Characters / Total Drama Lakeside

A page detailing the 16 contestants of Total Drama Lakeside, as well as the hosts and any other miscellaneous characters.

Hosts

Chris McLean

Five years after Total Drama: Superstar Showdown, Chris is burnt out and failing to recapture his former glory. All he has left at this point is Chef, so he's begun resorting to desperate measures to keep his stardom afloat—some working far better than others.

• Alas, Poor Villain: Over the course of the story, he gradually grows more pathetic and is portrayed outright sympathetically in the final few chapters, after realizing Total Drama is finally ending and reflecting on his life as a TV host.
• Berserk Button: Contestants interrupting or disrespecting him; unfortunately, this happens nearly every time he speaks.
• Depraved Kids' Show Host: This time he goes even further than usual, such as openly supplying his underage contestants with alcohol.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chef, obviously, though the "heterosexual" part is appearing more and more ambiguous.
• Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: What Chris is going through this season.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: No matter how pathetic he's become, Chris is still an evil narcissist through and through.
• Totally Radical: While this is how he always talks anyway, he's dialed it up this time around to try and appeal to the youth.
• Villain Decay: This season's contestants don't take him nearly as seriously as most, and almost none are scared or even threatened by him.

Chef Hatchet

Chris's partner, both in crime and potentially in life. Unlike Chris, he's ever-so-slightly chilled out this time around, but is still as sinister as ever.

• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chris, obviously, though the "heterosexual" part is appearing more and more ambiguous.
• Lethal Chef: As usual, he's constantly serving the contestants vile dishes.
• Manly Tears: The Wildcats' play brings him to tears, reminding him of the stories his mother used to tell him, so he awards them the win.
• The Quiet One: He'll usually get in one or two quips per episode...
• Scary Black Man: ...and otherwise just stands there menacingly.
• Servile Snarker: He likes to mutter under his breath whenever Chris makes him do grunt work.

Don

The suave former host of Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race. He and Chris seem to be friends on the surface, but after the Ridonculous Race—Don's pride and joy—was prematurely cancelled, Don would love nothing more than to take over Chris's show for himself.

• The Ace/Good Counterpart: Compared to Chris, at least: he's charismatic, mature, and actually competent in his hosting.
• Guest Host: He hosts both a late-merge chapter, turning it into a Ridonculous Race, and the subsequent losers' special.
• Narcissist: Don thinks very highly of himself, but unlike Chris, he has the skills and charisma to back it up.
• Offscreen Teleportation: During the race challenge, he appears wherever the contestants need to go, often out of nowhere.
• Twinkle Smile: Don constantly flashes these at the camera.

The Artisanal Cheeses

Artemis - The Performance Artist

An homage to the character of the same name from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Artemis is a brassy broad who "lives her life in the world of the theater," but her alleged dramatic performances are bizarre, nonsensical, and often involve the use of drugs.

• A Death in the Limelight: Artemis's most prominent roles are in the 7th and 8th chapters, the latter of which contains her elimination.
• Big Beautiful Woman: She's the curviest of the cast, but she's glamorous.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While she's not a full-fledged villain, Artemis's outward antics mask a crafty and scheming personality.
• The Burlesque of Venus: She performs something to this degree as "advertisement" for her team's convenience stand, with disturbing results.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Most definitely. Very few things she says make sense.
• The Hedonist: Artemis basically does whatever she pleases at any given moment.
• Large Ham: It's impossible to tell when she's doing some sort of performance piece and when she's actually being sincere.
• Lecherous Licking: She licks Christian's face within minutes of arriving in the premiere.
• Shout-Out: As described above, to the character of the same name from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
• Smoke Out: How she sometimes gets around.
• The Stoner: There have been multiple instances of her smoking, and implies she was on stimulants during the first challenge.

Boris - The Basement Dweller

Boris is the average slovenly, reclusive, unemployed 20-something who spends more time watching anime in his basement than socializing. He has a combative attitude and refuses to try and make friends, but does he have hidden depths? Probably not.

• Arch-Nemesis: Seems to view Christian as one, but Christian barely knows he exists.
• Basement-Dweller: Word-for-word as his label.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Well, he considers himself a "nice guy" and tries to court Isabella at the loser lodge, but when she inevitably rejects him, he seems more embarrassed than anything else.
• Fat Bastard: Boris is obese and not particularly friendly.
• Geek Physiques: Take a guess at which one.
• The Load: Since he's extremely out of shape, he does little to help his team in challenges.
• No Social Skills: He's a recluse who spends his every waking moment online and can't seem to talk to anyone without insulting them. Eventually, Roald helps him come out of his shell.
• Otaku: He's a massive anime fan, especially of the catgirl variety.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Talks like this in an attempt to seem smarter than he is.
• Shout-Out: He's a partial nod to Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces.
• Smug Snake: Boris is extremely condescending, which repels his teammates even further.
• Took a Level in Badass: Thanks to rigorous gym training with Roald, Boris learns to use his girth in powerful ways.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Just barely, but it’s there. By the time he gets voted out, he’s actually made a couple friends and is legitimately touched to be considered a threat, and at the loser lodge, he's hanging out with Rhett and Roald, who sincerely enjoy his company.

Frances - The Journalist

The editor-in-chief of her college newspaper, Frances is always looking for a good story. She's generally quiet and introverted, but will gladly spy on her teammates to report something juicy.

• Anti-Hero: She's sneaky, vindictive, passive-aggressive, and most of her attempts at friendship fail miserably, but compared to Erica she's unmistakably the protagonist.
• Birds of a Feather: Shortly after the merge, she realizes how much she has in common with Kelsey and they become friends.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: She functions as this for Suvir for almost the entire game.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's quiet and rather witty.
• Et Tu, Brute?: She makes a final three deal with Graham and Kelsey, but backstabs them by sending Graham home when she realizes she'd lose to them at the end.
• Foil: To Kelsey, illustrated by their similar outfits and positions in the final two. Frances is quiet and observant on the outside but overzealous on the inside, while Kelsey is extroverted and bubbly on the outside but anxious on the inside.
• Genre Savvy: Having done all sorts of research on the show and her fellow contestants, Frances often figures out what's going on behind the scenes.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Frances starts feeling isolated right around the merge after yet another falling-out with Suvir, and tries to branch out socially with mixed results.
• Intrepid Reporter: Frances fancies herself an investigative journalist, so she spends most of her time in the competition looking for stories.
• Odd Friendship: She and Christian shockingly hit it off once he's transferred to the Cheeses.
• The Quiet One: Most of the time. She's a lot more talkative when she's with Suvir or in the confessional.
• Race Lift: Frances’s original design was white, brunette, and heavily resembled Kelsey. She was changed to Latina with darker hair and different clothes for the final story.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: With her alliance partner, Suvir. He's paranoid and anxious, while she's the one helping him calm down and think realistically.
• The Rival: Once the merge hits, she and Erica are constantly at each other's throats.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: She gives one of these to Suvir when he's worried about the results of the skit challenge, but it doesn't end well.
• Tranquil Fury: Frances is absolutely incensed when Rhett causes her notebook to fall into the water, but she speaks in the same calm, quiet tone the entire time.

Kaitlin - The Failed Actress

Kaitlin has dreamed of achieving stardom on the big screen since her youth, but none of those dreams have translated to reality - she's ill-tempered, volatile, and an alcoholic, and has no talent whatsoever. She figures Total Drama is a perfect way to jump-start her TV career.

• The Alcoholic: She's almost always drunk in some capacity.
• Attention Whore: This is what sets her apart from Artemis - Artemis is naturally that odd, while Kaitlin just wants attention.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She's extremely aggressive and can be set off by basically anything.
• Harmless Villain: Although she's universally hated, everyone mostly ignores her, and none of her insults or rampages have any sort of lasting effect.
• Jerkass: She's rude and unpleasant to practically everyone.
• The Klutz: She's very awkward and gangly, though how much of this is real and how much is just her wanting attention is debatable.
• Lady Swearsalot: Kaitlin has the foulest mouth in the whole cast, which is saying something.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The "wacky characters" she creates for the Luncheons & Laggins game and the advertising challenge are incredibly offensive.
• Shout-Out: She's Sweet Dee. Her name comes from Kaitlin Olson.

Rhett - The Country Bumpkin

Rhett is a farmer who lives deep in the bowels of the South. He has many questionable hobbies, ranging from riding horses to cow-tipping to drinking over 20 beers and allegedly chugging gasoline, but he's always up for a good time.

• The Big Guy: He and Roald are "the muscle" of the Artisanal Cheeses.
• Book Dumb: Rhett isn't the brightest bulb, and one line implies he can't even count correctly, but he's an asset to the team in many other ways.
• Deep South: He embodies this part of the country.
• Good Ol' Boy: He also embodies this stereotype.
• Half-Witted Hillbilly: More or less his shtick, although he's got his strengths.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Although he's a moron, he's also genuinely nice and fun-loving.
• Nice Guy: Rhett is cheery, positive, and feels legitimately bad when he ruins Frances's notes, not that it matters.
• Shout-Out: A certain line in his biography references Survivor's Wes Nale, and he bears a slight resemblance to him as well.
• Those Two Guys: He buddies up with Roald early on, and the two partake in keg stands together in the first challenge.

Roald - The Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Roald is the cousin of Puck, from Total Drama Tokyo and Total Drama: Superstar Showdown. The two are very similar, except Roald is a massive fan of sports and claims to be extremely athletic. How true these claims are is yet to be proven.

• Ambiguously Bi: While he has a girlfriend, one can draw this conclusion from his obsession with muscles and the male physique.
• Big Fun: Roald is short, rotund, and always ready to have a good time.
• The Big Guy: He and Rhett are "the muscle" of the Artisanal Cheeses.
• The Ditz: Similar to Rhett, Roald is a moron. He somehow doesn't understand what Graham's play is actually about, regardless of how obvious the signs are, and is consistently shocked when he finds out about similarly obvious things.
• Fun Personified: Even when everyone else is yelling at each other at the fancy restaurant, Roald feels bad and just wants everyone to be happy.
• Inelegant Blubbering: He's very emotional and prone to this, especially when he realizes he accidentally tried to vote out Graham's crush.
• It Runs in the Family: Roald is extremely similar to Puck, from his appearance to his hyperactive nature to his need to make friends with everyone.
• Keet: Roald may be even more hyper and enthusiastic than Puck.
• Large Ham: He has a massive personality, to say the least, and shouts nearly everything he says.
• Lovable Jock: Unlike a certain jock on the Killer Wildcats, Roald is friendly and outgoing, if a little weird.
• Nice Guy: Roald is nothing but kind to all of his teammates, and is the only one who attempts to befriend Boris.
• Odd Friendship: He tries to develop one with Boris by taking him to the gym, and it eventually works out.
• Opposites Attract: Somehow, he and Whitney actually end up getting together.
• Plucky Comic Relief: This is Roald's role on the Artisanal Cheeses.
• Pungeon Master: Not quite as much as his cousin, but he makes a few puns, which naturally horrifies Whitney.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: He and Whitney are all over each other once they start dating, between constantly cuddling, calling each other pet names, and the like.
• Stout Strength: He's very pudgy, and how athletic he actually is is ambiguous, but he's at least strong.
• Those Two Guys: He buddies up with Rhett early on, and the two partake in keg stands together in the first challenge.

Suvir - The Conspiracy Theorist

Suvir is your average conspiracy theorist. He didn't release too many details about his life to the Total Drama staff, as he believes they are a secret organization run by lizard people, so we don't know all that much about him.

• Anti-Hero: Much like Frances, Suvir is one of these, being cowardly and easily angered but clearly morally sound.
• Bollywood Nerd: Despite his strange beliefs, he's pretty smart and technologically savvy.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Most of the things he says and believes are flat-out bizarre.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Of course. For instance, he believes everyone else on the show is Truman Show-ing him.
• Dirty Coward: His main weakness, when it comes to both the world at large and his relationship with Frances.
• Fragile Speedster: He ran track for five years, training him to escape dangerous situations.
• The Insomniac: He’s almost always awake and averages only three hours of sleep a night.
• Just Friends: Although Frances has romantic feelings for him, he only views her as a "buddy."
• Like Father, Like Son: His father Rahul initially seems more mature... until he starts freaking out about imaginary health concerns, just like his son.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: By middle schooler Katharine, thanks to Erica's lies. Naturally, it ends badly.
• Oblivious to Love: He has no idea Frances holds any romantic feelings toward him.
• The Paranoiac: He's freaked out about even the most mundane things.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: With his alliance partner, Frances. He's paranoid and anxious, while she's the one helping him calm down and think realistically.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He leaves in the middle of the first challenge due to "bad juju."
• Tuckerization: Named after a guy the author went to school with. Doubles as a Punny Name as it's a homophone of "severe."

Whitney - The Ice Queen

Whitney is Total Drama: Superstar Showdown winner Wolfgang's older sister. While Wolfgang was a Defrosting Ice King who was much nicer than he let on, Whitney is far different. She's dismissive, haughty, and aloof, and never pretends to be anything other than those things.

• Alpha Bitch: Whitney is an interesting type of one, since she doesn't seem to be fake or snobby, just... cold.
• The Comically Serious: This side of her is especially apparent once she starts dating Roald.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just like her brother, although she may have him beat.
• Early-Bird Cameo/Mythology Gag: She first appeared in Wolfgang's video message from home in the TDSS finale. She was also a contestant in the author's scrapped fanfic from 2012, Survivor: India, although her personality was slightly changed.
• Emotionless Girl: The only emotion she does show is "vague irritation."
• Ice Queen: Naturally, as it's her label.
• It Runs in the Family: She looks similar to her brother Wolfgang, and has a similar fashion sense and snarky personality. However, she's a lot less friendly.
• Opposites Attract: Somehow, she and Roald actually end up getting together.
• The Quiet One: Whitney's lines tend to be very short and infrequent.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: She and Roald are all over each other once they start dating, between constantly cuddling, calling each other pet names, and the like. She does all this with a completely straight face, given her emotionless nature.
• The Stoic: She really doesn't care about any of her teammates' antics, and it shows.

The Killer Wildcats

Christian - The Alpha Prep

Christian is the archetypal frat bro - a simple man with simple tastes. He spends most his days blasting shitty music, throwing parties, hooking up with immense amounts of girls, making freestyle rap videos with his friends, juuling, and sailing his yacht.

• Ambiguously Bi: He frequently mentions "male-on-male bonding," and he makes some questionable comments about Kingsley in a confessional. Later on, his fraternity brother visits and things get a little less ambiguous.
• Break the Haughty: Christian falls for Isabella, asks her out, and is outright rejected. He's also strung along by Erica for most of the post-merge. This forces him to tone down his womanizing and try to bond with the others (see Took a Level in Kindness below).
• The Casanova: He prides himself on being this in his daily life. In the game, Isabella was into him (at first), as were Erica, Artemis, and potentially Kingsley.
• The Chew Toy: Christian is put through the wringer starting with Isabella's boot, and things only get worse from there - he's rejected, manipulated, used, and even beaten up by a 12-year-old.
• Dumb Blonde: He's not particularly smart, at one point mistaking French for German and often spouting malapropisms.
• Fratbro: In fact, the president of his frat.
• Handsome Lech: He hits on almost every girl in the game, and despite his attractiveness, the only one who truly reciprocates is Erica (who's just trying to cheat on her boyfriend).
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: He'll often pull this out after saying something extremely homoerotic.
• The Hedonist: He's mostly devoid of morals, and will gladly help Erica cheat on her boyfriend if it results in him having sex.
• I Am Not My Father: His father, Christian Sr., appears for the finale. Christian is uncharacteristically uncomfortable when he arrives, as he's a depressed womanizer who repeatedly cheats on his wife, and is genuinely angry when Kelsey makes a joke about the two's similarities.
• Jerk Jock: Somewhere between this and Dumb Jock. He is an asshole, but a lot of it is just cluelessness.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Most of his worst moments come from stupidity or horniness, and his eventual interactions with Frances, Suvir, Graham, and Kelsey show he's not that bad a guy.
• Odd Friendship: He and Frances shockingly hit it off once he's transferred to the Cheeses.
• The One Guy: He's the only boy in the final four and really tries to take advantage of this, proposing a foursome almost instantly.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Christian is one of the main sources of humor in the story, especially post-merge.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: He mentions that "Bleach Blaze" is his rapper name.
• Ship Tease: Early on with Isabella, but it's abandoned when she's voted off. He soon tries to develop these with Erica and Kelsey, but when those endeavors also fail, he returns to Isabella and is rebuffed.
• Shirtless Scene: Often takes his shirt off with no warning at all to showcase his abs.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He is incredibly vulgar and punctuates most of his sentences with a "fuck" or "shit."
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the final five, he's exchanging romantic advice with Graham (who he has nothing in common with and had insulted numerous times before) and admits he misses him once he's gone. He also tries to help the three remaining girls with their problems, albeit in his own misguided way.
• Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: At one point, he discusses a past "yacht party" attended by his frat, implied to have turned into an orgy.

Erica - The Former Queen Bee

Erica grew up surrounded by a crowd of Alpha Bitches, who were materialistic, vain, and manipulative. She is now attempting to reinvent herself by trying to be nicer and hanging out with more unconventional people, but old habits die hard...

• Alpha Bitch: Was one in high school and prior to the show. She's trying to turn over a new leaf on Total Drama, but can't quite succeed.
• Asian Rudeness: Erica is Chinese-American and not particularly friendly.
• Attention Whore: She's constantly seeking validation from Christian and the other girls and always tries to come off well in front of the cameras.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She attempts to be this but isn't subtle enough to make it work.
• Evil Is Petty: Erica targeted Isabella because she was jealous of her relationship with Christian. She gets even pettier once the merge hits, targeting Graham and Kelsey solely because they didn't invite her to dinner, and later Frances for even more convoluted reasons.
• Heel Realization: Happens right before her boot. She starts asking everyone else if she's a bad person, and despite coming up with excuses for herself, seems to really take it to heart.
• Hypocrite: One of her most notable traits. She's constantly preaching female empowerment and telling everyone it's just a game, but she has bizarre, spiteful feelings toward all the other women in the game and gets deeply offended any time someone backstabs, targets, or even slightly provokes her.
• Insane Troll Logic: All her excuses to justify her cheating come off as this.
  "Okay, wait, it was only so [Christian would] vote with me, and I did tell Jacob I’d do anything to win the money. So I didn’t actually do anything bad… right?"
• It's All About Me: All of Erica's attempts to befriend and bond with her teammates, even seemingly heartfelt apologies, are only so she can feel better about herself.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Erica is hilariously transparent and rude, but has a sweet side. This changes midway through the story after she cheats with Christian and becomes a lot less sympathetic.
• Manipulative Bastard: Starts out this way, especially with Christian, but she doesn't account for the fact he's Chaotic Stupid.
• Never My Fault: Even when she cheats on her boyfriend with Christian, she still makes multiple leaps in logic to convince herself she's innocent, and later blames it on Frances.
• Obliviously Evil: She tries to justify all her behavior to herself, no matter how ridiculous, and refuses to believe she's anything but a "good person."
• The Rival: Once the merge hits, she and Frances are constantly at each other's throats.
• Took a Level in Kindness: This is her ultimate goal, though it doesn't end up working.
• The Un-Smile: She often attempts to grin widely to demonstrate how sweet she is, but it always comes off as overly calculated and fake.
• Villainous Breakdown: Erica melts down at the final four challenge after realizing what she's done to her boyfriend and the fact everyone hates her.
• Villain with Good Publicity: At first, she does save all her roasting for the confessionals, and is genuine friends with (most of) her teammates. This changes come the merge.

Graham - The Gentleman

^{Click for Graham's appearance beginning in Chapter 10:}

Graham is a peculiar individual who was raised by his grandparents, giving him a sophisticated attitude and a fashion sense like he's in Victorian England. He's a romantic at heart and a talented poet, but he's very shy and wants to expand his horizons on Total Drama.

• All Love Is Unrequited: Whitney doesn't even pretend to reciprocate his crush on her.
• Ambiguously Jewish: He has dark hair and features, is extremely neurotic, hails from the East Coast, his grandmother is a clear caricature of a Jewish Mother, and he was partially based on the (also Jewish) author, but the author frankly never thought about whether or not Graham was a Jew.
• Antiquated Linguistics: This is generally how he talks (at first).
• Becoming the Mask: See Hidden Depths. Well before the show, Graham started dressing and acting like a character he created, Oliver Kilgore, to try and become more confident. Getting closer to Suvir, Frances, and Kelsey finally allows him to shed this persona.
• Cannot Spit It Out: He's horrified at the prospect of telling Kelsey how he feels for this reason.
• The Dandy: His outfit alone should say enough.
• Foil: To Miles. Both are Killer Wildcat boys with unorthodox appearances and fashion sense who are interested in the arts (writing for Graham, music for Miles) and romance, present exaggerated personas of themselves, and struggle with mental illness (anxiety in Graham's case) and loneliness. However, while Miles's struggles are external (to a fault), Graham's are internal, shutting them away and coping by writing poetry. Graham is also aware and ashamed of his flaws, eventually admitting he's pretending to be someone he's not and becoming honest about his true self, and tempers his anxiety and loneliness by making friends and genuinely falling in love with Kelsey. Meanwhile, Miles is stuck in a slump and doesn't seem interested in escaping it, quits the game once Jackie appears, and his vicious cycle continues at the loser lodge with Rachel and Isabella.
• Graceful Loser: Once he finally gets voted out at the final five, thanks to Frances flipping, he's at peace, admitting he doesn't care about the money nearly as much as the fact he got to meet Kelsey.
• Hidden Depths: His fashion sense, vocabulary, and general behavior aren't because of his grandparents. It's actually all modeled after a character he created, Oliver Kilgore, an idealized romantic hero who's everything the actual Graham isn't. He reveals this to Suvir and later Kelsey, admitting Oliver was a coping mechanism to try and become more confident, and abandons the persona with a subsequent makeover.
• Hopeless Suitor: To Whitney for the first seven chapters. He finally breaks out of it after the skit challenge doesn't go quite as planned.
• Important Haircut: Graham shaves off his mustache at the end of the sixth chapter to try and win over Whitney once and for all.
• In Love with Love: He's an avid poet, loves reading romance novels, and gushes over Miles's old relationship.
• Nervous Wreck: He's very neurotic, especially when it comes to romance and making friends. He and Kelsey end up bonding over their mutual anxieties.
• Nice Guy: He's genuinely kind, even if his appearance and mannerisms put some of his teammates off.
• No Poker Face: He's often tasked with keeping Rachel and Miles's secrets, but instantly turns red and spills the truth whenever someone confronts him, making him a very Bad Liar.
• Raised by Grandparents: Which explains his strange demeanor... or does it?
• Relationship Upgrade: He and Kelsey finally make their romance official right before he's voted off.
• Serial Romeo: He spends the pre-merge in love with Whitney, but later gives up, then instantly falls for his close friend Kelsey.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Came to Total Drama wearing a full suit.
• Shout-Out: Graham's design is based on Animal Crossing's Beardo.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: His obsession with Whitney exhibits this. Chris even quips that Graham doesn't realize he's on Total Drama instead of a romantic comedy.

Isabella - The Local

Isabella is extremely friendly and outgoing, but lacks any sort of substance. She loves binge-watching Webflicks, posting all sorts of heavily filtered photos onto social media, avoiding emotional intimacy, and of course, hanging out with her girl gang.

• Accidental Misnaming: She calls Christian "Carson" at one point, which he's not happy about.
• Brainless Beauty: In a sense. She's not extremely stupid, but very basic.
• The Bus Came Back: While Kaitlin is in prison, Isabella temporarily comes back from the loser lodge to give Christian a partner for the Ridonculous Race challenge.
• Camera Fiend/Phoneaholic Teenager: Isabella loves taking scenic landscape photos as well as selfies, and pops out her phone to take a selfie with her teammates even after being voted off.
• Dreadful Musician: Her karaoke to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" doesn't end well.
• Genki Girl: Isabella is very upbeat and cheerful, which aggravates some of her crankier teammates.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: For her faults, Isabella is extremely sweet and overall means well.
• Kill the Cutie: She's the first contestant voted off, mostly thanks to Erica being petty.
• Ship Tease: Early on with Christian, but she abandons it for a number of reasons. Later, she gets some with Miles of all people.
• Valley Girl: A rare Canadian version.

Kelsey - The Go-Getter

Kelsey is extremely smart, driven, and charismatic, and has spent most of her high school and college career swallowed by extracurriculars. She basically runs like a machine, but she's a lot less stable than she appears - on the inside, she's breaking down from all the stress.

• Brainy Brunette: Kelsey has curly brown hair and is one of the smartest contestants on the show, attending an elite university.
• Broken Ace: In spades. Although she's extremely accomplished, she has low self-esteem and is constantly stressed.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's very witty, which comes with being as smart as she is.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Go-Getter Girl and The Ace. While she's extremely motivated and has achieved all sorts of academic and interpersonal success, Kelsey is perpetually high-strung and stressed, has an inferiority complex, and bases all her decisions on if they'll help her succeed or please her mother.
• Extracurricular Enthusiast: According to her bio, she was on the high school debate team, played volleyball, ran cross country, and learned French, and in college she has gone to China, interned in DC, done a 34-hour dance marathon, and is doing philanthropic fundraisers.
• Foil: To Frances, illustrated by their similar outfits and positions in the final two. Kelsey is extroverted and bubbly on the outside but anxious on the inside, while Frances is quiet and observant on the outside but overzealous on the inside.
• Go-Getter Girl: Just look at her label.
• Good Counterpart: Of Courtney from the canon series. Kelsey is similarly overachieving if far more friendly and less aggressive, but she comes with her own issues.
• Hidden Depths: Kelsey is an Art History major and loves the arts and culture, and all her extracurriculars are just to build up her resume.
  • Furthermore, her mother reveals to Graham that Kelsey used to write poetry (in French!).
• Motor Mouth: Whenever she's in an anxious spiral, she'll overshare at length to anyone who's around.
• Nervous Wreck: Her true personality, which she lets out in the confessional (at first) and everywhere else (later on).
• Oblivious to Love: For a while, due to everything else on her mind, Kelsey has zero clue that her close friend Graham is in love with her.
• Only Sane Woman: Played with - she tries to set herself up as this compared to her far weirder teammates, and it seems to work... but only publicly.
• The Perfectionist: To a fault, which is where her weakness lies.
• Relationship Upgrade: She and Graham finally make their romance official right before Graham is voted off.
• Ridiculous Procrastinator: Due to her fear of failure. Toward the end of the game, she admits she hasn't started any of the projects she's stressed about the whole time. She's very self-conscious about it.
• Sanity Slippage: Kelsey has a rough time in the canoe challenge after the Wildcats' second loss, spending most of it word vomiting incoherently at Christian and having breakdowns in the confessional.
• Self-Deprecation: All the time, though it's unknown how much is just her sense of humor and how much is actual insecurities.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She often calls future boyfriend Graham "sweet boy," and seems to appreciate his kindness—while rejecting the advances of the libertine Christian.
• Stepford Smiler: She's very anxious, but covers it up with humor and leadership.
• Verbal Backspace: Kelsey is extremely prone to this, especially when she accidentally lets something overly personal slip.
• Vocal Dissonance: She is described as having a "surprisingly deep" voice.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: During the loved ones' challenge, Kelsey admits in the confessional that the goal of all her academic overachieving is to make her mom happy.

Kingsley - The Social Media Mogul

Kingsley is an avid MyCircle user who spends most of his time vlogging, tweeting, and listening to pop music. He's a very outgoing person who plans to showcase his fierce personality on the big screen and scheme his way to the end.

• Camp Gay: In spades.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's definitely sarcastic, perhaps to a fault.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Christian has made some choice comments about him, both to his face and in private.
• The Fashionista: He runs a weekly style vlog, and later spends an entire confessional roasting Isabella for her alleged lack of fashion sense.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Kingsley is voted out in the third episode because of his master plan to take out Christian, and subsequent overstrategizing with Erica, putting a target on his back.
• Shout-Out: He was designed after a YouTuber of the same name (in name and appearance only, since the author knew very little about the real Kingsley's YouTube content).
• Small Name, Big Ego: Kingsley is very egocentric, especially seen right before his boot.
• Smug Snake: Kingsley gets very, very cocky when he thinks he's about to take Christian out.

Miles - The Angsty Musician

Miles was once an up-and-coming musician... until his girlfriend cheated on him. Nowadays, he's much more reclusive, and has dramatically changed his entire appearance, personality, and worldview. He spends most of his time pining over his ex, and his friends signed him up for Total Drama because they were worried about him.

• Cigarette of Anxiety: He constantly vapes and smokes as a coping mechanism.
• The Eeyore: So much so that it seems he actively likes being sad.
• Emo Teen: Became one after his breakup.
• Excessive Mourning: Two years after the breakup, Miles is still so obsessed with Jackie that even the smallest, most insignificant things (such as Kelsey merely smiling at him) remind him of her.
• Foil: To Graham. Both are Killer Wildcat boys with unorthodox appearances and fashion sense who are interested in the arts (writing for Graham, music for Miles) and romance, present exaggerated personas of themselves, and struggle with mental illness (depression in Miles's case) and loneliness. However, Graham's struggles are internal (to a fault) while Miles's are external, constantly oversharing about his sadness. Graham is also aware and ashamed of his flaws, eventually admitting he's pretending to be someone he's not and becoming honest about his true self, and tempers his anxiety and loneliness by making friends and genuinely falling in love with Kelsey. Meanwhile, Miles is stuck in a slump and doesn't seem interested in escaping it, quits the game once Jackie appears, and his vicious cycle continues at the loser lodge with Rachel and Isabella.
• The Mourning After: He's still madly in love with his ex, Jackie, brings her up in every conversation he can, and all the girls on his team do nothing but remind him of her.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Miles quits at the end of the seventh episode after Jackie and her new boyfriend show up, but not for the reasons one may expect.
• The Quiet One: He doesn't talk much, and when he does it's usually a mutter.
• Reclusive Artist: In-universe, when arriving at the loser lodge, he locks himself in his room and stays there for days on end to write music.
• Ship Tease: With Rachel - however, it's short-lived since she makes it clear she's not into him romantically. He later gets some with Isabella of all people at the loser lodge.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: He finally gets over Jackie after gaining closure with her at the skit challenge, and quits in honor of a new beginning. Of course, then he falls for Rachel and Isabella at the loser lodge.
• Wangst: Invoked with his dialogue, to the degree of parody.

Rachel - The Free Spirit

Rachel is an artistic, breezy individual who is deeply involved in art, poetry, and astrology, and spends lots of her time frolicking in the woods. She's very passionate and extroverted, and joined the show to experience more of earth's wonders.

• Cloud Cuckoolander: Rachel is a little spacey and often goes on random tangents about nature.
• Companion Cube: She finds a bird's egg in the second challenge, builds a home for it, and nicknames it "Eggsabella."
• Composite Character: She's essentially a combo of Izzy and Bridgette.
• Granola Girl: The first character of this archetype in the series. She's into astrology, art, and nature and contains all the breezy passion one would expect.
• In Harmony with Nature: She loves flowers, animals, and the lakeside setting in general.
• Nice Girl: She's one of the friendliest people in the cast and gets along with nearly everyone.
• Odd Friendship: She buddies up with Erica and Kelsey, and later Miles, who she couldn't be more different from.
• Ship Tease: With Miles - it's short-lived, however, since she makes it clear she's not into him romantically.

Other Characters

Jackie

Miles's ex-girlfriend who he frequently mentions. The two were madly in love until she suddenly cheated on him, ending the relationship and turning him into an empty shell.

• Alpha Bitch: Miles's descriptions make her seem like this, but when she actually appears, she's shown to be slightly cold and indifferent at worst.
• The Ghost: For the first six chapters, Jackie is regularly mentioned by Miles but never actually seen.
  • Unseen No More: She finally shows up, with a new boyfriend and everything, at the end of the seventh chapter.
• Shout-Out: She's named after a character who appears in multiple New Pornographers songs of Dan Bejar's. Of course, her new boyfriend "Daniel" is a nod to Bejar himself.
• The Stoic: Once she shows up to the lakeside, she seems completely unamused by everything, even Miles's declaration of love.
• Visual Pun: She wears a shirt depicting two parallel cobras. She's literally "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras."

Loved Ones

Just like in the previous season, once the merge hits, the remaining contestants are visited by their friends, family members, significant others, et cetera.

• The Bus Came Back: Wolfgang and Puck return for the first time since TDSS, visiting their sister and cousin respectively. Both are at their best, between Puck's usual puns and enthusiasm and Wolfgang's snark.
• Doting Parent: Susan, Kelsey's mother, to a ridiculous extent - which makes Kelsey's inferiority complex even more inexplicable.
• Empty Nest: Susan has taken Kelsey's departure hard, and her husband has apparently taken up quilting.
• Jewish Mother: Ursula, Graham's grandmother, is a clear caricature of this character type.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Christian and his fraternity brother Blake, so much so that the "heterosexual" part seems ambiguous.
• Like Father, Like Son: Suvir's father Rahul is just as high-strung and paranoid as him, although he hides it better.
• Mama Bear: Susan tries her best to be one of these when she finds out Kelsey is being targeted.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Frances's twin sister Alyssa is extroverted, talkative, and athletic.
• Refuge in Audacity: The entire main cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia shows up, and the results are exactly what one would expect.
• So Proud of You: Susan gives Kelsey this response when she feels bad about how she's been "slacking."
• Understanding Boyfriend: Jacob, Erica's boyfriend - perhaps too understanding (and oblivious).

The Kids

Appearing in the 11th chapter, "Super Lakeside Odyssey," these seven students are taught by Chris's niece, Christine McLean, and get paired off with the final seven contestants for a... rather unique challenge.

• Bratty Half-Pint: Oswald fits the bill.
• Dirty Kid: Practically all of them, but Rylan first and foremost.
• Children Are Innocent: SUBVERTED. Although they're technically adolescents, nearly all seven of them have extremely foul mouths and even fouler attitudes.
• Ice Queen: Katharine, who's essentially a prepubescent version of Whitney and tunes out Suvir completely.
• Kidanova: Matt. Erica is outright interested in him, calling him the most attractive 14-year-old she's ever seen.
• Mouthy Kid: Both Allie and Rylan, who are obnoxious but extremely willing to help Graham and Kelsey get together.
• The Napoleon: Oswald is apparently only four feet tall, "shaped like an egg," and extremely aggressive.
• Precocious Crush: Allie has myriad "fake boyfriends" who she claims she's mentally dating, all of whom are full-grown men.
• Spoiled Brat: It's implied Katharine is one: she tells Erica her sweater was $350 (plus tax), and her mother bought it for her after she got a B+ on a test.