Characters / Disventure Camp Riya

Disventure Camp Main Character Index
Hosts and Crew | Season 1 Contestants (Ellie, Fiore) | Season 2 Contestants (Riya)

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Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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The Bollywood Actress

^All-Stars

Voiced by: Guillermina Lembo (Spanish), Nympha Mariposa (English)

Label: The Bollywood Actress

Team: Green Team (S2), Yellow Team (AS)

Placement: 2nd (S2), TBD (AS)

Eliminated in: Episode 13 (S2), TBD (AS)

Riya is a Bollywood actress who moved to the United States two years ago to continue her career. However, after trying many times, she has only had a couple of extra roles. Riya is running out of money and Disventure Camp is her last chance to be famous outside of her country.

Due to her character taking an unexpected turn during the second half of Season 2, all spoilers will be unmarked. Read at your own discretion.

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A-K

• #1 Dime: When Connor ends up quitting during what would be a double elimination, he gifts Riya a bottle of perfume so she can remember him. From then on, Riya treats the perfume bottle like her most prized possession, and pivotal moments in her character arc are connected to it (remembering and regretting her betrayals near the finals, and it shattering when Riya reaches her lowest point in the final and loses Connor's trust).
• All for Nothing: After everything she did, from betraying her best friend Rosa Maria to sabotaging Aiden, she ends up losing the competition, is left with no friends, Hated by All and comes to regret everything she did.
• All Take and No Give: The relationship between her and Rosa Maria by the second half of the season. Rosa gives her the support and friendship that Riya lacks from the fact the other two older adult contestants are out, and while Riya says in a confessional that she plans to repay her friendship, this never happens, and instead she gets Rosa eliminated when the second half of Season 2 starts.
• Ambition Is Evil: By the second half of Season 2, Riya's convinced that the million dollar prize is the only thing that matters, and resorts to underhanded methods in order to win it.
• Ascended Extra: While her career is the opposite In-Universe, Riya fits this in a meta sense: When she first shows up in the show, she's a struggling actress who needs money, and stays in the background for most of the season. Come the second half, however, and she slowly but surely becomes more ruthless and competitive, eventually becoming the Big Bad of the season.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work:
  • She exposes James' manipulation of his relationship with Aiden in order to gain more followers in social media, as well as how he's been using him all along, which would normally be a noble thing to do, except she's fully descended into Big Bad status by this point.
  • She's also ultimately the one to eliminate Hunter once and for all, not only manipulating events so that he doesn't get immunity for once, but using Rosa's own immunity totem to give herself immunity, ensuring that even if she gets the most votes, the only ones who'll count will be either Hunter or James'.
• The Bad Guy Wins: One of the main reasons Riya joined the Season 2 cast was to try and get exposure so that she could regain the fame she had back in India. While she ends the season being hated by everyone, All-Stars reveals that in the interim between season 2 and AS, she managed to achieve the fame she wanted by playing villainous roles.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: During the first challenge in All-Stars, she kicks a wolf in the face to get away from it, after having it chase her through her team's zone, further highlighting her role as an antagonist.
• Batman Gambit: She pulls off an impressive one during the balloon hunt challenge; she steals everyone's stuff and puts them in Rosa Maria's backpack to frame her for stealing them, and when the items spill out and everybody thinks Rosa's the culprit, Riya feigns confusion, acting like she doesn't know what to think. This, coupled with Riya stealing Rosa's Immunity Totem, culminates in both Rosa's elimination, and the end of her and Riya's friendship.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Riya's first confessional has her explain that she joined the show in the hopes that it would give her exposure, so she can finally get a major movie role, and not as an extra. She ends up getting exposure, alright; with her darker side being exposed on national television for everyone to see. This, however, eventually ended up working in her favor, as by All-Stars, she's become a famous actress as a result of her villainous roles in tv.
• Beauty Is Bad: Riya is pretty easy on the eyes, and while she's mostly neutral at the start of the show, by the finale she turns into a relentless, ruthless competitor who's willing to do anything to achieve victory.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: When Riya first shows up, she's a down-on-her-luck actress who nonetheless tries to remain positive and friendly to most campers. By the finale, Riya willingly burns all her bridges and becomes solely focused on winning at all costs. This becomes even more highlighted come All-Stars: unlike in Season 2, where she started with a somewhat optimistic disposition despite her tough situation, the very first few scenes involving her show her to have become an arrogant diva who only treats Connor nicely, and even this doesn't last as she eventually votes him out during "Strike A Chord", which also results in the end of their friendship.
• Believing Their Own Lies: As the finale approaches and Riya goes further down in her spiral towards villainy, she ends up convincing herself that not only is the million dollar reward all that matters, but that she got as far as she did on her own, despite having had help from Connor and Rosa Maria at various points. In All-Stars, she's also pretty convinced that Connor was dragging her down during the finale and across the competition, when it's clear that he's been one of her biggest supporters, and only decided to ditch her when she went too far.
• Betrayal by Inaction: She ends up discovering that Lake is being targeted in the same episode she's eliminated at, but rather than warn her or convince Rosa Maria to use her Immunity Totem on Lake, she stays quiet and allows Lake to be voted off. While initially guilty about this action, said guilt slowly dissipates-along with her remaining morals-as she slowly becomes more antagonistic until she becomes the Big Bad of Season 2.
• Big Bad: With many of the antagonistic characters either being voted out (Yul, Karol) or developing into nicer people (James, Kristal) by the end of the season, Riya becomes the final antagonist of the season as she fully absorbs herself into a "win at all costs" mentality.
• Big Bad Slippage: When Riya first appears in the show, she's relatively neutral and friendly towards everyone, with no indication that she's hiding anything. As the show goes on, however, Riya slowly becomes more and more corrupted and focused on winning at all costs, a mentality that she succumbs to by the last few episodes.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Twice during the penultimate challenge before the finale: she first tells Hunter to shut up when he tries to diffuse the situation between Aiden and James by bringing up how the second part of the challenge is about to start, and then snaps at Nina to shut her mouth when her mockery starts to get on her nerves.
• Bitch Alert: Riya's introduction in All-Stars has her walk up to Connor while donning a fur coat and glasses, and says "I know" when Connor says she looks great with a tone of arrogance. This is before we learn about how she badmouthed Connor during an interview and has yet to apologize for it.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Successfully frames her best friend, Rosa Maria, for stealing others' belongings in Episode 10, along with stealing her immunity totem so that she couldn't protect herself from upcoming elimination.
• Brainy Brunette: Riya has brown hair, and while she doesn't seem any smarter than the average adult, the latter half of Season 2 shows just how easy it is for her to either manipulate or gambit her way through the game.
• Break Them by Talking: She attempts to do this to Aiden during the skydiving part of the final challenge, taking a moment to talk to him and remind him of how he's been repeatedly duped by this point, hoping to break his spirit. She doesn't get to finish before she accidentally sends hin literally hanging over the edge, at which point she cuts her losses and races on.
• Break the Haughty: As the finale approaches, Riya ends up developing a bit of an ego, believing that with Aiden and James having relationship troubles and Hunter no longer in the game, her getting first place is guaranteed. However, once she reaches the diving section and ends up lost, her ego cracks as she begs for help from anybody until Rosa decides to help her. Then, once she fails to cross the finish line, her ego vanishes as she realizes she doesn't have any friends left, her reputation is ruined thanks to the fact she did all her nasty things on television, and while Connor is willing to help her get off rock bottom, nobody else is willing to give her the time of day.
• Broken Pedestal: She's on both ends of the trope, one in Season 2, one in All-Stars.
  • In Season 2, Riya saw Rosa Maria as one of the kindest contestants in the show, and a genuine friend that she wished to keep by her side. However, her trust in her begins to fade when she finds out Rosa found the Immunity Totem while the two were looking for it and didn't tell her until the two were with Lake, and then the trust dissolves completely when she learns from Rosa herself that she went behind everyone's back and warned Hunter about the plan to ambush him, at which point she decides to get her voted out instead of Hunter.
  • In All-Stars, Connor still saw Riya as the nice woman he met back in Season 2, and even as it becomes more and more clear that Riya doesn't want to become the good girl she once was, Connor still kept by her side and supported her. The pedestal ends up being broken in "Strike A Chord" when Riya lies to him about everybody voting for Yul, only to end up being voted out by them instead, to the point that he makes it clear to Riya he doesn't want to talk to her again before he's forced to clean up the mess that she caused.
• Brutal Honesty: When she uses her "advantage" to switch Yul and Rosa Maria between teams before the trivia challenge, the Korean Dancer outright asks her why. Riya minces no word in telling Yul that she hated him since day one, and that now that she can finally get rid of him, she doesn't need to shy away from saying it.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When they first meet in All-Stars, Aiden confronts Riya, demanding an apology over her nearly throwing him down a cliff back in the Season 2 finale. Riya's response is to mockingly tell him to "keep waiting" with a smile on her face.
• Card-Carrying Villain: By the time of All-Stars, Riya has stopped pretending to be anything other than the villainess she made herself into at the end of Season 2; she's generally dismissive of everyone around her, doesn't apologize to either Connor or Aiden for what she did to them, and is quick to throw Aiden off the plane when everybody needs to jump off to see which parachute, and thus team, they got.
• Callousness Towards Emergency: While she's initially shocked to see Aiden dangling over a cliff during the final challenge, her response to him asking for help is to reject him, claiming she's wasted too much time on him before diving towards the next challenge.
• Chekhov's Skill: Her acting experience as a Bollywood actress finally came in handy when she successfully framed Rosa for stealing James' phone and her perfume while painting herself as innocent in "Popping Trust".
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Riya becomes the last member of Rosa Maria's alliance, and is ultimately the one responsible for dissolving it: first by letting Lake get eliminated despite knowing she's being targeted, and then by betraying Rosa's trust by framing her as having stolen everyone's belongings, ensuring she gets voted off. She also later betrays Hunter as part of a scheme and eventually throws Connor under the bus by saying she no longer needs him. Despite Ellie being part of an alliance she joined in All-Stars, she throws sand in her eyes to sabotage her and to win the challenge. Even after the alliance was exposed to the Magenta Team and the Cyan Team, she refuses to let Fiore (who's part of the alliance and is on the Magenta Team) win the fourth challenge despite her being a bigger target for elimination. She even betrays Connor by voting for Yul to make him think he tried to vote him off in the fourth episode. Moreover, in the sixth episode, she votes Connor off behind his back. While she briefly works with Jake and Aiden in "Give Me Some Space" in a challenge, she takes away their ladder when they're not looking.
• Combat Pragmatist: While fighting with James over a large log with sticks with rounded ends, Riya uses all her strength to swing her stick downwards, causing James to drop his stick and try to steal Riya's, causing them both to hit the water and be removed from the challenge.
• The Corruptible: When she enters the show, Riya's desperate for money but otherwise fairly approachable and friendly. Interacting with Karol, and seeing how the other campers' ruthless methods let them get ahead in the game, convinces Riya that she needs to get her hands dirty if she wants to win, leading to her become willing to do anything to win.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Riya was a sweet woman who didn't mean ill will besides Yul, but she ends up going down a dark path once the finale approaches and she comes to see how playing dirty allows people to get ahead in the game.
• Contrived Coincidence: Riya ends up finding an "advantage" that would allow her to swap someone from one team to the other before the trivia challenge. Granted, it's made clear that the advantage was randomly placed to create some drama, but it's still shocking.
• Create Your Own Hero: While James was already halfway through transitioning into a proper hero thanks to his relationship with Aiden, Riya exposing his original plan to use said relationship as a Publicity Stunt Relationship sends him down his Darkest Hour, which allows him to complete the transition and make amends with Aiden before becoming the final obstacle between her and the million dollars.
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge: During the final challenge, Riya gets lost while diving underwater and calls for help from anybody. This eventually leads her to need help from Rosa Maria, the same camper she casually and heartlessly voted off despite everything she had done for her.
• Cry into Chest: After failing to cross the finish line and being left with nothing as a result of her actions, Riya hugs Connor and cries into his chest after he offers to help her get out of rock bottom, an offer that she accepts.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Riya, despite falling down a dark path during the latter half of Season 2, still held a bit of the optimism she had at the start of the season. Her willingly betraying Rosa, and watching Aiden get away with playing dirty and advancing, causes Riya to shed said optimism to instead replace it with a newfound determination to win at all costs.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: The lower she falls into her spiral into villainy, the more Riya convinces herself that she got as far as she did on her own, despite the fact that she had plenty of help along the way. This ends up costing her Connor's trust, as he decides to quit rather than continue listening to her.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Once the merge happened, Hunter came across as almost untouchable, either winning immunity by ranking in first place, or having somebody else voted off instead of him. Riya finally gets rid of him by executing a Batman Gambit that results in Hunter failing to gain immunity for once, with Aiden getting it instead, and then using Rosa's Immunity Totem to make herself immune as well, leaving only Hunter and James as the campers able to be voted out.
• Demoted to Extra: In-universe example regarding her carreer. Riya went to America in hopes of making it big as an actress like in her home country India, but all she could get was bit roles which is a far cry from her usual bigger line of work. The trivia challenge specifically revealed she was an uncredited extra in over fifty different movies.
• Determinator: Once Riya gets her mind set on something, she won't stop until she gets it. The trivia challenge reveals she was an uncredited extra role in fifty movies since arriving in America, and once she decides to focus on getting the million dollar prize, she resorts to every dirty trick in the book in order to land first place.
• Detrimental Determination: Once Riya puts her mind into something, she won't stop until she gets it. While this trope would be fine in a vacuum, her holding the same idea for the finale ends up being her undoing; in her sheer desperation and refusal to just call it quits, Riya ends up alienating everyone she befriended and exposed her darker side in national television, and so once she ends up losing the show, she's left wondering what to do now that her career is in shambles and nobody, except Connor, wants anything to do with her.
• Despair Event Horizon: She ends up crossing it after failing to cross the finish line during the final challenge, with James crossing it and gaining the million dollars in the process. Riya had doubts regarding her descent into villainy, but soldiered on under the idea that if she got first place and won the million dollars, then it would all be worth it. Seeing James cross the line destroys her spirit, as she comes to realize that everything she did was for naught, leaving her with no money, no career prospects in the future, and no real friends, with Connor being willing to help her more out of pity than because he isn't still mad at her. By the end of it, Riya hugs Connor, and cries her heart out while he consoles her.
• Despair Gambit: Her exposure of James' Publicity Stunt Relationship idea has shades of this: by revealing said plan to Aiden and making him question if their relationship was ever for real, James would be left so bummed out that he wouldn't be able to play the game to his usual level, leaving just Hunter left for easy pickings.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • She tries to salvage her friendship with Rosa Maria after telling her she's responsible for her being voted off by saying that they can still be friends after the game is over, without considering how Rosa would take the betrayal quite personally, especially after everything she did to help Riya.
  • During "Strike A Chord", Riya acts as the set designer and adds a lot of flashlights to enhance her team's performance, without considering whether the stage provided can even handle that many lights. Sure enough, once the performance ends, one of the lights fall on Yul's foot before causing the stage to catch fire, leading to the Yellow Team's immediate loss.
• Dirty Coward: During the challenge in "Ball Busters", she uses Yul as a Human Shield in a fit of panic to block a giant ball of yarn heading towards her and her team's goal.
• Distinction Without a Difference: In her confessional right after torpedoing Aiden and James relationship, she says not to blame her because she didn't lie, she simply exposed what she found... before making the lie that James hates his followers.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Riya becomes quite a reprehensible woman during the second half of Season 2, but Connor still holds a soft spot for her. While it initially seems to be broken after he runs out of patience with her during the climbing section of the final challenge, once Riya loses and is left with an uncertain future, Connor willingly steps up to give her a helping hand in getting out of rock bottom, an act that Riya appreciates enough to hug him. However, when she votes him off in All-Stars, he reveals he no longer wants to even talk to her.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While it doesn't change the fact that she stabbed them in the back, the finale episodes make it clear that she does see Rosa Maria's alliance and Connor as her friends, and she is regretful over having to screw them over to stay in the game.
• Everyone Has Standards: She is shocked by Aiden dangling off the edge of the cliff at first, but she still chooses to leave him behind.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Just before Rosa boards the Bus of Losers, Riya reveals to her that she was the one who framed her as the one who stole everyone's belongings, and argues that they can still be friends once the show is over, clearly expecting Rosa to either have the same "win at all costs" mentality or understand where she's coming from. Rosa, to Riya's utter shock, is instead irate that the woman she helped and supported all this time repayed her with that, and decides to cut Riya out of her life for good.
• Evil Is Bigger: She's one of the tallest contestants in Season 2 next to Maggy, and while initially a neutral figure, she ends up pulling a Face–Heel Turn and becomes the main antagonist of the season.
• Evil Pays Better: All-Stars reveals that Riya managed to get the exposure and fame she desired from playing villainous roles after her time in Season 2.
• Evil Sounds Deep: In the Spanish dub, Riya has one of the deeper voices among the female cast, which becomes emphasized once she eventually turns into a villain.
• Ex-Big Bad: Riya eventually suffered Big Bad Slippage into becoming the main antagonistic camper of Season 2, but is only one of many antagonists present come All-Stars.
• Face–Heel Turn: Riya starts out the competition as a down-on-her-luck yet optimistic actress who wanted to make friends. However, the competition had brought out a meaner, more competitive side in Riya so desperate to win the million at all costs that she burned all her friendships cultivated throughout the season and broke up Aiden and James' relationship.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Riya is as gorgeous as you'd expect a Bollywood actress to be, and while she initially comes across as friendly enough, the final episodes reveal a much darker and ruthless side to her, willing to do anything and hurt anybody to get the million dollar prize.
• The Farmer and the Viper: She becomes the Viper to Rosa's Farmer during the episode the latter is eliminated. Rosa willingly befriended Riya when she felt alone, didn't exclude her from her alliance, and was generally supportive of Riya all through. Riya eventually repays this kindness by framing Rosa for stealing other's belongings, causing her to be voted off the island.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Towards Rosa Maria. Her genuinely liking her when they first meet disqualifies her as a False Friend, but Riya still willingly framed and got Rosa Maria eliminated from the game despite everything she had done to help and support her.
• Flat Character: For the first nine episodes, there was really not much to say about Riya other than she is a struggling Bollywood actress who wanted some friends. In an attempt to subvert this, the writers had to suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere flip her entire personality so the finale would have one last major antagonist.
• Flaw Exploitation: Once it's down to the final four, Riya takes advantage of Aiden and James' weaknesses so she can have a better shot at winning the million:
  • In the penultimate episode, Riya tears down James using his social media addiction against him by revealing his initial plan of using Aiden in a Publicity Stunt Relationship to gain more followers before he develops genuine feelings for him. James' hesitation and failure to properly explain himself infuriated both Aiden and everyone watching the show on national television, leaving him devastated and in an emotional wreck to properly compete.
  • In the finale, Riya puts Aiden's crippling fear of heights to good use by forcing him into a Literal Cliffhanger situation and letting gravity do the rest as she continues the next part of the challenge. While James saved him at the last second, Aiden already lost what little confidence he had to paraglide off the cliff and decided to eliminate himself so James could qualify as a finalist in his place.
• Foreshadowing: After Riya made Yul switch teams because she can't stand him anymore, he snaps back at her saying "With that attitude, it's no wonder why you have never and will never succeed". At the time, this was just one of Yul's many insults, but Riya indeed became more ruthless and self-serving to advance further in the game including framing her Best Friend Rosa Maria and breaking up Aiden and James' budding relationship. Only to lose everything when she came short of crossing the finish line with no million dollars, no job prospects and worst of all, no friends, which was her initial goal.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: In Episode 6 of All-Stars, she's presented with a choice: either betray her Villains' Alliance and vote for Yul to save Connor, who's the only person who can stand her, from elimination or stick with the Villains' Alliance which has strength in numbers for the merge by voting out Connor. She chooses the latter.
• Good Girl Gone Bad: Riya was a friendly woman at the start before the competition and desperation to win the million dollars led Riya down a darker path.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The way she words her confessional right after Lake is taken by the Bus of Losers implies that while Lake is too dangerous to keep around, the main reason she allowed her to be voted off was because she and Rosa Maria had been getting too close and making her feel excluded.
• Hates Being Alone: She tells Rosa Maria just as much, as being stuck in an entirely different country has left her feel lonely, feelings that are only amplified after both Karol and Connor, the only other two adults around, also end up leaving.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: There was a lot of ambiguity regarding her breakdown at the end of Season 2, since while she did tearfully apologize to Connor over how badly she treated him, her prior behavior made questionable if she really meant it or if she was just fishing for sympathy. At the very least, All-Stars reveals that not only did she not change for the better, but got worse as she gained fame through her roles as villainesses.
• Heel Realization: The finale has Riya finally realize what she had become and how she's turned into a monster; it begins when Rosa Maria decides to help her when she calls for someone's help, at which point she concedes that Rosa was a good woman whom she betrayed just to advance in the game. The realization is both completed and hits her the hardest after James crosses the finish line before her, causing her to realize that in doing everything she could in order to win, she alienated everyone who once cared about her and her reputation is in ruins because her terrible deeds were shown on national television.
• Hidden Depths: Riya's minimal screentime during the first half of Season 2 doesn't give the indication she's any smarter than the average adult. The second half however shows her wits, not only managing to destabilize Aiden and James' relationship and make them too upset to play at their hardest, but coming up with a Batman Gambit that not only leaves Hunter (who at that point has had a consistent rate of getting immunity) at risk of elimination. She also uses Rosa's own Immunity Totem to make herself immune, rendering all votes against her null and void and Hunter to be eliminated as a result.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: She willingly allowed Lake and Rosa Maria to be voted off as part of her plan to win, the former indirectly and the latter directly, in order to gain a better advantage at winning the million. Both of these come back to bite her in the finale: she's forced to rely on Rosa Maria to get to the last part of the final challenge after her bad attitude drives off Connor, and Lake ultimately crushes her chances at victory by pelting her with balls hard enough to kick her off her vehicle, letting James win.
• Horrible Judge of Character: When Karol begins talking with Riya during the winter challenge, Riya buys Karol's seemingly kind nature completely at face value, and sticks with her for a decent deal of the race. Then, when Karol explains some more about her beef with James and Aiden, Riya also buys that at face value, even without questioning if Karol's telling the truth or not.
• Irony:
  • The reason Riya joins the competition in the first place is because she hasn't had a major movie role in a while and is in desperate need of money. Connor, the first person she befriends and the only one still willing to stick to her side by the season finale, is a man so filthy rich that he buys the hotel the contestants are staying with no indication it did a hit to his pockets.
  • Another reason why she joined in the first place was to get enough exposure so that she could hopefully gain a major movie role for once. Not only is she Out of Focus for the first half of Season 2, but the latter half has her expose her bad side, which ensures that she becomes a hated figure nobody wants to work with.
• Iconic Item: Her perfumes, which she got as a birthday gift from Connor.
• Ignored Epiphany: After getting Rosa Maria voted off and revealing this to her on the walk out, she receives a scathing critique from Rosa, who calls her out over betraying her after everything she did for her, and that she'll end up all alone. Riya seems to be regretful of this as the bus comes and takes Rosa away... But the confessional scene soon after shows her smirking and planning how to further derail the finalists, showing it fell through deaf ears.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: She fears being lonely in the game, so her connecting with Connor and Rosa Maria makes her feel like she can relate to them. Unfortunately, her paranoia over Rosa apparently hiding the fact that she found the idol at first causes her to flip and send home Lake in a betrayal to their alliance. Unfortunately, her descent into a more competitive personality causes her to forget about this, and by the time she realizes this, it's already too late.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: One of the girls with such figure.
• Improperly Paranoid: One of the reasons that Riya eventually betrays Rosa and gets her eliminated is because some of her actions prior, including keeping the Immunity Totem she got while looking with her a secret and telling Hunter about the alliance's plan to ambush him behind her back, made Rosa come across as untrustworthy and that she was only waiting for the right moment to reveal her true colors. When the finale sees Riya trapped underwater and being reduced to begging for help, Rosa steps up to help her despite everything she did to her, which convinces Riya that Rosa really was as nice as she seemed to be, and she betrayed her best friend for nothing.
• It Was a Gift: Got perfumes from Connor as a birthday gift after his elimination.
• I've Come Too Far: While putting on some perfume before the final few challenges, Riya remembers all the people she hurt and how she actually does regret doing so, but soldiers on since at that point she either gets the million or goes home with nothing.
• Just Between You and Me: Riya sees Rosa off before boarding the Bus of Losers and, just before she boards the bus for real, Riya straight up tells her that she was the one who stole everyone's belongings and framed her as the thief. Riya tries to salvage their friendship, but Rosa decides enough is enough and cuts ties with her, with Riya left behind to continue playing the game.
• Kick the Dog: Her revealing James was using his relationship with Aiden to get social media followers? A necessary step in order to destabilize Jaiden and gain an advantage in the game. Her using James' Moment of Weakness to remove what little support he has remaining? Pouring salt into the wound.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Connor was one of the few people Riya had a good relationship and didn't crash and burn by the time of the finale, but she yells at him how she didn't need him while climbing to the skydiving section, which causes Connor to see how far she had fallen and quits helping her.
• Knee Fold Fall of Defeat: After walking across the finish line moments after James crossed it first, Riya falls to her knees, finally realizing how not only was she the bad guy all along, but that her ruthless quest to try get the first place left her with absolutely nothing left.

L-Z

• Laser-Guided Karma: Riya essentially threw both Rosa Maria and Lake under the bus despite not doing anything to deserve it and, in Rosa's case, being nothing but supportive of her. They would both play a big role in her defeat at the finals: Rosa Maria would become James' helper and help him reach the final stretch, while Lake would be the one manning the shooter that would be aimed at Riya.
• Lack of Empathy: The latter half of the season shows how unempathetic Riya can be when she gets her mind in the game. She willingly frames Rosa Maria for theft and steals her Immunity Totem despite everything Rosa did for her, and when she gets called out for it, Riya tries to argue that they can still be friends when the game is over, oblivious to how her betrayal seriously hurt Rosa. It appears to have gotten even worse by the time of All-Stars.
  Aiden: I'm still waiting for an apology for almost letting me die!
  Riya: Keep waiting, loser.
• Likes Older Men: She has significant Ship Tease with Connor, a man who's basically two whole decades older than her, and doesn't share any other such teasing with anybody else.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Riya becomes the final antagonist in the latter half of Season 2, and she's pretty competitive and ruthless, but she managed to remain friendly until the final competition and didn't like a jerk from the beginning, unlike Yul.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The only thing Riya knows about the conundrun between James, Aiden, and Karol comes from what the latter tells her during the sled challenge, with Karol herself not being the most reliable source of information. Regardless, Riya believes her, and she takes Aiden playing dirty as a sign to start doing the same.
• Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Riya's design for All-Stars includes a pair of sharp golden glasses that literally have rose-tinted lenses.
• Manipulative Bitch: She's revealed to be good at manipulating people later in season two, especially when she successfully feigns innocence when framing Rosa Maria.
• Master Actress: While her acting career was mostly a neat part of her stereotype, it comes back to help Riya when she frames Rosa Maria, as she manages to act like she's innocent so well that everyone's fooled. Only Rosa Maria learns the truth, and that's because Riya straight up tells her before she leaves.
• Meaningful Name: Riya can be interpreted from Hindi in two different ways:
  • The direct translation of her name is "beautiful one who sings and dances" alluding to her Statuesque Stunner appearance and label as "The Bollywood Actress".
  • It can also be derived from "Ria" which either means "positive and enthusiastic" (Her initial characterisation) or "individualistic and determined" (After her Face–Heel Turn).
• Motive Decay: Her original goal with entering the competition is to get enough exposure so that she can finally get a major movie role and not an extra, with winning the million dollars being more of a secondary idea, if even that. Once the finale approaches and Riya becomes more ruthless, gaining the million dollars becomes her primary goal for the remainder of the season, consequences be damned.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's one of the girls with an Impossible Hourglass Figure and she's shown wearing a bikini more often than any other female character on the show.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed. She shows slight remorse after not warning Rosa Maria to use immunity totem on a targeted for elimination Lake, but is also partially happy of the outcome, stating that at least her alliance still has the immunity totem.
  • Averted later on. Riya ends up believing that playing dirty during the competition is fine and firmly believes she can still be friends with Rosa Maria outside of the competition even though she had betrayed her.
  • Played straight again in the finale, where she ultimately ends up losing the game and realizes that she lost everything trying to get the win. She even apologizes to Connor for yelling at him.
• Neutral No Longer: Don't be mistaken, Riya wants the million dollars just as much as everyone else, but at least early in the season, she's willing to sit back and let things play out on their own. Once the finale approaches, however, Riya decides that gaining the million dollars is her top priority, kickstarting her journey into becoming the final antagonist of the season.
• Never My Fault: In the premiere episode of All-Stars, she blames losing in the finale on Connor being her helper and claims she would've won had she chosen Karol or Yul instead.
• Nice Mean And In Between: For the older contestants, Riya is the In-Between to Connor's Nice and Karol's Mean. She was genuinely a nice person who wanted to make friends until the heat of the competition changed her for the worst.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Riya's ultimate defeat basically comes down to her attempts at gaining complete control of the game backfiring on her:
  • She throws a wrench in James and Aiden's relationship by revealing the former wanted to use it as a Publicity Stunt Relationship. While it does put them in conflict for a while, this drama proves to be the kick in the teeth that James needed to realize what a jerk he was to Aiden, and properly start to make amends with him.
  • Her climb to the skydiving challenge has her snap at Connor over how she didn't need him, causing him to call it quits and leading to a chain reaction that would result in Riya needing Rosa's help.
  • Before that, she sticks around at the top of the cliff to mock Aiden and literally leave him hanging before diving. This ends up giving James the courage to go and save Aiden, and leads them to properly making up.
  • Finally, her being indirectly responsible for Lake's elimination leads to Lake being the one to shoot her with golf balls during the final stretch, which causes Riya to fall and give James the chance to snatch victory.
• Only in It for the Money: Justified. While she also joins the show for the purpose of getting exposure, Riya's career has taken a left turn with her being unable to secure a major role in a movie, with her having so little money that she enters the show in hopes of gaining the one million dollars and recoup her losses.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Riya's initially happy to stay to the sidelines and let the game flow, but once the finale approaches, Riya takes a much more on-hands route, taking every advantage she can get in order to win the million dollars, something that even Aiden calls her out on.
• Out of Focus: Like with her recent movie roles, Riya was more or less in the background for the majority of the show with her rather flat characterisation of wanting friends and having little-to-no plot relevance besides her bond with Connor and causing the team switch, both of which happened very early on. It was not until Karol's return and departure did she finally start taking up a more proactive role in the competition.
• Pretty in Mink: Her attire for All-Stars includes a brown fur coat that, alongside her golden and rose-tinted glasses, make her come across like a Rich Bitch. She suggests in the second episode that she wore it to keep her warm and to make her look "fabulous".
• Primp of Contempt: Does this three times over the latter half of Season 2.
  • She first looks at her nails while trying to downplay the fact she had just betrayed Rosa's trust and got her eliminated.
  • The second time happens when a desperate Hunter goes to her to suggest an alliance when they and Aiden and James are the finalists. Riya just looks at her nails the entire time, savoring the fact that Hunter has become desperate enough to ask her for help.
  • The third and final time happens when, after accidentally sending Aiden hanging over the edge of the cliff during the skydiving section of the final challenge, Riya looks at her nails while rejecting Aiden's call for help, before going forward and diving towards the next part of the challenge.
• Rags to Riches: While a specific number was never mentioned, Riya was stated to be struggling with money and joined Season 2 to try recoup some of her losses. Come All-Stars, and Riya's career has soared due to taking on villainous roles, giving her enough money to at least put on some expensive clothing for her return on the show.
• Refuge in Audacity: When it's only her, Riya, James and Aiden left and the votes for elimination are about to be called, Riya uses an Immunity Totem to make herself immune to the votes. This isn't too audacious... Except for the fact that, as Aiden points out, the totem was the one that Rosa was trying to use during the previous elimination round, something that he calls her out on. Not only does Riya ignore him, Kristal accepts the totem anyway, making all of Riya's votes invalid and leaving only Hunter with a vote left, ending in his elimination.
• Regretful Traitor: While hugging Lake alongside Rosa Maria before she gets on the Bus of Losers, Riya looks away in sadness, as it's partially because she kept quiet about the fact that she was being targeted that caused Lake to be eliminated in the first place. Her later betrayal of Rosa Maria seems like a subversion, as she focuses more on trying to justify herself than apologize, but she eventually does feel sorry and apologizes to Rosa after she helps her during the diving part of the final challenge, even if Rosa's still angry with her.
• Rich Bitch: It's revealed in All-Stars that she became rich and famous sometime after the second season. She also often acts haughty and callous to other characters, even openly refusing to apologize to Aiden for nearly causing him to fall to his death.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: After Rosa reveals how she found an Immunity Totem to her and Lake, Riya begins to ponder if the reason she chose to reveal this only after Lake showed up is because she doesn't trust her. One double helping of betrayals later, and Riya destroys all trust Rosa had in her by not only getting her voted off, but telling her outright and expecting her to remain her friend after that.
• Second Place Is for Losers:
  • At the end of Season 2, Riya comes inches away from the finish line only to drop at the last second and land second when James crosses the finish line first. Riya's left devastated as a result, believing that everything she did was rendered null and void because she didn't win the prize money in the end.
  • She retains this attitude in All-Stars, when the Yellow Team, which she's a part of, ends up landing second place twice in the first two challenges and she reacts negatively: telling them to do better while insulting them in the first challenge, and nearly getting into a scuffle with Yul and Grett out of sheer rage in the second challenge. This one is slightly more justified, however, since whichever team places first during this competition gets an advantage for the remainder of the team phase, giving all the teams more incentive to try not land in second place (or third, which results in elimination ceremony) as often as possible.
• Seamless Spontaneous Lie: When Rosa ends up spilling the beans to Aiden and James about how she told Hunter about their plan to hunt him down and pop his balloons, Riya quickly lies that this was all of their plan, trying to get Hunter to lower his guard before using the one person he trusts, Rosa, to become easy pickings.
• Shadow Archetype: By the time of the finale, Riya essentially shows what James would become if he didn't have Aiden by his side, nor an intent to change for the better. The two have a background of solitude; Riya feels alone in a different country while James began his TikTok career because he was invisible beforehand. They're also very willing to use other people to get what they want, and can get quite manipulative and ruthless in doing so. However, while James has Aiden by his side and his blossoming feelings for him convince him to start working on bettering himself, Riya's close equivalent, Connor, leaves her feeling alone before Rosa Maria decides to befriend her, with Riya slightly developing a possessiveness towards her. While James comes to regret his actions when Riya exposes what his original idea for his and Aiden's relationship was, Riya spends the finale completely unwilling to admit she was in the wrong, or that what she did was wrong. While James manages to realize how much of a jerk he was to Aiden and tries to make amends, Riya doubles down when she gets angry at Connor, eventually causing him to outright quit and leave Riya to her fate. And when the final line is crossed, James manages to get some of his support back, as well as Aiden's love, while Riya is left with neither friends nor any prospects for the future, with her relationship with Connor shaky, but still functional enough for the man to offer her a hand in getting out of rock bottom.
• Ship Sinking: Riya claims she doesn't need Connor after the latter finally notices her Face–Heel Turn in the finale and stops supporting her during the challenge, thus ending their initial Ship Tease. They get back together later, however... Only for All-Stars to reveal their relationship has become complicated due to the two of them being too busy with their respective lives to keep in contact. She even decides to end her relationship with him in the third episode and he later suggests he doesn't want to talk to her again.
• Ship Tease: With Connor. He's the first character she interacts with, she helps him get through his midlife crisis with a pep talk, she's the most devastated when he willingly quits during episode 3's double elimination, the perfume bottle he gifts her becomes her most valuable item, and by the time the finale wraps up, Connor is the only person still willing to associate with Riya after she had already burned the bridge with everyone else she considered a friend.
• Shipping Torpedo: During the penultimate episode, Riya, in an attempt to get unquestioned control over the game, uses some information she found on James' phone to reveal the fact that he was using Aiden in order to get clout on social media, causing their relationship to nose dive.
• Sixth Ranger: Becomes this to Rosa Maria's alliance, which was originally made of her, Lake, and Maggy before the latter was eliminated, and Riya unoficially took her spot in the team.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: She unoficially joins Rosa Maria's alliance, and is ultimately the one to tear it down; first by allowing Lake to be voted, and then by willingly framing and getting Rosa Maria herself eliminated.
• The Smurfette Principle: She ends up being the last female contestant left in the final four of Season 2.
• Small Name, Big Ego: At least in All-Stars, in which she believes herself to be a professional when it comes to movie sets, when she's not as good as she thinks she is. This causes her to use too many lights while acting as her team's set designer during a challenge, which results in a fire and her team losing.
• Sole Survivor: Of Rosa Maria's alliance, she's the only one who manages to reach the finals, as Maggy is eliminated very early on, and Riya makes the last two remaining members be eliminated: indirectly for Lake, and directly for Rosa.
• Sore Loser: She doesn't seem to take losing well, at least after her Face–Heel Turn. In the season two finale, she becomes devasted after losing to James. In All-Stars, not only does she become upset when her team places second twice, she grows angry when they lose in the fourth episode. Granted, the challenges in that season do give rewards to the team that places first.
• Starving Artist: It's never made clear by how much, but Riya confirms that she's entering the competition because her acting career has taken a nosedive since she arrived in America, and the million dollars can help her recoup some of her losses. She no longer fits this trope in All-Stars as her career has soared thanks to taking villainous roles and is now fairly well off, given her expensive clothing in her new design.
• Statuesque Stunner: Riya is one of the tallest of the contestants from both genders alike with her slender legs, body and neck, and is very easy on the eyes.
• Stepford Smiler: She pretends to be happy in the first episode of All-Stars after she learns she's on the same team as Connor.
• Symbolically Broken Object: During the finals, Riya's perfume, which she had gotten as a gift from Connor, slips from her and shatters on the ground just in time for Riya to verbally lash out at Connor and claim she never needed his help, causing him to quit helping her.
• Tears of Remorse: Sheds tears out of remorse while talking to Connor after James wins instead of her, finally realizing that her competitive streak got her nothing but be alienated from people willing to help her, and her reputation is in ruins due to all her horrible acts being caught in camera.
• Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity: Forms this dynamic with Rosa Maria during the latter half of Season 2. Rosa is a gentle and kind soul who doesn't wanna hurt anybody, besides Yul, and doesn't do any morally reprehensible act before she's eliminated. By contrast, Riya begins to exhibit a darker side that's more focused on willing the million, with an explicit willingness to use and hurt everybody else if it means managing to snatch first place, a dark side that gets at its worst during the finale, where she becomes a straight up villain and the final antagonist of the season.
• Token Adult: Riya is one of three contestants in the season who aren't around the age of teenagers, instead being near her thirties, and is the last one remaining after Karol and Connor got booted off early. This is part of the reason why she feels so left out of the group and bonds with the likewise Connor.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Riya wasn't a saint, but she was at least friendly and approachable before the finals and Karol's influence came along. Once they did, she developed a ruthless and competitive streak that caused her to use everyone as stepping stones in order to achieve her goal.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Karol tries to get on Riya's good side in Episode 9 and spends the episode as The Corrupter to her, trying to get her to turn against James and Aiden. While she fails that as Riya ends up voting for Ally in the end, she (along with Riya witnessing Aiden sabotaging Karol in turn) instead succeeded in making Riya accept that everyone plays dirty in the competition, which eventually leads her to betray her best friend, Rosa Maria, hurting their friendship upon causing the latter's elimination.
• Trauma Button: Scuba diving in All-Stars. When preparing for the second challenge (which involves scuba diving), she becomes noticeably anxious. Considering she nearly ran out of air while scuba diving in the season two finale, it makes sense.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Her betrayals towards Rosa Maria's alliance marks the point where Riya becomes an antagonistic character, and while Lake's could be argued to be out of pragmatism, Riya has a direct hand in Rosa Maria's ending their friendship.
• True Final Boss: As there are no more contestants left who can be considered as one,^note  Yul is a Disc-One Final Boss, James is more strategic than anything and Karol just got out it was up to Riya to step up and become the final antagonist for the last few episodes after not having any plot relevance up until that point.
• The Unapologetic: Her response to Aiden telling her he's waiting for an apology for nearly letting him die in the season two finale? Calling him a "loser" and arrogantly telling him to continue waiting.
• The Unfettered: By the time the finale approaches, Riya decides that if the only way to get ahead in the game is with dirty tricks, then she'll get her hands dirty too, using every trick in the book to crawl her way into victory.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite how much Connor and Rosa Maria helped her through the game, Riya convinces herself that she didn't need them at all come the finale, with her even saying so right to Connor's face in a fit of anger. This continues in All-Stars, where she specifically pins picking Connor as her helper during the final challenge as the reason that she ultimately lost, something she hasn't apologized to Connor by the time they meet at the airport.
• Villain Ball: During the skydiving section of the final challenge, Riya encounters Aiden facing off the edge. Rather than ignore him and push ahead, she sticks around long enough to mock and try to break his spirit, before she accidentally causes him to hang by the cliff, at which point she decides to cut her losses and dive, leaving James and Aiden behind to reconcile.
• Villainous Breakdown: It's subtle, but Riya eventually cracks during the sea part of the final challenge: without either Connor to help her or a map to let her know where to go, she tries to swim and search for the exit herself, only to get lost and begin losing oxygen, at which point she begins calling for help. Rosa helps her and, while she still tries to win the million, her spirits are clearly down for the remainder of the finale.
• Villain Has a Point: When James called out on Riya for stooping so low in the last few episodes to win the million, she retorts back that he isn't any better with all the stunts he pulled since the very beginning:
  James: Don't you feel bad?
  Riya: Why should I feel bad about?
  James: Stealing my phone, blaming Rosa and ruining my relationship with Aiden.
  Riya: What about you James? Do you feel bad for getting rid of Karol twice, poisoning Yul, manipulating Aiden?
  [James says nothing and looks down in shame, knowing that she's right]
  Riya: [Smugly] Yeah, I thought so.
• Villain Reveals the Secret: Both intentionally and unintentionally.
  • Intentionally, she's the one who ultimately exposes James' plan to use his and Aiden's relationship as a Publicity Stunt Relationship for social media clout, which drives a wedge between them and gives Riya even more control among the finalists.
  • Unintentionally, while talking with Alec about the Villain Alliance being exposed in "Ball Busters", Gabby ends up overhearing the two just in time to hear Riya confirm not only that the alliance exists, but that Ellie's a part of it, something that Gabby was completely unaware of.
• Villains Want Mercy: During the diving section of the final challenge, Riya ends up getting lost and eventually calls out for help from someone. Rosa Maria eventually answers, though more to give her daughter a good lesson than because she forgives Riya for what she did.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Sometime after participating in the second season, she became famous because of playing evil roles, which seems to be because of her darker side.
• Vocal Dissonance: Riya's a woman who turns 30 during the competition, and while her Spanish voice sounds deep enough to fit a woman her age, her English voice sounds much higher pitched and youthful than you'd expect.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: She pukes her guts out into a bucket during the confessional right after she kissed Yul for the kissing challenge.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Riya without her Face–Heel Turn into the season's final antagonist in the last few episodes.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Rosa Maria willingly lend Riya a hand when they met and was pretty nice to her overall, but it all ends once Riya frames her for stealing everyone's belongings and takes away her Immunity Totem. While Riya tries to argue her way to convince Rosa they can still be friends, Rosa herself has enough and cuts Riya off, making it clear she wants nothing to do with her even after she saves her during the final challenge.
  • Connor becomes this to her as well by the end of "Strike A Chord": After telling him she doesn't want to go back to her old self, and her generally acting a lot meaner than she did back in Season 2, Connor decides enough is enough when Riya has him voted out at the end of the episode, with the man making it clear he wants nothing to do with her anymore when she tries to walk him to the bus stop.
• Worf Effect: With only a single vote and a stolen immunity totem, Riya did what no one could have ever done post-merge: eliminate Hunter, who had been riding on his Plot Armour the whole time. With him gone, Riya has established herself as the True Final Boss and it's now anyone's game in the finale.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: During the penultimate challenge, Riya initially decides to make an alliance with Hunter in order to get to the finale with him and remove James and Aiden. When Kristal eventually reveals that the finale will actually be a three-person finale, Riya changes plans and trips Hunter, intent on at least getting him eliminated once and for all.