The final 8 race to the top of Pinball Mountain with some giant Chris Coins in hand, and after inserting them into the gigantic coin slot at the top, gain access to a mine shaft leading to the main setting of the challenge— a gigantic, life-sized, Total Drama themed pinball machine. The contestants must use both strength and strategy to fling themselves across the pinball machine's large obstacles and earn immunity by racking up enough points to win the entire challenge against their opponents.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: MK is mentioned to sleep with a stuffed unicorn, a nod to her voice actress Kimberly-Ann Troung voicing Posey on My Little Pony (Generation 5) productions.
- At Least I Admit It: MK's reaction to Caleb seemingly just pretending to be interested in Priya to get further in the game is of disgust, as while she has no problem admitting that she is a naturally cold person, she is at least honest about it.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Wayne and Raj, who are usually kind-hearted Lovable Jocks, each give Caleb a Death Glare during the elimination ceremony upon being led to believe Caleb used Priya’s feelings to get further ahead in the competition. Wayne also wasn't too happy with Zee either for revealing Raj's embarrassing secret and gives him the same Death Glare while refusing to sit near him at the elimination ceremony.
- Damien, one of the nicest guys in the season, is one of the angriest at Caleb when he is led to believe Caleb used Priya’s feelings to get further ahead in the competition and outright moves his stump away from Caleb when he tries to sit near him.
- Big Damn Kiss: Caleb and Priya finally share their first kiss, only for Zee to ruin everything.
- Blank Stare: MK and Julia stare blankly at Zee when they imitate the Creepy Twins scene from The Shining in an attempt to get him to spill the beans.
- Brutal Honesty: Wayne notes to Raj how Bowie is a way better contestant than he is, and Raj doesn't argue with him over it.
- Butt-Monkey: Wayne has quite a rough time during this challenge. After making it to the top with Raj, he attempts a coin toss with his giant coin which hits him and knocks him off the edge of the mountain into the water. He then drifts out to sea and is caught by a fishing ship which delivers him and the goods back to the campsite. By the time he finally makes it to the challenge, he's taken out straight away. Chef even berates him for his sudden absence.
- Call-Back: Damien being the one to land in Scary Girl's area is a reference to their one-sided friendship/conflict from their debut season. Furthermore, Scary Girl standee ends up attacking him with a jackhammer, which the real Scary Girl attempted to do in "Numbskull Island."
- The Cameo: Given that the life-sized pinball machine is themed around Total Drama, the whole thing is RIFE with these:
- Duncan and Courtney are shown on two obstacles that are facing each other.
- Izzy makes an appearance as an obstacle that gives you a multi-ball advantage.
- Scary Girl makes an appearance as a gigantic obstacle with a jackhammer attachment.
- Cameo Cluster: As described above, the pinball challenge features cameos from Courtney, Duncan, Izzy, and Scary Girl.
- Color-Coded Characters: Each of the remaining contestants receives a different colored helmet for the pinball challenge, which also serves as their scoreboard color and, as MK later discovers and reveals, a way to determine who will get extra points from the pinball obstacles when their helmets match a certain color that lights up over the obstacles they're hitting themselves against:
- Julia: Pink
- Damien: Red
- MK: Orange
- Zee: Yellow
- Caleb: Green
- Raj: Light Blue
- Wayne: Dark Blue
- Priya: Purple
- Continuity Nod: Priya notes that Courtney and Duncan were the season 1 power couple and that she's surprised that they weren't able to make it work out for them in the end.
- Dark Secret: Zee somehow figured out the most embarrassing secrets of some of the campers, namely Julia stealing feather earrings from her grandmother, Raj liking the smell of other players' sport bags, Damien not changing his underwear once in the whole season, and MK sleeping with a stuffed unicorn.
- Death Glare: Wayne and Raj, of all people, gives angry glares to both Caleb and Zee during the elimination ceremony.
- Epic Fail: After dealing with a big misadventure out to sea, Wayne finally arrives to the challenge, only to be taken out in seconds.
- Even Evil Has Standards: MK is disgusted with Caleb for seemingly toying with Priya's heart, saying that while she is a naturally cold person, at least she is honest about it.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Zee announces his intentions of revealing everyone else's secrets, MK, Damien and Raj are the people shown gasping and sure enough, they're three of the people Zee reveals something about.
- Foreshadowing: Priya wonders aloud why Duncan and Courtney didn't work out. It's an experience she was about to live out herself.
- Friendship Moment: Though they both hate this sort of thing, Julia and MK almost have one at the start of the episode, before awkwardly distracting themselves by fixating on Zee stuffing his shorts in his mouth.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: As revealed by Zee, MK sleeps with a stuffed unicorn whom she named "Theodore".
- Hated by All:
- Caleb becomes absolutely disliked by everyone once Zee, unaware of Caleb genuinely developing feelings for Priya, tells everyone about Caleb's initial reasoning for getting close to Priya, causing everyone else to accuse him of playing with her heart and refusing to even sit next to him during the elimination ceremony.
- Zee also becomes disliked by everyone for sharing everyone's secrets, with everyone avoiding him during the ceremony as well.
- Heroic BSoD: Priya is so heartbroken by discovering Caleb's secret, she doesn't even bother talking during the elimination ceremony or reacting to any of the marshmallows Chris gives to her.
- Hidden Depths: MK reveals she's a Gamer Chick this episode, which allows her to figure out how to gain bonus points in the game.
- History Repeats:
- A Nice Guy who hates keeping secrets, after being egged on by a manipulative schemer who wishes to exploit this information for their own gain, ends up revealing to everyone a major secret connected to one of the main couples of the season, resulting in Ship Sinking. Sounds familiar? Courtney and Duncan's failed relationship is even mentioned as an added bonus.
- Zee is once again eliminated an episode after Ripper. He's also once again Hated by All in his elimination episode despite being on positive terms with everyone otherwise.
- Irony: Of the cruel kind. Priya is surprised that Courtney and Duncan were unable to make it work out for them in the end. This episode ends with a Ship Sinking between her and Caleb after everyone was led to believe Caleb was merely using her.
- Karmic Shunning: Both Caleb and Zee suffer this when the remaining contestants refuse to talk or even sit near them during the elimination ceremony. In Caleb’s case, it’s because he led everyone to believe that he used Priya’s feelings for him to get further into the competition; In Zee’s case, he blurted out everyone’s embarrassing secrets.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Zee has been feeling incredibly stressed out about keeping both Caleb and Priya's secrets to himself, to the point that he tries to stop himself from spilling the beans by shoving things into his mouth so he doesn't blurt them out at the worst possible moment.
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: Since Zee only knows about Caleb flirting with Priya to make an alliance with her, and not the part where he fell for her for real, he makes him out to be a jerk who played with her heart to get far in the game when Zee eventually spills the beans.
- Man Bites Man: MK bites Caleb's leg when he blocks her from reaching her button for bonus points.
- Moment Killer: Mere moments after Caleb and Priya have their Big Damn Kiss, Zee reveals that Caleb told him that he didn't actually like Priya, unaware he's changed his mind. Caleb and Priya's interrupted first kiss attempt is also the Running Gag of the episode.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zee confessing how Caleb didn't really like Priya and was just trying to tag her for an alliance, unaware that Caleb had developed actual feelings for Priya by this point and assuming that he was just manipulating her up to that point, causes Priya to end things with Caleb and earns him the distrust of the rest of the contestants.
- No Love for the Wicked: MK's only remark to seeing Caleb and Priya kiss is "that's how you get mono".
- Noodle Incident: How did Zee figure out the secrets of the other campers, Chris and Chef?
- No One Should Survive That!: Damien is only temporarily injured after being attacked with a jackhammer. Without a helmet at that, not that it'd help much in real life.
- Poor Communication Kills: Caleb fails to explain that he genuinely fell for Priya later on, which causes him to be Hated by All.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: While this episode ends on a downer note where Caleb becomes Hated by All upon learning that he (initially) used Priya’s feelings for his own gain and Zee is eliminated for spilling everyone’s secrets, Caleb is spared from elimination which will give him the opportunity to make amends and win Priya back.
- Running Gag:
- Zee shoving things in his mouth to stop himself from saying secrets.
- Priya brushing her teeth everytime she thinks she's about to kiss Caleb.
- While it's not the first episode of the season where someone acts as a Moment Killer for Caleb and Priya's First Kiss, it's especially pronounced here by being relevant to the plot and happening repeatedly.
- Saying Too Much: Zee sharing everyone's embarrassing hidden secrets leads to him being eliminated and sent home.
- Secret Chaser: After Zee accidentally reveals that he has a secret he can't share with anyone else lest it hurt Caleb and Priya's alliance, Julia and MK both become interested in finding out what it is. While MK drops the chase once she has to force herself to bring her Chris coin up the mountain, Julia spends the rest of the episode trying to egg Zee into spilling the beans, until he eventually says it out loud after Caleb and Priya's Big Damn Kiss.
- Shipper on Deck: Pretty much the entire cast (sans Julia and MK) are this for Caleb and Priya upon witnessing their first kiss. However, it doesn't last, as they turn on Caleb after being led on to believe he was merely using Priya's affection for him to form an alliance and use her to make it further in the game.
- Ship Sinking: Priya, as well as the couple's initial supporters, turns against Caleb after being told by Zee that he was supposedly merely using her.
- Shout-Out: When trying to get Zee to tell them the secret he is keeping, Julia and MK hold hands, and talk in a Creepy Monotone way, saying "Hey Zee, come talk to us", being a clear reference to the twins from The Shining.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: After finding out how Caleb was using Priya to advance further in the game, Raj says in a confessional that if he found out that Bowie was only pretending to like him to go further in the game he would be crushed. Wayne chimes in noting he would probably be confused too, since Bowie is a way better contestant than Raj, and Raj agrees, saying he'd be "sad and confused".
- Tranquil Fury: Those who were shipping Priya and Caleb (Damien, Raj, Wayne) don’t lose their cool upon learning Caleb was (initially) using Priya’s feelings for him to get further in the competition. That being said, they make it clear that they are absolutely angry at Caleb, with Wayne and Raj even giving Caleb a Death Glare.
- The Un-Reveal: Whatever secret Zee knew about Chris goes unrevealed due to Chris cutting him off.
- Villainous BSoD: Julia feels guilty about sicing Owen on MK's cake last episode, which causes her to try and avoid MK for the time being. MK notices, however, and correctly pegs what Julia is feeling.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Julia mentions in the confessional that she left letters under everyone else's pillows saying she knows they have the immunity idol, but doesn't think anyone would be guillable enough to fall for it. Damien does fall for it and panics.
