Considering the nature of the show starting from later episodes of Season 2, there are definitely some characters that could use a hug right now. Beware of spoilers and Tear Jerker territory.
- Yin, considering his problems with Yang, and the abuse the latter has inflicted on him, as well as him becoming more cynical in the third season. Even more that he had to be locked in a snotty door with Tissues being unable to control his sneezing after his elimination, as well as probably being tormented by others and Yang himself with nobody to help him out.
- He seems to be on better terms with Yang and doing overall better as of Title TBD.
- Suitcase has not been having a good time. It starts when Nickel forces her to steal a battery, and Mecintosh's ominous words regarding her relationship with her alliance causes her to gradually lose faith in them. She later begins to have hallucinations, one of which almost causes her to drown during Episode 11's challenge. And then Balloon, her closest friend and someone she can genuinely trust, gets eliminated 5 to 1 (she didn't even vote for him, she voted for Nickel while Balloon voted for himself). As of Episode 12, more than a few of the remaining contestants dislike her: Baseball holds a grudge against her for destroying his alliance, Microphone acts dismissive towards her when she attempts to start a conversation, the others glare at her when she automatically wins the painting challenge*, and Test Tube blames her for Fan’s elimination.
- Balloon. He tries to change himself into a better person once he joins Season 2, but almost none of the contestants (except for Suitcase) trust him or want anything to do with him. He becomes closer friends with Suitcase as the series progresses, but Nickel constantly tries to exclude him from their alliance, refuses to accept his Heel–Face Turn, and overall treats him like garbage. Then Episode 11 comes and he gets verbally pressured by Microphone prior to the challenge, accidentally causes his team to lose, and gets eliminated 5-to-1 for that very reason. And one of his votes was from himself.
- There’s a particularly heartbreaking scene establishing his Woobie status in Episode 9: Balloon confesses to OJ that his Jerkass attitude was a facade and in spite of it all he genuinely enjoyed everyone’s presence, but OJ misunderstands his desire to make amends with the previous contestants, instead suggesting that he finds the opportunity to make friends with the newbies, and leaves him outside in the rain.
- Microphone. She starts off as one of the more outgoing contestants, but her inability to control her volume and tendency to mess up challenges (even though she won the dodgeball challenge by herself) has resulted in most of her teammates disliking her, and this has caused her to become extremely self-critical: she uses her diary as a form of self-reflection, but she also describes herself using words such as “annoying, loud, random, harmful, useless, insignificant loser.” Her sympathy level goes down a bit when she starts an illegal alliance with Taco and she verbally pressures Balloon before the Bucket Brigade, but at that point she’s lost sight of herself and is taking desperate measures to get some form of recognition from her team. When Taco murders Test Tube and incapacitates Fan in Episode 14, she realizes that teaming up with her was the wrong decision, and she quits the game due to her frustration with working with Taco and how Inanimate Insanity has broken everyone.
- Baseball. When Nickel and Suitcase get into an argument in Episode 10, he feels guilty over being unable to stop them and begins to have his doubts as the leader of not only his alliance, but the Grand Slams as a whole. And then his alliance gets destroyed the very next episode when Suitcase votes out Nickel and tears apart what was left of their debilitating friendship, and it's strongly implied that he blames himself for the fallout in spite of doing everything he could to keep the alliance together.
- Lightbulb is quirky, upbeat, and one of the most optimistic characters on the show. She does, however, get upset whenever Paintbrush gets mad at her, especially when they tell her that they don’t want to work with her in Episode 12. All of her friends have been eliminated as of Episode 14, and it’s made abundantly clear that she’s struggling to grin and bear it.
- Marshmallow. Early in Season 1 she's a constant victim of Knife's bullying, and while he does stop bullying her, her dilemmas don't get any better. She indirectly kills Bow, her close friend, in the finale and shows clear regret about it afterward. Then Apple, whom she made amends with in Episode 2, claims she was using her to get farther into the game. Episode 11 then reveals she doesn't like competing on the show-she believes it destroys relationships and causes drama for the contestants-so she decides to quit and leave the competition.
- Apple is one as well. After making up with her in Episode 2, she becomes very clingy towards Marshmallow, but come Episode 6 and their friendship gets destroyed again. Why? She was possessed by Bow, so it wasn't even her fault-and yet she still treats Marshmallow like they're friends.
- Paintbrush is a Jerkass Woobie. While violently short-tempered, aggressive, and a Competition Freak, they try their utter hardest to lead the Bright Lights to victory, yet their teammates almost never cooperate or listen to them. Episode 12 reveals that they are non-binary and that they don’t bring it up because they fear their identity won’t be acknowledged by the others. Fortunately, Lightbulb accepts them for who they are, and their elimination, unlike others, ends on a bittersweet note.
- Paper. He was eliminated very early on the show (though he would eventually rejoin halfway through), but being trapped on Idiotic Island caused him to develop an angry Split Personality. He did defeat the alternate personality, but according to his voice actor, he didn't get rid of him entirely and still has bad memories of him.
- Cherries. Yes he did send Marshmallow to Mars and pinned the blame on Box, but it's hard to not feel bad for him. He simply wanted his team to be happy by telling jokes, but was overshadowed along the way. He does apologize to Box later on, but his elimination is still sad to watch.
- Tissues is one of the more minor contestants due to his early elimination, but he's been perpetually ill with a disease known as the "condi-SHAWN" as long as he can remember, and is often held back by it. The way he sneezes is pretty gross, yes, but if you think about it, he really doesn’t have a good time throughout the show. He doesn't have many friends, Trophy rejects his offer to form an alliance AND flat-out says he should die, and he's locked in a closet for several months (to make matters worse, he was alone in there for a month due to him being the first to be eliminated in Season 2). Poor guy.
- MePhone4 is a massive Jerkass Woobie. "Mine Your Own Business" reveals that in his early days he was often physically and emotionally abused by Steve Cobs, and it was bad enough that MePhone eventually suppressed all of his memories of him. It's likely that the way Cobs treated him is the main reason why he's so apathetic.
- Fan. He grows increasingly more stressed and frustrated by the show’s numerous changes and wishes for everything to be simple again, which is one of the reasons he’s so at odds with Paintbrush, who is aware that there’s more to the game. He also isn’t ready for his egg to hatch and wishes to keep nurturing it (which sparks his first real fight with Test Tube, his closest friend, over custody of the egg once he’s eliminated), and in a monologue near the end of the episode, he sadly admits that he has to trust her even if he disagrees with her. And even with Season 3’s Lighter and Softer tone, he ends up inadvertently getting on Cabby’s bad side when he gets upset by her invading his privacy and (presumably unintentionally) writing rather hurtful things about him in her files, which results in her manipulating most of the Pinkers into voting him out, separating him from Test Tube again.
- Cabby doesn't have an easy time throughout Invitational. She starts out pretty confident in herself and her information, but after Test Tube uses her files against her to get her eliminated, it's clear even once she rejoins that it's taken a massive toll on her self esteem, damaged her relationships with her fellow contestants, and caused her trust issues. It's even more heartbreaking once it's revealed that she uses her files to keep track of information due to suffering from memory loss so severe she can't remember her own parents. Thankfully she seems to gain some of her self confidence back by the finale, and ends up winning the season.
