Awesome / Total Drama

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Total Drama Island

• In "Not So Happy Campers Part 2", we have Bridgette volunteering to be the first dive off the cliff and then landing in the safe zone, making her the first camper to take part in the show's insane challenges and survive unharmed. What she did took a lot of guts and was enough to motivate the rest of the campers to follow her.
• "The Big Sleep"
  • A villainous (and strategic) one. Heather effectively eliminates Eva, the Killer Bass' strongest teammate, by simply stealing her MP3 player and letting Eva's volatile temper take care of the rest—she immediately assumes that it was stolen by one of her teammates and trashes the entire cabin looking for it, until Heather walks up and hands it back to her, making her look like a fool in front of her whole team. She's voted off that night.
  • All twenty-one campers manage to stay awake for at least twelve hours after completing a twenty kilometer run and eating an enormous meal (Gwen even expresses doubt that any of them would last a single hour).
  • Gwen outlasting every other camper and winning the challenge for her team by staying awake for four straight days.
• "Dodgebrawl":
  • Cody being outnumbered, then proceeding to go Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass on the opposite team by using static electricity to turn the balls into heat-seeking missiles. Chris is even surprised.
    Chris: That is one tough ball to dodge!
  • Owen losing it after Lindsay gets hit and taking out Katie, Sadie, Bridgette, and Geoff in eight seconds flat.
  • Courtney's ultimatum to Duncan: he can stay awake long enough to give his teammates some useful dodgeball tips, or he can get voted off when they lose.
  • Executing Duncan's "Rush The New Guy" Strategy where they consecutively take out the opposing team one by one.
  • But what really "brings the dinner to the table and eats it" is: Harold's epic dodging skills where he even dodges the final one Matrix Style, and finally catches the ball, giving his team a win. He earns the respect from his personal tormentor Duncan. Even Noah, who paid zero attention to the game, was impressed.
• "Not Quite Famous"
  • Harold saves his team again to everyone's surprise, with his epic beatboxing, leading the Killer Bass to their second straight come-from-behind win.
  • Interestingly, after his performance in "Dodgebrawl", Harold thought he would get fans who wanted autographs for his epic dodging, but ultimately it's his beatboxing which gets him into the limelight.
  • Gwen borrowing Harold's red ant farm to sting Heather in revenge for Heather humiliating her on camera. Gwen's Grin of Audacity as she wishes everyone good night sells it.
• "Phobia Factor":
  • Beth gets one when she is made to jump into a kiddie pool filled with worms, and does so with barely a shrug.
    Chris: And Beth sets the bar way up there!
  • Harold gets another one, even if he technically failed. His challenge was to defeat three trained ninjas (his worst fear), in the bathroom no less. While every other camper showed at least some level of fear in having to complete their challenges, Harold simply pulls out his nunchucks and starts twirling them, even managing to scare the ninjas. It gets negated somewhat when he knocks himself out a minute later with them, but hey, A for effort.
• In "Up The Creek", DJ confronts his fear of water and single handedly pushes his entire team back to camp when they stack their canoes on top of each other. Not only does DJ manage to push that much weight, he out-swims the entire opposing team and has enough speed to send both himself and his team flying in an epic crash when they reach shore, winning the challenge for them!
• "Paintball Deer Hunter":
  • Beth gets herself one of these in the episode when she gets fed up with Heather's unreasonable demands after Heather ordered her to steal a bag of chips from the mess hall without getting spotted by Scary Black Man Chef Hatchet instead of focusing on the actual challenge. Beth succeeds in evading Chef Hatchet, but begins to wonder why she put her life on the line for someone she never liked. Realizing Heather had been taking advantage of her, Beth eats the chips by herself, opens paintball fire on Heather with extreme prejudice and then breaks off the alliance.
  • Owen (hunter) spent half the challenge chasing DJ (deer) down with a paintball gun. When he finally ran out of ammo DJ responded by tossing his ass off a cliff.
• "If You Can't Take The Heat...": Lindsay turning on Heather and helping Leshawna lock her in the freezer.
• "Basic Straining": Once again, Gwen outlasts all the other campers and wins for her team, this time by surviving Chef's brutal boot camp. She even wins the respect of Chef himself, a genuine rarity.
  Chef: Gwen! Congratulations, soldier. I'd go to war with you any time.
  • Harold rigging the votes and getting Courtney eliminated as revenge for Duncan's constant bullying.
    Harold: (after prying open the ballot box) You guys think you're so funny. Let's see how you like it when someone messes with your love life.
• "No Pain, No Game": Eva going toe-to-toe with Sasquatchanakwa, and surviving, even bringing out a new pair of boots and a hat with her.
  • Leshawna crushing Molotov the bear in the log-rolling challenge. As she picks up the pace, her facial expression changes from fear, to calm, to pure determined rage, and Molotov's smug smile falters as he realizes he might actually lose, until she finally stomps on the log and knocks him straight into the piranha-infested waters, winning the grand prize and eliminating Eva for good. Her triumphantly taunting Eva afterwards is just the icing on the cake.
    Leshawna: Wooooo! Yes, baby! Woooooo! You lose, I win, you lose, I win! (embraces her new trailer) That's right, baby! Yeah!
• Leshawna's revenge on Heather on "Search and Do Not Destroy". After learning Heather kissed Trent in front of Gwen, she deems this The Last Straw in a laundry list of grievances. So she gathers everyone to vote off Heather or Trent. When Heather wins Invincibility and Trent goes home, she refuses to let Heather get off scot-free and rigs the shower to spew sewage all over her while she showers then destroys all the clothes she wasn't already wearing.
• Lindsay, after spending the entire season under Heather's heel, finally knocks her off her high horse in "That's Off the Chain", with an impressive on-the-fly, curse-riddled tirade.
  Lindsay: You really are mean! And all that bad stuff people say about you is true, like how you're a two-faced, backstabbing, lying little—
  (censor bleep with a censored finger, shocked reactions from Chef, Owen, DJ, and Heather, and a smile from Gwen)
  Lindsay: I always told them they were wrong. I stood up for you because I thought we were BFFs! but they're right! You really are a two-faced, backstabbing, lying little—
  (censor bleep with reaction shots from a shocked Duncan, a shocked loon, and a smiling Chris)
  And guess what? I don't want to be BFFs anymore. I'd rather spend the day staring at Owen's butt than shopping with you! and P.S. Your shoes are tacky!
  (everyone laughs)
  Gwen: Yeah! You tell her!
  • Later, in the confessional cam:
    Lindsay: I don't know what came over me. Oh wait, yes I do! Heather's a total— (censor bleep)
  • Also, Lindsay completely dominated the challenge as well. It was the bikes she built that performed the best and were still standing in the end, Even Duncan was impressed by her pony bikes speed. Despite being eliminated by technicality, this was Lindsay's best performance in the series, in a field many wouldn't think she would.
• Izzy's epic fist fight with Chef (who is twice her height and three times her muscle mass) in "Hide and Be Sneaky". Not only does she parry everyone of his blows, she even slo-mo leaps into the air and kicks him in the face, before diving out of the window (shattering it) and screaming her Catchphrase: "You'll never have me alive!", and Izzy and Chef continue their slo-mo pursue of each other before finally reaching the dock. Pity she didn't make it.
  • The way Chef stops her is also pretty cool: shooting ahead of her as she slides to safety, so that the wet dock makes her slide past the safe zone.
• "Hook, Line, and Screamer":
  • Gwen kicking a serial killer in the jaw, repeatedly, bad enough that the serial killer says that he was treated better in prison. Hardcore.
  • Duncan proving himself Genre Savvy by letting each of the other campers leave the group one by one so he can be the Final Guy, before successfully taking on Chef Hatchet in a friggin' chainsaw fight on the docks.
  • Leshawna attempting to confront the "killer". She still ran away, but even then, it was pretty brave of her to try and stand up to him. The fact that she laughed it off afterward just adds to it.
• When the group has to stack wooden heads of the ousted campers into totem poles, Heather and Owen are chained together. Heather spends the whole challenge insulting all of them, and Owen (who is chained to her) just sits there passively. Then Heather makes the mistake of insulting Izzy. Owen is so furious with her that he does exactly what she wouldn't want him to do: He forfeits. On purpose.
  • To clarify, for this particular challenge, since Owen and Heather are handcuffed together, if one forfeits, they're both Eliminated.
  • Not only that, but after the challenge, Owen makes a confessional (with Heather as they're still cuffed together) and much like Lindsay, goes on a curse-filled rant about how awful she is. The best part? She respected him for it!
• The entirety of "I Triple Dog Dare You!", especially when Lindsay's dare is the same threat Heather had made towards her; which results in Heather getting eliminated and losing her hair. In just one episode, Heather is forced to pay for all the cruelty she inflicted on the others.
• Gwen's "The Reason You Suck" Speech can be considered this for some people, especially if it involves a camper that a person doesn’t like:
  Gwen: They were nothing but a bunch of backstabbing, manipulative, two-timing, fame-hungry, dimwitted, certifiably insane, really weird, psychotic, redneck, overbearing, goody-goody, know-it-all, party-obsessed, jerks!
• Either ending to the season. That neither party gets the money is besides the point.
  • If Owen wins, he has Izzy's brownies to thank for that. He barrels into her and makes it to the finish line.
  • If Gwen wins, she promises to split the money with Owen and use part of it to fund a party at his request, where everyone except Heather is invited. The latter offer makes Owen a Graceful Loser. Trent redeems himself by giving Gwen a pep talk to win despite Owen having a strong lead.
• The end of the season; After twenty-six episodes of abuse, humiliation, and injuries, Duncan, Owen and Geoff take Chris and toss him into the lake, just to show what they think of him. Chef Hatchet approves.
  Chef: I've been wanting to do that all summer! How do ya like that, pretty boy!? Huh?!
  Geoff: Oh, Chef...
  Owen: (snickers) You're next, dude!

Total Drama Action

• DJ finally telling off Chef in front of everyone before quitting his alliance and leaving the show. Now that's how you toughen up - by standing up for what you know is right!
• Harold calmly knocking Duncan out after he insults Leshawna in "Crouching Courtney Hidden Owen".
• Harold using his mad skills to save the entire cast from drowning when Chris' stunt goes horribly wrong in "Masters of Disasters".
• Despite Courtney's derailment this season, her managing to do a series of backflips through deadly lasers when everyone else was either stuck or couldn't do it, followed by her doing a high flying kung fu kick to the glass the shuts off the lasers was very badass indeed. Everyone, including Duncan agreed.
  • Also you gotta give props for her in Super Hero-ld where not only does she have one probably the best superhero and superpower idea (only being beaten because Chris loves Wonder Woman) she manages fly through the second part of the challenge doing better than even Harold who had somewhat of an advantage.
• In Get A Clue, Lindsay of all people is the one to solve the mystery. And when she is told she can share the reward with one of the others, instead of choosing Beth, her best friend, she chooses Duncan because she knows it will drive Courtney crazy.
• Duncan, after taking half a season's worth of Domestic Abuse from Courtney, finally decides he's had enough and votes her off.
• Badass Action Girl Courtney takes on a shark (because she was pissed at it) and wins, although she did get wounded in the process. Later she has a rematch with the shark (as well as a few of its buddies it called in), while it isn't showed on screen, it's implied that she slaughtered all three of them.
• When Harold is about to leave the game Duncan insults him one last time, only for Harold to pantse him at the last second.
  • Even more vindicating, Duncan admits he had it coming.
• Seriously, Beth making it to the Final Two, considering she is a Nice Girl who accidentally sabotaged her team the previous season.
  • Honestly, just how well Beth played this season itself. She managed to go from a relatively early boot in island, to displaying some of the best social game in the show, and even managing to eliminate three of the strongest players in the game in Justin, Courtney, and LeShawna.
  • Beth managing to last for 35 seconds in the Vomit Comet, which Duncan had just thrown up in no less!
  • Beth giving up an opportunity to win to save Duncan from being crushed.
  • Speaking of which, the fact that Beth actually managed to keep up with Duncan, who is often ranked as one of the most powerful contestants in the show's history, to the extent that the winner had to be decided by a tie-breaker vote.
• "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Reunion Special" is like one big Moment of Awesome that goes on for the entire episode. All twenty-two contestants, people who have spent every single season fighting, backstabbing and insulting each other, join forces in order to bring down the reality show cast that Chris plans to replace them with just so that they can keep being famous instead of going back to their normal lives. As Chris put it:
  "Their dream is to claw their way back to fame no matter what it takes! Cheating! Shameless self promotion! Sabotage! I LOVE THOSE KIDS!"

Total Drama World Tour

• Duncan telling Chris off in the first episode and quitting rather than degrading himself by doing a season of musical numbers. He's dragged back into the game several episodes later, but still.
• Bridgette manages to sing somewhat coherently while her tongue is stuck to a pole.
• Tyler saving his teammates' lives by hanging on to the edge of a cliff using his insanely strong fingers. And after everyone climbs up to safety, he pulls the sled back up with a single tug, eliciting a cheer from his team.
• Geoff and Bridgette repairing their relationship in the first aftermath of the season is a case of heartwarming, funny, and awesome all in one. The awesome part is because the two managed to piss Blaineley off enough for her to go berserk on stage.
• In "Slap Slap Revolution", after Heather insults Owen, Gwen and Courtney get back at her during their solos, with Courtney singing that she'll dance a jig when Heather is eliminated and Chris shoves her off the plane.
• "I See London...":
  • Noah taking over leadership of his team after Alejandro goes missing, even dropping his usual sarcasm and laziness in favor of actually working. Then in the final moments of the episode he brushes off his elimination boredom, puts on his parachute, calmly warns his teammates about Alejandro, and then becomes the first World Tour contestant to ever take the Drop Of Shame properly.
  • Owen and Noah doubling back to the torture chamber to pick up Tyler, despite knowing that time was of the essence and losing teammates didn't cause score-deductions. Compare and contrast the members of Team Amazon, who barely notice their dwindling headcount.
  • Owen going all Papa Bear on a serial killer, "No one knocks my little buddy in the corner!", of course, it descends right into Funny in the next few seconds, but it was still awesome.
  • Tyler volunteering to be stretched on the rack and showing off some Abnormal Limb Rotation Range.
  • In spite of Duncan getting literally dragged back to the plane, he refuses to accept this and nearly walks off again, with only Chris stopping him.
• "Greece's Pieces":
  • Owen using his belly to bounce Cody out of the ring.
  • Sierra attacking Courtney for insulting Cody, and the Double Knockout that ensued.
  • Cody knocking out Duncan.
  • Courtney's Offhand Backhand to Gwen when she tries to "explain". Additionally her entire team sans Cody turning against her for what she did (though Heather and Sierra already disliked her to begin with). While people sympathized Duncan because of how Courtney treated him, what's Gwen's excuse as Courtney pointed out they were actually friends at this point.
  • Cody is ordered to throw the challenge so that his team can vote off Gwen. Instead of obeying, Cody proceeds to fly into the air and win against Tyler. It gets even better when you realize he defied Courtney, who treated him like shit the entire episode.
  • Alejandro successfully manipulating Tyler into spilling the beans about Gwen and Duncan's kiss definitely qualifies, causing irreparable damage to Team Amazon.
  • When Duncan tried refusing to sing this time around Chef made him sing.
• "The EX-Files":
  • Courtney kicking Duncan in the kiwis.
  • Tyler refusing to even consider cheating on Lindsay, when Courtney tries to flirt with him to try to make Duncan jealous.
  • Tyler relentlessly trying to break down Owen's cell wall to save him, even after everyone tells him to give up.
    "NEVER! LEAVE! A! MAN! BEHIND!"
    • Go Tyler!
  • Duncan successfully blackmailing arch manipulator Alejandro into guaranteeing Duncan won't be voted off.
  • The episode in general occurred in Area 51 where a chock a block of alien movies are referenced, especially the facehoggers from Alien.
• The first challenge of "Picnic At Hanging Dork" is to capture an Australian Emu and ride it to the destination of the next challenge. Every contestant is able to successfully complete the challenge, which took two days to finish.
  • Special mention goes to Owen, who manages to capture two emus to ride, due to his weight being too much for one to carry. It does however take him notably longer to complete the race than anyone else and the emus pass out upon arriving.
• Duncan's revenge for Cody being a jerk for no reason just because Gwen is dating him. He throws a dingo at Cody costing his team the challenge. It backfires sending Gwen home, but Cody came out the loser too.
• Owen using himself as the last cannonball to sink Team Amazon's ship, thus securing victory for his team. There's even a freeze frame of each member of Team Amazon going Oh, Crap! a second before he makes contact.
• "Aftermath Aftermayhem":
  • Noah's ridiculously fast laser-dodging in is a considered a cross between this and Funny.
  • Geoff, after having put up with Blaineley for two-and-a-half aftermaths in a row, finally reaches his breaking point and lets loose with an epic "The Villain Sucks" Song, "Her Real Name Isn't Blaineley."
• "Niagra Brawls":
  • Cody being the first to finish the challenge to spite carrying someone more than twice his size.
  • Alejandro finally gets Owen kicked out of the show but he can't even enjoy it because of the unintentional Humiliation Conga Owen inflicts on him. It's the one time Alejandro isn't on top at the end of the episode.
• Seeing both Blaineley and Courtney shoved out of the plane, by a vexed Chris no less!
• Chris yelling at Sierra and eliminating her on the spot in "Awww, Drumheller" after she blew up millions of dollars worth of equipment just by being Too Dumb to Live.
  • Alternatively, Sierra blowing up the plane and causing Chris' meltdown in the first place, there's no denying that he had that coming for quite a while.
• Alejandro singing the show's first ever Villain Song, "This Is How We Will End It". And what a song it is.
• There's the time Harold out-surfs Courtney. It backfires, but it's still cool given how she always tries to sell herself as The Ace.
  • Harold's Badass Boast about being Cody's champion in the surfing race during I'm Winning This.
  Harold: One last chance to prove my might. That's what keeps me up at night! Why else would I volunteer, for something death-defyin'? Yeah, yeah! I'm winning this deal.
  • In the same episode, how about Bridgette surfing from a Russian fishing boat in the middle of the Pacific all the way to Hawaii with a bear?
  • How about the fact Courtney was able to win a challenge that was meant to be unwinnable?
• "Planes, Trains, Hot Air Mobiles":
  • Although Heather and Alejandro's methods to get to Mexico are pretty neat, Cody's has to take the cake here. While Heather caught a train and Alejandro stowed away in the shipping truck, Cody and Sierra put together a hot air balloon from the random debris in the airplane wreckage. Now while this is pretty cool all by itself, the awesome happens later on. After their balloon gets destroyed by power lines, Cody feels he can no longer continue, and gives up. Not willing to let him quit now that he's come this far, Sierra finds what they need, gives him the pep talk that he needs, and they catch up with the others using one of the craziest methods ever seen in this show: Rocket-Powered Wheelchair
  • I'm Gonna Make It. The first half features Sierra and Cody singing a duet as she manoeuvres their balloon around obstacles while Alejando and Heather do a literal Masochism Tango atop a moving train. The second half is done in a sort of Travel Montage mode that displays the final three's movements across a map, complete with Heather waving mockingly whenever she passes an opponent.
  • Geeky Weakling Cody who got pushed around by the cast for two seasons, and had to be carried to the end of the season by his favorite stalker Sierra, finally stands up for himself and engages Bigbad in a swordfish fight.
• "Hawaiian Punch":
  • Heather managing to trick both Cody and Alejandro during the tie-breaker, while tied to a pole. It's even cooler when you remember that earlier in the episode Owen had commented that she wouldn't be able to do any harm while tied up.
  • "Versus," which features gigantic, god-like versions of Heather and Alejandro rising out of volcanoes and throwing lightning bolts at each other.
  • Cody's repetition of "Al" just to press Alejandro's hidden Berserk Button.
  • Although it was harsh, Heather tricking Alejandro into giving up the prize was pretty awesome, providing a sweet sense of poetic justice in regards to the girls he'd tricked (especially Bridgette) and reminding us just why Heather is the most formidable competitor.
  • Everyone (with the exception of Courtney) cheering for Heather when she finally defeated Alejandro, even sworn enemies like Gwen and Leshawna.
  • All the contestants laughing in delight as Chris's boat sinks.
• Sierra as a whole is pretty awesome. She's multi-talented and Genre Savvy and knew right away when Heather was trying to trick her.

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island

• Jo reaching the island... only to realize Dawn was first..completely dry:
  Jo: Woohoo! That's what I'm talking about! First one on the isla...(gasp to see Dawn first) How did you... You're not even wet!!!
  Dawn: Hmmm? Oh. I used a shortcut!
  • Not to mention how Dawn saves the physically weaker members of both teams from a mutant beetle by returning her baby.
  • Dawn's full fury when she realizes that Scott is a Team Killer.
• Any time B comes up with a plan or puts one of his inventions to work. Never mind the fact that he's The Voiceless and that Dawn serves as the Voice for the Voiceless by telling her team his plan. As Sam himself puts it, "Woah! B, you should change your name to A+!"
• "Truth or Laser Shark":
  • Cameron winning the second episode's challenge for his team (albeit accidentally).
  • Zoey kicking two giant mutant beavers in the groin.
  • Pretty much every time Mike brings the star gymnast Svetlana out. Unlike the other alternate personalities, which manifest by dress or emotion, Svetlana comes out when she's needed. She often declares that a particular task can only be pulled off by her, which is true enough, and her skill earns the admiration of both Jo and Brick.
• "Finders Creepers": Sheltered short stuff Cameron experiences an adrenaline rush and bursts through the webbing (that Lightning, Jo and Brick can't break free of) and outright slaughters a mutant spider that's several times his size!!! Turns out the spider is Izzy in disguise, but considering she's one of the series' powerhouses that's at least not less of an accomplishment.
• "Runaway Model": Sam is Team Man's one member that doesn't live up to the manly ideal the rest of the team gets invested in and they're not kind on him for it. But when Lindsay needs to be saved, he is the only one that isn't immediately smacked down in the rescue attempt because he imagines it all as a video game. The rest of the team is suitably impressed and cheers him on.
  Lightning: Go get him, you crazy couch potato!
• "A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste": The tragically shortlived flawless teamwork of Team Dude with Jo giving orders and arranging the escape, Lightning putting his muscles to use to get the statue and defeat Ezekiel, and Brick running support by fetching the statue after Lightning loses it fighting Ezekiel.
• "Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon":
  • Chris and Chef in a zeppelin.
  • Heather making a cameo, during which she kicks Chris and Chef off said zeppelin and attempts to escape with the 1,000,000 Canadian Dollars.
  • Zoey gets revenge for Mike on Scott with FLYING, FIRE-BREATHING MUTANT GOATS, one of which she rides.
  • Cameron, after being bullied once again by Jo, returns the favor with a hidden explosive.
• "Eat, Puke and Be Wary":
  • Zoey ditching her Damsel in Distress role and taking about ten levels in badass.
  • Leading to one of her greatest lines:
  Zoey: Sorry pal. Better luck next life.
  • Chris gets stuck in the septic tank, and the interns use this as an opportunity to get back at him for all the hell he put all his interns through for 4 seasons
• "Grand Chef Auto":
  • Mike's epic Battle in the Center of the Mind‎, where he's getting pounded by all four of his (acitve) alternate personalities for control of their body. He hears Zoey calling him and declares he has had enough, beating up all of his personalities without breaking a sweat, before finally declaring "This brain is under new management!". All thanks to the Power of Love for Zoey.
  • Duncan cameos against his will and promptly breaks free. In the end, he blows up Chris's latest monument to himself, Mount Chrismore. Even Chef is impressed.
• "Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown": In the greatest Badass milestone development ever shown by Cameron, the little nerd builds a high-tech super-powered self-assembling suit of armour and turns into Iron Cam, which he built IN A CAMP! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS! And the fact that Lightning can stand him is also something notable, though his awesomeness is downplayed by his dirty tricks. Not to mention that Chris sends every monster that appeared and it becomes a full final battle!

Total Drama All-Stars

• The opening sequence depicts a promising water joust challenge with high-rising emotions that just sells the villains vs heroes theme. There's Jo vs Lindsay and Lightning vs Mike in which the villains are the aggressors. There's Alejandro vs Zoey in which Zoey is the aggressor, but Alejandro has the physical advantage. And then there's a duo team of Gwen and Duncan vs Courtney. Not only is Courtney the aggressor, but she's also put her baton on fire! Gwen and Duncan are suitably concerned.
• The shot of all the Vultures laughing deviously, all surrounded by flames (except Gwen).
• Lightning punching Fang down into the water as he jumps off a cliff.
• Alejandro escaping the drama machine when it blows up from the water.
• Sierra beating up the sharks in an underwater fight. In the same challenge, Zoey rescues Mike with Improbable Aiming Skills.
• Mike is shown in "Evil Dread" to have a better handle on his personalities when Manitoba comes out. He is able to focus his skills on the challenge, keep Manitoba's sexism under control, and compliment Zoey all the while.
• Manitoba. When he comes out in this episode, the first thing he does is spin his arms rapidly, dig through the beach, and find a puzzle piece in a few seconds. He spends the rest of the episode using his tracking skills to find more pieces, and stops Scott from cheating.
• Mike's new evil personality, Mal, who is implied to have taken over the other personalities, wants to overtake the game, and has an awesome emo hairstyle and reverb voice.
• Zoey going full Action Girl in "Saving Private Leechball", being the one who defeats the most villains, especially Jo in a one-on-one duel, even doing Bullet Time to dodge Jo's leeches and catch one in mid-air to use as ammo herself.
• While not as awesome as he only hit the more threatening target by accident and got hit himself directly after, Cameron calculating the degree and objects needed to ricochet into hitting Gwen (spared by Duncan instead) in mere moments qualifies.
• Lightning getting his revenge on Jo by taunting her with a pre-recorded message before he was eliminated.
• Courtney spends some time pretending Duncan doesn't exist, when Duncan forces her to admit it. Instead of whining or giving him a big "Reason You Suck" Speech , she just screams "Yes, you exist. So what!?" and it's enough to scare Duncan.
• Alejandro swallowing his vomit in "Food Fright".
• Sam "powering up" at the end of "Food Fright" and beating Alejandro to win the challenge for his team, even though he botched it up in the end.
• Even if losing some points due to being a Smug Snake using a Wounded Gazelle Gambit , Alejandro doing the challenges by using his hands for movement to continue pretending he can't use his legs is pretty awesome too.
• Cameron surviving a night in Boney Island by using his brains and a lot of courage; seriously, getting THAT close to a bear, on purpose, so the animal can do THAT on him?
• Gwen saving Courtney from a vicious deer in "Moon Madness".
• Mal emerging during the blue moon and actually getting along with the other vicious animals.
  Mal: (clutching a vicious songbird in his hand) Who wants to help me make someone else wet their pants with fear, huh? (One brief conversation later, he sic's said vicious songbird on Duncan of all people) [Evil chuckle] Toodles.
• Heather pretending to be affected by the blue moon in order to throw Alejandro off his game. Not only does she look adorable with big shiny eyes, but she also cuddles a crocodile (admittedly it's docile because of the moon's effects) enough that the crocodile seems fond of her afterwards. Bonus points for totally creeping out her team with her out-of-character niceness.
• Heather exploiting the dynamics of her teammates (Scott and Courtney getting close, Gwen and Cameron bonding) to create an anti-Alejandro alliance while having the later convinced that she wouldn't try anything against him too soon was awesome. Of course, Alejandro one-ups her when he manages to steal her immunity idol, making him the only judge of who's going home this night... and he chooses Heather. The look on Heather's face as she realizes what's happening is priceless.
• Alejandro KO-ing his brother Jose in "Suckers Punched". Combined with a Heartwarming Moment when Alejandro delivers the final blow. "And THIS is for calling ANY aspect of Heather unattractive!"
• Mal had some nice ones too. The topper being throwing Izzy out of the ring. IZZY.
• Mal after his night on Boney Island, where he terrifies a bunch of animals into stampeding across an unsuspecting Chef, then steps on the latter's fingers. It's enough to make Chef, of all people, later hoarsely tell Chris "that kid ain't right."
  Mal: "Heheheh... Hey Chef."
• Izzy is able to see through Mal's disguise just by looking at him. She could even hear what Mike said from inside Mal's head.
• Duncan catching and defusing Chef's explosive, and using it to blow up Chris' mansion... uh... cottage.
• Zoey risking her life by balancing on a stick in piranha-infested water for the sake of getting Mike to take control of his body again. And for a few seconds, it actually works.
• Cameron of all people coming up with the idea of holding Scott on a stick so Fang can pull their raft. Let me tone it down for you cowardly, 3-foot, resident-nerd Cameron.
  • Once freed, Scott immediately shoves Cameron into the water for doing that to him. It was immensely gratifying.
• Mike somehow freeing himself from the boulder he was shackled to.
• Mal's Badass Boast when Cameron is removed from the game.
  Mal: Oh, Mike's gone. I'm Mal, and I let you fall. See you around, SUCKER!
  • Followed by Cameron's Oh, Crap!.
• Chef running after Chris with his meatball gun to save Chris, and Gwen winning the challenge by blasting Ezekiel with meatballs, saving Chris of all people and then rushing to save Cameron. And to top it all off she sends Alejandro to Boney Island.
• Mal gets Alejandro (who is considered the most manipulative contestant in Total Drama history!) voted off in "The Obsta-kill Kourse" after manhandling and humiliating him pretty much through the whole challenge (though to be fair, Alejandro's in-universe reputation as an evil manipulator and "Mike's" reputation as a good guy certainly helped). He even dominates him physically with just one hand, and it's revealed he can access Mike's other personalities' abilities even if they resist, explaining his Super-Strength and other abilities; also, Mike manages to 'release' Svetlana from Mal's control, cutting his access to Svetlana's athleticism.
  • But for what it's worth, even though Alejandro was eliminated he didn't go down without a fight. His most notable moment was when he forcibly flung off all the leeches he had been shot with.
  • Also, when Mike sets Svetlana free, Mal gets thrown into a pit of angry snapping turtles. For all that he's done, it's nice to see Mal get some punishment.
• Chris punishing Courtney for trying to poison his interns with her disgusting sundae.
  Chris: Everyone has to eat their own sundae. 'Member? You won't get anything else to eat until you finish the sundae you thought was good enough to feed my interns. I wouldn't feed them that.
  • It's worth noting that this is pretty much the only time in the series where Chris outright scolds a contestant for their behavior in a challenge. Throughout the series he's allowed rule bending, deceit, trickery, and has personally inflicted all kinds of crap on the contestants (in World Tour he had people literally strung up in medieval torture racks as part of the challenge). Even in situations like Heather reading Gwen's diary during the Talent Show challenge in Island, where Chris thought it was uncool, he still allowed it. The fact that a contestant deliberately harming his interns is where he draws the line is pretty awesome.
  • In the same episode, Zoey manages to survive a crocodile attack despite being stuck in the swamp and using only one hand because she's holding the ice cream bowl with the other. Also, we get to see a brief bear vs crocodile fight.
• Mike setting Vito free by slamming the Demonic Dummy of Mal into Vito's chains. Said dummy was just beforehand laughing evilly at them. Vito then, for the first time, obeys Mike without hesitation.
• Zoey figuring out Alejandro's clue and learning about Mal via the disk.
• Even though people eventually caught on, Mal was able to last several challenges while pretending to be Mike and improvising to make things turn out in his favor.
• It doubles as Nightmare Fuel, but Mal manages to even creep Chris out (enough to make Chris flee to a panic room), and sabotage Scott and Gwen's treasure hunts!
• Mal's clearly had enough of snapping turtles; when he gets bitten by yet another one in "The Bold and the Booty-ful", he growls at it, which makes the snapping turtle flee in terror yelping like an injured dog.
  Chris: "Never seen that one before..."
• Zoey getting the Yeti back to Chris.
• Svetlana's speech when Mike was about to assume Mal's the original personality.
• Mike's personalities making a Heroic Sacrifice to defeat Mal once and for all.
  • Mike telling Mal, that Mal's a part of him that he doesn't need anymore as Mal fades away.
• Mike regaining his body and punching Fang so hard that he flew offscreen and lost a tooth! Shortly afterwards, he gives Al the tooth (after he reveals that he now has all the abilities of his personalities now), causing Fang to chase after him.
• Gwen hitting Heather on the head with a pole.
  Gwen: Whoops, my stick slipped... Old Heather. (confessional) I've been waiting to do that for four seasons!
• Mike winning the million big ones.

Total Drama: Pahkitew Island

• During the drop from the airplane Ella and Sky managed to save themselves with their respective skills while Jasmine saved two others mid-fall.
• Max made a mind control helmet. And it worked, even if Scarlett had to fix a wire. Still, the fact that he got that close to making it work, especially considering it's Max, is pretty awesome.
• Samey finally retaliating against her twin sister by feeding her a fruit that made her unable to talk and pretend she was Amy so that Amy (who Chris thought was Samey) would be sent home.
  Samey: (pretending to be Amy as Amy's unable to talk) Oh ignore her, she's just trying to get sympathy. Aren't you, Samey?
  (Amy realizes that Samey tricked her and tries to talk but it's muffled)
  Chris: Can't understand what you're saying Samey, but it really doesn't matter, because you've been voted off.
• During the Truth or Scare challenge, when Samey, disgusted as her sister, is forced to confess to hating Amy the most to avoid getting shocked, Jasmine seamlessly comes up with a lie to cover her, telling "Amy" that she shouldn't blame herself for her sister's shortcomings.
• Ella may have gotten a raw deal, but she left the island on her own terms after saving a teammate.
  • Said "Own Terms" include a full blown musical number (outwitting both Chris and Chef in the process) and not showing a shred of resentment for her elimination, before being carried into the cannon by birds. That is how you go out in style.
• Jasmine using Topher as a human battering ram to escape the gopher hole they were trapped in.
• Shawn making what he thinks is a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Jasmine.
  Shawn: Zombies! (slaps himself) This is not a drill, soldier! (slap) The zombies are here, and they're after Jasmine! (slap) Now, what are you prepared to do?!
  • Followed by Shawn's Heartwarming reunion with her.
• After Sky brutally rejected Dave (so brutally he cried), Chris of all people tells her off. And he was the only one to do so.
  (Sky is shocked she's in the bottom 2 with Dave)
  Chris: Don't look so shocked Sky. The way you talked to Dave after the pre-challenge was pretty much like watching someone hoof a kitten in the nards.
  • It’s even more awesome when you remember that Chris literally taunted Dave after getting yelled at by Sky, which might make one wonder if Chris had a second thought that Sky yelling at him was a bit too harsh.
• "Scarlett Fever": Fair few characters get these in this episode.
  • Basically everything to do with Scarlett in this episode, from her revelation, to hacking the island.
  • The fact that the whole island is one gigantic high-tech piece of machinery.
  • In his Moment of Awesome, former Dirty Coward Shawn goes and singlehandedly slaughters an army of Chris Robots when told by Jasmine they're zombies, and then offhandedly head shotting the robo-bear with an arm.
  • Even though it was Sky's idea, Max (of all people) still manages to get one when he tricks Scarlett into letting the rest of the contestants into the control room with a Chris-bot.
  • Sugar defeats Scarlett by hog-tying her with her own hair.
• Shawn's armpit serenade. It earns him a standing ovation from the judges (including Chris).
  • Later, Shawn admits it was the first time he tried it out in public. Not bad for a first time.

Total Drama Island (2023) Part 1

• Bowie proudly announcing himself as the first openly gay contestant as he also shows off his skills in basketball and brags about winning prom king and queen. He proves himself quickly by orchestrating the first elimination of the series simply by convincing the others to boot Caleb for being a threat.
• "Ship for Brains": It's no secret that Wayne's an idiot, but after seeing Bowie and Emma aim at Chase, he compliments them and gets an idea explaining to the rest of the team to shoot the Ferocious Trout players into the water preventing them from fighting back before dealing the finishing blow to the ship. Lampshaded by Chris.

  Chris: Hey! Your team is getting outsmarted by Wayne!

• "A Star Falls": Scary Girl's performance through the challenge is more than impressive compared to most other contestants. Managing to jump up the climbing wall In a Single Bound then giving the bear hiding inside it a straight up beat down, then effortlessly skipping over the slippery oil path and getting the last number the team needs to free Damien, allowing them to win the challenge.
• Ripper in "Numbskull Island". Sure he ends up resorting to unethical and amoral ways to win with using Priya as a Human Shield, but he does manage to get the Frog of Death's skull thanks to this and nearly wins the challenge for the Ferocious Trout had Scary Girl delivered the skull to Chris immediately.
• MK in general. She seems like a one-note kleptomaniac who the writers are planning to make a Hate Sink so the fans don't miss her when she goes home early. Instead, she applies her talent in a never-before-seen fashion. She steals Julia's contraband phone to hack the confessionals to get inside information so she knows the ongoings. She continues to show her talent throughout the season, such as by being as average in challenges as possible so she's not seen as worth taking out, sabotaging Julia's image to put a target on her back, and nearly successfully pinning her on the stuff she stole by invoking Occam's Razor.
• Ripper successfully managing to steal one of the cassowary eggs thanks to getting Zee to put on a cassowary costume to distract the mother in "Severe Eggs and Pain". He even manages to be the first one to get the egg back to Chris, only failing to get immunity at the last minute due to recklessly spiking the egg and causing it to hatch, leading Chris to not count it on a technicality.
• Ripper and Zee's performances in Wheel of Vomit in managing to successfully stomach most of Chef's disgusting meals in the challenge and making it to the final 3, both only losing thanks to Julia disgusting Zee by bringing up where milk comes from and managing to barely eat the tapeworm faster than Ripper.
• Much of Julia's post merge performance. Much like Heather, she knows that anytime she doesn't win immunity, she's going home and wins challenge after challenge. Unlike Heather, however, she never leaves things up to chance. All her wins are earned through physical skill.
• In Caved by the Bell, at the elimination ceremony, with Julia finally being on the chopping block, in the bottom 2 with Millie, the former has 2 votes while the latter has only 1 from the former, before the final vote is revealed, Chris, being Chris, makes a new rule that if the votes are tied, the person with the most individual immunity wins stays, which means that Julia will go to the finale, and one expects the final vote to be for Millie, but when it's revealed, Chris, Chef, Julia, and the audience are in pure shock when it was revealed that Bowie voted for Julia. That’s right, after 5 (or 6) seasons of Chris successfully bending the rules over for drama so many times, his New Rules as the Plot Demands schtick FINALLY doesn’t work.

Total Drama Island (2023) Part 2

• In general, this season has much of the cast do something that pretty much no other returning contestants do-learn what their Fatal Flaw is/was and try to come up with a way to get around it or negate it, such as Nichelle actually doing physical training, MK and Caleb trying to get into alliances to keep themselves safe or Ripper Taking A Level In Kindness.
• "The Pink Painter Strikes Again"
  • Chase does surprisingly well in the challenge, able to effortlessly dodge Grandma Hatchet's paint balloons, only to be hit by a surprise curve ball.
  • Grandma Hatchet's Spin Attack was very impressive to watch. Bonus points for her taking out Raj, Wayne, Axel and Scary Girl, four known strong challenge competitors in one clean sweep.
  • Nichelle reveals that, after her poor performance last season, she actually took the time to train in parkour, kung fu and gymnastics in order to perform better. She then proves she's a fast learner by managing to beat Bowie in the first challenge.
  • The implication that, after watching episode 10 of last season, Emma has dumped Chase for good, finally freeing herself from his toxic influence.
• "Taking It to the Rim Reaper"
  • Emma manages to exploit Chase's obsession with Internet fame by bringing up how cool the pipe challenge stunt would look as a video, leading him to obsess on getting the perfect intro for his video and not help his team at all, leading to him becoming the second one eliminated.
  • Ripper unclogging the three point slide that Raj, Wayne, Bowie, and Julia were stuck in, with the help of a bear, which manages to allow Julia, Raj, Wayne, and a bear to score 12 points for the Skunk Butts and get them ahead of Rat Face after falling behind.
• "You Poor Saps"
  • Until getting stuck to Ripper, Axel's solo performance is pretty impressive, especially her jump and flipping over a squirrel.
  • MK successfully infiltrating Chris' intern staff meetings to gain knowledge on the challenges and teaming up with Julia to help the Skunk Butts cheat their way to victory after facing a two challenge losing streak.
• "Ice To Beat You"
  • Julia tricking Nichelle into quitting via a fake Hollywood contract, costing Team Rat Face one of their strongest players just before the merge.
• "Canoe Believe It?"
  • Just as the shark is about to sneak up on and eat Axel, she turns around and threatens it, causing it to back away.
  • Bowie distracting Axel long enough to knock her off her canoe and make it to the final round.
  • Damien, who already resigned himself to losing the challenge but just wanted to get one joust off to go out with dignity, ends up beating Bowie to win immunity.
    • Knocking off Julia and Zee also counts as this, considering both of them are either bigger or stronger than him.
  • Julia tricking all of the former members of Team Rat Face into thinking that the cheating scheme was Bowie's idea, sending her Arch-Enemy home while also keeping her ally MK safe.
• "Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral"
  • Damien finding the immunity idol.
  • Props to Julia. Even though Wayne and Raj prove to be useless for half the challenge, she still manages to work with what she has and actually manages to pull out a win, even if there was some sabotage involved and it was partly because of another team getting disqualified.
  • MK deserves credit too. While her cake is a complete mess, she still managed to do the whole challenge pretty much by herself due to getting stuck with the even less useful Ripper and Axel.
• "Haulin and Ballin"
  • Even though she spent the challenge near the back of the pack, once MK reaches the pinball section of the challenge, she quickly realizes that the buttons on the floor would increase her points far quicker and nearly wins the challenge right then and there. Even when Caleb tries to stop her so Priya can get immunity instead, MK, who is nowhere near as strong as him, starts outright biting him, showing that, while she's not as physically strong as someone like Julia, she can make up the difference when she needs.
  • Julia egging Zee into spilling the beans about Caleb and Priya, successfully making both Caleb and Zee bigger elimination targets over herself and MK.
• "Breaking Up is Hard to Do"
  • Caleb managing to drag a yacht back to the challenge spot and then taking it apart so well that he actually manages to win the challenge.
    • How did Caleb take apart the yacht? Mostly by punching it to bits.
  • Priya is able to shatter a whole boulder with just one hit of her pickaxe, explaining she learned how to find a rock's weak spot.
  • Julia's Batman Gambit against MK. As both of them know it's most likely one of them, Julia tells her that she's willing to just let things play out. MK, unwilling to believe this, starts badmouthing Julia to everyone. But it turns out that Julia actually stayed true to her word - something she informed the rest of the contestants about - making MK look worse and getting her voted off.
• "Working K9 to 5"
  • MacArthur's return reveals she's actually become a police sergeant, implying that, unlike Owen, assuming he didn't just miss the point of the question, she's actually become fairly successful in her adult life.
  • MacArthur's dogs are terrifying, but it's impressive how well trained they are. They can, quite literally, hunt the contestants anywhere they go, via being able to open doors, cut down trees with their teeth, pull you out of the water and even operate jet skis.
  • Wayne and Raj briefly hiding their scents from their dogs by eating their socks, only failing when Wayne accidentally burps out his socks.
  • Raj managing to temporarily trick his dog via dressing up a crash test dummy with his clothes.
  • Julia managing to get her dog off her tail via masking her scent with trash and then winning the challenge via digging her nails into the ground to make sure Priya is dragged back to the mat first. She also dumps bacon grease all over Priya to render her too slippery to hide on the roof and attracting her dog. Later, she throws a dog toy into one of the cabins that Priya, Raj, and Wayne were hiding in which successfully attracts their dogs and causes Raj and Wayne to lose the challenge.
• "Off the Hook!"
  • Wayne managing to conquer both of his fears so easily that Chris forces him to deal with Caleb's fear just because it's not something he can work around. Had it not been for Chris' Screw the Rules, I Make Them! attitude with Wayne in the challenge, Wayne would have won.
  • Julia revealing that she was the one who stole the immunity idol from Damien and using it to oust Priya from the game, before revealing to Caleb that, had he continued to work with her, she would have voted off Wayne. Granted, she's lying, but she still deals a major blow to Caleb by tricking him into thinking his girlfriend going home was all his fault.
• "Soar Losers"
  • After seeing how Wayne keeps getting distracted by the various obstacles, Bowie begins acting like his hockey coach, allowing Wayne to focus and catch up.
  • After the raptor gives her a Traumatic Haircut, Julia punches it against the cliff wall, finally getting another victory over it.
  • Wayne becoming the season's Dark Horse Winner via two things that no one would have seen coming - being Loved by All (making everyone on the other teams reluctant to hurt or hinder him) and finally taking advantage of Julia and Caleb only focusing on each other to quite literally swoop to win the grand prize.
  • Also we have to give respect for Caleb for being the first contestant in Total Drama history to go from a first boot in his debut season to a finalist in his next one.

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