Fanfic / Total Drama What The Heck?

Total Drama What The Heck? is a Total Drama fanfiction written by Rhonda the stalker fan!.

The story is a new season competition. After Total Drama's third season, Total Drama World Tour, the show is almost cancelled due to budget issues coming from lawsuits, coverups and failed merchandise. The show is saved when it is bought by a new network, the head of which is a fan of the show. The new season's budget is tight, so instead of trying to find a sensible and economic solution, the host of the show, Chris McLean decides to hire a crazy fan of the show to do cheap labor under the guise of being a co-host. This co-host, Rhonda, decides to redo the World Tour concept because she believes that she can do it better. The co-hosts form a new cast, taking thirteen previous favorites from the past seasons against twelve new contestants (including Chris' former sidekick Chef Hatchet).

Now Chris and Rhonda (along with the occasional help from Rhonda's two friends Jenny and Toby) tour the world having the contestants compete for a wealthy prize by facing challenges based off wherever they stop. Along the way they form odd friendships, try to form romances, meet new faces, discover secrets and try to survive being eliminated after every challenge.

The story is ongoing. A character page is in progress.

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This story provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual: Barbie's troubled family life hasn't been stated in the story yet but is stated her bio.
• Amusing Injuries: Played straight with some, such as Rhonda. Subverted when Julie and Bridgette getting shot in the leg in New Jersey.
• Anti-Climax: Obvious eliminations can be this, since eliminations are usually the climax of a chapter.
• Back from the Dead: Julie experiences the elimination game equivalent, returning to the game after having been eliminated.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Bradley and Heather. They spend a lot of time jockeying for position, and it's not clear how much they actually respect each other. On the other hand, there are also hints that their motives may go beyond simple gameplay...
• Big Damn Heroes: A recurring theme with the Fun Bunch. When ever someone is captured, they almost always make a random entrance at the perfect moment. However actually saving the person though...
• The Bermuda Triangle: A location for one the challenges. Naturally the island is inhabited by aliens, a herd of sasquatch and a mad scientist. Jenny and Toby lampshade how inaccurate this portrayal is;
  Toby: The Bermuda Triangle isn’t ‘a mysterious island where anything can happen…’ It is just an area where sloppily researched reports stated disappearances, which eventually become associated with the paranormal.
• Cast Herd: The contestants are divided into three teams and can even be further divided into which alliance or friendship they’re in. The other characters can be divided into groups as well, such as hosts, non-returning contestants, interns, etc.
• Channel Hop: In-universe, Total Drama's original channel drops it after a lackluster third season. A new American production company picks it up after seeing its success in the States.
• Chekhov's Gun: A few have happened and Word of God states more will happen.
  • One notable example is during a commercial break a commercial for a bakery called Purple Cupcakes, whose slogan is always choose the purple cupcake. At the end of the episode, the former contestants are all given free cupcakes from this company. The three contestants who pick the purple cupcake return next episode. Foreshadowed by Cody.
  Cody: It doesn’t matter, it’s not like the colors make a difference.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Two notable examples so far.
  • Rosamond’s friend Nate is mentioned very often and Rosamond’s friends suspect she has a crush on him. Later, he shows up as a guest of the aftermath. He even gets a free purple cupcake. So of course, he ends up becoming a contestant.
  • A troop of girls scouts show up in the aftermath. They seem to be nothing more than crazed Julie fans. Later however they show up in Jersey, kidnapped and are rescued by the Fun Bunch. Then they turn out to be part of a program created by Julie to train little girls to be spies and assassins for her under the guise as a girl scout agency.
• Chekhov's News: A news report discusses the events of Jersey Shore, where the contestants later go. Julie lampshades this immediately after the news report.
• Comically Missing the Point: Several characters do this. A particular instance is the beginning scene of the chapter that takes place in the Amazon:
  Rhonda: His name is Bobobo and I found him on the streets smoking. He has severe mood swings and has killed a lady on a plane, but is generally okay.
  Chris: HE WHAT!?!
  Rhonda: Don't worry Chris, he's quit smoking.
• Confession Cam: Like TDWT, this one returns to the bathroom confessional. A cockpit confessional has yet to be seen however.
• Conveniently Empty Building: An exaggerated example has a nuclear blast level a conveniently empty city, which had previously been evacuated in the wake of an unrelated industrial accident.
• Cryptic Conversation: Pepper, the redheaded intern, gives a pretty straightforward example in a prophecy before the challenge in Antarctica to Julie (though it's implied the first part is about everyone's future). Julie constantly asks her what she means, but she instead goes off on another tangent of the future...while still being just as cryptic.
• Despair Event Horizon: For almost all the returning contestants, the continuous seasons of Total Drama with no real winner and no end became this combined with harsh reactions from the fanbase. Most of the returnees are broken in some way.
• Drowning My Sorrows: The interns drink heavily because of their high mortality rate and the fact that no one else seems to care about them.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: All the contestants are introduced to each other (and the audience) at the airport. Though some of the old contestants come out in couples or a trio, a majority of the contestants are introduced one at a time.
• Easily Forgiven: Nellie doesn't stay mad at Gwen, SG, and Mikey long, though Julie and Sierra due to a point. And surprisingly, Courtney of all people easily forgives Gwen after she sees how hurt Gwen is.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: The story is a new Total Drama Island season that follows Total Drama World Tour, which was the latest canon season when the author started work on the story.
• Fashion Magazine: Bridgette receives several fashion magazines courtesy of the executives of the show, to encourage her not to file a lawsuit against them since she was shot while on the show.
• The Glomp: Julie gives this to Nellie after returning much to the sad sack's chagrin.
• Golden Snitch: Chris and Rhonda decide to increase the points earned in the last part of the challenge in the Australian Outback, making the previous four challenges mostly useless.
• Gospel Revival Number: Cinnamon, an intern, does a musical number to express a message Chris wanted to the contestants to know about. A random gospel choir appears out of nowhere to sing the song and gets some of the cast to join in.
• Her Heart Will Go On: Parodied when Bridgette and Geoff are separated... for all of twenty minutes when he has to prepare a meal.
• Human Ladder: Team Indestructible and The Fun Bunch form a one out of a helicopter when trying to save Rosamond and Julie.
• Love Triangle: One between Bradley, Lindsay and Heather seems to be forming. Additionally, Rosamond seems to have one from back home, between her, and her childhood friends Nate and Annie.
• Kangaroo Pouch Ride: In the last part of the challenge in the Australian Outback, a contestant must find and ride on a kangaroo. Though they can ride on it's back with a harness, they also can ride in it's pouch.
• Kick the Dog: Bradley and his antagonist alliance spend a lot of time bullying the obese but inoffensive Barbie.
• Make Up or Break Up: What Bridgette is confronted with on whether she and Geoff should stay together or not.
• Mythology Gag: Sometime after this fic began, the canon fourth season happened. Reference is made to this, with Chris explaining that before the show got cancelled and rebooted, there was a planned fourth season (which has the exact same premise as the canon one). It now seems to have evolved into a plot point.
• No Body Left Behind: That's what happens when a nuclear "briefcase bomb" goes off three feet away from you...
• No Fourth Wall: One of the story's most commented-on features. One character even has the surname, "Noforthwal" ("No Fourth Wall"). On the wiki where this story is published, the author's name has become virtually synonymous with Fourth Wall humor.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Collin wasn't chosen for a team, and therefore automatically eliminated.
  • And then Geoff quits in order to attend summer school.
• Oddly Named Sequel: In-universe, Total Drama What The Heck? doesn’t follow the theme of naming itself after a season theme (though this is due to a misunderstanding)
• Only a Flesh Wound: Played straight with Julie, who gets shot in the foot but is none the worse in time for the next challenge. Downplayed with Bridgette, who has a somewhat longer convalescence after she also gets a bullet through her foot.
• Out of Focus- some of the older cast hasn’t been as frequently featured as the new cast. Some of the older cast states that having to do Total Drama for four seasons now, with no one ever really winning and plenty of out lash by the fandom has taken a toll on them, and are the reasons for some of their changes in character.
• Portent of Doom: The redheaded intern, Pepper, is able to predict a horrible future of evil...in a piece of lasagna.
  Pepper: I see something in the lasagna.
  Sierra: I think that one has oregano…
• Previously on…: As in the Total Drama canon, the hosts begin each episode with a recap. Some of these recaps are fairly elaborate.
• Promoted Fanboy: In-universe, Chris' aide/co-host Rhonda started out as a fan of the show. Many of the new contestants are also promoted fans and are excited to be a part of the show.
• Rage Against the Author: The main reason why Jenny and Toby are so fond of questioning the author's competence is that they don't think they're getting enough screen time.
• Refuge in Audacity: The story's comedy and some of the more comic characters are as off-the-wall as the author can make them.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: For all the author's inventiveness, she does struggle with her mechanics, especially with homophones and near-homophones. The fact that so many readers are willing to look past this says something about the quality of the characterizations and storylines.
• Self-Deprecation: With mildly disturbing frequency. The author avatar is also the main Butt-Monkey whom nobody seems to like very much.
• Shocking Elimination: Although there was some foreshadowing, few readers expected Julie to be an early out, considering her popularity among the readers and high profile within the story.
• Shout-Out: Enough to fill its own page. Although there are occasional references to pop culture and suchlike, this story is known for its allusions to other works and authors from the website where it is published. There are as many allusions of this type as the author can pack in.
• Stuff Blowing Up: After the challenge in Jersey, explosions tend to be happening much more often. Lampshaped by Rosamond.
  Rosamond: Why must everything explode now?
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When constant bullying drives Barbie to the snapping point, she publicly dresses down her chief tormentor.
• Wham Episode: The Jersey Shore episode is a dramatic, suspenseful episode in a story known for off-the-wall comedy.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: Jenny and Toby, in particular, like to speculate on the author's competence and state of mind, e.g. suggesting chemical influence and complaining about their lack of screen time.
• Title Drop: In every episode, somebody says "What the heck?" That doesn't even count the hosts' direct quotations of the title in recaps and and signoffs.
• Uncanceled: In-universe: After the third season cost more than it made, the network cancelled it. But than a new network bought the rights, and restarted the show with the fourth season, Total Drama What The Heck?
• Vagueness Is Coming: The redheaded intern gives a sort of prophecy to Julie and the other contestants during a meal before the Antarctica challenge. She mentions that some of them foolishly trust someone, that Julie will have two reunions one bad and one 'foreshadowed poorly' and that an 'apparition lost at sea' is behind 'all of this'. But most of all to beware her. Who the people are or what any of that means she doesn't specify in the least.
• Your Mom: Co-hostess Jenny's relentless exaggeration of this trope is beyond parody. Her standard rejoinder to any point her sidekick Toby makes is to shout, "YOUR MOM!" at the top of her lungs.

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