History YMMV / TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace

** [[spoiler:The Tennis Rivals. While the characters eliminated right before and after them were bland, one-note pairs without much to go on, the FriendlyRivalry of these CoolOldGuy VitriolicBestBuds was never allowed to develop. Plus, they managed to go from last place to fourth in the first challenge, which showed they might have been good competitors.]]

** [[spoiler: Tom and Jen, who are an AuthorAvatar team of the show's creators, were eliminated in favor of the Daters. Some fans believe they had potential for more storylines, and keeping them over the Daters would've broken the cliché 'couple argues and gets back together just in time to be eliminated' plot line. Additionally, Laurie and Miles, two other competitors who were named after some of the show's writers, were just eliminated before them, leading viewers to believe one AuthorAvatar team would go early while the other team would last a while longer.]]

** The discussion of whether ''The Ridonculous Race'' managed to save the ''Total Drama'' franchise after ''All-Stars'' and ''Pahkitew Island''. The majority will say yes, but a vocal minority will say that TDRR simply felt like the franchise was beating a horse that's been dead for more than one year.

* CargoShip: Josee/Bunbun.

* ContestedSequel: Counts despite being a spinoff. Some say that it has managed to save the franchise by breathing new life into it, while others say that it further shows that the franchise is past its prime. Those in the former category saw the series as a return to glory after several seasons of inconsistent quality, enjoyed the new direction as a fresh change of pace, and liked the new host and contestants. Those in the latter category hated the new characters, disliked the new direction, and felt it was no better than any of the other unpopular seasons for various reasons.
* ContinuityLockout: Like its predecessor, ''The Ridonculous Race'' is one of the few Western animated series with a serialized narrative. However, ''The Ridonculous Race'' largely stands on its own, and prior knowledge of previous ''Total Drama'' seasons, although helpful for {{Continuity Nod}}s, is not explicitly required for series newcomers.

** Jen and Tom of the Fashion Bloggers come across as [[GenkiGirl super peppy and excitable]]. Their enthusiasm for shopping is contagious and one can't help but love [[{{Squee}} their reactions to things that excite them]], [[MotorMouth along with their fast-talking whenever they're excited]], which is almost all of the time. They are also very much [[NiceGirl nice people]] despite their stereotype as shallow fashion bloggers, even giving a nice compliment to one of the locals for her swan dress at one point.

* CommonKnowledge: Some fan assume that the Ridonculous Race is also a Total Drama spin-off in-universe. There is not evidence suggesting this.

* CommonKnowledge: Some fan assume that the Ridonculus Race is also a Total Drama spin-off in-universe. There is not evidence suggesting this.

* CommonKnowledge: Some fan assume that the Ridonculus Race is also a Total Drama spin-off 'in-universe'. There is not evidence suggesting this.

** The fanbase's opinions on Dwayne are split between those who find his comments and antics to be obnoxious or amusing. He was also under fire for a comment that was deemed sexist.

** The Daters/Haters, especially Stephanie. Starting off as SickeninglySweethearts was already met divisively, but it's what happened afterwards that really split the fandom apart. After their breakup, they [[BelligerentSexualTension spend every episode arguing and fighting]], to the point where at times they would [[TeamKiller resort to throwing challenges]] just to spite each other. This behavior was immensely annoying to many fans, while others felt it was greatly entertaining and one of the highlights of the season. Then there's the fact that they managed to [[EliminationHoudini evade elimination twice due to two of the legs they came last in being non-elimination rounds]] further adding to their problems.

** The Daters/Haters, especially Stephanie. Starting off as SickeninglySweethearts was already met divisively, but it's what happened afterwards that really split the fandom apart. After their breakup, they [[BelligerentSexualTension spend every episode arguing and fighting]], to the point where at times they would [[TeamKiller resort to throwing challenges]] just to spite each other. This behavior was immensely annoying to many fans, while others felt it was greatly entertaining and one of the highlights of the season. Then there's the fact that they managed to [[EliminationHoudini evade elimination]][[note]]twice due to being non-eliminations[[/note]] further adding to their problems.

* LoveToHate: The Ice Dancers thanks to EvilIsCool and EvilIsSexy.

* WTHCastingAgency: When the Polish dub was released, the comments on Website/YouTube complained about Geoff's [[TheOtherDarrin new voice actor]], Jarosław Boberek, sounding too much like [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Grunkle Stan]].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Taylor, of all people, comes out sympathetic when her mother Kelly reveals her father bought off all her accomplishments and trophies. Taylor was nothing but a spoiled brat that was spoiled by her father while bullying her mother throughout the show. Taylor would brag that she had all these talents and skills but would always come up short in the challenges and blame her mother for her failures. In the episode "Hawaiian Honeyruin," Kelly eventually loses patience with her daughter when they lose the challenge, and she blames her while saying that her mother is not used to winning like her. Kelly revealed that Taylor had never won anything in her life; Taylor was confused and told that her room was full of trophies. Kelly revealed that her father bought all her trophies from the mail, pointing out why she did not wonder why the trophies came from the mail, and her father bribed all her coaches to lie about her skills. Taylor desperately asked about The beauty pageants; she won them; those can't be fake, only for Kelly to smugly tell her that you can fake anything with enough cash. Even Don admits that was cold. This moment was supposed to come off as Kelly giving her spoiled daughter a long-overdue reality check, but the thing is, Taylor genuinely thought she was skilled and earned those trophies and had no idea her father bought them. While arrogant about her skills, Taylor wasn't delusional because she thought she was greater than she was or could buy her wins; she genuinely thought that she earned her accomplishments and was devastated to learn the truth. Taylor later accepted her limitations regarding her skills in a later challenge, those she made it clear to her mother that she was still unhappy to learn about all her accomplishments being fake. And with Taylor's skills at holding her breath, it's implied that she would've genuinely worked to be skilled, given the right motivation. Taylor comes off less as a spoiled brat who thinks she's skilled when she's not and more as a girl whose parents were too lazy to train and bought off her wins, sabotaging her when she could've been a genuine winner.

* PreemptiveShipping: Before the season was released, fans were quick to ship Dwyane and Kelly together, since their teams were {{Distaff Counterpart}}s. Once the season came out and revealed that both were HappilyMarried to other people, the ship was quickly dropped by many.

** Jen from the Fashion Bloggers, who has a very cute design and comes across as [[GenkiGirl super peppy and excitable]]. Her enthusiasm for shopping is contagious and one can't help but love [[{{Squee}} her reactions to things that excite her]], [[MotorMouth along with her fast-talking whenever she's excited]], which is almost all of the time. She is also very much a NiceGirl despite her stereotype as a shallow fashion blogger, even giving a nice compliment to one of the locals for her swan dress at one point.

** The Tennis Rivals were also quite divisive in their reception. Some people enjoyed them because of their FriendlyRivalry nature and their SelfDeprecation blend of humor and wished they'd lasted longer. Others were sick of their elderly senior jokes, and how they did nothing but laugh at the other teams. They were especially unpopular among the younger portion of the fanbase who were happy to see them eliminated so quickly. Yet another side enjoyed them yet had no problem with them being eliminated as early as they were, but would've preferred them last a little longer when compared to some of the more [[FlatCharacter repetitive and underdeveloped]] teams that outranked them such as the Stepbrothers.

** A good portion of "New Beijinging" which has the contestants being forced to eat a disgusting meal and most of them throwing up because of it. Carrie even vomits a lot ''before she starts eating'' because even the word "barf" or "worm" makes her sick.

* FanPreferredCouple:
** [[LesYay MacArthur/Sanders]] and [[HoYay Brody/Geoff]] are both popular. The latter especially for those who have only watched ''Ridonculous Race'' and thus never met Bridgette.
** Also shipping The Fashion Bloggers together (Tom/Jen) is very popular, despite many fans thinking Tom is CampGay. Many were unhappy when WordOfGod confirmed Tom is indeed gay.
** Jacques/Josee is quite a common pairing as well, even despite WordOfGod confirming Jacques to be gay (which incited similar reactions to what occurred with Tom).
** Dwayne/Kelly has quite a few shippers, especially before the season officially began and it was revealed they were both married. However, this didn't stop everyone from shipping them, especially those who believe they are not happy with their current spouses.
** While both have their fans, fans mostly preferred to ship Ryan/Carrie together, mostly due to finding their partners' much more annoying.

* WinBackTheCrowd:* ''Ridonculous Race'' seems to have been made specifically for this reason, after the more divisive reception of later seasons. Not only did they go back to the original 26-episode format, but the gross-out humor was severely toned down (oh, it's still there, but there ''is'' less of it); they brought back fewer previous contestants so they could still give fans the occasional ContinuityNod while avoiding the ContinuitySnarl they ran into in ''All-Stars''; the sadism and insanity of the later seasons was toned down back to first season levels from the much too DenserAndWackier nature of the seasons after; and it revisited the well-liked WorldTour theme of the third season while still managing to go in its own direction so it didn't come off as repetitive (so those who liked the third season still found reason to enjoy it on its own merit and those who hated that season saw it as a better take on the concept).

* ShipToShipCombat: Those who liked Noah/Owen due to their interactions in ''World Tour'' were excited to see the duo together again. Once Noah got canonically paired with Emma, tensions naturally flared up between Noah/Emma and Noah/Owen fans, as well as Noah/Emma and other gay noah ships (like Noah/Cody).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** [[spoiler:The alliance between the Adversity Twins and the Sisters, which was the one thing that made the hatred for the twins drop a bit, is thrown out after one episode.]]
** Tom and Jen's interaction with Carrie on the plane to Romania was one of the first team interactions of the season and instigated the Bloggers' plot, and one is left wondering what kind of interaction they could've had if [[spoiler: Tom and Jen weren't eliminated in Romania]].
** The Tennis Rivals getting eliminated before the tennis challenge in "Hello and Dubai".
** "I Love Ridonc n Roll" succeeds in wasting two plots in one episode!
*** The Goths [[spoiler:learning to live with each other without makeup. The new outfits they get after that plot's abandoned are also gone by next episode.]]
*** Noah deciding [[spoiler:to give up on Emma. He's back to being sappy over her next time they meet.]]
** Kitty's [[spoiler:selfie skills not coming up during the "Selfie Safari Challenge" in "My Way or Zimbabwe".]]
** Many wanted Kitty to call out her sister Emma for being so rude. What happens instead is that Kitty loses her 'in it for fun' personality (which also comes out of nowhere) just as Emma falls for Noah. Therefore, the roles are reversed but Emma actually calls Kitty out for her previous attitude when her and Noah are being SickeninglySweethearts.
** Three for the Ice Dancers:
*** The belief that their luck in many of the early challenges was due to Josee's lucky rabbit's foot charm Bun-Bun [[spoiler:which leads into their sideplot of being cursed when she loses it in Romania. Once said curse was lifted, Bun-Bun was never referenced to again.]]
*** When they [[spoiler: break their curse and resolve to become active villains, [[EvilCostumeSwitch they make]] [[EvilWearsBlack a change]] [[CoolShades in wardrobe]]. It disappears without explanation in the next episode.]]
*** As the season was coming to an end, several characters who were victims of their nefarious ways (such as Sisters & Goths) commented that karma would eventually get them or express desire in them suffering some form of punishment implying that karma was inevitable. But when they're finally eliminated... Well, nothing major happens to them.
** [[spoiler:Chet and Lorenzo becoming best friends after hating each other the entire competition. Especially noticeable given the duo lasted half the season yet this only came up one episode before their elimination. Although one could argue their lack of development was what kept them in the game and once they made up, their arc was completed and they no longer had a reason to stay.]]
** The gameplay element of the boomerang, which allows a team to force another team to redo the previous challenge. The idea of a team being forced to go back and do the previous challenge all over again, could have added tension and drama, due to said team having a higher chance of being eliminated. Unfortunately, it's only brought into play in two episodes, both of which end up being non-eliminations, rendering them entirely pointless.
** Spud [[spoiler:coming into his own as a partner after a half-season of Rock carrying the team.]]
** Bridgette failing to show up (or even get mentioned) in either of the episodes that took place in Australia (where Geoff said she was at in the first episode). A quick cameo or Geoff talking about her more would have been a great way to affirm how things are going between them. Some fans thought that [[spoiler:Geoff should have at least mentioned splitting his half of the prize money with Bridgette in the end.]]
*** Bridgette not being Geoff's partner for the race. After being the first girl eliminated in both ''Action'' and ''World Tour'', many fans wanted Bridgette to get a big comeback of some sort. ''Ridonculous Race'' would have been the perfect opportunity for it, showing her and Geoff as a solid contestant duo like they were in ''Island'' after their frankly pathetic performance in ''Action'' and Bridgette's disastrous and humiliating solo run in ''World Tour'', as well as give both characters and their relationship some much-needed positive development (like the show did with Noah and Owen's friendship). Instead, Geoff's partner is a completely new character who is little more than his stupider clone (making Geoff come off as flat as a result), while Bridgette receives nothing more than a few mentions to justify her absence and remind us that she and Geoff are still together, making her seem like a complete afterthought.
*** Bridgette's absence is particularly egregious since her original voice actress also voiced Carrie.
** Noah and Owen having almost no interaction with Geoff. The pair were both on ''Total Drama'' with him, but here, they don't even act like they recognize him at all. Heck, even Geoff never acknowledges the two as old acquaintances and never acts like he knows them. It would have been nice to see them catching up with each other, possibly forming an alliance based on shared experiences, or maybe even talking about some of the other ''Island'' contestants to affirm whether they're still in touch and what the rest are up to.
** Don never bringing up Chris in any way. Having him mention Chris would be a good way of confirming whether the two know each other or not and what they think of each other and their respective shows. Not to mention that it could clear up a few things about the in-universe production connections this show possesses to ''Total Drama''.
** [[spoiler:In "Got Venom" it was revealed that [=MacArthur=] is just an alias she used to fake her way into the police academy, and that her real name is Valentina Escobar. Furthermore, she revealed the reason she needed an alias in the first place was that she had a rap sheet a mile long (for everything from illegal fruit smuggling to jaywalking), so it was impossible for her to pass the required background check. After this fact is revealed, it was just as suddenly dropped and neither [=MacArthur=]/Valentina nor Sanders mention it outside of a single reference. WordOfGod has confirmed that the whole thing was simply meant to be a one-time joke.]]
** [[spoiler: When Noah gets eliminated in "Got Venom", Emma tells him that they'll go out on their first date if he meets her at the final Chill Zone in the finale. But because Sisters end up getting eliminated right before the finale, this ultimately ends up never amounting to anything. The aforementioned line was likely leftover from one of the versions of the season where Emma and Kitty were finalists]]. Although, when they are eliminated, Emma is implied to call Noah off-screen, so she probably did change her mind.
** Kitty losing her 'in it for fun' personality. While it's fine she wanted to take the race seriously, it comes out of nowhere and is more used for Emma losing sight of the race. The only acknowledgement it gets is Emma smugly calling it out when she and Noah are being SickeninglySweethearts.
** [[spoiler:Carrie & Ryan's friendship. It's completely forgotten without explanation in the episode where the latter is eliminated.]] Some people even wanted them to get together instead.
** [=MacArthur=] and Brody's ShipTease, although it did at least get something of a wrap-up at the very last moment when [=MacArthur=] hits on Brody [[spoiler:but only in the ending where the Surfers win]].
** This show was easily the best-received thing to come out of the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' franchise since ''Island'', which makes Creator/FreshTV's decision to move forward with ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaRama'' instead of a second season all the more disappointing and baffling.