars. While only later seasons used this as a plot point, characters' thoughts have been shown onscreen as far back as the first season; "Trialed by Triarmed Triathlon" opened with scenes of Owen's dream.
- A common criticism regarding Julia's role as villain during the second season of the reboot is that a lot of her accomplishments, such as orchestrating Nichelle, Bowie, and MK's eliminations, or stealing Damien's immunity idol, were all done off-screen with very little build-up or explanation as to how she managed to pull off said feats. However, villains acting off-screen isn't something that hadn't happened in the show before, with some examples being Heather convincing the Gophers to vote for Justin in Island, Justin convincing Beth and Lindsay to vote for Izzy with a hair flip right after his looks started waning on them in Action, Alejandro getting Tyler in an alliance and orchestrating Noah's elimination in World Tour, Scott finding the immunity idol in Revenge of the Island, Sugar informing Chris about Ella singing in Pahkitew Island, or even Bowie orchestrating Caleb's elimination in the previous season. It's just that these occurrences were very scarce and the exception rather than the rule, while one could argue that most of Julia's deeds were executed without the audience knowing about it until the last second.
- Many complained about Priya making it all the way to the final 4 again in Part 2 of Island (2023), appearing throughout the entire season again.^note However, it's always been a Recurring Element that contestants who made it to the final 4 of their generation's debut season made it to the final 4 again. Owen and Duncan do so in Action, Heather does so in World Tour, whereas Gwen, Scott, and Zoey all do so in All-Stars. Similarly, some of them have also appeared in every episode of two seasons before, namely Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Zoey. The difference is that, with the only exception of Zoey, none of them were involved in a Romantic Plot Tumor in seasons they achieved that in. Another problem is that due to the nature of the show creating ambiguous endings, it at least felt warranted that winners weren't pegged since there wasn't a confirmed winner. Priya is the first confirmed winner and already has a million dollars. Other winners like Owen lost their money.
Friendly Fandoms:
- It was quite common on sites like DeviantArt to see this series crossed over with The Mr. Men Show, as it was airing on the same network at the same time and they each have their own wacky, colorful casts of characters with different personality traits.
- The series also shares a lot of fans with 6teen and Stōked, due to all three series sharing the same creators and having similar comedy and writing. There's also some overlap with Fresh TV's fourth series Grojband, which was created by the directors of Island and Action.
- This show is also on good terms with the fandom of Clone High, since both are Canadian shows that poke fun at popular TV genres- game reality shows and teen dramas respectively - and have similar artstyles (with Total Drama's being inspired by Clone High's). Some characters are also similar to each other- Joan of Arc and Gwen, Principal Scudworth and Chris McLean, Gahndi and Owen, Abe Lincoln and Trent.
- The fandom for another Canadian show Detentionaire is also friendly with the Total Drama fandom, as both were among Teletoon's most popular original series and known as continuity-driven shows with a focus on teenagers.
- This show is also on good terms with the fandoms of Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack as these three shows are often considered to be the highlights of the much maligned CN Real era.
- Strangely enough, fans see a lot of overlap with Danganronpa, as they both feature changing casts of teens with their own personalities and quirks, as well as an "episodic cast elimination" format, though the survival game being played isn't a reality show one. In particular, Chris gets compared a lot to Monokuma. The 2023 reboot having 16 campers, eight boys and eight girls too, and the losers being eliminated via the Drone of Despair further increased the bond between both fandoms.
- It's not at all difficult to find Total Drama fans who are also bronies, due to the two shows sharing similar animation styles and character archetypes, as well as MLP: FIM debuting around the peak of Total Drama's popularity.
- Many Total Drama fans are also Battle for Dream Island fans and vice-versa, due to both shows being takes on reality-television and the latter being inspired by it. It also helps that both the Announcer and to a lesser extent, Four, are often compared to Chris due to them being sadistic hosts who loves mistreating the contestants.
- Oddly enough, on DeviantArt at least, a lot of fans of Total Dram are also fans of Punch-Out!!. This might be attributed to the fact that both franchises have an All-Stereotype Cast (though Total Drama goes for subculture/lifestyle-based stereotypes rather than Punch Out's national ones), both being produced by canadian studios, and were released at around the same time (the late 2000s).
- Curiously enough, there was also quite a bit of fandom overlap with the DC Extended Universe, as it was common for fan artists to draw female TD characters dressed like the DCEU's version of Harley Quinn around the time of her film debut.

G-K

Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- You might have noticed the huge American fanbase the series has by now.
- Beth was (and still is) regarded as one of the more boring contestants on the show by many, but on the first voting day for Action in Brazil she was winning by 94%! According to the other wiki, the majority of the countries voted for her ending (by 18-10).
- Italians love the series so much that Pahkitew Island and Island (2023) were aired in Italy before all other countries.
- Word of God claims that Jasmine was created as a nod to the show's immense popularity in Australia.
- Even though Total Drama is stated in-universe to be a hit in Japan and The Ridonculous Race to be the same in Croatia, Total Drama has never aired in Japan and The Ridonculous Race (in addition to the original series) has not aired in Croatia.
- Just about any Total Drama fan who was homeschooled seems to like Ezekiel. This includes Fandom VIP The Kobold Necromancer, whose fanfics played a huge part in rescuing him from the Scrappy Heap.
Gotta Ship 'Em All: Due to the large cast of teenagers that get a few Shipping Goggles and Ho Yay moments with each other, the fandom paired all of them together at least once.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- In "Basic Straining", Ezekiel's face is on a milk carton in the fridge that Duncan and Courtney are stealing from. By the end of World Tour, the now feral Ezekiel goes missing, occasionally popping back up on the plane, only to live on Boney Island as of All-Stars, with his parents being implied to look for him via a wanted poster in Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race.
- Also in Total Drama Action, whenever Trent gets jealous between Gwen and Duncan anywhere within the first five episodes, not to mention Courtney also being shown to have a suspicion of the alleged hook up a couple times in the season, can come off as this considering that it pretty much foreshadows the infamous Duncan/Gwen/Courtney love triangle in World Tour.
- The scene of Julia getting more followers than ever because of the fanbase liking her villain personality more than her influencer personality becomes this when Jeff Probst announced intentions to no longer portray people as villains on Survivor to promote positivity.
He Really Can Act: Cory Doran does a better job of voicing Mike in All-Stars, especially when he switches into Mal.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In the first episode, Trent is introduced as "contestant number 9". This becomes hilarious when, in the second season, his sudden obsession with said number becomes a major plot point for the episodes that lead to his elimination
- Also in the first episode, Tyler assures Gwen, "At least you don't have to sleep next to him" and nods towards Duncan, who's noogeying a deer nearby. Two seasons later, Gwen and Duncan become a couple.
- In a 2012 interview with Cory Doran (Mike's voice actor), he was asked what extra personality he would give Mike, if he had the choice. Doran responded that he would create "a total crazy guy... someone over the top and addicted to mayhem" while also remarking that "It's a good thing I don't get to decide these things." But, next season, a new Mike personality would actually be introduced, who fits Doran's description exactly.
- Cody and Cameron are voiced by the same person in the Romanian dub. This became much funnier come All-Stars, as Sierra's hallucinations involve Cameron turning into Cody.
- In Anne Maria's audition tape, she refers the show to as "Total Drama Rama whatever". Fast forward to 2018 and the Spinoff Babies series that was originally called Total Drama Daycare has been renamed to Total DramaRama.
- In Action, there is an episode called "Ocean's Eight... Or Nine". The title, was a homage to Ocean's Eleven at the time, but in 2018 an actual movie called Ocean's 8 came out. Now it's the Ocean's film series ripping off Total Drama rather than the other way around!
- In "The EX-Files", the players infiltrate Area 51. In mid-July of 2019, memes about civilians storming Area 51 became prominent across the internet (and then, in September, it actually happened in real life).
- Chris' voice actor Christian Potenza would later be cast as the host of Last Car Standing, an actual non-animated reality show.
- In the third Aftermath from Action, Geoff likes the idea of having a tiger shark on the show. In "Aftermath: Revenge of the Telethoon", they actually get a pool full of sharks.
- The Latin American promo for the show had the announcer asking who could be the winner, finishing the question with "I think it will not be the fat guy". That didn't age well.
Hollywood Homely: Julia's Traumatic Haircut, which shreds her hair into a messy looking mullet, is treated has the most hideous thing imaginable In-Universe, with Chef even asking if they could show it on TV. In reality, her hair just looks a little messy and a decent amount shorter and once Julia styles it a bit, she'd no doubt look fine. Many fans have even said they think her mullet is a good look on her.
Hype Backlash:
- World Tour has this status with some. While considered one of the best, if not the best, season of the series by many fans for a variety of reasons, there are also plenty who consider it the show's most overrated season for just as many reasons and see it as being just as bad, if not worse, than some of the more widely hated seasons.
- Total Drama as a whole is slowly starting to get this. Ever since its premiere, it quickly became one of, if not Teletoon's most popular and highest rated show. However, the rather divisive humor and characters has made some question whether it deserves its popularity or not, deeming it as an average or okay show at best and a mediocre one at worst.
Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: "Team Escope" for the OT3 of Izzy/Eva/Noah, based on Izzy's team name for them in "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island."
I Knew It!:
- Because they were often shown together in promos, many people guessed that Wayne and Raj would be the gay couple. Although they don't get together, they were technically right about one of them being gay.
- Many fans correctly guessed what Scary Girl's per son ality would be. They were also right about her being an early elimination.
Improved Second Attempt:
- Stephanie & Ryan's relationship in Ridonculous Race was universally despised for having the two get back together despite being clearly toxic. Chase and Emma take a different approach in the 2023 reboot, with Chase being so obviously toxic and Emma clinging onto the hope he can change, despite everyone telling her he's a lost cause. When she does get back together with him, it's portrayed as a horrible decision that will end badly. With everyone coming back for another season, it leaves the door open for her to regret her bad decision. And the second season revealed that Emma did regret her decision and broke up with Chase permanently.
- Part of the criticism of DJ's plot in World Tour is the Plot Hole in regards to why he didn't just quit, as he should've been aware of such option, given that he had quit in Action and witnessed both Duncan and Harold quit earlier in the third season. It could've easily been avoided by Chris stating a contestant is only allowed to quit once throughout the series or that no more than 2 contestants can quit per season, but he never states such a thing. In Island (2023), this issue is avoided, as Chris tells Damien that the new contracts have a rule where if a contestant were to quit, they'd owe the show one million dollars instead, making it completely understandable why Damien's only option to leave is to get voted out through a regular voting process.
- Mal's villain arc is widely panned to Memetic Loser status because of the limitations of the show, resulting in either minor vandalism or failed attempts to actually hurt someone. "Pahkitew Island," of all seasons, used this better by having his concept split into two different characters more effectively: Max as the Big Bad Wannabe who is even regarded as laughably ineffective In-Universe, and Scarlet, a legitimately homicidal maniac who can be effectively scary. While Scarlett's plan did fail, she basically committed serious crimes of hijacking and attempted murder. Previous episodes also showed that while she didn't succeed, she had every ability to kill everyone on the island had she not been stopped, as she gaslighted her brother for 6 years because he pulled her hair. Scarlett was constantly annoyed by Max's incomptence, almost making it feel like Mal was criticizing himself.
Informed Wrongness:
- Gwen in "The Chefshank Redemption". The Killer Grips blackmail her into losing the challenge and ultimately eliminating herself as revenge for how Trent would keep throwing the challenges for the aforementioned team. However, Gwen was completely unaware of the fact that Trent was throwing the challenges on purpose in order to keep her safe so she's being punished for something that was both out of her hands and not even her fault. Her constant misfortunes throughout the episode that's supposed to be viewed as "Karma" (such as being puked on by Lindsay) but instead comes across as needless torture don't help either.
- While it's understood that Millie deceiving Priya and the other contestants while secretly using them as psychological subjects was wrong, some of Millie's actual positions make total sense in the context of the show. Specifically, Priya calls her out on criticizing how Priya's parents raised her to compete on Total Drama, and Millie apologizes for butting into Priya's family life. However, Millie is right to be concerned about Priya's family life, given their alleged actions include pressuring their child to fit their mold of the perfect contestant since birth, leaving her alone in the woods and, in the second season, taking the million dollars she won for a savings account, preventing her from pursuing her real dreams. Some of this is revealed after Priya convinces Millie not to say bad things about her parents, and Millie is shown to still be genuinely concerned for Priya's family situation. In a less comical setting, it would make sense for Millie to report on this sort of child abuse. It gets worse in Season 2 when Priya is showing signs of turning into her parents in her treatment with Caleb, but this is never pointed out.
Iron Woobie: Owen, who borders on being The Pollyanna. Ella is also this because of dealing with the hatred of Sugar and Chris but staying cheerful.
It's Short, So It Sucks!:
- The title sequence for All-Stars and Pahkitew Island is only 20 seconds long (compared to a minute for every other title sequence) and features an abbreviated version of the title song. Fans were not pleased.
- Most of the 13-episode seasons (Revenge of the Island onwards, not counting the spinoff) also fits the bill, since they'e half as long as the normal 26-episode seasons, and are also sometimes blamed for rushed plot lines. Only the first revival season got a primarily positive reception, but even that came with critiques for putting 16 characters into a 13-episode season, which resulted in the more controversial decisions like double-eliminating Wayne and Raj via medical evacuation.
- The Cartoon Network airing of Pahkitew Island ran for 2 weeks, with three double episodes in three points of the run.
It's the Same, So It Sucks:
- The second season of the reboot reuses the first season's intro, which was widely regarded as being extremely lazy since it has pretty nothing to do with the new season while once again preventing Chase, Emma and Damien from appearing in their own scenes.
- The line-ups for teams in the second season of the reboot have received criticism for being the same teams from the previous season just with three players swapped around instead of them each being a 50/50 mix of both of the previous season's teams, thus limiting the amount of potential new team dynamics, with Team Rat Face essentially being the Ferocious Trout with Chase, Ripper and Scary Girl switched out for Emma, Caleb and Nichelle, and Team Skunk Butt being the opposite. Team Skunk Butt's line-up in particular has received this criticism thanks to Scary Girl and Chase being the first two eliminations of the season, meaning that by the end of episode 2, Team Skunk Butt's line-up is just most of the Frogs of Death, plus Ripper.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Antagonists like Heather, Alejandro, Scott and Julia are all very popular with the fandom due to just how hammy and malicious they are. By contrast, Jerkass characters tend to be Base Breaking Characters at best (Duncan and Chase) or outright hated at worst (Amy), due to them being more reminiscent of real-life toxic teenagers, albeit exaggerated.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- In spite of how Mal's storyline in All-Stars is often criticized for its poor execution, it more often than not tends to be the only thing in that season that people rewatch.
- Pahkitew Island is usually remembered by its haters for two things: Jasmine and Shawn's relationship and/or Scarlett's plot of being the hidden Big Bad.
Karmic Overkill:
- Few people take issue with the first part of Alejandro's downfall in World Tour, in which Heather manipulates his feelings for her, knees him in the groin, and knocks him off the volcano, as it felt like a fitting retribution for his manipulative tendencies throughout the season. However, this is followed up by a freak volcano eruption horribly burning his flesh, as he wasn't able to escape with the others in time after being trampled by them during the panic, causing him to be placed in a robot suit as a Shout-Out to Revenge of the Sith. Most fans agree this element is too cruel and the first part of his karma was enough, especially since All-Stars reveals he was crammed in the suit for a full year, with a broken voice box to boot.
- While Scott was an underhanded competitor throughout Revenge of the Island, his ultimate fate is quite cruel: he gets mauled by the mutant shark Fang and is left unresponsive in a "trauma chair," a Shout-Out to Star Trek: The Original Series. All this happening after he had been crushed by a boulder from one of Zoey's traps, burned by the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom, and launched in the Hurl of Shame, while already in a full body cast and wheelchair, too. Even worse, almost nobody has sympathy and just laughs at his situation as a single tear rolls down his cheek. It's considered one of the most disturbing scenes in the series and prompted more sympathy for Scott than laughs. Luckily Scott physically recovers by the time of All-Stars, though his fear of sharks is Played for Laughs.
- While Courtney has always been a Base-Breaking Character, a lot of people (both fans and detractors) did not like her humilation in Sundae Muddy Sundae. It starts off everything being fine, until Mal somehow finds a list she made earlier, and everything goes south quick. She loses both Scott and Gwen (who had been wanting to make amends the whole season). Her sundae keeps getting sabotaged (including a bird vomiting on it) and then it's revealed that the competitors have to eat their sundae instead. Courtney is missing her iron stomach from World Tour, so she struggles to eat and is eliminated with nobody outside of Scott missing her. The kicker is in the after episode spot, she is surrounded by sharks and offers them her gross ice cream. However they don't take it and throw up on her instead, leaving poor Courtney crying. Many people despise this episode because of this and its typically rewritten in fanworks to have Courtney be redeemed instead.
- Ezekiel's punishment for his arrogance displayed in the first episode of World Tour and his sexism from Island is being transformed into an Expy of Gollum. While Zeke prior to this was a Base-Breaking Character, the Feral Ezekiel arc is universally considered an example of Disproportionate Retribution even if it was technically Zeke's own doing. Unlike Alejandro and Scott, Ezekiel never gets better, leaving a far more bitter taste in fan's mouths compared to the former two.
- While Dave's reaction to Sky's manipulation and mistreatment of him was excessive, you'll find few people who think he deserved to be abandoned on the island, mauled by Scuba Bear 3.0, and never mentioned if he survived.

L-P

Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
- Just try to find a female character who hasn't been shipped with Cody.
- DJ’s kindness makes him a popular choice for shippers to pair with other characters.
- Bridgette's kind, down-to-Earth nature has resulted in her being a popular shipping target. Along with her canonical boyfriend Geoff, she's also been paired with DJ (due to them both being nice people), Ezekiel (because of his unrequited crush on her), Trent (because both are the Only Sane Man), Cody and Noah (as both also have lots of ships), and others.
- Trent's Only Sane Man and Nice Guy personality made him the go to guy for shipping at times. Not only is he canonically paired with Gwen, but he's also been shipped with Bridgette, Courtney, Lindsay, Sierra, Anne Maria, Dawn, Ella, Samey, and Sky.
- On top of being canonically paired with Zoey, Mike has been shipped with Scott, Anne Maria, Cameron, Duncan, and even his own alters, usually Mal. He sometimes gets crack-shipped with characters he hasn't interacted with, like Cody, just for similar appearances.
- Sammy's status as The Woobie has earned her quite a bit of attention from the shipping community, if only because she definitely needs something good in her life.
- Wayne is often shipped with either Raj (or at least he was before Raj and Bowie became a couple, but there are people who have a taken a liking to the idea of Bowie and Raj letting Wayne into their relationship), Emma, Damien, Nichelle, the purple haired intern, or Julia.
- Emma has also gotten shipped around a fair bit, mostly due to fans agreeing she needs someone better than Chase. Wayne and Zee are the most popular options, but she's also been shipped with Axel, Priya and Caleb.
- Zee gets shipped a fair bit with characters like Chase, Damien, Emma, Scary Girl, Ripper and Priya, as well as his own soda cans.
LGBT Fanbase: Has a huge one due to the sheer amount of Ho Yay between contestants as well as between Chris and Chef. A lot of fanart can be seen depicting same sex pairings, especially ones concerning Noah and Cody. The fanbase exploded when it was revealed that the revival would feature an actual same-sex couple and that the couple was Bowie and Raj.
Love to Hate:
- Chris McLean in later seasons may have become a huge Hate Sink, but his sheer sadism is so enjoyably dark as well.
- Chase has established himself to be a toxic boyfriend to Emma and a horrible person overall, but his idiocy makes him one of the most hilarious and memorable characters in the reboot.
Macekre: The Brazilian dub has been heavily edited to make it more suitable for very young kids. Most adult jokes are replaced by childish insults, and some scenes of cartoonish violence (such as Heather being shocked in Action's third Aftermath) are outright removed.
Magnificent Bastard: Bowie, debuting in the 2023 Island reboot season, quickly establishes himself as an ambitious team player by orchestrating the first elimination of the season by convincing his team to vote off Caleb, lest he become a threat. Throughout the season, Bowie forms good relationships with other campers, invoking the Gay Best Friend image to befriend Emma and developing a mutual attraction with Raj. However, he sets boundaries to prevent personal feelings from complicating his gameplay. At the final four, Bowie fakes an alliance with Julia to sabotage her gameplay, secretly allying with Priya and Millie to vote her off. Immediately after this, he uses the information from MK's recorded confessionals to covertly reveal Millie's unflattering psychology report to Priya. He even makes a point to rip out the last page where Millie admits she was too mean in her report, ensuring she comes out looking bad and throwing both girls off their game, securing Bowie's spot in the final two. Despite his shady behavior, Bowie maintains a sense of dignity, morality, and amusing sarcasm, making him one of the most likable and subtle antagonists in the franchise.
Memetic Badass: Izzy, who is frequently called the best fighter in the series, due to the wallopings she regularly gives to Chef Hatchet.
Memetic Hair:
- Heather's many different hairstyles across the series led to the Total Drama wiki dedicating an entire page to them.
- Anne Maria's pouffe qualifies as well.
Memetic Loser: Caleb barely appearing in promotional material for the 2023 reboot led to many jokes at his expense, with many accurate predictions that he would be the first boot. Fans often joke that he doesn't really exist. His infamous elimination dialogue made him a bigger target of memes.
Memetic Psychopath: Mal is this in every way, just search him up on dark corners of Deviantart. He's a bit of an odd example because he's intended to be a canonical Knight of Cerebus and he's treated as The Dreaded in-universe, but the show's PG rating meant that they couldn't let him get away with much. Thanks to fan works that have no such restrictions all bets are off.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales:
- A lot of homeschooled fans tend to like Ezekiel. This includes Fandom VIP The Kobold Necromancer, whose fanfics played a huge part in rescuing him from the Scrappy Heap.
- Despite the controversy revolving around the less-than-accurate depiction of his disorder, fans with Dissociative Identity Disorder (or other neurodivergent conditions) often relate to Mike since he is a rare example of a character with DID who is portrayed as a hero, and with him and his alters overall being portrayed sympathetically. They often flesh out his symptoms and implied trauma in fan works to make him more realistic. His experience with ableism at the hands of Scott in "Grand Chef Auto", unlike the portrayal of his condition, is far more accurate and something many neurodivergent people can relate to, which only served to make him even more popular. Also, the fact that he found a loving relationship with a Nice Girl who loved him all the same condition or otherwise was appreciated by neurodivergent fans.
- Music lovers love Ella due to many finding her singing voice very beautiful and her tendency to break out in song during inappropriate moments leading to lots of funny moments. Her elimination is widely considered to be one of the saddest and most unfair eliminations in the series.
- Sam is most beloved by the very gamers that he's a stereotype of. It definitely helps that he averts some of the more mean-spirited stereotypes associated with gamers (like perpetual singledom^note and desensitization to violence) and is continuously portrayed as one of the nicer characters on the show.
- Many fans from the Deep South or similarly "redneck" places find Sugar hilarious. Several of them can attest to having known someone like her growing up.
Mis-blamed: Many fans often deem Teletoon and Fresh TV to be squarely at fault for many of the unpopular choices of the later seasons. However, Cartoon Network purchased a large share of the series' rights from the Canadian studios following the success of the first season, giving them even more influence in the show's production than Teletoon did.
Moe: Now has its own page.
Moral Event Horizon:
- Blaineley began as the egotistical but largely harmless co-host of Celebrity Manhunt and later the replacement host for Bridgette in the Aftermath special. Then in "Aftermath Aftermayhem," she forces Bridgette to take her place on a tour so Blainley can take her place as co-host permanently, leaving Bridgette stranded in freezing cold Siberia. This horrifies Geoff, who sings a brutal song mocking her. Almost everybody dislikes her (barring Owen) and she becomes The Chew Toy when she joins the season as a contestant, being put through serious physical pain to the amusement of everybody else.
- In the Pahkitew Island finale Dave of all people crosses it by endangering both Sky and Shawn's well-being in order to win the money he and Jasmine were promised. But unlike Jasmine (who wants to use the money to build a cage-fighting flower shop), all he wanted the money for was to burn it in front of Sky to spite her all because he felt betrayed by her after he found out that she already had a boyfriend.
- Earlier in the same season, Scarlett crosses it by seizing control over the island and threatening to blow it up with everyone on it, unless Chris handed over the prize money.
More Interesting as a Villain: Given his bitterness about being the first one eliminated in the previous season, many were anticipating that Caleb would be the Big Bad of Season 2 of the reboot. However, more than a few fans were left disappointed when the season ended up characterizing Caleb as a Nice Guy who genuinely falls for Priya. Given how contentious his romance with Priya ended up being (especially when compared to Priya x Damien), as well as a number viewers considering him to be a Flat Character who had little going on beyond that romance, many fans have expressed that they would have preferred Caleb be Season 2's villain, as opposed to giving the role to Julia again.
Most Wonderful Sound:
- Dawn's adorably squeaky voice.
- Similarly, Sam's husky voice is generally easy on the ears and satisfying to hear.
Narm:
- Almost any time the Cartoon Network edited version dubs over words like "crap" or "suck" (or any variations thereof). The substituted words are so awkwardly spliced in (and flatly delivered) that you can't help but burst out laughing. For example, in the unedited version of "Basic Straining", Duncan says, "This sucks!" when Courtney is kicked off the show. What does he say to such an unexpected turn of events in the edited version?
Duncan: Aw, man, this stinks!
- Lindsay's famous tirade against Heather is widely regarded as the worst of the censoring that Cartoon Network did to the show, as everyone keeps the same reactions even though Lindsay, rather than cursing her lungs out at Heather, instead calls her a "no good, selfish, bossy, pushy, heartless mean bully of a girl!"
Narm Charm:
- Julia's line, "By the way, avocado toast is gross," would normally come off as an attempt to sound hip and a stereotype of Gen Z, but seeing as Julia's entire character was an influencer trying to appeal to Gen Z, it just adds to how fake she was the whole time.
- Similarly to the above example, Bowie mockingly telling Julia that 90% percent of her social media followers are bots is a joke that would've absolutely not landed on any previous entry of the series, but manages to be hilarious instead of cringeworthy due to Julia taking genuine offense at it and being realistic when it comes to modern times.
Nausea Fuel:
- "Not Quite Famous" has the scene where Bridgette stands on her head and projectile vomits all over the stage and the audience, including Katie and Sadie, who throw up in turn. Even worse, Bridgette slips on her own vomit and falls onto the stage.
- The "disgusting eating challenge" of each season, with special mentions going to:
  - "Brunch of Disgustingness" and "I Triple Dog Dare You!" in Island. The former has the contestants eating delicacies such as live grasshopper, jellyfish, and anchovies pizza, live worms covered in slime and hairballs, French Bunion soup with Chef's toenails floating inside of it, and shakes made from a skunk's liquefied odor and blended cockroaches. The latter has chewing gum already chewed by Harold, eating dog food, a live cockroach, and jam out of Owen's bellybutton.
  - "Hurl and Go Zeek" in Pahkitew Island has the Juggy Chunks, blends made out of horse meat, mayonnaise, and eggs that expired all the way to 1976. It manages to be so severe that all the contestants who eat it suffer from food poisoning and need to have their stomachs pumped at the end of the episode.
  - "Taste Buddies" in Island (2023), an all but in name remake of "Brunch of Disgustingness", brings out new jewels such as meat cooked inside of one of Chef's old boots, congested pig snouts in a soup of their own snot, croissants filled with hair and head lice, and a massive tapeworm.
- "The Chefshank Redemption" has another disgusting eating challenge, but the kicker is when Gwen accidentally swallows Beth's retainer and barfs it up, then Beth puts it back into her mouth without even washing it. This makes Lindsay projectile vomit all over Gwen's face.
- In "Million Dollar Babies," Courtney makes Duncan eat a visibly dirty diaper. We even see him spit out the excrement.
- "2008: A Space Owen" has the contestants ride in the "Vomit Comit," a small astronaut simulator designed to make the contestants puke. Owen farts in there, triggering Duncan to vomit all over himself when he enters, and then Beth enters the ride despite it being full of puke. After she exits, she kisses Harold with the puke on her mouth. Then to top it all off, Chef is shown preparing lunch in the puke-filled Vomit Comit, which makes everybody gag.
Chef: Hope you all like gumbo!
- In "Walk Like an Egyptian — Part 2," Ruby the camel farts — and apparently craps — on Cody's face. The second time, we even see him moaning afterwards with brown slop on his face.
- Owen puking up freshly eaten sausages in "Slap Slap Revolution"... Then eating them again at the end of the episode.
- Blaineley eating a slice of pizza covered in mud and bugs in "Aftermath Aftermayhem".
- Brick's dislocated arm in "Ice Ice Baby" might be hard to look at depending on the type of person you are.
- Sugar is gross for the sake of being gross, indulging in every opportunity she can to be disgusting. Her actions would make even Owen retch. Though the writers may have intentionally tried to incite this response from viewers.
Never Live It Down:
- Ezekiel's sexism (which is only brought up in the second episode) is considered his most defining trait, even after he turns into a monster in season three.
- Beth is often disproportionately villainized due to two clips:
  - Fans remember Beth for eating all the cookies, that were meant to be shared between herself and the other girls, in a secret clip from the season 2 finale. While the scene was meant to show Beth's selfish side, the point is that she's usually not like that and her other behavior on the show, while sometimes selfish, rarely reaches that level.
  - Beth's detractors use "2008: A Space Owen," in which she kisses Harold despite allegedly dating Brady, as proof that she's a shallow cheater who acts entitled to boys' affection. This Beth-Harold Ship Tease only existed briefly, and was due to Beth misunderstanding Harold's behavior as romantic; she also only kisses Harold when she decides she doesn't want to date Brady anymore (though she later goes back on this). People also bring up her crush on Justin (which almost everybody had, including Lindsay, who was also taken) and her kissing Cody's cheek in TDI (which was not romantic and happened before Brady as a character even existed), and even the Cargo Ship joke where she flirts with a pole to back it up.
- Scott getting Dawn eliminated by framing her for stealing stuff. This is the thing that earned Scott the fandom's ire back during Revenge of the Island, as even in comparison to everything else he did, fans would bring this up as the reason they hated him. The thing is, this far the first time a villain in this series has pulled this type of thing, as this kind of dirty trick is Heather and Alejandro's bread and butter. In fact, Heather, the most popular villain of the series, did nearly the exact same thing to Trent back in Island. While the hatred of Scott has mostly dissipated thanks to his nicer portrayal in All-Stars, there are still some fans who are still angry and refuse to forgive Scott for what he did to Dawn. It doesn't help Scott's case that Dawn was an Ensemble Dark Horse very early on, and since Scott got her eliminated, he is thus responsible for her lack of screentime.
- On the opposite side of the coin, Dawn's brief moment of looking at Scott fondly and her excited exclamation that Scott talked to the mutant mama beetle in Ice Ice Baby is likely the reason Scott/Dawn is a Fan-Preferred Couple despite the fact that the next two episodes showing that Scott is apathetic to Dawn at best and that Dawn actively hates him.
- Zoey failing to realize Mal had taken control over Mike until the penultimate episode of All-Stars is brought up very often when descusing All-Stars' problems and is one of the many reasons why she's such a divisive character. It's often used to paint her as a complete idiot.
- Even though Owen was competent in several challenges and was generally a very good team player in Island, his detractors often point to him eating all the food in the cooking challenge to generalize him as a bad player and claim he shouldn't have been a finalist. He was also far from the only Gopher to screw up in that challenge. Likewise, Leshawna should've known better than to trust him guarding the food.
Nightmare Retardant: Mal, Mike's evil personality, is treated as more threatening than other Total Drama villains, beating up characters and even intimidating other villains. However, the limitations of the show's otherwise silly tone and young target demographic make Mal come across as more of a ridiculous Badbutt (not helped by his design just being Mike with dark eyebags and bangs). The biggest examples are early in the season, when he breaks into Sam and Sierra's beds, lurking ominously in the shadows... and breaks their video game and cell phone respectively. The Evil Gloating in his confessional after these actions feels more like a Poke the Poodle joke. Comparisons are often made between Mal and Max from the following season, the latter of whom was intended to be over-the-top evil for comedy.
Older Than the Demographic: The casts (with some exceptions in characters like Blaineley) are all intended to be roughly around 16 years old at their debut season. However, the target demographic for this show is closer to 9-11 year olds, which can sometimes show in the writing (especially during character conflicts).
Older Than They Think:
- Contrary to what many fans believed when the show first aired in the US (and several still do), this isn't the first cartoon to have its main premise revolve around parodying reality shows, although Drawn Together was more of a Big Brother parody explicitly intended for mature audiences while this is a competition-based reality show intended for preteens (but drew a large older crowd).
One-Scene Wonder:
- "Emily" The Flight Attendant from the fourth aftermath of Action is quite popular, often being paired with "Billy" the intern.
- The first generation contestant cameos in Revenge of the Island serve as this, in particular Izzy, Lindsay, and Heather.
- Beardo in Pahkitew Island. It was obvious to many that he was elimination fodder, but that didn't stop many from enjoying him while he was around.
One True Pairing: In spite of how extreme the ship wars in this series can get, you'd be hard pressed to find a fan that doesn't ship Sam and Dakota or Bowie and Raj due to their heartwarming storylines in Revenge of the Island and Island (2023), respectively.
One True Threesome:
- Noah/Cody/Gwen is fairly popular for fans who can't decide which to pick. Sometimes Izzy is thrown in as well for a neat little foursome.
- With the growing popularity of Noah/Izzy and the continuing presence of the Noah/Cody fanbase, several fans enjoy using Izzy/Noah/Cody instead, because, lets face it, Izzy would be happy to share.
- The team-up of Eva, Izzy, and Noah in Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island is one of the most well-received interactions in the entire series, so it's been used as the basis of a threesome. On occasion, Owen is added for a foursome due to events in World Tour.
- Izzy/Owen/Noah became another popular threesome, thanks to the latter two's Odd Friendship in World Tour and Ridonculous Race attracting a lot of Ho Yay moments. It helps that the Fan-Preferred Couple of Noah/Izzy has long been a rival to the Official Couple of Owen/Izzy.
- After Gwen and Courtney became friends in season 3, at least before "I See London...", there was interest in the idea of Courtney/Duncan/Gwen as a threesome as a happy ending for all three parties in regards to the Love Triangle.
- Jo/Brick/Lightning is a functional middle ground for people who ship both Jo/Brick and Jo/Lightning. It helps that for one episode they actually were a solid team.
- Shawn/Jasmine/Sammy is a popular pairing for those who can't decide whether to ship Jasmine with Shawn or Sammy.
- Dave/Sky/Ella has supporters.
- Due to the numerous Ho Yay scenes between Geoff and newcomer Brody, Ridonculous Race made Bridgette/Geoff/Brody another popular threesome.
- Bowie/Raj/Wayne for the people who love the Official Couple of Bowie/Raj, and also like the idea of the two letting Wayne into their relationship after all the support he has shown to them.
- Similarly to the above, Wayne/Julia/MK is this for people who love Julia and MK's Les Yay-filled Villainous Friendship, but don't want to let go of the idea of Julia/Wayne.
- Chase/Ripper/Zee has a small but vocal fandom who ships them due to their hilarious interactions with each other and how it helps making both Chase and Ripper a lot more likable. Some special moments, such as Ripper calling Chase "Pretty Boy", Chase and Zee's dynamic in the raptor episode (which includes Zee holding and complimenting Chase's butt and Chase crying over leaving Zee behind), and Zee not showing disgust towards Ripper's antics (including exposing his butt in the premier) has helped solidify this.
Periphery Demographic: The series is aimed at 11-15 year olds and airs on channels marketed towards children like Teletoon and Cartoon Network, but has acquired a very large following with adults for its occasional adult humour and content, teen drama elements, parodying of reality TV, realistic depiction of teenagers, and having many very attractive male and female characters.
Play-Along Meme: After Nichelle's elimination, she places the blame on her stunt double in her films, Jerry. This caused fans to proclaim Jerry to be the worst character of the season and agree with Nichelle that it was his fault for her elimination. This is likely due to Nichelle's popularity with fans and her voice actress' quite hilarious delivery of the line "I hate you, Jerry!" when she was picked up by the Drone of Despair.
Preemptive Shipping:
- When characters designs for the fifth season's second half, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island, were leaked before the premier, fans of the franchise almost immediately started pairing characters up based entirely on how they looked.
- The same happened with the characters released for the 2023 reboot. The reveal in interviews that there would be a gay couple particularly excited fans as they tried to guess which couple it would be, with the most common guesses being Caleb/Bowie (Bowie being Camp Gay and visibly attracted to Caleb in one promotional flyer) and Wayne/Raj (With them appearing to be very close and advertised as a duo). Both choices turned out to be half-right as the couple was Bowie/Raj. Another common guess was Priya/Chase as they had similar design choices to other "main couples" in the show. Chase instead has a canonical romantic (and very dysfunctional) past with Emma, which most people didn't predict, and Priya develops a crush on Caleb in the second season of the reboot.

R-S

Realism-Induced Horror:
- Part of what makes Mike's arc throughout Revenge of the Island and All-Stars all the more depressing is that although it's Played for Laughs on it's best days, his storyline isn't a love triangle or turning feral. Rather, it's just a story of a teenage boy who is struggling with a mental disorder that has gotten him into trouble several times. He's also scared of revealing his disorder to Zoey and the others in fear of being ostracized for being a freak, which is also realistic. The chances of someone going feral or turning into a mutant are slim-to-none but there are most certainly people out there who was struggling mentally and have kept it a secret in fear of being made fun of and hurting others.
- There are many girls like Island (2023)'s Emma in real life who believe they can change their partners for the better and therefore they stay with them or come back to them after breaking up even though they're aware of how unhealthy their relationship is. Much like in Emma's case, in real life such decisions often cause their friendships to fall apart after their friends can no longer tolerate their decisions in spite of trying to talk them out of it, and they might end up hating their friends for trying to reason with them as well.
Replacement Scrappy: Sam was hated in All-Stars because his personality was changed to become extremely similar to Owen. All of his jokes are about food and farts, while his differentiating factors (his gaming obsession and love for Dakota) are heavily downplayed.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- Many fans started liking Sierra better around "Awww, Drumheller" or "Planes, Trains, Hot Air Mobiles," when she finally accepted Cody's Better as Friends proposal. Too bad it didn't last...
- Owen in season 3, where he's been toned down considerably: getting an actually funny sub-plot of being afraid of flying, contributing both negatively and positively to his team, his Odd Friendship with Noah, and the sympathy he garnered from his breakup with Izzy. Come Ridonculous Race, Owen's scrappydom died down even more, as while he's still guilty of many of his previous character faults, he actually seems to be trying to win this time, has a more development to his friendship and chemistry with Noah, and his making it so far in the competition doesn't feel anywhere near as forced as previous seasons.
- Scott used to be one of, if not the most hated character in the entire series during Revenge of the Island. The hatedom died down however, when he stopped throwing challenges in All-Stars, started a sweet relationship with Courtney and had some funny moments. The fact that his Butt-Monkey status has been upped considerably also gives him sympathy from the fans.
- All of the characters in Revenge of the Island used to be disliked due to the fact that they weren't the first generation cast. As the years passed, the resentment for them toned down greatly due to several factors - the old cast returning the next season and in the spinoffs, All Stars's quality kinda proving that generation one characters does not automatically make a good season, the new cast growing on people, or simply people becoming less butthurt about it. While the original cast is definitely the most well liked by far, the second generation has made their mark on the fandom and any vehement bitterness towards them has pretty much completely died down.
Romantic Plot Tumor:
- During the second half of World Tour, the remaining contestants are flanderized to the point they are solely defined by their dysfunctional romantic relationships. Sierra's knowledge about the show is ignored in order to emphasize her unhealthy obsession with Cody; Courtney becomes deranged once she finds out Duncan has cheated on her with Gwen; and Heather's sub-plot revolves around her repeatedly denying her repressed feelings for Alejandro. The latter plot has a more positive reception, however, since it ties into the climax of the finale.
- Revenge of the Island introduces a brand new cast, but due to Mike and Zoey's romance arc, there's little the viewers get to know about them as long as they're competing together. Most of their screen time is spent awkwardly flirting, fighting about the Love Triangle with Anne Maria, or having Mike save Zoey from danger. While Mike's Split Personality issue provides some depth for him as a character, Zoey doesn't get nearly as much to do until Mike is eliminated; as long as he's on the show with her, she only serves as his romantic interest. Unfortunately, this carries over to All-Stars; while they do get more interactions with the original cast, the desire to carry Zoey and Mike/Mal to the final two results in everybody else being dumbed down so they can be eliminated and more attention can be put on the romance arc.
- Scott and Courtney's romance in All-Stars. Putting Courtney in yet another romance arc was controversial, especially since the season had already given her an interesting arc reconciling with Gwen and seemingly resolving the Gwen/Duncan/Courtney arc at last. Pairing her with Scott was unexpected and at times came across as out of character, which was made worse by a forced Mistaken for Cheating plot.
- Chase and Emma's relationship in the first season of Island (2023) has its fair share of issues thanks to Chase being an egomaniac who cut Emma's brakes as a prank and Emma flip flopping between hating and loving Chase for his actions. Their repeating breaking up and getting back together despite all this hasn't endeared the fans to them.
- The Priya/Caleb plotline in the second season of Island (2023) eats up a lot of screentime, especially in the second half thanks to their Poor Communication Kills arc, with pretty much every other character (including the season's winner) and potential arc (sans Julia, and that's only because she decides to play an active role in making it worse) being shafted in favor of the drama surrounding it.
Ron the Death Eater:
- Trent is by far the most extreme case in many works, especially in Cody/Gwen and Duncan/Gwen fanfiction. His OCD and jealousy issues will be exaggerated to violent levels to justify any former love interest leaving him.
- Courtney's Heel–Face Revolving Door nature will usually be ignored in favor of making her a one-dimensional Control Freak with a Hair-Trigger Temper.
- Sierra's Character Development and decision to stop harassing Cody is often ignored in favor of having her act just as violent and creepy as her early World Tour persona, which wasn't helped by her actually sliding back into it in All-Stars. Her newly forged friendship with Cody will often be tossed aside as well, even when there's no real reason for it not to exist.
- Duncan's a pretty nuanced Anti-Hero (with emphasis on the anti) but his negative traits get even more exaggerated in fanwork and his penchant for petty crimes is sometimes elevated to federal ones — ignoring the fact that the only time he did something truly criminal, he got sent to jail for it. Many of his detractors also claim that his cheating - which had an excuse behind it - made him borderline irredeemable.
- Cameron gets this in All-Stars, with haters tending to exaggerate his flaws to the point where he's deemed one of the most selfish, unlikable, villainous characters in the season, and that him getting put in a full body cast and a bubble was deserving karma.
- While Sky may have cheated on Keith and treated Dave rather harshly in the later parts of the competition, some people exaggerate her competitiveness and turn her into a heartless monster, which simply isn't the case.
- Dave is a special case. While he was an Entitled Bastard regarding his love for Sky, people tend to act like his clinginess and Sanity Slippage is his sole character traits and completely ignore his nicer actions, like saving Ella from drowning. Many writers will make him look worse than he normally is just to make other characters look better. A couple of Reddit posts have even labeled him the character who is demonized the most in fanfics.
- Similar to Dave, Chase is another special case, on the one hand he is proven to be a really lousy boyfriend to Emma, cutting the breaks on her car without telling her for a prank video, which then lead to her crashing into a pet store, leading to her understandably and rightfully dumping him. There's also the fact that he's show to be quite self-centered, naming a star Chase's Girlfriend and then expecting Emma to follow suit and legally change her name to that. On the other hand, despite these things, it is shown that Chase does mean well as most of his terrible actions were actually just failed attempts at trying to do nice things for other people (usually Emma) and are a result of idiocy rather than any malice, and it's because of his good intentions that he fails to realise that he did anything wrong and outside of these actions he's generally shown to be a Nice Guy who gets along well with his fellow teammates (particularly Ripper and Zee). However if you were to ask certain members of the fandom what Chase is like, they're likely to tell you that he's an abusive, manipulative, narcissistic sociopath, who regularly lies and takes advantage of others and knows what he did was wrong but doesn't care, a far cry from the affable Innocently Insensitive Hero with an F in Good that he is canonically.
- While Priya did attempt to injure Millie and Caleb and can be psychotic at times, most people would choose to focus on those flaws just to villainze her as a result of her polarizing role in the second season of the reboot. This is despite the fact that she was tricked in those instances and is normally a quirky and cheerful individual.
Rooting for the Empire: Due to the nature of the show, villains can win without any major consequences on the heroes. As a result, some fans will root for an antagonist, due to loving them and wanting to see what they will do next.
- The most prominent example is Heather who has one of the largest fanbases on the show.
- This was also the case in All-Stars due to the season's protagonists, Mike and Zoey, being hated more than before and many of the villains (barring Mal) became the more favorable option.
  - While more of an anti-hero, Anne Maria has been getting a lot more fans than Zoey as of late. Some people even go as to unironically ship Anne Maria/Vito. Zoey being one of worst contenders for Flanderization and/or Took a Level in Dumbass definitely doesn't help.
- During the second season of the reboot, many fans admitted to wanting to see Julia and/or MK come out on top, in spite of them being the main villains who cheated and manipulated their way through the game, simply because they were so charismatic and their Villainous Friendship plot being widely considered to be the highlight of the season. The fact the rest of the cast bar Caleb and Priya not doing much of anything all season is a huge factor as well.
Salvaged Story:
- "Sky Fall" had Jasmine and Shawn share The Big Damn Kiss before Jasmine departed the island, breaking the controversial trend of couples getting their kisses interrupted by Chris before an elimination.
- After the ire from fans that was received as a result of Total DramaRama, the announcement of two brand new seasons set in the original continuity and using the elimination show format did a lot to rejuvenate fans.
- Reality competition fans who watched the show felt that the narrative condemned anyone trying to win, even if they weren't as bad as the antagonists. The 2023 reboot was far more sympathetic to this mentality as the majority of the players are focused on winning, and even the more aggressive players like Bowie and MK are portrayed sympathetically unless they do something out of line like Bowie intentionally leaving out the last page of Millie's story where she praised Priya or MK berating Nichelle. Bowie in particular is an interesting case in the sense that even though he is labeled as an antagonist, he is portrayed as a nice and friendly person who doesn't actually wish ill upon the other contestants, he is just a very competitive person. The show also acknowledges Evil Is Cool and Love to Hate by Julia's follower count skyrocketing after its initial plummet when her villain status is revealed.
- One of complains about the main series was how Chef ended up being Demoted to Extra, only getting one or two episodes of Character Focus per season as of World Tour, with none at all in Pahkitew Island. Even back during Island (2007) and Action he was more in the background for majority of the season. Island (2023) fixes this by promoting him to an actual co-host, which gives him a role in every single episode, usually explaining and commenting on challenges alongside Chris and stating why certain campers are in danger of elimination during elimination ceremonies.
- While the decision for each season to have Multiple Endings^note(one where one finalist wins and the other with the opposing finalist winning instead) had its supporters for allowing more upredictability regarding who'll win in which country as well as for having more winners across the franchise as a result, part of the fandom didn't like it as it made it hard for there to be any mention of any past winner winning (and potentially being targeted for elimination as a result). Island (2023) reboot fixes this issue by having only one ending, which allows the winner winning and the runner-up losing to be brought up however many times needed.
  - Priya being the first canon winner since Owen in the very first season also addresses another issue. Between Owen being the canon winner of Island, and then Revenge of the Island having two male finalists, two seasons canonically had male winners while no season ever canonically had a woman win. Even The Ridonculous Race had its ending changed to replace the all-female Sisters team with the all-male Surfer Dudes team specifically to avoid an all-female finale and prevent one gender from having the canonical winners, even though this had been done twice before in favor of men. With Priya as the canon winner of Island (2023), a woman finally achieved the status of being a canon winner in Total Drama.
- Fans who got tired of so many contestants becoming bald throughout the series got a compromise in the form of Julia's Laser-Guided Karma including a Traumatic Haircut without making her go completely bald.
The Scrappy:
- While Ezekiel himself is considered Unintentionally Sympathetic and still has a decent number of fans who want him to get another chance as a human, his feral transformation in World Tour is universally hated for derailing his character into a Gollum ripoff.
- Staci. Her Compulsive Liar gimmick was an attempt by the show to make for a funny early elimination, but to most she just came off as obnoxiously annoying and wanted her gone and never to come back.
- Leonard was easily Pahkitew Island's least popular character, with his mental state being severely off the rails, an annoying wizard-gimmick, and the fact he's viewed as being offensive to real-life LARPers. Being the fourth and final returnee in The Ridonculous Race did nothing to rescue him with Word of God confirming that he was brought back simply to replace a magician character and save money on production. While he may not have the biggest hatedom in the third generation cast, he has overall the least amount of fans to balance out the hate.
- Rodney is incredibly unpopular for being one-dimensional due to never receiving any personality traits outside of his repetitive Fool for Love running gag, which is considered to be awkward rather than endearing. He also has little to no importance in the plot, leading to the view that he's a pointless character. Like Leonard, even if his detractors aren't very vocal, he doesn't have enough fans to balance out the hate.
Seasonal Rot:
- Many fans feel that Action was mediocre compared to the previous season. Izzy gets grating after a few episodes, fan faves Gwen and Trent are broken up (doesn't help that it was a result of the producers wanting to make the idea of dating realistic for kids who normally date more than once but ended up falling under a double edged sword) and eliminated early, Owen leaves and comes back later despite becoming The Load, and much of the rest of the cast is very unlikable, particularly Chris, whose jerkassery reaches new levels.
- A significant amount of fans claimed that All-Stars was much worse than Action. It started off rather promising, with the introduction of Mal and the Character Rerailment of certain campers, plus the opportunity to have new and old characters interact. Unfortunately, most of these promises were either wasted or poorly delivered. Mal went from a villain who did things solely For the Evulz to a rather Anti-Climax Boss who was literally defeated at the push of a button, Courtney's re-railment was botched in one episode, reverting her back to her Action-self and rendering the plot of Gwen trying to reestablish her friendship with her (which took up more than half the season and was her only reason for returning) completely pointless, and certain characters were given the Idiot Ball in order to justify their eliminations. The finale was definitely the low point for many though. Unlike the previous finales, only four of the past contestants participated because the rest were all trapped inside gas filled balloons that were sent flying off into the sky, and the final line-up had what many consider to be a very obvious outcome and winner. Add in Mal's simple defeat, Mike curing himself of his MPD in an insultingly easy manner, and Camp Wawanakwa actually sinking and you have a series that left the fanbase broken in more ways than one. The overall reception proved so negative that Fresh TV came forth to request fan feedback on the season to try and figure out what went wrong and try to use it to help with the development of Season 6, which wouldn't be produced until several years later.
- Pahkitew Island, was produced at the same time as All-Stars. Depending on who you ask, it's either better than All-Stars, just as bad or even worse. As a result of the shorter season length, several writing flaws are more apparent here: most of the cast are much more one-note and gimmicky, there's a higher amount of Toilet Humor here compared to the last two seasons (most of which is courtesy of Sugar), and some of the more interesting characters are either eliminated early (Sammy, Ella) or given plotlines that due to their lack of focus are either wasted or hastily concluded (Sammy again, Scarlett).
Self-Fanservice: Eva is frequently the subject of this. The show considers her to be as ugly and intimidating on the outside as she is on the inside. In the eyes of the fandom, however, she's a misunderstood Amazonian Beauty that just needs the right person to see how lovely she truly is.
Shipping Bed Death: Gwen/Duncan was a more popular ship than Courtney/Duncan during Action because Gwen and Duncan had a lot in common, had really compatible personalities, and Courtney's behavior towards Duncan made people turn against their pairing. Once Courtney Took a Level in Kindness during World Tour, and Gwen and Duncan got together after he cheated on Courtney with her, the ship's popularity lost its appeal.
Ship Mates: A lot of Gwen/Duncan shippers liked to ship Trent with Courtney as a form of Pair the Spares, even before the former became canon. When Courtney became an Official Couple with Scott in All-Stars, some fans kept that couple intact instead, despite both Gwen and Duncan and Scott and Courtney breaking up during the season.
The Ship's Motor:
- Cody is often made bisexual, because while it's very clear that Cody likes girls, Noah/Cody is still one of the most popular ships in the fandom due to their Accidental Kiss in "The Big Sleep".
- Similarly, Lightning being gay or bisexual, based on how he reacts when Sam asks Scott if he "kissed a gentleman". This is often used as an excuse to ship Lightning with Brick, Tyler, or, most commonly, Cameron.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: There's plenty of ships fighting for dominance in the fandom, which isn't helped by the show's official YouTube channel seemingly actively encouraging it.
- Duncan/Gwen vs. Trent/Gwen as well, with Duncan/Courtney fans typically tag-teaming with Trent/Gwen fans, is one of the oldest and most infamous shipping wars, especially after World Tour sank Duncan/Courtney in favor of Duncan/Gwen. Fans of Duncan/Courtney and Gwen/Trent will put down Duncan/Gwen as being forced and better as friends, while Duncan/Gwen fans will call the other two pairings (usually Duncan/Courtney) unhealthy or even abusive. There's also a tendency for Duncan/Gwen fans to hate Courtney and Duncan/Courtney fans to hate Gwen and blame the girl for the love triangle (Duncan rarely gets the majority of the blame). After All-Stars, Courtney/Gwen fans became more vocal critics of both canon Duncan ships, often hating Duncan as a character for keeping the girls apart.
- Duncan/Courtney vs. Scott/Courtney. The latter is considered a cheap attempt to capture the former's popularity, while Scott/Courtney fans think Scott is nicer than Duncan and that Courtney deserves a fresh start.
- Scott/Courtney pissed off many fans of Scott/Dawn when All-Stars aired, as the enemies-to-lovers fanon dynamic seemed more fleshed out to fans than the dynamic with Courtney in canon, never mind all of Courtney's existing rival ships. Scott/Courtney fans throw back how Scott and Dawn's canon relationship is purely antagonistic. This fight often boils down to how much liberty a fanon interpretation of a ship should have.
- Mike/Zoey vs. Duncan/Zoey emerged at the height of Mike's Base-Breaking Character status in All-Stars. Duncan/Zoey fans found Mike untrustworthy due to lying about his disorder and liked the Angel/Devil Shipping angle of pairing Duncan with Zoey. They would even spam Duncan/Zoey art in the Mike/Zoey Tumblr tag, upsetting Mike/Zoey fans; the latter group would criticize the ship as falling into Draco in Leather Pants with Duncan and Ron the Death Eater with Mike (especially stories that used Mike's DID as a reason for Zoey to dump him and get with Duncan).
- Noah ships tend to start a lot of discourse. Noah/Cody fans tend to have hostility with Noah/Duncan and Noah/Alejandro fans due to the former's Hype Backlash among the shipping fandom and the latter's Foe Yay Shipping, while Noah/Owen shippers clash with them all due to the argument that Noah and Owen are either better as friends or claims that Owen isn't "attractive" enough compared to Noah's other fanon partners. The canon pairing of Noah and Emma stoked the flames the most; fans of that ship tend to blame Noah/Cody fans as the reason the ship is so controversial (though the Broken Base about that plotline extends beyond shipping fandom, most detractors do tend to have preferred Noah ships) while Noah/Cody fans (and most others with gay Noah ships) resent that Noah is no longer Ambiguously Gay. Noah/Owen fans also clash with Noah/Emma due to the latter plotline taking attention away from Noah and Owen's friendship in Ridonculous Race.
- For some time after the first reboot season, there was in-fighting between those who shipped Damien with Priya and Damien with Scary Girl, with the former being berated as predictable and dull and the latter being berated as falling into unfortunate tropes due to Scary Girl's constant intimidation of Damien. This died down when the second season paired Priya with Caleb.
- Julia/MK shippers don't take kindly to shipping either character with men^note, so the second most popular Julia ship, Julia/Wayne, gets a lot of flak, especially since Julia hates Wayne in canon. Julia/Wayne shippers, on the contrary, tend to dislike how much Julia/MK dominates the fandom.
Signature Scene:
- The campers' photo shoot in "Not So Happy Campers" is perhaps the most memorable scene of the entire series: it's gotten plenty of fanart as well as being the image seen on both the main page and all four of the first season DVDs.
- Izzy vs. Chef Hatchet from "Hide and Be Sneaky" is one of the most fondly remembered moments from the series, showing off one of the best fight scenes.
- Lindsay's Cluster Bleep-Bomb to Heather after her elimination in "That's Off the Chain", followed by her causing the latter's downfall by being the one to propose the dare of Heather having her head shaved by Chef, is widely remembered as Lindsay's most badass moment, and one of the most badass moments in the series.
  Gwen: Lindsay rules!
So Okay, It's Average:
- Despite its Seasonal Rot entry, this is the general response to Action, many viewing the plot and challenges as underwhelming and unfocused, but having alright comedy.
- The general consensus for Revenge of the Island is that although it's boring at times, and the challenges were pretty lackluster, it has a strong cast and that it's still a decent season overall, especially compared to All Stars, and Pahkitew Island.
- Pahkitew Island is this for the fans who didn't hate it for being on-par with All-Stars but also didn't love it or think that it managed to save the franchise.
Sophomore Slump: This was the general opinion of Action, for many of the likable characters either not competing or being eliminated early, large Flanderization, and Owen's favoritism being made more blatant, among other issues that made people see it as a step down from Island. While World Tour is a bit contested, the consensus is that it and Island are both better than Action. Especially since World Tour actually fixes most of the flaws by toning down on the Flanderization, rescuing Owen from the Scrappy heap, and giving far more spotlight on the liked characters who were shafted screentime-wise in Action, all while incorporating surprisingly good musical numbers.
Spiritual Adaptation:
- With the sheer amount of returning cast members, production interference, physically intense chalenges, Total Drama actually is closer to being an adaptation / parody of The Challenge.
- Teenagers being forced to compete in life-threatening challenges in a reality TV show, Total Drama may be considered to be an Lighter and Softer animated adaptation of The Hunger Games.
Stuck in Their Shadow: Poor Beardo. Although he's an Ensemble Dark Horse, he's usually ignored by the fandom since he only appeared in one episode and has the bad luck of having the lowest episode count in the series. Some people even forgot that he was in Pahkitew Island at all.
Squick:
- A good amount of the dares in "I Triple Dog Dare You!", especially the one in which Gwen had to drink fruit punch from the communal toilet.
- The scene in "The Chefshank Redemption" where Lindsay threw up on Gwen. Dis-gus-TING.
- The scene from "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better" where Owen pees while swimming near Cody, Cody's mortification is completely understandable.
- "Brunch of Disgustingness". Particular scenes are Trent vomiting in the confessional after eating the Live Grasshopper Pizza and Leshawna throwing up a cockroach after the challenge.
- In two episodes of Island, Owen has to go number two while he is tied to other people. In both instances, the scenes focus on his teammates' disgusted faces as Owen repeatedly farts off-screen.
- In "Slap Slap Revolution", Owen throws up the raw sausages he had ingested and later on the plane eats them again; Noah catches on quickly while Heather tries not to puke.
- The mosquito that bit Sam's head and gained an incredibly distended belly in "Evil Dread".
- Courtney stuffing a used diaper in Duncan's mouth in "Million Dollar Babies".
- A bird puking on Courtney's sundae in "Sundae Muddy Sundae" which she is then told she has to eat.
- In "The Bold and the Booty-ful":
  - Sasquatchanakwa uses the Flush of Shame toilet as an actual toilet. It's so disgusting that even Chris objects.
  Chris: Seriously bro, we put PEOPLE in there!
  - Gwen uses a bear's fecal matter to repair a portrait of Chris, which makes Chris barf all over it.
- Max getting feces flung at him by monkeys in "Less Monkey Mo Problems".
- Sugar has at least one of these in every episode she appears in. Special mention goes to eating a glow slug in "This is the Pits!"
- In the 2023 season, Ripper heats up his marshmallow by farting on it and then eats it. It's also revealed in the first episode that he was arrested for pooping in a stranger's purse on a bus.

T-Z

Take That, Scrappy!: Courtney's Humiliation Conga that led to her elimination (Gwen dropping her as a friend and alliance partner, Scott dumping her, a bird puking on her ice cream sundae which she was then forced to eat, sharks barfing on her making her cry, etc.) fell under this for several fans who hated Courtney for her portrayal in Action and onwards. However, many fans wanted Courtney to redeem herself, not only be punished.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Fans were not happy about the contestant line-up in Revenge of the Island: namely, there are no returning characters, and the new characters introduced were generally regarded as inferior replacements. As time went on however, they were Rescued from the Scrappy Heap through the natural flow of history.
- Pahkitew Island takes this up a notch due to not only introducing yet another new slate of contestants, sidelining the first two cast generations, but also a new location after Camp Wawanakwa got destroyed.
- The new theme song for the 2023 reboot was poorly received, especially the "I'm here to slay" line, which many felt was trying too hard to be hip and relevant.
Tough Act to Follow: None of the later seasons have matched the first season's ratings or critical acclaim. Similarly, the original cast is the most beloved set of contestants, and the second generation cast is more mixed in their reception while the third generation cast was, for the most part, received poorly. The fourth generation cast has generally been well-received by fans however, with many claiming that it's almost as solid, if not as solid, as the first generation cast.
Trans Audience Interpretation: B has a traditionally female name, which he is extremely embarrassed by, and instead chooses to go by a more gender-neutral/masculine nickname. Because of this, many headcanon him as being a transgender man. His refusal to talk is also interpreted by some as him having dysphoria over his voice.
Ugly Cute:
- While Beth is not the most physically attractive female contestant, her kind and endearing personality gives her a certain adorableness.
- Dakota finds the mutant squirrel to be cute, wanting one as a pet. At least until it tried to kill her with its Eye Beams.
- Feral Zeke.
- Dakota herself could be considered this as of "The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean".
- The blue three-eyed bird from ''All-Stars" is kinda cute, especially when crying after Duncan begs her to take her egg (which makes "himself" cry) and when doing Puppy-Dog Eyes to stop Duncan from hurting it.
- Max is a short, pig-faced weirdo, but is quite endearing in how much of a tryhard he is. Especially when he's cooing at babies.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Justin is one of the only characters to have pupils instead of just colored irises, and one of the few male characters to have prominent lips. This is supposed to draw more attention to his features so he can stand out as the most attractive contestant, but the extra detail just looks weird.
Unexpected Character: Sam in All-Stars. While everyone else in the cast has merged at least once and have always been major characters in their respective seasons, Sam sticks out as a comparatively minor pre-merge contestant.
Unintentional Period Piece: Courtney's PDA in Action reeks of this. While PDA's were still in use in the 2000's, by the time Action aired, they were already being phased out in favor of smartphones. Similarly, while some form of social media is occasionally mentioned, the teens really are not that familiar with it. This is not the case with the fourth generation of campers in Island (2023), who are much more familiar with smartphones and social media (with Chase, Emma and Julia being influencers themselves), courtesy of the reboot taking place in the early 2020s as opposed to the late 2000s like prior seasons.
Unintentionally Sympathetic:
- Ezekiel in World Tour, who was kicked out first again and then underwent Sanity Slippage and turned into a feral Gollum-like monstrosity, which has been his form for three seasons now. Many fans and even detractors of the character found that fate to be overly harsh. Even nowadays, many fans want to see him eventually get changed back and get some form of redemption.
- Heather in World Tour, specifically "Slap Slap Revolution." Despite being willing to be a team player, she is treated like she is plotting against the others. Especially evident when Heather tried to warn Leshawna about Alejandro and Leshawna attacked her.
- Anne Maria to the older fans. She was supposed to be the Hate Sink because of getting in the way of Mike and Zoey's relationship. However, because of having a distinct personality and interactions with others (many of which are surprisingly positive despite her brashness), many of them preferred her to Zoey. It helps that not only did she genuinely not know that Vito was Mike's alter as opposed to Mike being an "act" Vito puts on for some reason, Mike wasn't actually dating Zoey when Anne Maria and Vito started dating. Many Anne Maria fans like to pitch a scenario in which she communicates with Mike and Zoey to continue dating Vito.
- Courtney in both World Tour and All-Stars. For all the unpopularity she received for her raging against Gwen following her kiss with Duncan, there are still those who felt for her for having been betrayed by the two people closest to her at the time, and for when she openly cried after this discovery. Astoundingly enough, this also was for many the reaction towards her downfall in All-Stars, where some felt that her punishment exceeded what she deserved for her sudden Face–Heel Turn; the fact that it came on the cusp of a season-long arc that saw her briefly reconcile with Gwen and enter a new relationship with Scott incensed many among a thoroughly broken base.
Unpopular Popular Character:
- While the vast majority of the contestants hate Chris McLean and want nothing to do with him or the show anymore, part of the fandom believe that Chris is the essential part of Total Drama.
- Heather is a perfect example. She was the most hated character in-universe (until Alejandro showed up), but is a fan favorite and has one of the largest fanbases out of every character in the show.
- Duncan was one of the popular characters on the show, but he is hated by the vast majority of the contestants in-universe. However, this does not stop Duncan from winning TDA in a close [3-4] vote in his ending.
- Harold is fairly popular in the fanbase, but was deemed a loser and Butt-Monkey in the series, though much like Cody, he becomes more liked in-universe as the series progresses.
- Courtney, in a sense. She's very unpopular with most of the other contestants because of her bossiness. However in real life, while she's currently a Base-Breaking Character, she has one of the largest and most vocal fanbases.
- Noah is not very liked in the first season of the show, due to his condescending, sarcastic know-it-all, slacker nature (though he Took a Level in Badass and got some Character Development for the season 1 special, continuing into World Tour), but among the fanbase he's an Ensemble Dark Horse for the very same reasons.
- Tyler is explicitly described as the least popular of the original Island cast among the show's In-Universe fanbase, but he quickly became a favorite in World Tour for his funny slapstick, charmingly inept attempts at winning back Lindsay, and Lovable Jock personality.
- Ezekiel was hated by the female campers before his transformation and treated like a joke by everyone afterwards, but, despite being a Base-Breaking Character, he still has a fanbase that thinks of him as The Woobie and want him to get another chance as a human.
- Dawn is one of the most popular characters with viewers in the entire show. However, her unsettling aura-reading abilities and lack of any real understanding of privacy won her no friends in the competition, which is why it was easy for Scott to frame her for stealing and get her eliminated.
- In a similar vein, many players find Ella annoying for her nonstop singing and spacey personality. She is beloved by fans for an adorable All-Loving Heroine who is devoid of violence with a Beautiful Singing Voice.
- Scott is the most hated contestant in-universe amongst the second generation. In All-Stars, his Iron Butt Monkey status and increased stupidity has earned him a lot of fans from his very large hate base.
- Mal is a destructive sadist, nobody in-universe showing him a shred of sympathy after learning his true nature. However, he did garner a fanbase, with quite a few enjoying his over-the-top villainy.
- Beardo isn't very well-liked by his teammates In-Universe but he's an Ensemble Dark Horse with shy personality and desire to make friends earning him lots of sympathy from the fanbase. It's not uncommon for Pahkitew Island re-writes to have him last more than one episode and flesh him out more.
- Scarlett is probably universally disliked in the show after the events of "Scarlett Fever", but she gained a lot of fans both before and after that incident in real life.
- Scary Girl, whom most on the show fear and are creeped out by, but is the prime Ensemble Dark Horse of the season among the fandom.
- Julia, in a somewhat similar vein to Heather. Her true nature makes her Hated by All among her fellow contestants and she initially loses most of her followers because of it, but she's a fairly popular character among the fandom. She's also this in-universe, as while she only made enemies on the show and initially lost most followers, she also gained a lot of new ones with time.
- MK's antisocial and sarcastic nature combined with the reveal of how she hacked the confessionals made her largely disliked by her fellow campers, but she has no shortage of fans who love her strategic mindset, dry sense of humor, and the fact that she at least has some standards. The second half made her even more popular due to her fun dynamic with Julia.
The Un-Twist: The whole thing with Topher being Out-Gambitted by Chris in "Three Zones And a Baby" leading to his elimination, mainly due to how it's so blatantly obvious that the "producer" calling Topher is really Chris in disguise, from his eyes being clearly visible behind the sunglasses and him not even trying to disguise his voice that it makes the "reveal" still being played as a twist all the more sad and pathetic.
Vindicated by History:
- Aside from All-Stars, most of the seasons that have aired after the original 2007 Island are much better-regarded after they're finished airing, while enduring mass influx of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! before it ended. Revenge probably has the most jarring differences in pre and post-airing popularity, with almost every newcomer except Mike and Staci being better-received now than they originally were.
- Scott/Courtney is more well-received now that Duncney is starting to be called out on its toxicity and the fact its more in line with Island Duncney plus Scott actually seems to like Courtney's bossiness.
Wangst:
- Dave displays unhealthy levels of self-pity. Whenever anything doesn't go his way (and this being the Sadist Show that it is, nothing ever does) he cries, whines, and overall refuses to compose himself with anything close to resembling dignity. He treats even the most minor of misfortunes as the worst possible thing, and he lashes out in disturbingly unhinged ways when he feels particularly wronged (see his treatment of Sky when he finds out she already has a boyfriend.) Yeah, getting dumped sucks, but still...
- Be it Courtney fans or people who think Gwen has gone downhill since Island, Gwen has also been accused of this. While it was kept sympathetic in Action and World Tour, it was at its worst in All Stars, where her and Courtney's back and forth got really grating for a lot of people. The fact it didn't even end well makes it much worse. Her constant complaining about being on the villians (despite her pre-character devolepment rude attitude in Island) also gets complaints from fans.
Watched It for the Representation: Even with so many characters, Total Drama has quite a diverse cast.
- From the very first season, the cast included numerous non-Caucasian characters in prominent roles.
- Several plus sized characters are shown wearing crop tops (which are not clothes typically associated with that body type), with it never being portrayed as a joke. Additionally, none of their bodies are the butt of a joke besides Owen.
- Although the show's portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder is... not handled flawlessly, to say the least, that doesn't change the fact that it's one of the only depictions of DID in all of media. As such, many people with DID/studying DID may be drawn to it due to how uncommon it is. Mike is notable because he's a rare instance of a character with DID not being portrayed as insane, with him instead being a protagonist whose struggles the audience is supposed to sympathize with. He was also initially notable because he didn't have an evil personality, although that last point kind of got steamrolled by All Stars.
- The 2023 reboot included both a gay couple and an amputee, with both of their portrayals being generally well-received.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The show is a satire of the adult-oriented reality television genre, but stars high schoolers and is intended for ages 8-12. It's full of comic violence, which at times goes beyond cartoonish violence and outright mutilates characters (though they do eventually recover, most of the time). The earlier seasons also contain a lot of sexual innuendo, Fanservice, pixellated nudity, and other inappropriate jokes. It's thus attracted a sizable Periphery Demographic among older teens and adults.
Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?:
- How some fans reacted to Duncan getting back together with Courtney at the end of Action after her evil and sometimes abusive behavior throughout the season.
- Part 1 of Island (2023) has this as an Intended Audience Reaction with Chase and Emma. Before the show, Emma dumped Chase because he cut the brakes to her car as a Prank Gone Too Far and is totally unwilling to apologize, instead just expecting her to come back to him. After the merge, they end up in a life-threatening situation and Emma believes Chase apologized for his behavior, quickly shifting back in love with him despite no other indication that he'd changed. However, when she learns he wasn't even apologizing for that, she gets mad at him again. But by his elimination episode, Emma believes he gave up the challenge for her and takes him back... except he was only motivated by the pizza Chris and Chef used to tempt him off the poles. She mentions they had "good times" together, but there's no indication Chase is anything but a narcissistic jerk who can't see when he's wrong and feels entitled to Emma. Every other character thinks that Emma taking Chase back is a terrible decision, even her best friend Bowie (which ruins their friendship), Julia and Chris. By Part 2, Emma learns of Chase throwing the challenge for pizza and not her, and dumps him once again.
Win Back the Crowd:
- World Tour brought new life to the series.
- For some, Pahkitew Island, the second half of Season 5, kept them from abandoning the series altogether after what happened in All-Stars.
- The 2023 continuation, though not without its flaws, has been positively received compared to both halves of season 5 and especially Dramarama, and regarded as a worthy follow-up to the classic seasons. Among other things, the characters' more grounded portrayals resemble the beloved Island cast more than the divisive Revenge and Pahkitew players, the voting is more strategic than ever, the Romantic Plot Tumor in Chase/Emma being less obvious, and unlike All-Stars and Pahkitew Island, everyone is Back for the Finale.
Woolseyism: The Mondegreen Gag in "Not-So-Happy Campers, Part 1" where Lindsay mistakes the word "communal" for "communion" ("Communal bathrooms? But I'm not Catholic!") is often changed in different languages to make the pun still work. In Portugese, she mistakes the word "communal" for "communist" ("But I don't understand anything about politics!"), and in Hebrew, she mistakes the word "communal" for "washing" (as the two words sound similar in Hebrew) and thinks Chris is asking her to wash the bathroom.

YMMV / Total Drama

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YMMV tropes for the Total Drama series