Total Drama Island



""Dear Mom and Dad I'm doin' fine, You guys are on my mind. You asked me what I wanted to be, And now I think the answer's plain to see... I wanna be famous!"

A popular Canadian animated series produced by Teletoon from the creators of 6teen. The show is about 22 teens who sign up to star on a reality show similar to Survivor called Total Drama where they are divided into teams and given challenges every three or so days; whenever a team loses a challenge they have to vote one of their members off the show, after a handful of contestants from either opposite team are eliminated (in a combined total between both teams), the teams merge and the remaining contestants compete as individuals and engage in a free-for-all where it's every man (and woman) for themselves. The last contestant standing wins C$100,000, however from "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island" and Action onwards the prize money has been changed to C$1,000,000.

The first season, Total Drama Island, takes place at Camp Wawanakwa, a campsite located on an island in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario.

Since the show incorporates New Season, New Name, the second season was called Total Drama Action and lowers the contestant count to 14 (that is until Courtney joined in as a late entry, for legal reasons, increasing the number to 15) and takes place on an abandoned film lot somewhere in Toronto.

The third season, Total Drama World Tour, has 15 old contestants and 3 new ones travelling to different locations all around the world and bursting into impromptu musical numbers when prompted.

The fourth season, Total Drama Revenge of the Island, features an all new cast of 13 contestants and takes place at a now radioactive Camp Wawanakwa.

Part one of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars, not only contains 14 returning contestants from previous seasons, but also has a Heroes vs. Villains setup. Also, like the previous season it takes place at Camp Wawanakwa, the only difference is that the island's been cleaned up since the end of Revenge of the Island and is toxic waste free once more.

Part two of the fifth season, Total Drama Pahkitew Island,features 14 new contestants, and also takes place in a new island located somewhere in Western Canada (British Columbia).

A spinoff series set in the same universe called Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, features new contestants competing in teams of two, some of the past characters from the main series also make appearances.

"Justin: I'm back to being just another pretty face. Katie: And pecs. Sadie: And abs. Owen: And butt."
 * Abhorrent Admirer: to Anna Maria, in looks if not personality.
 * Abnormal Ammo: Chris' seagull-firing gun-bazooka-thingy in "Beach Blanket Bogus".
 * These same guns return two seasons later in "Backstabbers, Ahoy!", except the seagulls are part rattlesnake now.
 * Chef Hatchet's "spaghetti cannon" in "Eat, Puke, and Be Wary".
 * Aborted Arc:
 * According to Word of God, Justin's role as a villain in season two.
 * Alejandro is basically an Expy of Justin with side order of Magnificent Bastard like Heather. He's essentially a rectification of the failure of Justin and Courtney in Action.
 * In "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island", Courtney found out  But this is never mentioned again after she found out. It seemed like it was going to lead up to something, but it wound up just being a bizarre random fact.
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Used in the World Tour episode where they go to New York. They ride speed boats through it.
 * Acquired Situational Narcissism: Geoff, after he becomes a co-host of the Aftermaths in the second season, though Bridgette would break him of it.
 * Acrofatic:
 * Owen, Leshawna, Beth and B.
 * Although Leshawna and Owen avert this by being unable to run long distances and in Total Drama Action Leshawna's size gives her problems during a challenge where contestants had to avoid lasers beams.
 * Averted again with Staci and Sam.
 * Action Girl: All the girls have their moments, but Courtney, Gwen and Sierra are the most prominent.
 * Adobe Flash
 * All Animals Are Dogs: Hilariously used in "Can't Help Falling In Louvre" when Noah is able to get rid of Sasquatchanakwa by using the 'invisible ball' trick, Noah even says he uses that on his dog back home all the time.
 * And then it works on Izzy.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Courtney and Gwen.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Quite often; see Love Dodecahedron below.
 * All There in the Manual: The character biographies, audition videos, and online interviews reveal more information about the campers than the show ever will.
 * Some of the bios include Bland Name Products of real bands, movies or people.
 * All Women Are Lustful: The female characters are more prone to sexual behavior than the boys.
 * The Alleged Car: Some vehicles featured in the show are low budget, poorly designed, broken down, and not well maintained
 * The Boat of Losers, though it's in better condition than most of the other vehicles regularly featured on the show.
 * The Lame-o-sine, complete with a set of bull horns on the hood.
 * The single-prop plane from Island and the Total Drama Jumbo Jet are certainly less than airworthy. The First Class section and the "reserved for hosts only" rooms are the inside parts of the latter in better condition than the other rooms in the plane.
 * The contestant-built bikes in "That's Off the Chain" deserve a nod, being built from salvaged bike parts and other materials. Some held together while others fell apart.
 * The go-karts in "Grand Chef Auto" played with this. Some looked a bit beat-up but worked just fine, but out of the six, Scott couldn't drive at all due to missing front wheels, and at Jo could, but only with a lot of difficulty due to the car constantly stopping.
 * In "Up Up and Away in My Pitiful Balloon", the contestants had to build flying machines out of junkyard scrap. While the machines were functional, they were all destroyed by the end of the episode.
 * Almost Kiss / Moment Killer: Happens often.
 * Geoff and Bridgette in "Hide and Be Sneaky", the moment is spoiled when Geoff gets a whiff of Bridgette's skunk smell.
 * Justin and Courtney in "The Princess Pride", the moment is spoiled when Chris announces that Justin has to fight Courtney for immunity.
 * Mike and Zoey in "Grand Chef Auto", the moment is spoiled when gets catapulted off the island.
 * Alpha Bitch: Heather and Courtney.
 * Ambiguously Brown: Several characters, though many have Word of God explanations: Noah is Indian, Justin is Polynesian, and Courtney is Hispanic.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Noah, with emphasis on "ambiguous". Initially, in Island, we get the obvious mannerisms and the Ho Yay with Cody, but then it gets subverted during World Tour where it's implied that he may have a crush on Bridgette. And then we get Ho Yay with Alejandro, followed by Ship Tease with Izzy. At this point, the fans really have no freakin' clue although some theorize that he simply goes both ways.
 * Amusing Injuries: To the point where nearly every character has had at least one, and some of the Butt Monkeys have had more than a few. Heather and Duncan are the most prominent examples, and the unofficial wiki also has a page listing all of the injuries that happened during the course of the series.
 * Animals Hate Him: Owen, Heather and Chris to a certain extent. DJ is a more prominent example, especially during World Tour. Duncan's the most prominent example. He's been bitten by everything from raccoons, squirels, chipmunks, anything that would give him rabies in the real world. Scott in season 4 may also count, with the legged shark if no other creature.
 * Arch Enemy: Heather is this to several campers, especially Gwen and Leshawna. Also, season three newcomer Alejandro has the official title of "The Arch Villain."
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Several people actually are very strong or good at the game, yet clearly have no interests of playing a social game.
 * Lightning and Jo can be like this.
 * Art Shift: Occurs in the songs What's Not to Love?, Oh, My Izzy Mix, and in the finale song. The first turning into all simple colors so they would look like a Broadway musical poster, and the second into a crayon-drawn segment in Owen's head. In the finale song the two finalists and their helpers once again revert to simple colors: blue for one finalist, red for the other. The simple crayon-drawn style happens whenever Owen has a thought sequence.
 * Artistic License: Biology:
 * In the "Phobia Factor" episode, DJ had to face his fear of snakes by picking up the "smallest snake ever." After a dramatic pause, DJ freaks out because the snake blinked. Snakes don't have eyelids.
 * Snakes shouldn't blink. That's why it's creepy.
 * Ascended Fangirl: Sierra in World Tour and Zoey in Revenge of the Island.
 * Ass Pull: Lots of these from Chris in-universe.
 * Attention Whore: Being the host, Chris is this in spades. However, since Total Drama is a parody of reality shows, every contestant is one in some capacity, especially during "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special". Among the contestants, major examples include:.
 * Heather, for being a queen bee.
 * Izzy, for being a "psycho hose beast".
 * Courtney, for being a over-achieving goody-goody.
 * Justin, for his entrancing good looks.
 * Ezekiel, since he was a sheltered, home-schooled kid.
 * Blaineley, for her massive ego.
 * Staci, for her pathological lying.
 * Dakota, for her aspirations to be an award-winning film actress, fashion model, and pop music star.
 * Auto-Tune:
 * Used in the theme song on the words "I want to live close to the sun/Well, pack your bags 'cause I've already won."
 * Ezekiel in "Come Fly With Us."
 * Used more and more prominently with Alejandro throughout Season 3 as he gets cockier and more confident of winning.
 * Harold when he raps about Cody in "Who You Gonna Root For?".
 * Award Bait Song: "I'm Sorry."
 * Award Snub: An in-universe example occurs during the Action special . However, this could have just been a part of.
 * Back for the Finale: The first three seasons bring back all of the contestants that competed to watch the final two compete. Revenge of the Island only showed those from that season returning, although there were cameos throughout the season of "classic" competitors.
 * The Bad Guy Wins: Depending on where you live, the World Tour finale either has Heather (former antagonist) or Alejandro (worse antagonist) winning in some countries.
 * Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: In season three,
 * Bandage Mummy: At different points, Cody, Trent, Justin, and.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Nearly all the girls except Leshawna, Beth, Eva, Jo, Dawn, and Staci.
 * Courtney and Dakota's normal outfits don't show midriff; however, Courtney's swimsuit and sleepwear does reveal it, and Dakota shows it on her intern outfit.
 * Batman Gambit: Heather and Alejandro are quite fond of these. In a less-evil sense, Jo is also fond of these.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For:
 * You know, in retrospect, maybe the whole "put-Ezekiel-in-another-season" thing wasn't a very good idea after all.
 * The "give-Cody-a-love-interest-that-is-just-like-his-fangirls" thing didn't really work out as planned either.
 * Die hard Duncan/Courtney fans were upset that Duncan left on the first episode of World Tour, hoping he would come back. He does, and THEN. . ..
 * After receiving a large bribe from Dakota's dad, Chris lets her back on the show...as an intern.
 * The Bechdel Test: Passes magnificently.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension
 * Courtney and Duncan first season.
 * Heather and Alejandro third.
 * Beta Couple: Geoff and Bridgette, compared to everyone else.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Lindsay, Beth and Owen. The latter is a 296 pound Gentle Giant, but when angered, you're in for it! In Revenge of the Island, is this trope personified.
 * Bi the Way: Owen makes constant gay remarks, despite having a romantic interest with Izzy.

"Duncan: The dude ate foamcore and wax! Full props for that, man. Leshawna: You know what [Owen] has? Guts. Guts filled with foamcore and rubber, but guts just the same. Owen: (in the following episode) No thanks, Chef. I'll just have the prunes. [Collective gasp from everyone else in the room]"
 * Big Bad: Word of God says that Chris McLean will always be the true villain of the series.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: A giant cockroach in Revenge of the Island.
 * As well as a giant spider.
 * Big Eater: Owen. So big that in the second season he eats an entire feast in minutes without realizing that it's all prop food.

"Chris: If you need to take a moment to reminisce about the great times you had here... [Everyone else laughs] Chris: Fine. We'll skip the good memories montage."
 * Big No:
 * Several. Heather, Lindsay when Courtney suggested voting off Tyler in "Not So Happy Campers Part 2" and again in "Broadway, Baby" when she learned she wouldn't be able to shop in New York, and DJ   and Alejandro.
 * Also, Geoff when he found out he wouldn't be competing in Total Drama World Tour, and Heather.
 * Bilingual Bonus:
 * Alejandro's last name, Burromuerto, is Spanish for dead donkey. In the Action special, after Beth damages the Mona Lisa, a security guard says, "Omelette du fromage?", which means cheese omelette in French.
 * As a matter of fact, that's probably a reference to Dexters Laboratory. There is a whole episode dedicated to "Omelette du fromage".
 * And cheese omelette would be omelette au fromage. The fact that the phrase is mistranslated in the same way as in Dexters Laboratory is unlikely to be coincidental.
 * The names of both new contestants are Spanish names. Alejandro means "Alexander" and "Sierra" means "mountain range".
 * Birds of a Feather: Gwen and Duncan.
 * Bits of Me Keep Passing Out: Happens to all the contestants during the Africa episode of Total Drama World Tour as a result of the tranquilizer balls they are using in an attempt to subdue Zeke. And then they have to sing about it.
 * Black and Gray Morality: During Action and World Tour.
 * Black and White Morality: During Island.
 * Black Best Friend: DJ to Duncan, Geoff, and Tyler; Leshawna to Bridgette and Gwen
 * Blofeld Ploy: "The Drop of Shame will be taken by... This intern!"
 * Boke and Tsukkomi Routine:
 * Tyler and Noah, respectively.
 * Lindsay and Gwen had a few moments like this in Island.
 * Boot Camp Episode: Basic Straining
 * Bowdlerise: Cartoon Network loaded the Season One episodes with censors for words like "crap", "suck", "freak", and even censor bleeps. Even worse, CN got to the point where They Just Didn't Care, and began using a word that was censored for "lame-o" early on, "stupid", as a censor for "fricking." Geez. The removal of most of these censors may have been one of the few good things that Action contained.
 * Boxing Kangaroo: In both the Australia episode and the Aftermath, whether it's the same kangaroo is debatable, but for now it's successfully defeated Duncan, Leshawna and Harold.
 * Brainless Beauty: Lindsay and Dakota. Anna Maria, too.
 * Break the Cutie: Being a Sadist Show, it happens regularly, especially as the series gets more cynical. Cody, Lindsay, Bridgette, Dawn, Dakota, and Zoey fall victim to it.
 * Break the Haughty: As much as the show likes to break its innocent characters, it loves to break its jerkasses as well, usually in an epic fashion towards the conclusion of the season.
 * Just keeps happening to Heather.
 * Justin and Courtney in Action.
 * Alejandro and Blaineley in World Tour.
 * Scott in Revenge of the Island.
 * Even Chris is not immune. He gets this when  The final moments of Revenge of the Island also does this.
 * Bridal Carry:
 * In "Aww, Drumheller" when Alejandro pulls from beneath a rock. She immediately asks to be put down, but her tone says otherwise.
 * Invoked during the wedding-themed Niagara Falls episode. The characters are expected to do this as part of a challenge, though not all couples play it straight.
 * Briefcase Full of Money: This is how the prize money is delivered from "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island" on. However, most of the time, the case either gets stolen by a rouge former contestant or comically destroyed.
 * Buried Alive: Gwen's phobia. Also invokes a bit of Fridge Horror if one considers what would have happened if Trent hadn't remembered to dig her up exactly 59 minutes later.
 * Burping Contest: In the episode where the teams change to Guys vs Girls, the guys' team bonds over one of these.
 * But Thou Must!: In the alternate version of Island where wins, the follow-up in the special was that the game couldn't be stopped and the $100,000 taken; all 22 campers were forced to search for the million-dollar case. This isn't the case in the "canon" version where  wins, however.
 * Butt Monkey:
 * All the campers could be considered Butt Monkeys since they usually have at least one moment of extreme torment physically, emotionally and/or mentally. But Ezekiel, Tyler, Cody, Owen, Duncan, Trent, Harold, DJ, and Brick are the poster boys of this and Courtney and Heather between the girls.
 * And then we have the poor interns. So far they've been: tossed to crocodiles, thrown off cliffs, shoved off planes, eaten alive by scarabs, used as footstools for Chris and chased around a studio by Beth.
 * Call Back: In One Million Bucks, B.C., Chris uses the top half of Mr. Coconut for a cup while ending the episode.
 * Gwen still hasn't gotten over her phobia of being buried alive as of "The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean".
 * Camp Gay: The escaped serial killer. No, really.
 * Canada, Eh?:
 * Ezekiel, whose accent is more a parody of what Americans think Canadians all sound like. Seeing as the show is produced in Canada and every voice actor is Canadian, it's otherwise averted.
 * Izzy also references being wanted by the RCMP, and Owen wears a lawyer-friendly version of the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Additionally, Katie and Sadie mention being from Toronto.
 * Canon Discontinuity: Most of the characterizations and plot points of Action are not referenced in World Tour.
 * However. The FIRST WORDS that Chris says at the start of Revenge acknowledges that Action did take place.
 * Can't Get Eliminated for Nuthin': DJ tries really hard to get kicked off in the third season, but it never seems to work for him.
 * Casanova Wannabe: Cody, and to a lesser extent, Harold.
 * Cast of Snowflakes
 * The Cast Showoff:
 * "The Princess Pride", where Courtney got to sing in order to show off voice actress/jazz singer Emilie Claire Barlow's pipes.
 * Though Barlow is the most prominent example, Word of God says the producers were glad that everyone in the cast had good singing voices since it made the Musical numbers much better.
 * Censored Title: Averted with The Sucky Outdoors.
 * Cerebus Syndrome: Kicks in during the second half of World Tour.
 * Chained Heat: Used for one series of challenges.
 * Character Shilling: For Owen.
 * Chastity Couple:
 * Gwen and Trent have only shared one on-screen kiss during their relationship.
 * Same goes for Harold and Leshawna.
 * The Cheerleader: Lindsay and (according to her bio) Heather.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang:
 * Ezekiel gets voted off first in both Island and World Tour. Similarly, Lindsay gets voted off on a technicality in both Island.(She was, technically, the last to cross the finish line: Everyone else's bike crashed, or in the case of Izzy and Leshawna, they didn't even race.) and World Tour (Since she and DJ were the last two Team Victory members and DJ wanted to go home, this should be easy, no? No, they instead had a fashion show, and DJ somehow won.)
 * Bridgette was also the first girl eliminated from the show, and Gwen the first member eliminated from her team, in both Action and World Tour.
 * Noah was technically the first contestant voted off of his team in both Island and World Tour, although Izzy was ejected from the game two episodes earlier in the latter season.
 * Heather made it to the Final Three in both Island and World Tour.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Played with. Heather got a meat grinder as a reward, but threw it out of the plane despite Courtney's protests. Come next episode, it could have been very useful. Heather was called out for not foreseeing this.
 * The candy, on the other hand, was played straight several episodes later.
 * Chekhov's Volcano: You know the one.
 * Chew Toy:  becomes one of these both figuratively and literally, in World Tour.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The Curse of the Mummified Dog only takes effect when DJ believes he's under it.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Courtney, Sierra and Heather. Bridgette in the Action special.
 * Clip Show: Subverted in Beach Blanket Bogus, where the group makes a return to Camp Wawanakwa.

"Izzy: (yelling) Or I'll kick your (bleeping) butt! I want you all off this (bleeping) set! No, don't be (bleeping) "sorry"! Think for a second! No, no, will not take five, (bleep)! You call yourself a director of photography?! Why were you walking right through the set?! WHY were you walking right through the (bleeping) set?!! (Director runs off crying ) What?"
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Izzy, Owen, Lindsay, and Sierra.
 * Cluster Bleep Bomb:
 * Lindsay and, a few episodes later, Owen to Heather. In the United States, however, every Sound Effect Bleep was redubbed with insults that could be said on a kids' show.
 * In a parody of the Christian Bale incident from Terminator Salvation, Izzy flipping out at her movie crew in the Action special. It's bleeped out in the original Canadian airing, but was one of only a handful of times Cartoon Network censored dialogue in Total Drama Action when the bleeps were replaced, mostly by words like "stinking."

"Chris: (Sarcasm Mode) Stay tuned to find out who will win this week. Could it be...the Grips? Owen: Hey! We heard that! Beth: It could still happen! We're not losers! (accidentally spits out her retainer)"
 * Compressed Vice: Trent develops an OCD level obsession with both the number 9 (the exact same pieces of eggs he had before Duncan ruined it), and Gwen in Total Drama Action after Duncan takes Gwen away from Trent earlier in the season.
 * Conspicuous CG: The Combining Mecha: style raccoon composite. You heard me.
 * Contest Winner Cameo: He got fed to the sharks.
 * Continuity Nod:
 * The first episode of World Tour has Owen terrified of getting on the Jet, a reference to his fear of heights in season one.
 * Chris asks Lindsay if she understands the voting process this time around, referencing her
 * In "Haute Camp-ture" Noah mentions that he owns a golden Labrador, two seasons later, in, "Can't Help Falling In Louvre" Noah uses a quick distraction tactic to get rid of Sasquatchanakwa, explaining that the trick always worked on his dog back home.
 * In "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special", Justin mentions that despite being a Drama Brother, he can't play any instruments. For every Drama Brothers song from then on, Justin is only seen shaking a tambourine to the beat of the song.
 * In Grand Chef Auto, Chris mentions that Duncan still owes him camera time for skipping out on World Tour.
 * Convection, Schmonvection: A race to the top of an active volcano, over a river of lava.
 * Covered in Kisses: Cody by Sierra.
 * Critical Research Failure: In-universe, several of Chris's location/challenge descriptions in World Tour. The contestants have corrected him on multiple occasions, but they weren't perfect themselves— Courtney was right about 8,000,000 B.C. being way too early for the building of the Great Wall, but dinosaurs were extinct by then...
 * Crocodile Tears:
 * Heather used them to deceive Trent in Island, Alejandro in World Tour and Lightning in Revenge of the Island.
 * Scott uses them to deceive Zoey.
 * Dakota also gives them as a benign example, namely to bring attention to herself.
 * Crossdresser: Chef Hatchet in a few of the "Gilded Chris" ceremonies, though not by choice. It's happened a few times since, under varying degrees of convincing.
 * Cross-Dressing Voices: Clé Bennett as DJ's mama
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
 * Harold, Lindsay when she realizes the truth about Heather.
 * Cody can qualify as this too in Dodgebrawl.
 * Crying Wolf: After Izzy dresses as a bear to scare the others, the real bear shows up. Also, the real escaped psycho killer.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * In Action, the Screaming Gaffers won eight challenges to the Killer Grips three. Chris lampshades the lopsided nature of the contest:

"Courtney: Look, I am a very experienced swimmer. I was a synchro captain. I coach minnows! I am a CIT! Heather: More like a B-I-T-C- Gwen: Guys, let's get going."
 * The Epic Fail that is Team Victory in World Tour. Every single member is gone by the season's halfway point.
 * The Toxic Rats vs. the Mutant Maggots in Revenge as well, though this is less because the Rats are a weak team and more because Scott keeps screwing them over from within.
 * In Hook, Line, and Screamer: Gwen vs. the Psycho Killer. Gwen wins.
 * Not the show per se, but in the Brazilian online vote to determine the winner of Action,
 * Curse Cut Short:

"Geoff: Okay, guys, let's give him a break. I mean, at least he doesn't think that guys are smarter than girls. Ezekiel: But they are!"
 * Same thing occurs to Heather when the horn, from the Guys' victory in the Brunch episode, concealed her swearing.
 * Cursed with Awesome: DJ wants to go home because he keeps killing/hurting animals (accidentally), but he can't lose!
 * Cute Bruiser: Courtney and Sierra.
 * Cute but Cacophonic: The Killer Rabbit guarding Bridgette's key in Search and Do Not Destroy, Season 1.
 * Cute Is Evil: Duncan really doesn't like Celine Dion music store standees.
 * Cute Machines: The robot assistant in B's audition tape.
 * The Danza: Chris is voiced by Christian Potenza.
 * Darker and Edgier: While as not as bad as the other examples on that page, Revenge of the Island is this when compared to the first season; due to radioactive waste, the island is now filled with assorted mutants and monsters, not to mention some of the new contestants' personalities seem a lot "darker" than the previous ones' (take for example Mike's multiple personality disorder, Staci's constant lying to get attention, Scott being a bigger Manipulative Bastard than Alejandro and Heather combined,, ...).
 * The 3rd season also becomes this after
 * Deadpan Snarker: Chris, Gwen, Duncan, Leshawna, and especially Noah.
 * Death Glare:
 * Being easily aggravated or disgusted by almost anything or anyone, Heather often gives this look.
 * Chef Hatchet is nearly locked into this look.
 * Dawn gives one to Scott.
 * Defeat by Modesty: Heather manages to do this to herself.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen:
 * Gwen visibly learns to care more for many of her fellow campers as the show goes on, though she'd never admit it.
 * Happens somewhat with Heather in Total Drama Action. Though most people prefer to think of it as Villain Decay.
 * It's more legit in season 3, where she does show that she has a heart at times.
 * Depending on the Writer: Sooo much. Depending on the episode and/or the circumstances, you get a lot of moments where the nice, goodwilled characters suddenly belt out snarky comments, or the local Badass and/or Jerkass suddenly says something polite. It gets even worse when it comes to friendships and/or relationships, where two contestants will be laughing and hugging one day, and trying to slit each others throats the next.
 * Development Gag: Several character designs from Camp TV, Total Drama's prototype series, are often used as minor characters in the finished product.
 * The early designs of DJ, Cody, Tyler, and Katie are quite often seen as interns.
 * Sadie's early design appears in a few episodes of Action.
 * One of Leshawna's early designs was retooled as her cousin Leshaniqua in "One Flu Over the Cuckoos".
 * B in Revenge of the Island resembles DJ's early design.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Chris, Alejandro in World Tour, and Scott in Revenge of the Island.
 * Did Not Do the Research: In Broadway, Baby! at one part during the sewer challenge, when you see Team Victory moving before the sewer comes up, the Twin World Trade Centers in the background. They were destroyed in 2001, and the single World Trade Center, its replacement, would not be finished until 2012/2013, and this episode takes place in 2009/2010.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: Combined with Ho Yay in Owen's case. In the second episode:

""Haha, Cody's got a tiny sausage!""
 * Disney Acid Sequence: Several of the songs from World Tour, most prominently What's Not To Love?
 * Disney Death:
 * Disproportionate Retribution:
 * When Noah made fun of Chris' age, Chris responded by throwing him off a cliff.
 * Leshawna beating up Heather and knocking a tooth out for just saying the truth.
 * Dissonant Serenity: Mostly the glee that Chris takes in giving the contestants life-threatening challenges (seriously, a thousand foot jump followed by four days with no sleep?). Some other instances are also played with remarkable casualness: Cody being mauled by a bear, Owen being fifty thousand dollars in the hole, Lindsay and Beth sitting in a French prison for months, and DJ and his momma losing everything in the special. Then again, it is a kids' show.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: The usual form of this trope is more often than not inverted with the girls getting distracted by boys. Justin in Island and Action and Alejandro in World Tour are the main perpetrators of these. The only male-on-female instance is in Island when Harold lost focus after Heather lost her top.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: In Celebrity Manhunt Special, Courtney and Duncan are fighting for the custody of a pet raccoon.
 * Don't Try This At Home: "This episode of Total Drama contains scenes of extreme stunts performed by ANIMATED TEENS. Do NOT try any of what you see here at home. Seriously, you could get really messed up."
 * Double Entendre:

""I'd like to bunk under her.""
 * Duncan gets one in Island during the cabin selection:

"[A coconut falls on Courtney] Courtney: A coconut? We're in Muskoka, people! If you want to drop something on my head, at least make it geographically correct! [Several pounds of snow, followed by a toboggan, followed by an Eskimo, fall on Courtney.]"
 * Double Knockout: Courtney and Sierra do this to each other in Greece's Pieces, as do DJ and Gwen in Dodgebrawl.
 * Double Standard: Happens in-universe on several occasions, such as when Gwen rejected Cody's advances the other contestants didn't really care, but many of the females seem to support Sierra/Cody and feel sorry for her when Cody tries to vote her out in the Amazon episode.
 * Downer Ending:
 * A few individual episodes like "Search and Do Not Destroy", "3:10 to Crazytown". Also the
 * Few people tend to notice this, but it is also a Downer Ending for.
 * The Dragon: Chef to Chris in many ways.
 * Dramedy: Hence the title.
 * Drop the Cow: The actual producers of the show do this.

""The loser must walk down the Dock of Shame to the Boat of Losers, never to return, ever"."
 * Dumb Blonde: Lindsay is a classic Dumb Blonde (although her hair is dyed), Owen and Geoff are also fair haired and not overly endowed with brains. Bridgette was an early exception, but it was also averted with Blaineley. Within the new cast, Dakota plays it straight while Dawn and Jo are aversions.
 * Easily Forgiven: Sierra towards Cody.
 * Easy Come, Easy Go: Most of the contestants fail to hang on to their money long enough for it to matter, such as [[spoiler:Owen giving up his money for 1o times more money, but it gets eaten by a shark soon after, and . Izzy's
 * Eat That: This happens often. "Brunch of Disgustingness" is centered around this.
 * Efficient Displacement: In "Hook, Line, and Screamer", DJ does this with the bathroom door after seeing Heather in a face mask.
 * Electric Jellyfish
 * Elimination Catchphrase

"Owen: Stay awake for twelve hours?! I can do that in my sleep! Woo hoo! (immediately falls asleep)"
 * Elimination Statement: Doesn't always happen. The first to get one was Eva in Island.
 * With the introduction of the Hurl of Shame in Revenge of the Island, Chris teases this, but he usually catapults the eliminated contestant before they can say anything.
 * Embarrassing Last Name:
 * Apparently, Alejandro's last name means *snicker* "dead donkey". Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to mind.
 * And in an Embarrassing First Name example, Geoff would like to inform you all her real name isn't Blaineley.  And in Season 4, B's real name is revealed to be
 * Enemy Mine: Happens often due to ever-shifting alliances.
 * Epic Fail:

"Heather: Even I'm not that ruthless!"
 * Tyler is full of them, but the worst of the lot would be the time he tried to eat a banana in World Tour and it ended up in his eye.
 * Geoff and DJ in "Hook, Line, and Screamer". The former walks around mindlessly looking for an ice cream truck while Chef, dressed as a serial killer, simply walks behind him (Chris even called it "The worst mistake yet".) The latter because he ran away screaming like a little girl from Heather and her facial.
 * Pretty much sums up Team Victory.
 * Et Tu, Brute?:
 * Even Evil Has Standards:
 * Heather when compared with Alejandro. As she puts it:

"Alejandro: You are pure evil!"
 * And Alejandro when compared with Chris.

"Noah: If we're gonna find that clue... Owen: There's only one thing to do. Noah: Force someone to strip him down... Both: And Tyler, dude, that's you!"
 * Chris was genuinely disgusted when Heather read Gwen's diary aloud on National TV.
 * Everyone Can See It: As of Chinese Fake Out, everyone knows Alejandro and Heather have a thing for each other, with Blaineley flat-out telling them to make out  and Duncan and Chris calling them "lovebirds" and "cute." Of course, they refuse to admit it. Also happened to Duncan and Courtney in the first season.
 * Everyone Meets Everyone: The first episode has the campers meet each other for the first time, with the exception of Katie and Sadie who were friends beforehand.
 * Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks:
 * Just ask Chef, Courtney, or Scott.
 * Averted in situations involving Justin, who is so gorgeous that when he falls into a shark infested pool in Action, a dismayed shark pulls him out of the water and then proceeds to perform CPR on him.
 * Everythings Better With Bunnies: DJ's bunny, along with other bunnies that show up from time to time.
 * Everything's Better with Chickens: Inverted. Poor, poor Tyler.
 * Everything's Better with Plushies: According to Sierra, Cody sleeps with a stuffed emu named Jerry.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: The fairytale challenge in Action.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears:
 * This show loves this trope. Even with
 * The one in Can't Help Falling In Louvre had a chainsaw.
 * Evil Laugh: Chris does this often, as well as a few other characters.
 * "Evil" Versus Evil: Heather (sort of) vs. Alejandro throughout World Tour . Lampshaded in Versus: "Now it's evil versus wicked!"
 * Executive Meddling: Both within the show and Real Life in the increasingly blatant attempts to keep Heather from being voted off.
 * Expy:
 * Harold of Napoleon Dynamite.
 * Basically the entire show of 6teen. Also the characters: Duncan = Jonesy, Lindsay = Caitlin, Gwen = Nikki, Geoff = Jude, Courtney = Jen, Trent = Wyatt/Stone, Bridgette = Starr, Katie/Sadie = Khaki Clones, Chef = Ron/Coach Halder, Harold = Darth, Izzy = Lydia, Heather = Tricia, Justin = Hunter, Noah = Wayne, Owen = Carl, Beth = Julie, Leshawna = Serena, Cody = Talon, Tyler = Charlie Dobbs, and Eva = Leda. *really big breath* Considering they were both made by the same company (Fresh TV) and a lot of the voice actors and actresses were the same...
 * Of the 13 new cast members, 3 stand out as expies of real life people: Anne Maria is one to Snooki, Sam is one to Seth Rogen (at least physically), and Dakota is one to Paris Hilton. In regards to other fictional characters: Jo is an expy to Sue Sylvester, Dawn is an expy to Luna Lovegood, Mike is an expy to Jimmy Two-Shoes (and voiced by the same VA as well), and B is a race lifted expy of Silent Bob.
 * It's worth noting that the Expy in this show is actually not that subjective but in fact a specialized form of Real Life Writes the Plot. Many characters were actually based off of real-life personalities appearing on Reality TV shows. Russell Hantz has two expies in the form of Alejandro (Even being turned into a Ratings machine!) and Scott (in terms of idol-play and sabotaging his team.) Several contestants are an expy of the I'm Not Here to Make Friends or Arrogant Kung Fu Guy who show up on these kinds of shows. Heck, Staci almost makes one wonder if she was inspired by Coach.
 * Extreme Omnivore: Owen, full-throttle.
 * Extroverted Nerd: Cody and Harold, possibly Beth as well.
 * Face Doodling: Duncan draws a mustache on Harold's face in Dodgebrawl, though the prank backfires since Harold actually likes the mustache, and Leshawna draws a smiley face on the back of Heather's bald head in Total Drama Drama Drama Island. Geoff draws light pen doodles on the final three's headshots in "Hawaiian Style", giving Girlish Pigtails and making  look like a vampire.
 * Failed Attempt At Drama: Harold, several times in "Get a Clue".
 * Fake Food: Owen devours a pile of prop food during Total Drama Action.
 * Fake Russian: Parodied in "Dial M For Merger"; Chris absolutely butchers it before explaining the spy movie challenge. The stumped cast guesses Jamaican, Japanese, Swedish, French and Italian in order, and at least one of those might have been closer to how Chris actually sounded.
 * False Reassurance: When trying to cook fugu (poisonous blowfish), Lindsay assures Trent that she knows what she's doing since she took biology; unfortunately Trent doesn't ask if she actually passed biology.
 * In "Jamaica Me Sweat", Chirs tell the contestants that the bay they have to dive into is not filled with sharks; it's filled with electric eels and sharks.
 * Fan Disservice:
 * Owen, who frequently appears naked.
 * Chef, anytime he crossdresses, especially in a stripperriffic purple bikini.
 * Alejandro jiggling his naked moobs at the confession cam.
 * Fan Service:
 * Heather, Leshawna, and Izzy all get a censored nudity shot (Both front AND back for Izzy), though it doesn't cross into Ecchi territory. There's also Gwen's Panty Shot listed below, and just about any time the girls are seen wearing something other than their normal clothes.
 * Also, Katie and Sadie's bikinis.
 * Then there's Alejandro's speedo.
 * Fandom Nod:
 * World Tour has a lot of these, examples include the Courtney/Duncan/Gwen Love Triangle, Loony Fan Sierra, Noah and Cody returning to the game, Tyler complaining about being unpopular and the way Ezekiel is treated.
 * In the second aftermath, Beth is shown eating a cookie.
 * Hell, in the Celebrity Manhunt special Blainely outright says "Total Drama Comeback".
 * Fandom-Specific Plot: A lot of the fanfiction out there is about a season where reviewers can apply for a spot on the show.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Chris.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted by Lindsay, who totally can't.
 * Fiery Redhead: The orange-haired redhead Izzy is not only fiery, she's certifiably insane. Though normally level-headed, Zoey can get fiery when provoked.
 * Five-Man Band:
 * Team Amazon:
 * The Hero: Heather
 * The Lancer: Courtney
 * The Big Girl: Sierra (and originally Izzy)
 * The Smart Guy: Cody
 * The Chick: Gwen
 * Team Victory:
 * The Hero: DJ
 * The Lancer/The Heart: Lindsay
 * The Big Girl: Leshawna
 * The Smart Guy: Harold
 * The Chick: Bridgette
 * Sixth Ranger: Ezekiel
 * Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot:
 * The Hero: Tyler
 * The Lancer: Alejandro
 * The Big Guy: Owen
 * The Smart Guy: Noah
 * The Chick: Izzy (and originally Sierra)
 * Sixth Ranger:
 * There's also a literal five man band, in the form of The Drama Brothers:
 * The Hero: Trent
 * The Lancer: Cody
 * The Smart Guy: Harold
 * The Chick: Justin
 * The Big Guy/Fifth Ranger: Sasquatchanakwa
 * Toxic Rats
 * The Hero: Sam
 * The Lancer: Scott
 * The Smart Guy: Dawn and B
 * The Big Guy: Lightning and B(again)
 * The Chick: Dakota and Staci
 * Mutant Maggots
 * The Hero: Brick
 * The Lancer: Mike
 * The Smart Guy: Cameron
 * The Big Guy: Jo
 * The Chick: Zoey and Anne Maria
 * Flanderization:
 * Among other examples, DJ's cowardice is cranked up to eleven in World Tour.
 * In World Tour, DJ's tendency to accidentally injure animals occurs much more often. However, this has a rare in-universe justification, as he was cursed.
 * In Action, Courtney threatens to "call her lawyers" every time something happens that isn't to her liking. She only did this once in Island, in a justifiable case.
 * In Island, Cody hits on all of the girls, but he likes Gwen in particular. Come World Tour, he's only attracted to Gwen.
 * While Izzy was always in Genki Girl, in Island there were several hints that she may have been putting on act (and she would display levels of normalcy.) Starting with Action, Izzy became full-blown crazy 100% of the time.
 * Flat What: Noah, along with Sarcasm Failure, after watching the Japanese promo for season two.
 * Flip-Flop of God: On whether Courtney is Asian or Hispanic. She's been confirmed Hispanic now, though.
 * Follow Your Nose
 * Food as Bribe: Heather gives Owen a piece of cake in exchange for in "Not Quite Famous".
 * Foot Popping: Gender inversion in the Ex-Files when Gwen and Duncan kiss.
 * For the Evulz: Chris likes to mess with the contestants, a lot of times for no real reason.
 * Force Feeding: Leshawna does it to Duncan as part of the first challenge in "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon".
 * Foreign Queasine: The eating challenge in China. Manman chi!
 * Foreshadowing:
 * In the intro of Total Drama World Tour During the human pyramid on the top of the plane, .    In the same season,
 * Every couple formed in the first season was hinted at in the first episode; if you don't include Duncan and Courtney, within the first 8 minutes of the show.
 * A possible and unusually creepy example appears in the TDRI-episode Grand Chef Auto, where
 * Lightning wanted to be a team of one and
 * Four-Fingered Hands: Everybody.
 * Oddly, Trent's t-shirt has a five-fingered handprint on it.
 * Also, Izzy gains a fifth digit in two instances due to an animation error.
 * Geoff and Trent encounter testing dummies with five-fingered hands in the TDA Special.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: The final four of Island. Owen is sanguine, Gwen is phlegmatic, Heather is choleric and Duncan is melancholic.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Granola Girl Dawn.
 * Frying Pan of Doom: Chris uses one to knock Owen out during the first episode of World Tour.
 * Gender Equal Ensemble: The contestants are split eleven boys and eleven girls.
 * One of the New World Tour Contestants is a boy while the other one is a girl.
 * Revenge of the Island tips the scale a bit by having seven boys and six girls.
 * Genki Girl: Izzy and Sierra in spades. Lindsay, Katie, and Sadie are tamer examples.
 * Genre Savvy:
 * Duncan and Gwen when it comes to slasher and alien monster movies.
 * In World Tour Heather is the only person who can see through Alejandro's "Nice Guy" facade.
 * Due to having watched every episode of the previous seasons, Sierra knows Heather is trying to use her, and is going to try and bring her down from inside the alliance!
 * Duncan and Alejandro are applying this trope to each other.
 * Gentle Giant: Owen and DJ.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
 * In universe example: Japan loves the Total Drama Series, but hates the voices of the kids themselves.
 * Real life example,
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: It now has its own page. Noah puts it best, "No wonder why my little cousins aren't allowed to see this show."
 * Girl Posse: Heather, Lindsay and Beth
 * Girlish Pigtails: Sadie, Katie and Zoey.
 * Girls Are Really Scared of Horror Movies: Averted with Gwen and to a lesser extent, Izzy.
 * Gold Digger:
 * Courtney in TDA. She broke up with Duncan after finally getting eliminated, THEN gets back together with him soon after he wins, even having the nerve to say "we're rich!" as if she's entitled to the prize.
 * Anne Maria in TDRI. She was only attracted to Ezekiel because he gave her a
 * Gosh Hornet: When Lindsay has to retrieve a key that's stuck in a beehive. Izzy gets it for her by ramming her hand right into the hive, and an angry swarm chases Lindsay into a lake. Needless to say, she's not looking so hot in the next scene.
 * Got Volunteered:
 * DJ becomes the victim of this in the Japan episode of World Tour.
 * Also happens to Tyler in "I See London".

"Tyler: I like girls!"
 * Gratuitous Foreign Language: so far we have Spanish (courtesy of Alejandro), Japanese, and German.
 * Green Eyed Red Head:
 * Izzy.
 * Gwen was also this in her original design as evidenced by the Camp TV promo.
 * Groin Attack: Many, especially in the earlier episodes. Most importantly, this is how in the finale of World Tour.
 * Hair-Raising Hare: The Killer Rabbit in Search and Do Not Destroy
 * Handy Remote Control / Plot-Sensitive Button: Most commonly used by Chris as a bomb detonator.
 * Harmless Electrocution: Played with in Jamaica Me Sweat, where Tyler gets a momentary shock from an electric eel, and isn't hurt. Gwen, however, gets shocked by three electric eels and has to be rescued by Alejandro and taken to the infirmary. Played straight in The Ex-Files, where the guys get shocked by a laser, an electric fence, a clone pod, and an alien, in that order, and don't take any lasting damage.
 * Hartman Hips: Every girl except Sadie, Leshawna, Lindsay, and Staci.
 * Hate Sink: In Ridonculous Race, there's Taylor who spends the show being nothing but a spoiled brat. Her mother Kelly eventually gets fed up with the way that her daughter has been misbehaving and decides that she's going to discipline her. Incidentally, this is what leads to her being eliminated.
 * Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Tyler has a minor one in the first episode of World Tour, when he believed that Alejandro was trying to charm him.

"Duncan: ...because there, hanging from the door handle, was the bloody hook. They say that this killer is still alive, wandering these very woods. He could be just about anywhere, really. Maybe even right HERE! (whips out hook) Killer Bass: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
 * He is Not My Boyfriend: Courtney to Duncan.
 * Head Pet: Duncan's chameleon in "Top Dog".
 * Heartbreak and Ice Cream: Sierra in "Can't Help Falling in Louvre," after finding out Cody tried to vote her off.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners:
 * Katie and Sadie, Chef and Chris.
 * In season two, Beth and Lindsay fill this role.
 * Owen and Noah in season three.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Each and every villain gets themselves eliminated due to their own faults and vanities.
 * Hollywood Atlas: World Tour, in spades.
 * Hollywood Healing: Played around with. The show relies on Amusing Injuries a lot (see: Tyler), but it also shows some injuries taking a realistic amount of time to heal, most notably Heather's black eye that took about 2 or 3 episodes to disappear. (see Beauty Is Never Tarnished)
 * Hook Hand:
 * In "The Sucky Outdoors", Duncan uses one to scare the Killer Bass at the end of his campfire story.

""O-M-G, Chris! I am just so L-O-L!""
 * In "Hook, Line and, Screamer", the Escaped Psycho Killer with a Chainsaw and a Hook.
 * Hope Spot: The episode Picnic at Hanging Dork is this for Gwen. Also, all the in-universe hype and support for Cody as one of the final 3.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Owen and Izzy (and in two challenges, Heather). B and Dawn.
 * Humiliation Conga:
 * Of course, Heather did have it coming to her...
 * So did rageaholic Eva.
 * As did Justin and Courtney in Action.
 * Blaineley received a pretty nasty one in season three, being thrown from the plane without a parachute, trapping her in a full body cast, only for her to suffer even more when she has to represent "Team Heather" on the final Aftermath. In the finale, she more likely than not died a horrible drowning.
 * Alejandro gets kicked in the balls by Heather, thrown off the volcano, trampled by the rest of the cast, is burned in the lava flow and is revived in the same manner as Darth Vader.
 * Hypocrite: Almost every single character has a Hypocrite moment at some point of the series, but arguably Courtney rates highest in this regard. In the fear challenge, she forces everyone to man up and face their fears to score points for their team, but once her time to face her fear came, she chickened out, costing her team the win. She also talked about playing and winning the game fairly, yet in Action, she forced her way into the game through her lawyers and gave herself numerous perks that gave her an unfair advantage. She also called Owen out on "unfairly getting back into the contest" when she herself did the same thing.
 * I Lied: Chris, when he said that anyone voted off could never come back to the island.
 * Idiot Ball: Leshawna early in Island. Leaving Owen to guard the food alone? Really?
 * I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Heather, of course. Scott fulfills this trope in Revenge of the Island. Being a spoof of a Reality TV program, this is pretty much par for the course.
 * Jo has moments of this, too, but it's more that she has a temper.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Cody in "Dodgebrawl".
 * Improvised Zipline: Used by every member of Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot in order to cross a river filled with piranhas.
 * Alejandro uses his belt.
 * Owen uses his hands, and gets rope burn.
 * Tyler uses his pants, but halfway down the line they end up catching fire.
 * Izzy places Noah in a backpack, wears it, and then slides across using the straps.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun:
 * When reading The History of Canada, Chris says that the North American beaver makes "a dam fine hat."
 * Apparently this joke flew right over the heads of the American censors and the line was changed to "a real fine hat."
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Heather crosses into this territory in World Tour, when it becomes obvious that she'd really like to get on with the backstabbing, but nobody will give her a chance.
 * Inferred Holocaust: In the final episode of TDWT.
 * Informed Ability: Oh boy. One wonders if the writers even read the character biographies at any point.
 * Insufferable Genius: Harold, to an extent. Not so much insufferable, but he easily gets on everyone's nerves with his random facts, and never seems to take a hint as to when to stop.
 * Iron Butt Monkey: Basically every single contestant has suffered multiple incidents of physical damage that should have, by all rights, left them permanently crippled or killed.
 * Irony:
 * In the million dollar case hunt that is "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island", Ezekiel is the first one to notice the case,(though Lindsay and Beth brush him off when he tries to tell them). He was the first to be eliminated in season one.
 * In TDDDDI,
 * Lindsay got eliminated in the season 1 episode That's Off The Chain! for technically being the last to cross the finish line, because some crashed and Izzy and Leshawna didn't race at all. This means that everyone else(except Heather, who won immunity) got one step further in the competition just because they were "wimps". Later in the season 3 episode The EX-Files, Tyler said to Owen, Duncan, and Alejandro "We didn't get this far in the competition just 'cause we're wimps! It's 'cause we always stay one step ahead of the-(game/others)"
 * Everyone who made it to the merge in TDA all rank lower in TDWT, while some(Justin and Beth) do not return to TDWT.
 * Trent, who has musical experience and is even the lead singer of a band, does not compete in the music-centered World Tour.
 * Alejandro, the season's antagonist, eliminates every male contestant (with the sole exception of Ezekiel) in World Tour, even though his charms were to influence women.
 * It Tastes Like Feet: After kissing Duncan in Total Drama Action, Heather disgustedly declares that he "tastes like street!".
 * It's Raining Men: The theme song for Total Drama World Tour features the castmates falling off the Jet, parachuting to the ground and landing safely ...Except Ezekiel.
 * Jerkass: Almost every single character has at least one Jerkass moment during the course of the series, but some just take the entire cake.
 * Chris. He holds very little regard for the contestants (and even less for the interns) and often laughs at their misfortune. The only reason he ever worries that the contestants might die is because the show would be canceled if they did.
 * Duncan, who bullies Harold for no reason and cheated on Courtney with no remorse. In Island it looked like he would receive some Character Development and learn to be a nicer person, but this was abandoned.
 * Heather. She became less of a jerkass in Action... Kinda.
 * While Courtney became more of one.
 * Alejandro, oh God, Alejandro!
 * Blaineley from the World Tour aftermath rivals Chris himself, taking sadistic glee in emotionally torturing Geoff and Bridgette.
 * Scott, who often resorts to destroying his own team to get ahead, showing no remorse for his actions.
 * Jive Turkey: Leshawna, and on some occasions, Ezekiel.
 * Just Friends: Leshawna on her relationship with Harold
 * Karma Houdini: Chris McLean rates highest in this regard, though he eventually gets what's coming to him in "Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown".
 * Kick Chick: Gwen near the end of Hook, Line, and Screamer.
 * Kick the Dog: Almost every character does this at some point.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Gwen and Leshawna to Heather,, Courtney to Gwen and Duncan to Courtney.
 * Killer Rabbit:
 * Yep, the island has one, just ask Bridgette. Also, do not annoy any cute chipmunks or beavers that happen to be hanging around.
 * The pandas and baby seals from World Tour.
 * The attack corgis from I See London are an inversion.
 * Revenge of the Island. Mutated squirrel. Eye lasers!
 * Know Your Vines: Katie and Sadie both squat in poison ivy to pee. Hilarity Ensues.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Happens quite regularly, given the Troperrific nature of the show.
 * Larynx Dissonance: DJ's mom is voiced by the same person who also voices her son and Chef.
 * Laser Hallway: Used in Dial M for Merger. Can't Help Falling In Louvre.'. and Scarlett Fever''
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Every antagonist ends up suffering from this, which always leads to a Humiliation Conga.
 * In Sugar's case, though it doesn't result in her elimination, she decides to push Sky off a cliff to ensure that she won't be eliminated due to scoring last place in the challenge. Unfortunately for her, Sky ends up receiving a free ride to the top from one of the robot crocodiles.
 * Last-Minute Hookup: Leshawna and Harold
 * , although they had considerably more build-up.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler:
 * Advertisements inevitably indicate who the remaining contestants are by showing scenes from upcoming episodes, and promotional material during or after a season finale tends to be rather direct about naming the finalists. The worst example is an ad for the third season that revealed the two finalists of the second...when the second season was still in progress with six contestants remaining.
 * Some TV Guide-esque website posted small paragraphs about each episode. Oh, don't worry, the paragraphs don't reveal anything about the episode they're talking about: just who was eliminated in the last one.
 * Latin Lover: Alejandro, he even says that his Latin blood keeps him hot in the snow.
 * Laxative Prank:
 * Heather does this in the fake finale of the first season. She offers Gwen a laxative-spiked cupcake. Unfortunately for everyone wanting Owen to win, Owen eats the cupcake instead...
 * In the second season, the pizza they all (well, everyone but Leshawna, because "dairy and [her] do not agree.") eat is laced with itching powder and laxatives.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Chris reads the card that tells the audience not to try the stunts in the show because they were performed by animated teens.
 * Leet Lingo - Sierra in World Tour.

"DJ: (to Chef after Duncan's performance makes him cry) You're gonna teach me how to be tough? (snickers) Chef: Tough guys cry!"
 * Left the Background Music On: Harold's keyboard in Get a Clue.
 * Leitmotif:
 * Justin. This also happens to Izzy a few times. (cue the scary dramatic musical score!)
 * Sierra gets creepy horror movie music whenever she has a stalkerish moment, such as when she reveals how much information she has on Cody (obtained by calling members of his family pretending to be a reporter).
 * This music also was heard when Trent talked about his number-nine obssession.
 * Not to mention Alejandro's Latin theme tune.
 * And of course Duncan's blues/punk rock theme (which was surprisingly played for Tyler as well, a couple times in World Tour).
 * Brick has a military drum leitmotif.
 * Lethal Chef:
 * Played with by Chef Hatchet. Though he is actually a competent chef, it's his job to make barely edible slop for the contestants.
 * Also played with by DJ's Momma. She has a seasoning blend that can make any disgusting food palatable; however, when she gets her own cooking show, her cooking is literally lethal.
 * Played straight by some of the contestants. Lindsay accidentally poisons Trent with ill-prepared fugu blowfish in "Who Can You Trust?", while in "Eat, Puke and Be Wary", the final four's (except for Cameron's) dishes are lethal in more ways than one.
 * Limited Wardrobe: The characters wear the same outfit 90% of the time, though they are shown in sleepwear/underwear/swimwear when appropriate.
 * Lisa Needs Braces: Beth. She gets them off before the second season.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters:
 * It's a bit much in the beginning but it gets easier to keep track of the characters since a character gets booted off the show each week.
 * Total Drama World Tour adds two more regulars to the list.
 * The Revenge of the Island cast adds thirteen more regulars to the list.
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Dakota may be one because according to Dawn her desire to be famous is a cry to be loved.
 * Lotus Position:
 * Lindsay and Bridgette in Brunch of Disgustingness.
 * This is practically Dawn's default pose.
 * Loud of War: One episode featured the contestants being tortured in various off-kilter ways, including being forced to listen to new-age music.
 * Love Dodecahedron:
 * The most frustrating subplot of World Tour. Stalker with a Crush Sierra likes Hopeless Suitor Cody, who likes The Snark Knight Gwen, who likes Badass Duncan, who likes Gwen back even though he's been dating Tsundere Courtney for about two years, and once they break up Courtney falls for Badass Spaniard Alejandro, who loves the Alpha Bitch Heather, who likes . Brain hurt, yet?
 * This one actually got started in season one. Cody liked Gwen, who liked and hooked up with Trent, who Heather kissed to make sure he'd be eliminated. Then in season two, Cody left, Trent went insane while Gwen started getting closer to Duncan, and everything went downhill once Courtney came back in the middle of the season...
 * Love Triangle: Several, particularly in season three: Gwen/Duncan/Courtney, Heather/Alejandro/Courtney, Sierra/Cody/Gwen, and possibly Duncan/Gwen/Trent.
 * Zoey/Mike/Anne Maria in Revenge of the Island.
 * Make-Out Kids: Geoff and Bridgette were flanderized into this in Total Drama Action; however, it's downplayed in World Tour.
 * Male Frontal Nudity: Owen, far too often. Also happens to Duncan in "One Million Bucks, B.C." and Lightning in "The Enchanted Franken-Forest". All instances are pixelated.
 * Maniac Monkeys: Mandrills attack the contestants in "African Lying Safari", and DJ gets attacked by some in "The Am-AH-zon Race".
 * Manipulative Bastard: Chris in spades. Heather in Island, Justin, Duncan and Courtney all in Action, Alejandro in World Tour and Scott in Revenge of the Island.
 * Manly Tears

"Gwen: (to Owen) Have you ever had a bad thought about anyone?"
 * Marshmallow Hell:
 * Cody falls into the Statue of Liberty's robe. It was cut out of the US version.
 * Also, he gets this treatment many times by Sierra
 * Mass "Oh Crap": All the contestants get one when their bus starts heading towards a cliff and Team Amazon gets one when.
 * Mean Character, Nice Actor: Thanks to Christian Potenza's series of video interviews of the series' voice cast, we can see that behind the voices of all the Jerkasses and Alpha Bitches populating the show are some of the nicest people in entertainment, particularly Rachel Wilson (Heather), Emilie-Claire Barlow (Courtney), and Drew Nelson (Duncan).
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Noah is a Hebrew name for "restful." Interestingly, Cody can mean "cushion", turning the scene in Action where Noah is sleeping with his head on Cody's lap into an Accidental Pun.
 * Courtney.
 * Heather is probably named after the movie Heathers.
 * "Gwen" means "white" or "fair."
 * Trent? How about Trent Reznor? Brings his obsession with the number 9 into a different perspective, doesn't it?
 * Meat-O-Vision: Owen starts hallucinating that his teammates (and Chris) are food items after he gets injured (and then locked in a safe) in "Ocean's Eight-Or Nine".
 * Messy Pig: In I Triple Dog Dare You! Heather gets cannon blasted into a pigs' mudpile.
 * Mid-Battle Tea Break: The Confession Cam pretty much serves as this. How else do you explain someone being able to make their way back to it when they're located miles away and in the middle of the challenge?
 * Minion with an F In Evil: One of the only reasons you should feel sorry for Heather is that she has to deal with ridiculously naive Lindsay and cheerful farm girl Beth.
 * Misplaced Vegetation: Chef Hatchet asks what those palm trees are doing in Ontario.
 * Modesty Towel:
 * Heather is often found wearing one during Island.
 * Courtney, in "Get a Clue".
 * Lindsay, at the beginning of "Rock n' Rule".
 * Jo, in a confessional in "A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste".
 * Morality Pet: Several:
 * Courtney for Duncan during Island and the first half of Action. Then it's subverted to Hell.
 * Bridgette for Geoff during Total Drama Action Aftermath and Courtney during the entire series.
 * Gwen for Duncan during the entire series.
 * Heather for Alejandro during World Tour.
 * Mouse Trap:
 * Sam demonstrates his Super Reflexes in "Runaway Model" by unbaiting one without setting it off. He ends up setting off half a dozen other traps because he accidentally stepped on the trap he just undone.
 * Scott finds one in Chris' garbage bag after drawing an undesirable objective in "Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon".
 * Mr. Fanservice: Duncan, Trent, Justin, and Alejandro.
 * Ms. Fanservice:
 * Lindsay, who wears a tight tank top and a miniskirt most of the time, and has even dressed up as an admiral and Wonder Woman!
 * Heather, who sports a Modesty Towel in several Shower Scenes and accidentally flashed her boobs during "X-Treme Torture".
 * Izzy, who wears a Stripperiffic outfit, does a seductive dance in "Not Quite Famous", and has accidental nudity shots occasionally.
 * Bridgette, Courtney, Gwen, and Katie also qualify as minor examples.
 * Multiple Endings:
 * While won Total Drama Island,  however won in Norway, Poland, and Romania. In Latin American, both endings were aired.
 * Ditto with in Total Drama Action.
 * Ditto again with in Total Drama World Tour.
 * Ditto again with in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
 * Muppet Cameo: In This is How We Will End it.
 * Must Make Him Laugh: Owen spends the entirety of I See London trying to make Noah laugh, because "Noah's the funniest guy [he] knows" and Owen wants to "top his honor roll!". Ho Yay aside, it's actually rather sweet (especially coming from Owen) and
 * My Friends and Zoidberg: Played straight in the commercial for the finale, basically referring to the final three contestants as
 * Naked People Are Funny: Unfortunately, it's Owen in this case, though most of the other teens get a pixelated nudity shot sooner or later in Action.
 * The Napoleon: Duncan.
 * Near-Death Experience:
 * Lots: Alejandro, Trent falling 5,000 feet from a plane, Cody getting swallowed by a shark (Sierra got him out), Ezekiel , eight contestants being stuck in a Drowning Pit, Izzy and Owen having the plane fall on them, DJ and Gwen almost having an anvil dropped on them, Sierra ...
 * They even had a musical number about this.
 * Never Say "Die": The show defies this trope every which way.
 * Never Trust a Trailer:
 * The third season is still a musical. Good luck determining that from any of the marketing past the original trailer and pamphlet.
 * An ad for the wild west themed episode of Action showed Duncan and Bridgette in a showdown. Not only did this not happen in the episode, but Bridgette had been eliminated by that point, and did not make an appearance.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Courtney in Action.
 * Somewhat Harold, who has a tendency to use random and usually obscure skills during This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman situations.
 * Sierra as well. Her ancestors teachings go from Chris McLean Scholaring to basket-weaving.
 * Izzy can speak camel.
 * Tyler's incredible finger strength.
 * This one is an odd case, because it appeared out of nowhere, was reused in another challenge in a later episode, and then wasn't even REFERENCED when he tried to punch through a metal door.
 * Nice Guy: Geoff (first and third season), Owen, DJ, Trent, Cody, and Cameron. Lindsay, Bridgette, and Zoey are nice girls.

"Sierra: Oui, my friends! Now I'm stuck telling you: If you fall in love with a boy on TV, and then audition to get on his show, and audition again, and finally get on his show, and be nice to him, and do nothing but kiss up, you will still, oui, end up in Paris, oui, feeling despaires, and the boy won't even take you outside!"
 * Nice Hat:
 * Ezekiel's toque and Geoff's cowboy hat.
 * World Tour has a lot of these (depending on the country they visit) like Pickelhaubes in the Alps.
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Mixed with Hypocritical Humor when it comes to Sierra and Cody.
 * "No. Just... No" Reaction: Tyler utters this when seeing the hairstyles Lindsay gives him in Can't Help Falling In Louvre.
 * No OSHA Compliance:
 * Camp Wawanakwa after Chris rents it out as a dumping ground to a "nice, family-oriented" bio-hazardous waste disposal company. It also suffers from "No EPA Compliance" due to the adverse effects of said waste to the local fauna and flora.
 * The abandoned film lot in Action may qualify.
 * Nobody Can Die: Exaggerated. Except when it comes to interns.
 * Non Gameplay Elimination:
 * Two in the second season. One quit and one ejection, though neither are normal.
 * The third season had
 * Revenge of the Island sees
 * Not Good with People: Beth is the first type. Her character bio indicates that she genuinely wants to fit in with people, but only really understands how to deal with farm animals.
 * Not So Different:
 * Never said on the show but reading the character bios at Teletoon and Cartoon Network reveals how similar several characters are. Like Heather and Courtney.
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: The very first challenge involved the campers jumping off a thousand-foot cliff into water below. Just try complaining about any unrealistic injuries after that.
 * Notable Original Music
 * Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Beth's boyfriend, Brady.
 * Obviously Evil: Alejandro.
 * Odd Friendship:
 * Lindsay and Beth in Island and Action, Gwen and Geoff during the end of Island, Owen and Noah, Izzy and Noah, Tyler and Harold in World Tour, Sam and Dakota in Revenge of the Island.
 * Sierra and Cody, in spite of his initial fear of her, after
 * Off-Model: Some of the character heights vary a bit for particular scenes, and that's just the tamer part. Heather has been drawn with her original hair early in Action, when she was supposed to be bald, and Katie was once missing an arm.
 * Oh Crap: Everyone does this at some point or another. If we listed all the examples we would be here all day.
 * Just about every contestant that winds up in the bottom 2 for elimination automatically reverts to this expression. It becomes quite satisfying when this happens to a villain.
 * Older Than They Look: Cody, Beth, Cameron and Dawn.
 * One Steve Limit: Played straight until the 12th episode of Revenge of the Island, where one of the interns is named Josh. Another character named Josh appeared as Blaineley's co-host in Celebrity Manhunt, only appearing in the Action special so far. Considering the series has more than 40 named main and recurring characters, this is rather impressive.
 * One-Letter Name: B. Subverted in Truth or Laser Shark where we find out that it really stands for B.
 * One-Scene Wonder: "Emily" The Flight Attendant from the fourth aftermath of Action is quite popular, often being paired with "Billy" the intern.
 * Only One Name:
 * Everyone except Chris, Chef, Harold, Cody, DJ, Alejandro, and Blaineley.
 * Among the new cast, Brick and Dakota had their last names revealed.
 * B has a one letter name. Well, until we find out it actually stands for B
 * Only Sane Man: Noah throughout the entire series. Gwen and Trent during the first season.
 * Operation: Jealousy: Employed for three episodes in a row in season three..
 * Out of Focus: Eva, Katie, and Sadie are the most egregious examples, as they do not get any attention in Action and World Tour outside of the Aftermaths.
 * Ezekiel, Cody, Noah, and Tyler during Action, but they receive focus and development during World Tour.
 * Inversely, Beth, Justin, and Trent during World Tour after receiving focus and development during Action.
 * Overly Long Gag:
 * A few times with Owen farting.
 * And DJ's running and screaming in "Hook, Line and Screamer."
 * Overly Long Name:
 * Harold Norbert Cheever Doris Mc Grady the Fifth.
 * Team Chris is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot
 * Also Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson.
 * Blaineley Stacey Andrews O'Halloran. (Wow, the producers really have a thing for long names...)
 * The Escaped Psycho Killer With the Chainsaw and the Hook. Also counts as a Running Gag.
 * Total Drama Yum-Yum Happy Go Time Candy Fish Tails. And the challenge: Total Drama Yum Yum Happy Go Time Candy Fish Tails Challenge (of celebration fun)
 * Overly Narrow Superlative: Exaggerated in Sierra's song from World Tour:

"Sierra: "I! WANT! MY! KISS!"/"RESPECT! MY! CODY!" Tyler: "NEVER! LEAVE! A MAN! BEHIND!" Chris: "TOTAL! DRAMA! [ISLAND!/ACTION!/WORLD TOUR!/REVENGE OF THE ISLAND!]""
 * Overprotective Mom: Cameron apparently has one.
 * Paintball Episode: Paintball Deer Hunter
 * Palette Swap:
 * Courtney's wedding dress in "Niagara Brawls" is one for her princess dress from The Princess Pride.
 * Chris' boat in "Newf Kids on the Block" is a green recolor of the Boat of Losers from Island.
 * The cowboy hat Chris wears in "3:10 to Crazytown" is a grey recolor of Geoff's hat.
 * Since there is no standard character design in this show, many Total Drama fan-created original characters are recolors of the main cast.
 * Pandaing to the Audience: the Japan episode of World Tour and the Pandamonium game.
 * Panty Shot:
 * Lindsay in the opening for the first season.
 * In season one's Who Can You Trust?, Heather is able to remove Gwen's skirt completely. They're purple with a skull, in case you're wondering. She also wears stockings.
 * In the episode of Island where Izzy comes back, she scratches her ear with her foot while on all fours.
 * A flat-out blatant shot occurs in the third season episode "Slap Slap Revolution". Sierra tells the audience that she makes a notch on her belt every time Heather tries her "best friend" tactics. She then whips off her belt to show it off, giving a good long shot of her in just her skivvies. Yikes.
 * Pepper Sneeze: In "Beach Blanket Bogus", Trent spills pepper on his breakfast and then tosses it over his shoulder, straight into Heather's face, causing her to sneeze for the rest of the scene.
 * Perverse Sexual Lust: All the characters have these types of fans, but the most vocal are Cody's fangirls and Bridgette's fanboys.
 * Pet the Dog:
 * Heather gets several. Alejandro gets one when he protects Cody from Sierra, and Heather gets one for helping Sierra.
 * Even Chris gets one in "Super Happy Crazy Fun Time In Japan": After Harold's elimination, Chris wishes him luck with no trace of sarcasm.
 * Pink Girl, Blue Boy: In World Tour, the mostly-female Team Amazon has a pink logo while the mostly-male Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot has a blue one.
 * Piranha Problem:
 * At times, Lake Wawanakwa is stocked with piranha. In Revenge of the Island, the piranha are mutated.
 * Chris uses a piranha pit as an obstacle in "That's Off the Chain".
 * The Amazon episode of World Tour featured both Owen and Tyler falling into a river and getting attacked by piranhas.
 * Pixellation: Played straight and (maybe) for laughs when privates are exposed.
 * Portmanteau Couple Name: In-universe examples with "Duncney" (Duncan/Courtney), "Gigette" (Geoff/Bridgette), "Gwuncan" (Gwen/Duncan) and "Coderra"/"Siody" (Sierra/Cody).
 * Positive Discrimination:
 * Surprisingly averted: DJ for example is non-white and is a total coward. Leshawna (who is black) has gone through a lot of emotional and physical pain. Cameron was a bubble boy until shortly before the competition and finds out the hard way that a butterfly was too heavy to rest on his head (though, his character was given a Race Lift in pre-production, so it's unknown if he was always like that.)
 * Played straight in World Tour. Team Amazon, which consists of mostly females (and Cody), won most of the challenges.
 * Pound of Flesh Twist:  falls victim to this in the each ending of World Tour.
 * Power Trio: The show loves this trope. Geoff, DJ and Duncan (season 1), Leshawna, Trent and Gwen (season 1), Heather, Lindsay and Beth (season 1), Heather, Courtney and Gwen (season 3)
 * Precap
 * Pretty Fly for a White Guy:
 * Harold apparently has mad beatboxing and rap skillz.
 * Also, Ezekiel as a wannabe gangsta.
 * "Previously On..."
 * Prop Recycling:
 * The wings that Tyler and Cody used in "Greece's Pieces" turn up again in "Up, Up and Away in My Pitiful Balloon", used by Scott in the flying challenge.
 * In the same episode, the wings Zoey taped onto her swan boat? They're the wings on Gwen's bike from "That's Off the Chain!"
 * Izzy's crown from her second audition tape is worn by Courtney as part of her princess outfit in "The Princess Pride".
 * Properly Paranoid: In World Tour, it turns out that Courtney's and Trent's fears that Duncan and Gwen were becoming more than friends were pretty understandable after all.
 * Psycho for Hire: Chef Hatchet, and in a way Duncan.
 * Punctuated! For! Emphasis!

"Owen: Duncan? Heather: Owen? Duncan: Heather? Heather: Duncan? Gwen: Heather? Heather: Gwen? Owen: Gwen? Gwen: Owen?"
 * Put on a Bus:
 * Izzy and Eva reappeared once the teams were disbanded, though Eva gets kicked off in the exact same episode.
 * This is what will happen to the entire cast when Total Drama Revenge of the Island airs, though it has been confirmed some of them will make cameos. Respectively, Owen, Izzy, Bridgette, Lindsay, Ezekiel, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, and DJ made cameo appearances in TDRI, and all but Owen and Ezekiel were (officially) involved in the episode's challenge, either demonstrating the challenge (Bridgette and Duncan), being a part of the challenge itself (Izzy, Lindsay, Gwen, and DJ),.
 * Putting a Hand Over His Mouth: Sierra does this to Gwen in "The Am-AH-Zon Race".
 * Pyrrhic Victory:
 * Also,  if one uses the alternate ending. The money was used to pay off the damage done to the Mona Lisa in the special, and
 * The Quiet One: Justin only has TWO LINES of dialogue in the first season (not counting TDDDDI), and they were both in the first episode. It didn't help much that he was one of the earlier people to be voted off(Episode 5).
 * Rashomon Style: One of the show's funniest moments is the way DJ retells the mummy-dog incident he had in Egypt.
 * What really happened: DJ pats the mummy dog. It disintegrates.
 * DJ's version: DJ, wearing Harold's tinfoil hat for some reason, pats the mummy dog. It explodes. Then the pyramid explodes too.
 * Read the Fine Print: Chris has all of the campers under contract, and uses the fine print to force them into season 2, dumping heaps of abuse on them without repercussions; no court in any sane world would let such contracts stand.
 * Reality TV Show Mansion: In Chris' new, fake show, "Total Drama Dirtbags." According to Noah, it's entire premise is, "A bunch of jerks live in a huge mansion and get all bored and backstabby."
 * Record Needle Scratch: Used in "The Ex-Files" in the scene with Tyler and the alien.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni:  respectively in the last song of World Tour. It's debatable how well it fits, though.
 * Red Shirt: The interns. One of them got eaten by sharks (presumably), another one got eaten by scarabs, another two got eaten by bears, two more got frozen in a river in the Yukon, another one got attacked by Courtney when he was in a hot air balloon, another one got pushed off a 100-foot diving board by Chef, one had to go through therapy for months after being cursed at by Izzy, and that's not even counting what probably happened to more interns off-screen.
 * Dakota becomes a Mauve Shirt after her elimination and her dad pays Chris a large bribe.
 * Revenge of the Sequel: Subverted in that the title of Season FOUR, rather than Season Two, is subtitled like this with respect to Season One.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: DJ's bunny, the chipmunks, the squirrels, and even the skunks.
 * Ring Ring CRUNCH: The first morning after Brick switches over to the Toxic Rats, his alarm clock wakes the other guys up extremely early and they all try to get rid of or destroy it. Lightning's confessional from the episode even provides the quote for the page.
 * Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Subverted at the end of World Tour. At the beginning of Revenge of the Island, everyone is seen on a yacht, still alive.
 * Rocky Roll Call: In the episode "Are We There Yeti?" the four remaining campers get stuck in a cave after running from Sasquatchanakwa --
 * Rocky Roll Call: In the episode "Are We There Yeti?" the four remaining campers get stuck in a cave after running from Sasquatchanakwa --
 * Rocky Roll Call: In the episode "Are We There Yeti?" the four remaining campers get stuck in a cave after running from Sasquatchanakwa --

"Chris: Okay, that was a shocker. I was shocked, and I knew the answer!"
 * Running Gag:
 * Owen's farting, Chris' vanity and douchebaggery behavior, Lindsay not remembering people's names, Beth's braces removal and fake/real boyfriend in Action, Courtney mentioning her CIT training, Justin taking off his shirt, Harold getting into slapfights with female campers, DJ accidentally injuring animals, Lindsay not understanding the voting process, etc.
 * A one-episode gag in World Tour: 3 times the women go into the confession bathroom, and say something embarrassing involving a love interest, which is immediately followed by an extreme closeup and them exclaiming "I want that tape back! Give me the tape! How do I open this thing?"
 * "This person will be taking the Drop of Shame! ...Or, they would be, (if this wasn't a reward challenge/because they'll stir up drama/because I feel like it!)
 * Sacred First Kiss: Subverted hard with Cody, in his first kiss on the show. He even vomited in the confessional.
 * Sadist Show: Keeps becoming more and more like this. World Tour fully qualifies as one while Revenge of the Island takes it Up to Eleven.
 * Scary Black Man: Chef Hatchet
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections:
 * Courtney has her lawyers get her back on Action in episode 13, and make her immune from being voted off. She also gets the unfair advantage of using her PDA, letting her keep in touch with the outside world, and gains other luxuries such as her own private bathroom (although the luxuries are never mentioned after episode 14, and she's even seen using the communal showers later on).
 * Dakota's rich dad pays Chris a large bribe to let her back on the show. Chris accepts, though he makes Dakota an intern.
 * Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Chris. All the way.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful:
 * In the second season, Justin uses his looks to try to manipulate people, get out of work, and avoid elimination.
 * Lindsay does a minor version of this in the first episode, when she asks Chris if she could have a cabin with an ocean view since she's the prettiest camper.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Zig-zagged; it's played straight is some instances but subverted in others. Duncan in World Tour and Anne Maria in Revenge of the Island play it straight, while Heather in Island and Zoey in Revenge of the Island threaten to walk out on a challenge; however, they were convinced to participate.
 * Scully Box: Cody is actually drawn a couple inches above the ground whenever Sierra uses Marshmallow Hell, to make up for their height differences.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man:
 * Within the Killer Bass, DJ (sensitive), Duncan (manly), and Geoff (sensitive to Duncan, manly to DJ). The DJ/Duncan pairing continues in Action.
 * Within the Mutant Maggots (early on), Cameron (sensitive), Mike (manly), and Brick (sensitive to Mike, manly to Cameron).
 * Thanks to his Split Personality, Mike is both sensitive (his normal self) and manly (Vito and Manitoba Smith).
 * Shaped Like Itself:
 * "They're stranded in Drumheller, where the number one cause of death is being stranded in Drumheller."
 * "Owen, Owen! He's our guy! If he can't do it... uh... He's not our guy!"
 * She's Got Legs: Several female cast members have long legs, making up for more than half of their height. Heather and Katie show theirs off with short shorts, while Izzy shows hers off with her skirt/wrap.
 * Ship Tease:
 * Duncan with Gwen, and to a lesser extent with Heather, and Harold with Heather or Leshawna.
 * Any combination of Gwen, Duncan, Heather, Alejandro, Courtney and Cody in Picnic at Hanging Rock. It's enough to make your head spin.
 * Shock and Awe: The furless mutant squirrel from Revenge of the Island can shoot lightning out of its eyes.
 * Shocking Elimination:
 * in Island, in Action,  in World Tour.
 * Lampshaded by Chris during  elimination:

"Noah: (in complete monotone) Ooh, stalker-licious. Cody: She's like the stalker girlfriend I always wished I had... until I got one!"
 * Shoo Out the Clowns:
 * Short Run in Peru:
 * World Tour episodes premiered first in Australia, and future episodes have been leaked out of Youtube ever since.
 * Again with Revenge of the Island; it premiered in France first, a few weeks before it premiers in Canada.
 * Shout-Out: many, to varied sources. It has its own page.
 * Show Within a Show:
 * Total Drama Island, Total Drama Action, Total Drama World Tour, and Total Drama Revenge of the Island are all reality shows within the Total Drama universe.
 * The Action special also featured a TMZ-equse show called Celebrity Manhunt, which tracked down the contestants once Action ended.
 * Blaineley apparently hosts The Puppy Bachlorette.
 * Sickly Green Glow: Izzy gets one in World Tour after jumping into a radioactive box. She's disappointed there's no radio inside.
 * Single Minded Friends: Katie and Sadie. Trent even points out that they snore together, one breathing in with the other one completing the snore.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Courtney and Duncan, and later Heather and Alejandro.
 * Slapstick
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender
 * Sleep Cute: A few characters in The Big Sleep (naturally), Duncan/Courtney and Bridgette/Geoff in The Sucky Outdoors, Harold/Leshawna and Noah/Cody (along with Duncan/Courtney again) in the Action special Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Reunion.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: More cynical every season.
 * Slippery Swimsuit:
 * In "Haute Camp-Ture", Izzy emerges from the pool having found a bikini bottom. It's hers.
 * Owen also loses his trunks in both the cliff-jumping challenge in Island and the theme song of World Tour.
 * Small Name, Big Ego:
 * Blainely has an extremely high opinion of her host skills which have so far included such achievements as getting fired from one show, getting escorted off set from another after throwing a tantrum and causing $500,000 worth of damage to the Aftermath studio after setting off an animal stampede. To quote Blaineley herself: "What?? Who am I? Who am I?!? Who are you?! I'm the host of the Puppy Bachelorette! I was nominated for a Gemmie award. I interviewed you for Celebrity Manhunt! It's a fact and scientific that I'm still Blainerific!"
 * Courtney.
 * Smarmy Host: Chris, taken to humourously sociopathic levels.
 * Snap Back: Most character's injuries are undone in the transition to the following episode. Exceptions include any case where the character lost their hair, the tooth Heather lost from Leshawna beating her up in "Slap Slap Revolution," which had to be replaced with a golden tooth for the remainder of the season, and, in the transition from the World Tour finale to The Cameo in the Revenge of the Island premiere.
 * Solo Duet: Alejandro with his puppet self in "This Is How We Will End It."
 * Something That Begins With Boring: In Camp Castaways
 * Speaks Fluent Animal:
 * Izzy does this in the second episode of World Tour with a camel. No, really. She even named it Ruby.
 * Dawn in Revenge of the Island.
 * Spit Take:
 * Chris does this to Noah after the latter gives him a cold latté.
 * Heather does one when Chris informs her that she has to battle a Sumo wrestler in "Phobia Factor".
 * Spoiled Sweet: Lindsay, Cody, and Dakota.
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad:
 * Owen, Duncan and Heather are considered the most notorious. In fact, while Owen appeared and spoke in every episode of Island, Heather and Duncan are the only two to appear in every episode of two seasons.
 * Gwen and Courtney are also fairly notorious, particularly because of the Love Triangle between them and Duncan in Action and World Tour.
 * Lindsay and Leshawna also tend to get focused on a lot during the first two seasons, mostly due to their conflicts with Heather and Courtney; however, the two are eliminated from World Tour early on.
 * For a single season only, Beth in Action and Cody, Sierra, and Alejandro in World Tour.
 * Squee: Katie, Sadie, and Sierra are big time squee-queens. Lindsay (and Beth, to a lesser extent) also have some moments.
 * Stab the Salad: Harold does a non-violent variation of this during "Super Happy Crazy Fun Time in Japan". When selecting a someone to vote off he dramatically raises his passport-stamper over his teammates passports and then brings it down... onto a deflated beach ball.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Sierra for most of the cast, but especially Cody. She mentions having called members of his family pretending to be a telemarketer.

"Blaineley: (about the Ezekiel sightings on the plane) What do you think? Real, or fake? Katie: Ghost! Sadie: Aaaah!"
 * Stealth Pun:
 * In the intro to World Tour, Gwen crashes into Duncan and Courtney's boat.
 * Alejandro calls Owen, "Butter donkey". "Butter" is "fat" and "donkey" is "ass". Think about it.
 * Stock Scream: The girl screaming in the slasher film in "Hook, Line, and Screamer". The same scream is used after Dakota falls into the mudpit in "Truth or Laser Shark".
 * Strange Minds Think Alike
 * Stripperiffic: A good chunk of the female cast, but especially Heather and Izzy.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: Owen to Justin.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In World Tour and in Revenge of the Island, some of the new cast members are such to the original cast members:
 * Brick to DJ (both are strong but sensitive guys).
 * Dakota to Lindsay (both are rich, spoiled dumb blondes).
 * Dawn to Bridgette and DJ (all three are nature lovers).
 * Jo to Eva (both are jock-ettes).
 * Alejandro(and later Scott) to Heather (all three are arrogant, manipulative antagonists).
 * Sierra to Katie and Sadie (all three often squeal and are an Abhorrent Admirer to somebody).
 * Sympathetic Adulterer: Duncan and Gwen, depending mostly on your opinion of Courtney or them.
 * Take a Third Option:

""It's our first challenge, how hard can it be? ...Oh sh- (bleep)""
 * Take That:
 * Sierra appears to be a blatant parody of the series fangirls and their original characters they like to pair people like Cody with.
 * Many fans believe that the elimination order in World Tour was a Take That to The Kobold Necromancer and Winter-Rae because all of the first five eliminations were their favorite characters.
 * Talking to Himself:
 * Clé Bennett voices both Chef and DJ, who have more scenes together in Total Drama Action.
 * DJ's momma is also voiced by the same guy.
 * Owen and Trent similarly have a few conversations while being voiced by the same person (Scott McCord).
 * Cody and Tyler, who are both voiced by Peter Oldring, have a couple of conversations in World Tour.
 * Novie Edwards voices Leshawna's cousin Leshaniqua. Likewise, Christian Potenza voices Chris' cousin Jerd McLean.
 * Team Mom: Courtney. Well, she tries to be at least.
 * Team Shot: Each opening ends with a shot of the contestants. See also the page picture, which happened during the first episode.
 * Teens Are Short: Mostly averted, as many of the contestants are the same height, if not taller, than Chris. Also, Blaineley is roughly the same height as the teens. Cameron and Dawn play this straight, however.
 * Temporary Bulk Change: Gwen and Heather during "The Big Sleep".
 * Tempting Fate:
 * DJ in "Not So Happy Campers - Part One":

"Ezekiel: I'm not going anywhere! This game's mine, eh! MINE!"
 * Courtney in "The Sucky Outdoors".
 * That Came Out Wrong: This seems to usually happen to Owen whenever he says something Ambiguously Gay.
 * Theme Tune Cameo:
 * In "Ocean's Eight: or Nine", Chris' car horn plays the "I Wanna be Famous" tune when he drives up.
 * In the "Chinese Fake-Out", it's his ringtone, justified as the show is a Show Within a Show in-universe, so its theme song would be known by Chris. The ringtone shows up again in "Ice, Ice Baby".
 * There Are No Therapists: Seriously.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When Chef Hatchet kills Mr. Coconut at the beginning of Camp Castaways
 * Thermometer Gag: "One Flu Over the Cuckoos" does this. When everyone but Leshawna and Duncan are sick, Duncan attempts to put a rectal thermometer in Harold's mouth.
 * They Plotted a Perfectly Good Waste: The buried alive conflict between Gwen and Trent from season one. It was incredibly flimsy and came up in random times, as Gwen wanted to be in the same boat as Trent by the episode after Trent left her buried alive, but suddenly the entire conflict comes up again three episodes later. And after that the entire thing just dissolves and is never brought up again.
 * Thick Line Animation
 * This Is Gonna Suck
 * Those Two Guys: Noah and Tyler in World Tour.
 * Three Faces of Eve: Heather's Alliance in the first season. Lindsay was the sweet one, Beth was the "wife-like" one and Heather was the seductress.
 * Throw the Dog a Bone:
 * "The Am-AH-zon Race" almost feels like the writers are apologizing to Team Victory, not only giving them the win but giving them the least amount of trouble throughout the hike.
 * After a season and a half of forgetting who he was, Lindsay FINALLY remembered Tyler in "Slap Slap Revolution", and it brought back their relationship.
 * Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Cody and Sierra.
 * Toilet Humour: Owen's main schtick, besides fat jokes.
 * Token Minority: Averted. Six cast members are black (DJ, Chef Hatchet, Leshawna, Cameron, Lightning, and B), one is Asian (Heather), one's Indian (Noah), two Hispanic (Alejandro and Courtney), one's native Hawaiian (Justin) and one's probably interracial (Sierra mentions that her grandparents are German implying at least one white parent).
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: There are several pairings.
 * Within the Killer Bass, Bridgette (tomboy) and Courtney (girly girl).
 * Within the Screaming Gophers and later, the Killer Grips, Beth (tomboy) and Lindsay (girly girl).
 * Within Team Victory: Bridgette (tomboy) and Lindsay (girly girl).
 * Within Team Amazon: Sierra and Gwen (tomboys) to Heather and Courtney (girly girls).
 * Within the Mutant Maggots, Jo (tomboy) and Zoey and Anne Maria (girly girls).
 * Tongue on the Flagpole: Bridgette gets her tongue stuck to a flagpole in "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better" in World Tour.
 * Tonight Someone Kisses
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * Lindsay and Dakota.
 * Parodied in the slasher episode. After learning that they are facing either a serial killer or challenge based around one, the campers immediately start splitting off in groups of one to two to take showers, go to the bathroom, grab a snack, and make out in the woods.
 * Too Quirky to Lose: Owen, who wasn't physically fit, wasn't very smart, and often times was The Load for his cabin, won the first season.
 * Too Soon: The reason Revenge of the Island was postponed. It was originally meant to air in the middle of 2011, but after the Tohoku earthquake and nuclear reactor failure, the creators decided to re-edit the show to tone down or remove a lot of the references to radioactivity. The whole process took enough time to end up pushing the airdates into 2012.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass:
 * Geoff, Justin, Courtney, and to a lesser extent, Leshawna, Owen and Beth in Action.
 * Geoff has now toned down the jerkiness, only for Duncan, Cody and possibly Gwen to have gained a level in it.
 * Trailers Always Spoil:
 * The ad for one late season two episode revealed that . They also shot themselves in the foot by.
 * Subverted hard in the commercials showing before Island went live. They mention that
 * The trailer for Total Drama, the Musical (not called "World Tour" at the time), which was released midway through Total Drama Action, basically spoiled the Action special by giving away the arrival of Alejandro and Sierra, and which of the campers would not be returning.
 * Most of the World Tour previews and trailers have large scale group shots which pretty much confirm which characters make it up to what episode, due to the incredibly obvious backgrounds (pyramids, the Eiffel Tower) most viewers found it extremely easy to deduce exactly which episodes each character is present in.
 * They also told us that Izzy and Sierra would switch teams after the first episode of World Tour. However, In their defense, it was only in the next episode.
 * And also Duncan returning to World Tour despite quitting earlier on.
 * The trailer for the France episode of World Tour included a shot of.
 * Another World Tour trailer (this one) showed off
 * Trent Hates Mimes
 * Troperrific: Obviously, since it's meant to be a lampooning of contemporary reality shows.
 * Truth-Telling Session:
 * Gwen, Duncan and Heather are forced to have one while trapped in a tree house on a deserted island. Unfortunately, the viewer never hears what they have to say.
 * Also seen earlier on in Phobia Factor when the contestants discuss their personal fears.
 * Try Not to Die: Said word-for-word by Chef to the remaining contestants in Are We There Yeti? when he drops them off in the middle of the woods.
 * Tsundere:
 * Courtney, Gwen, Duncan, and possibly Leshawna.
 * Heather, of all people, to Alejandro.
 * When pushed too far, Zoey.
 * Tuck and Cover: When the jet explodes in Awwwwww, Drumheller Alejandro is seen shielding Heather from the blast.
 * Ungrateful Bastard:
 * Cody towards Sierra.
 * In the special, Duncan wrestles an alligator for Courtney to get back the case with the $1,000,000 in it. Seconds later, he sprains his ankle and she runs off with the case.
 * Izzy carries Ezekiel (whom she mistook for a "cool" Egyptian mummy) out of a collapsing pyramid, indirectly allowing him to complete the challenge. His response? He struggles to get away from her and doesn't even acknowledge the rescue, let alone thank her for it.
 * The Un-Reveal: How Duncan landed in Juvie, and some other juicy bits about Heather and Gwen (IF that's her real name).
 * The Un-Smile:
 * Heather does one in World Tour when Sierra invites her for a group hug.
 * Eva does one in the alternate ending of Island after
 * Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Anytime someone tries to get an antagonist voted off. If it's the antagonist organizing the vote, it goes off without a hitch.
 * Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Owen to Trent, with his advice about how to please Gwen. Also Tyler in "Greeces' Pieces"
 * Up to Eleven: According to the creators, one of the main ideas behind the show: to take a bunch of elements from shows like Survivor and Fear Factor and ramp it up to impossible things like jumping off the thousand foot cliff, "because it's animation and we can get away with stuff like that".
 * Urban Legend of Zelda: When Island ended, there were rumors going around that characters other than Owen or Gwen had won in certain countries. The most extreme example would be Ezekiel in certain parts of Asia.
 * Vasquez Always Dies: Hotheaded tomboy Eva is the first girl to be voted off.
 * Verbal Tic:
 * Ezekiel. Yo, he's the only one that talks like a stereotypical Canadian, eh?
 * Staci starts a lot of her statements with "yeah".
 * Lightning tends to add the prefix "SHA-" to several words he says, especially his name.
 * Villain Song:
 * This is How We Will End it.
 * Versus could be considered one for Al and Heather (as she could still be considered one). Also doubles as a "The Villain Sucks" Song to each other.
 * "The Villain Sucks" Song:
 * "Her Real Name Isn't Blaineley." and "Sisters."
 * Villain Sucks Song: Boyfriend kisser, I thought she was my friend, but now it's time to diss her...
 * Versus is rather unique as it's a Villain Song with two villains singing The Villain Sucks Songs about each other.
 * The Voiceless: B.
 * In Action, Ezekiel and Tyler fill in this role because they do not speak at all in the season(not counting CMTDARS).
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot
 * A few Vomit Discretion Shots too.
 * There was also a couple of cases of Vomit Chain Reaction
 * Voted Off the Island
 * We Can Rule Together: Alejandro
 * We Cannot Go on Without You: Several challenges are lost this way, such as Chris refusing Team Chris Is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot from continuing the Amazon challenge while they were missing Owen.
 * We Do Not Use Photoshop In The Present: The photo Alejandro fabricated to make Sierra vote for Heather.
 * We Will Meet Again: Ezekiel delivers one while managing to hang on to the plane after his World Tour elimination.

"Cameron: Goats don't lay eggs. Chris: They also don't breathe fire. Unless they live here."
 * Whale Egg: Mutant fire-breathing goat eggs are part of the challenge in "Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon".


 * Wham! Episode:
 * I See London, in which everything was fairly normal until
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Songs about a person stuck to a pole, stripping down guards (It Makes Sense in Context), shearing sheep, and others never were so awesome.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?:
 * What happened to Brady?
 * What happened to DJ's second pet bunny?
 * In Action:
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?:
 * Duncan gets his pet tarantula sent to him near the end of Action. No amount of Duncan holding and stroking it or genuinely showing affection for it could have protected it.
 * The scarabs were so cute when they were in love (but not very cute when they were eating that nameless intern.)
 * When It Rains, It Pours: Combined with Tempting Fate in the Sucky Outdoors challenge.
 * Who Is Driving??: Happens when Chef decides to join Chris in the main body of the plane during World Tour.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: An episode had the campers face their fears (Snakes was one of them). Some have legitimate fears while others have weird or silly fears.
 * William Telling: Inverted in an episode of Total Drama Island where the contestants have to shoot crabapples from a slingshot in order to knock arrows off their partner's head.
 * With Friends Like These...: In Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better Bridgette gets her tongue frozen stuck to a pole. It doesn't even seem to occur to her close friends Gwen and Courtney to help. Okay, she was on a different team but still, that's pretty cold.
 * The Worf Effect: Team Victory in World Tour. Among their advantages in the competition, they had six people on their team, while the other teams had five, of those six, five of them were in the final 10 in Island and/or Action'' and competed in the first three seasons. Despite this, Team Victory was quickly wiped out in six straight elimination episodes. Four of those eliminations were caused by the new Big Bad Alejandro to quickly establish how much of a threat he was.
 * World Gone Mad: While the universe they exist in is relatively sane, the Total Drama show-verse is very much this. Saner characters like Gwen will occasionally hang a lampshade on how odd and/or psychopathic almost everyone related to the show is.
 * World Limited to the Plot
 * Would Hit a Girl:
 * Duncan explicitly states that he has no issues with fighting a girl.
 * Likewise, Cody attacks Courtney during the World Tour finale,.
 * A more comical version would be Harold, who has had slapfights with both Heather and Courtney in Action and Island respectively.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl:
 * Justin invokes this near the end of the Action episode The Princess Pride when he refuses to swordfight with  ("I would never hurt a lady. I refuse to raise a sword to  I give up any chance at immunity to spare her.") Guess how she responds..
 * Tyler also refused to hit Courtney in "Greece's Pieces". The exact same thing happens.
 * X Meets Y:
 * Drawn Together meets Survivor. (Sort of.)
 * Total Drama World Tour is Amazing Race meets American Idol.
 * Or is that Canadian Idol?
 * Xanatos Roulette:
 * The "Winners Special" which was actually an overcomplicated plot for the Island powers that be (both in and out of universe) to use for the purpose of making the second season.
 * The Action special had elements of this too, especially with the introduction of Sierra and who would actually
 * Both Heather and Alejandro are guilty of plans that would have backfired horribly if not for events beyond their control that they couldn't have anticipated. In particular, Heather's plan in "Search and Do Not Destroy" required her to be randomly awarded invincibility to save her from elimination, and Alejandro's plan in "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better" required Bridgette to stay stuck to the flagpole even after leaving the area to keep her from revealing him to the other contestants.
 * Yandere: Sierra for Cody.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain:
 * You can say that this applies to whoever manages to win the money in the finale, seeing that in the Island special  lost the money and   all to justify them entering the next competition.
 * The World Tour finale [[spoiler:does it in record time to Heather, she doesn't have the money for more than a minute before Ezekiel steals it and falls in the volcano, which then erupts; the episode ends with a giant flaming boulder about to fall on her.
 * In Alejandro's ending, it's even worse. He doesn't even get to touch the money before it's destroyed.]]
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Duncan (green mohawk), Gwen (teal highlights), Sierra (purple hair).
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Heather towards Lindsay in "That's Off the Chain".
 * Chris says that about the original cast in the first episode of Revenge of the Island.
 * Younger Than They Look: DJ, Leshawna, Trent, Alejandro, Sierra, Brick, and Jo.
 * Your Cheating Heart: Gwen and Duncan kissing in a bathroom stall. Also Bridgette and Alejandro in the Yukon.
 * Yuri Fan:
 * Chris is shown to enjoy making Beth dolls kissing each other in the ending of "The Princess Pride".
 * Duncan said that Gwen and Heather's arguing "gave him the warm fuzzies".
 * Chris is shown to enjoy making Beth dolls kissing each other in the ending of "The Princess Pride".
 * Duncan said that Gwen and Heather's arguing "gave him the warm fuzzies".