Characters / Total Drama Tiki Jungle

Teams

The Terrible Tikis

• Butt-Monkey
• Dwindling Party: By the merge, they're reduced to only three contestants. Needless to say, they live up to their name.

Over Nine Thousand

• A House Divided: None of the contestants on this team really like each other and they all spend most of their time arguing, but they still somehow manage to win five challenges in a row.
• Springtime for Hitler: The team eventually gets so tired of winning and not voting anyone off that Chris outright states he's rigging the challenges so that Over Nine Thousand will lose, and they begin putting in minimal effort. Of course, they continue to win.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: What helps them win all of said challenges.

The Returnees

Carson - The Joker

"Dude, we have four people on our team. We can't possibly win."

Carson is a fairly average fellow who won Total Drama School. His laid-back personality allowed him to coast through the game, as did his on-and-off relationship with Alpha Bitch Amanda.

• The Generic Guy: His lack of personality is even more apparent next to this story's more explosive characters.
• Demoted to Extra: After winning the prior season, he leaves early and gets very little focus this time around.
• Straight Man: Plays this role on the Terrible Tikis.

Sharissa - The Psycho

"I'm teaching my baby brother to act more like me. He already knows 57-and-a-half swear words, he just put on his first makeup yesterday, and I went outside a week ago and saw him stabbing ants with a stick."

Sharissa is the cousin of Izzy from Total Drama Island, but she somehow manages to be even more bizarre. She was School's runner-up, known for her bizarre crush on Alex, her violent and hyperactive nature, and her tendency to appear and disappear at random.

• Ax-Crazy: This is Sharissa at her worst, though it's not as pronounced this season due to her being much less major.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Sharissa is a bit... off.
• Composite Character: Sharissa was meant to be a mixture of Izzy and Sierra from the canon series. She shares her off-beat nature and family blood with Izzy, and similar to Sierra, she's incredibly tall, has long purple hair, and has an obsessive crush on a docile brown-haired boy.
• Demoted to Extra: Similar to Carson, Amanda, and Alex, Sharissa takes a backseat this season in favor of the new characters.
• Genki Girl: Just like her cousin, she's got a lot of energy.
• It Runs in the Family: She has many of the same quirks as her alleged cousin Izzy (as well as Roz, her other cousin from Total Drama Tokyo).
• Stalker with a Crush: To Alex, much to his chagrin (but occasional pleasure).
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Alex, once again. She's at least a foot taller than him.

Amanda - The Hot Antagonist

"I'm not your baby. I'm wet because that psycho sank my darn boat."

Amanda is... the antagonist. Or at least she was during School, where she manipulated numerous contestants including Carson and Extreme Doormat Veronica, and somehow slid to the final three despite everyone hating her.

• Alpha Bitch: She's a rather by-the-book example of one.
• Arch-Enemy: Meg is hers, thanks to a Noodle Incident in grade school.
• Demoted to Extra: Voted out in the third episode after making it to third place in the previous season.
• Hated by All: Literally everyone hates Amanda and doesn't even bother hiding it, even her boyfriend at certain points. This leads to her being voted off at her team's first elimination ceremony.
• Villain Decay: After serving as the main antagonist of School, this season Amanda becomes a laughingstock and is booted second.

Alex - The Lazy Bum

"Yippee, more physical work. Carry me, somebody."

Alex is a small, chill guy who is averse to physical work. Despite this, he managed to make it to 4th place in School, and developed an adversarial but romantic relationship with Sharissa along the way.

• Deadpan Snarker: Not as pronounced as others, but he can be snarky.
• Demoted to Extra: After making it to the final four in School, he's possibly the most minor character of the whole story this time around - he doesn't actually show up until the second chapter, and is voted out in the fourth.
• Lazy Bum: His label. He's impressively lethargic, and spends most of the challenges sleeping.
• The Load: His lazy nature really doesn't do much to help out his team, and it's why he ends up eliminated early.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Sharissa, he's often found on her shoulders.

Meg - The Female Jock

"Sorry, Gary. But I have a boyfriend back home, and he really doesn't like it when I hug other guys."

Meg, a kind-hearted cross country star, placed 5th in School. During her time in the game, she became the unofficial leader of her team, the Killer Apples, and was the recipient of a massive crush courtesy of Gary.

• Action Girl: Thanks to her athletic skills.
• Deadpan Snarker: Meg's snarky side emerges this season after she's irritated enough by some of her teammates.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Meg has light blonde hair and is probably the friendliest contestant on the cast.
• Just Friends: Although she has no romantic interest in Gary, she's happy to be his friend.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Subverted - she's not quite Demoted to Extra, but she's voted off at the end of the pre-merge after being on the path to make it far again.
• Nice Girl: What eventually causes her to be viewed as a threat and voted off.
• Only Sane Woman: Adopts this role on Over Nine Thousand, and it doesn't get her anywhere, really.
• Passionate Sports Girl: She's the captain of her cross country team, and her personality fits the bill.

Gary - The Internerd

"I know a good book. It's called Dragon Ball X: The Manga: Volume 31. It's the volume where Vegeta says—"

The series' first Breakout Character, Gary came in 6th place in School thanks to his bromances with Devin and Carson and his massive crush on Meg. He's a big fan of referencing outdated Internet memes, especially those of the Dragon Ball Z variety.

• All Love Is Unrequited: Harbors a massive, unrequited crush on Meg that she's well aware of but won't reciprocate.
• Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: He has a massive set of braces that take up practically his whole mouth.
• Catchphrase: "It's over 9000!"... which he actually names his team.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Meg, and he somehow gets even less action from her this time around.
• Gag Nose: It takes up around half his face and covers the top half of his mouth.
• Geek Physiques: Of the "shrimpy nerdling" variety.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Gary makes it one place further than he did the season before.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Just like in School, but this time he has to compete with some of the newbies.
• Stereotypical Nerd: He was drawn to look as nerdy as possible, with oversized glasses, braces, a big nose, and spiky hair, and his personality fits the bill just as much.

Devin - The Jive Turkey

"Yo, yo, yo, home dawgy dawgs! Th' Dev-meister's back in th' house! An' today, I's gon' win dis thang!"

Similar to Gary, Devin is shrimpy, white, and nerdy, but unlike Gary, his lifelong dream is to be a "gangsta." He's fond of sagging his pants, talking in a near-unintelligible jargon, and rapping (badly). Although he was originally voted out second in School, he returned at the merge and made it to 7th.

• Expy: Of Total Drama World Tour-era Ezekiel, albeit with much less intelligible speech patterns.
• He Knows Too Much: This is why he's eliminated: he's in the confessional at the same time Trey confesses his true intentions, and Trey catches wind of this and rigs the votes to ensure Devin leaves.
• Jive Turkey: Word-for-word in his label.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Although he placed higher in School, he really only competed in four episodes due to returning - this time around, he makes the merge naturally.
• Piss-Take Rap: Busts out one of these for the music challenge.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Full stop, but sadly, the other contestants don't feel the same.

Helga - The Bookworm

"If you vote me out, you will be destroyed emotionally."

A relatively minor contestant in School who didn't do much besides read, Helga was voted out right before the merge. Her return may seem questionable at first... however, as a result of her early elimination, she has become incredibly bitter and acid-tongued.

• Abnormal Ammo: She has a tendency to throw books at people she doesn't like.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Forms this trio with Chrissy and Julia at the merge.
• Bookworm: Helga is seen reading a different book every chapter, usually with a Bland-Name Product or Lawyer-Friendly Cameo title.
• Cassandra Truth: She's the first to notice that there's something "shady" about Trey, but everyone else shrugs it off.
• Deadpan Snarker: Between seasons, she blossoms into the biggest one in the series.
• Dumb Blonde: Subverted. Helga's possibly the smartest contestant there, and is one of the only blondes.
• Good Is Not Nice: Helga isn't friendly in the slightest, but she's certainly not a villain and finds herself aligned with the "good" characters.
• The Load: She contributes very little to challenges and often sits out, choosing to read and snark from the sidelines instead.
• My Greatest Second Chance: She goes from an irrelevant pre-merge boot to the 6th placer and one of the season's biggest Breakout Characters.
• Non-Action Snarker: See The Load.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Thanks to her early elimination and poor treatment in School, Helga has transformed from a shy, book-loving sweetheart to a caustic, grumpy load.

The Newbies

Arthur - The Loudmouth

"I'm morbidly obeeeese!"

"My peanuts are loooose!"

Arthur is an overweight, loud, and crass individual who seems to love nothing more than annoying others and spouting out non sequiturs. Unbeknownst to him, his classmate Julia (who despises him) is also competing.

• Ambiguously Brown: He's confirmed biracial thanks to Word of God.
• Catchphrase: He has two, seen above, both of which he repeats incessantly.
• Companion Cube: Arthur has a "friend" named Vance, who's a single piece of toilet paper covered in a suspicious yellow liquid and topped with a raisin and a single long, stringy hair. Apparently, he can talk.
• Establishing Character Moment: Arthur's first line in the story is "I'm morbidly obeeeese!". Then, his mere existence works Julia into a rage, and he decides to keep provoking her.
• Fat Bastard: "Morbidly obeeeese," as he puts it, and an obnoxious troll. Overlaps with Fat Comic Relief as he's certainly a funny character, but for different reasons than the usual examples.
• The Gadfly: His whole character revolves around deliberately trying to be as irritating as possible, especially toward Julia (and later Trey).
• Geek Physiques: Opposite to Gary, he's of the obese, slovenly kind.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Julia. He's not significantly taller than her, but much wider.
• Large Ham: Arthur always likes to ham it up, especially when he should be participating in challenges.
• The Load: At best, he's this to his team.
• The Millstone: This is Arthur at his worst. Especially showcased in the treasure hunt challenge, where the entire chapter is just him annoying his teammates to oblivion but somehow not getting voted off for it.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Arthur and his odd mannerisms are the main focus of many of the jokes and scenes in the story.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Julia, when they're (unsurprisingly) paired up for the wedding challenge and end up winning.

Chrissy - The Tough Girl

"You know, my knife didn't disappear."

Chrissy is an aggressive, tattooed girl who lives in the big city and enjoys loud music and motorcycles. Despite her intimidating appearance and gruff personality, deep down she has a heart of gold.

• Action Girl: She rides a motorcycle, wields a knife, and is great at the challenges.
• Amazonian Beauty: Despite (or perhaps because of) her intimidating, muscular frame, the guys view her as the hottest girl there.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Forms this trio with Helga and Julia at the merge.
• Deadpan Snarker: Second only to Helga.
• Distaff Counterpart: She was partially envisioned as a female version of Duncan.
• Gender-Blender Name: Halfway through the story, her real name is revealed to be Christian.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Not quite as terrible as Julia, but Chrissy can go from chill to angry pretty easily.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Her bangs cover half of her left eye to signify her tough, aloof personality.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may come off as tough and apathetic, but by the end of the story it's clear she's a genuinely nice person.
• One-Steve Limit: Introduces herself as "Chris" to the other contestants, but the host - Chris McLean - stops her right there and begins referring to her as Chrissy.
• Tomboy: She's into lots of stereotypically masculine things.

Elena - The Flirt

"Hi, Chris! You're so cute."

Elena is introduced as a gorgeous, kind girl who adores boys, even going as far as to flirt with the host himself. Although initially getting along with her team and becoming a leader, it's gradually revealed that she's not nearly as cutesy and friendly as she seems.

• Alpha Bitch: What she ends up as.
• Birds of a Feather: With Trey - both are attractive, cool individuals who disguise their true evil personalities, which is why they end up hooking up at Playa Des Tikis.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Certainly, though not to the extent of Trey, since her bitchy side is subtly there from the beginning.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Elena was based on a girl the author had a crush on at the time he started the story (8th grade). As this was middle school, the romance was short-lived, and when Elena's inspiration Took a Level in Jerkass, so did the character, explaining her abrupt elimination.
• Shocking Elimination: Justified, as she was originally planned to win.
• The Tease: Is initially presented as this, but ends up as more of The Vamp.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Come her boot episode, she's explicitly rude and bossy to her teammates and openly antagonizes Nic. After she's eliminated, she hooks up with Big Bad Trey.

Julia - The Short Girl

"Little girl? LITTLE GIRL?!? I am not a friggin' little girl! I am sixteen-and-a-half years old, and I'm four feet and eleven inches!"

Julia is a tiny redhead who's constantly angry and can be set off by the slightest thing. Having to deal with atrocious teammates as well as her long-time arch-nemesis, Arthur, just makes her time on the show even more eventful.

• Arch-Enemy: Does he even need to be named?
• Berserk Button: The one thing that makes Julia go from pissed to REALLY pissed is Arthur.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Forms this trio with Helga and Chrissy at the merge.
• Cluster Bleep-Bomb: During her team's losing streak, she pulls these out of her arsenal, with all swears (mostly forms of 'fuck') represented by various symbols:
  "What the @#$%! is wrong with this @#$%! team?!?" shrieks Julia. "You @#$%!s are going to have to learn a little thing called EFFORT, is that @#$%! clear?"
• Comical Overreacting: Anything involving Arthur (and similarly annoying characters like Nic and Devin), no matter how small, will send Julia into a fury.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Is placed on one of the worst teams in Total Drama history, gets into daily fights with her obnoxious teammates, and is forced to compete with her arch-enemy for the second half of the game - but wins.
• Establishing Character Moment: In her first scene, she screams at Gary to shut up over something innocuous, goes on a rant about how she's not short, kicks Helga in the groin, and then completely loses her shit when Arthur arrives.
• Fiery Redhead: Her orange hair only enhances her already fiery personality.
• Groin Attack: Likes to give these to Arthur.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: This is her main shtick.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chrissy after the merge.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Arthur. He's not significantly taller than her, but much wider.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: Julia has quite the mouth, but it's always censored.
• The Napoleon: A rare female example.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Arthur, when they're (unsurprisingly) paired up for the wedding challenge and end up winning.
• Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Becomes her team's new de facto leader thanks to this.

Manty - The Mascot

"Shut up, shrimp. Your kind isn't popular at my school. You're one of those kids who sits alone at lunch, right?"

Manty is a rude, thuggish guy who became incredibly popular at his high school due to his athleticism and his cool pair of neon green sneakers, but he's not nearly as good at socializing or picking up chicks as he may think.

• Casanova Wannabe: He's even worse at attracting women than NIC.
• Companion Cube: Manty cares a great deal about his shoes and almost seems to worship them. Things don't go well when they get splashed with mud.
• Jerk Jock: He plays lacrosse and is definitely not a friendly guy.
• Hate Sink: Manty was explicitly created to be the first boot, being a result of the author's jealousy and anger toward the "popular" people at his middle school.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Manty is incredibly narcissistic and was shocked to be voted off, since he considered himself a "hot stud" who was the best asset to his team.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He was the first boot, and his only purpose was to be made fun of.

Nic - The Wannabe Villain

"I have some evil plans tonight. Ol' buff ab belly and I have been plotting. Right, Abby? Yeah, Nicky! You're the best!"

Nic is a huge Total Drama fan who's especially obsessed with former contestant Alejandro. Despite his unattractive appearance, wimpy personality, and out-of-shape body, he truly believes his villainy is up to par with Mr. Burromuerto himself.

• Abhorrent Admirer: To most of the girls, but especially Chrissy.
• Ambiguously Bi: Although he's constantly flirting with the female characters, his love for Alejandro comes off as a little more than just idolizing.
• Arch-Enemy: He claims Trey is his, though it's not mutual - Trey barely even knows (or cares) that he exists.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Nic firmly believes he's the villain of the game, but in reality he's just this.
• Butt-Monkey: Nic is frequently injured by animals and challenges, and never gets respect from any of the others.
• Casanova Wannabe: Flirts with almost every girl in the cast, but it never works.
• Consulting Mister Puppet: Does this with... his stomach, who he has nicknamed "Abby" and talks to like any other contestant.
• Establishing Character Moment: Nic arrives wearing sunglasses and attempting to look cool, and instantly yells at someone from inside the boat to begin playing Alejandro's Leitmotif.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: After his Not-So-Harmless Villain moment recounted below, Nic attempts a dramatic confessional speech (which is just a word-for-word Alejandro quote), then ruins it by immediately tripping and falling into the toilet.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Whenever he attempts to speak Spanish, it's this.
• Harmless Villain: Nic's "villainy" is used more for comic relief than anything else.
• Leitmotif: He tries to get Alejandro's leitmotif to play for him whenever he does something "evil," but it usually ends up backfiring.
• Loony Fan: He’s obsessed with, and possibly in love with, Alejandro and tries to emulate his personality in every way.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: There's one moment where he actually accomplishes something - masterminding Elena's boot.

Octavia - The Eccentric Actress

"O! How wonderful it is to be here, with all this beautiful wildlife... Cute peers... And this amazingly talented host!"

Octavia is a quirky, pink-haired theatre fan who seems to live her life like she's in a Shakespearean romance, with dramatic reactions to everything and a very romantic-minded brain.

• Drama Queen: Literally - she's the head of her school's drama club.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Although not too touched upon, Octavia is definitely quirky.
• Love at First Sight: The second Trey arrives to the competition, Octavia falls in love.
• Out of Focus: Octavia is the only one of the newbies (other than Hate Sink first boot Manty) to not get some sort of major focus or plot, outside of her short-lived romance with Trey, and ends up booted at the end of the pre-merge.
• Ship Tease: With Trey, briefly, but obviously certain events prevent this from happening.
• Shocking Elimination: Lampshaded in-story, where it didn't seem like she was in any danger before getting booted, but the "mystery voter" chose her as his first target.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Octavia's attraction to Trey is dealt with in this way, which is what ends up turning Trey off.
• Woman Scorned: After she finds out that Trey was the mastermind behind her elimination, Octavia's wrath is unleashed.

Trey - The Cool Dude

"Now, I know what you're probably thinking. Why would the cool guy be the mystery voter? I was evil the whole time. I don't know how to surf, and this is all fake tan. Heck, I don't even live in Hawaii! I'm from Maine. But, I thought that having a cool persona would make me more popular, and less suspected to be the evil one. Well, whatever. I've got this game in the bag."

Trey is a chill guy from Hawaii who's a fan of surfing, nature, and girls, and always has a calm and collected attitude... but not really. It's all a facade that Trey is using to hide his true nature - cocky, evil, manipulative, and from Maine.

• Ambiguously Brown: Though it might just be fake tan, considering he's actually from Maine.
• Beauty Is Bad: Uses his status as Mr. Fanservice to lure women to his side, and then eliminate them.
• Big Bad: Eventually becomes the main one of the story, and after his return in Total Drama: Superstar Showdown, the series.
• Birds of a Feather: With Elena - both are attractive, cool individuals who disguise their true evil personalities, which is why they end up hooking up at Playa Des Tikis.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Trey's strategy. He keeps his plotting entirely secret until he's accidentally exposed in the confessional by Devin.
• Black Bead Eyes: He's revealed to have these after he takes his sunglasses off, which Gary and Arthur (who also have them) make fun of him for.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: From his biography:
  He loves girls, nature, and girls who spend a lot of time in nature.
• Card-Carrying Villain: In his elimination episode, he turns into this, outright gloating in front of the others and naming his pet llama for the challenge "Evil."
• The Chessmaster: Is able to manipulate other contestants on his team to vote out his "allies," likable threats Meg and Octavia.
• Embarrassing Last Name: "St. Clair" - at least to Arthur, who starts calling Trey "Something-you-put-food-on-at-a-crappy-restaurant Santa Claus Girl's Name."
• Humiliation Conga: After he's exposed by Devin, he spends his final challenge getting beaten up by a llama, getting his "Bonjour Doggy" underwear exposed to the world, being flung into a mud puddle, sobbing, and then being unanimously voted off.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In a last-ditch attempt to get what he "deserves," he steals Julia's prize money from her, hijacks the Boat of Losers, and attempts to make a run for it - but the police come at a very convenient time, give the money back to Julia, and send Trey flying back onto Tiki Island as the rest of the cast speeds away. He ends up spending a year alone on Tiki Island, as revealed in Superstar Showdown.
• Nice Guy: What he initially appears to be.
• Sinister Shades: His sunglasses become these as opposed to Cool Shades when his true personality is revealed.