Despite the Total Drama team making a big deal out of diversity (as if the show wasn't always diverse) and even using the cringe term Latinx, the season didn't draw that much attention to it. That is, except for the gay character's first words literally saying that he's the "first openly gay contestant on Total Drama" which made me roll my eyes. Like aside from that, they didn't mention races or give super special attention to the fact that one contestant had a fake leg.
Still hate the shorter seasons, and this one suffered just like the past few seasons with characters not getting enough time and things like romances being too rushed because they had about half the time to get everything done. The challenges are toned back a bit since All-Stars save for the episode with the literal actual non-robotic raptors chasing them in one challenge. It also happened to be the worst episode because it was a twenty minute long fart joke because everyone had beans for breakfast and had to stop from farting to sneak past them. Even had a really weird scene where one contestant had to hold another one's asscheeks closed so he wouldn't fart. I get it's mostly for kids, but come on...
The contestants overall were okay, I liked them more than the ones from Pahkitew, though that's not much of a compliment. Again, the shorter season meant they never had time to breath and most arcs were rushed on through, though these contestants will all be in the next season, which I only found out after I watched this one. So I guess that's not as bad as Pahkitew's where they're probably gone forever.
In elimination order, the contestants...
Caleb - Hunky sexy guy who everyone, even animals, goes crazy for like Justin and Alejandro. Except the twist here is he's the first to be eliminated and unlike with Revenge of the Island and Pahkitew, it was because he was seen as a threat and not because he was blatant elimination fodder. I guess because the cast will all be back next time, having a character like that just wouldn't work.
Axel - Sort of like Eva and Shawn mixed together where she's a super strong, athletic girl training for the zombie apocalypse. The whole survivalist thing didn't get much focus because of her early elimination, and sort of like Eva her temper got her eliminated by roundhouse kicking the season's worst character off a boat.
Nichelle - A celebrity action movie that turned out not to be as badass as everyone thought because she didn't even do her own stunts. She completely broke down in the first real challenge she had to do on her own and got eliminated, and I'm sure this is opening up for the next season where she'll have trained and be sincerely capable on her own.
Scary Girl - Somehow managed to be my favorite character, probably because none of the others were too interesting. I feel like she's meant to be a parody of Harley Quinn, despite the lack of a real clown theme. But she's a girl in pigtails with a constant smile that loves blood and stuff. Yeah, honestly I think she's my favorite solely because the other characters are just worse and not because she's even actually good. I admit I kind of like it when some characters have vague supernatural elements to them like Izzy or Dawn.
Damien - Had never watched Total Drama and joined as a dare, and is sort of the "normal guy" of the group who had no idea what he was getting into. So, he started freaking out when he saw how malicious Chris was and soon wanted to be kicked off. Then the obvious joke happens where he decided he might as well try for the million only to get voted off as a kind gesture from his team.
MK - Short Asian hacker extraordinaire who was just sort of a sarcastic bitch the entire time. Like she was almost as antagonistic as the actual antagonist by hacking the confessional cam to watch everyone's private moments, stealing their stuff to sell online, and ruining the online reputation of another contestant for pretty much no reason. I'm only saying all this because the show doesn't really acknowledge how awful she was which I found odd.
Raj and Wayne - Two hockey players that are best friends and are pretty much the same character with a single IQ point between them. Only difference is Raj is gay and once the gay romance erupts from nowhere, Wayne's entire personality starts to revolve around the fact Raj didn't tell him he was gay and wanting to be a wholesome supporter of their relationship. Like it's 2023, North America doesn't care if you come out as gay anymore. If anything Wayne had no choice but to be supportive or else his life would basically be ruined. They're also paired together here because they were heavily injured and sent off in the same episode.
Ripper - Season's worst character who just likes to be as obnoxiously mean (like calling everyone nerds and using his teammates as human shields) that wants to hold the record for the longest fart in the world. No, not joking. He really seemed like he was the season's elimination fodder, but made it this far into the season, being as annoying as he could muster the entire time.
Zee - He's basically Geoff but even dumber and more laid back. Typical "totally not a stoner" guy who's nice to everyone and can't hold a thought together for two seconds. I somehow didn't mind him that much, and he's the one with a missing leg, but it's not even a big part of his character which was nice. It's diversity done right because it's just a trait of his, not nearly his entire state of being.
Chase - An online star like the Paul brothers where he lives in a big mansion with his friends and makes the super epic prank videos and shit. Not much else to him except his obsession with getting back with his girlfriend, who's also on the show. Kind of weird they had two pairs of characters that already knew each other before being on the show. There was Katie and Sadie, but I think having so many feels kinda weird.
Emma - Chase's ex-girlfriend who hates him because he cut her brakes on her car and nearly killed her for a prank. He even used the "just a prank, bro" and never apologized. She obsesses over him during the season and because of her own idiotic misunderstanding, she gets back together with him. Dunno why he was so obsessed with getting back with her, she's kinda ugly.
Julia - The antagonist of the season who's an influencer, yes they explicitly call her that, who acts as a totally zen modern hippie who loves everyone and sends positive thoughts. It turns out she's actually a bitch, and this is found out because she goes on a rant insulting a raptor over its looks, which MK records and puts online to ruin her reputation. She's then instantly seen as the villain because she was mean to a dinosaur, but it's made worse by letting her true colors show and just being a cunt for no reason and painting a huge target on her back. The only reason she gets this far is with some lucky immunities. She isn't even clever or manipulative like, say, Heather save for one scene where she says Emma purposefully killed a turtle (which everyone believes for some reason) but otherwise is just a bitch for the sake of it. Her elimination isn't even that big of a deal. She just loses a challenge (via an asspull) and is voted off and she just leaves.
Millie - A wannabe writer that wants to make a book on how stupid her generation is. She becomes incredibly interested in Priya, whose parents trained her from birth to be on Total Drama. She starts to regret secretly using her life to make into book material, especially because she calls Priya and her family a bunch of psychos. She's kind of worthless in challenges, only able to get so far because Priya basically carries her the entire time, which Priya actually gets annoyed with.
Bowie - The "first openly gay" contestant and being gay is most of his character. He's a very stereotypical feminine man who calls himself a queen once or twice and speaks with a lisp and goes all that annoying stuff. He's also sort of an antagonist, plotting behind other contestants' backs and showing Priya Millie's notebook and temporarily destroying their friendship. Despite being a beanpole, he manages to be pretty athletic, even making it to the finale and being one of the season winners.
Priya - Like I said, literally trained from birth to be a Total Drama contestant, so she's one of the most capable members, but still manages to get physically upstaged multiple times. She sees nothing wrong with what her parents did, oddly enough, and I feel like that'll be a plot point in the next season. I wish she had more interactions with characters other than Millie, since the two were basically joined at the hip the entire time, because I actually kinda like her.
Chris and Chef's new voices were pretty hard to get used to. I know why Christian Potenza didn't come back, but why did Clé Bennett leave? Speaking of Chef, he had a character overhaul where he's a lot nicer and doesn't want the kids hurt badly, and he's also almost never wearing his usual outfit. No idea why Chef kept fading as the series went on, and now that he was in every episode with a speaking role, his entire attitude is different. Really weird...
But yeah, the season was just sorta okay. I guess I went in with pretty low expectations, so I was just sort of pleasantly surprised. Been following Total Drama ever since the first season aired, so I can't help but check out everything (except DramaRama) when it comes out, no matter how bad it looks. I hope the next season manages to be better and the franchise gets a sort of resurgence after its main series was on hiatus for so long.
