Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race / YMMV

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A-O

Abandon Shipping:
- Lots of people abandoned Noah/Cody in favour of Noah/Emma and Noah/Owen, thanks to this spinoff.
- Many fans of Jacques/Josee jumped ship once Jacques left Josee to have a panic attack because she had mistreated him for so long.
- Dwayne/Kelly died down once it was revealed they were both married.
- Many fans began to move away from Owen/Izzy for Owen/Kitty due to the friendly interactions between them.
Accidental Innuendo: Spud calls himself "a pro at ID'ing bulges." In context, he's speaking about the bulges in snakes' stomachs after eating.
Adorkable:
- Dwayne and Junior both have their moments of dorkiness, Dwayne for trying to be cool to the younger contestants and especially his son, as well as his general clumsiness, and Junior for being a 13-years-old boy who tries to prove he is a man.
- Noah's attempts at impressing Emma (even when they fail) come across as endearingly dorky.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Don, regarding his very different personality from Chris. Did the producers hire him under the belief that he would be just like Chris or did they actually want someone who would be completely different from Chris? Is he legitimately a very fair man or does he simply act that way to distinguish himself from Chris?
- The few comments made about Josee's mother being just as adamant about victory as her daughter and attacking Jacques over very minor things adds a new potential layer of development to Josee, with many fans seeing her as a victim of an extremely toxic upbringing rather than an inherently evil individual.
- Are Carrie and Devin's Will They or Won't They? played straight or are they a parody of it? The latter has some proof by MacArthur also being tired of it.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: There really is a golden mall called "The Gold Souk" in Dubai, and even more surprising, there really is a golden ice cream flavor (its called "Black Diamond" and is the most expensive scoop of ice cream in the world!).
Arc Fatigue: The decision to return to a full season's worth of episodes was warmly embraced by the fanbase at large. However, it did lead to some problems with this:
- Stephanie and Ryan, the Daters a.k.a. the Haters Slap-Slap-Kiss Masochism Tango arc, since it's about the only thing they contribute to the series while never really going through any kind of progression as characters (it's hinted that their breakup isn't anything new for them, so them ultimately reconciling at the end of the season feels less like development and more like them going back to square one for the umpteenth time). Not helped by the fact they technically lost the race three times but the first two times just so happened to be a non-elimination round, with the second time in "Lord of the Ring Toss" (an episode where they arguably got the most focus out of all the teams) really annoying fans, in particular.
- Even fans of the duo felt that Carrie and Devin's Will They or Won't They? storyline dragged on for too long, which wasn't helped by the fact it was resolved in one episode. However, this might actually have been the intended reaction, as even Don and the other contestants comment that they've gotten tired of it.
- Chet and Lorenzo managed to have this despite barely making it past the half-season mark, due to the entirety of their plot happening in the span of their last two legs in the race.
Ass Pull: Don pulls the classic "this was a non-elimination round if a major character happened to lose!" on more than one occasion, to the point of there being an instant of two non-elimination rounds in a row! But even that pales in comparison to the double elimination in "Down and Outback," taking out Rock and Spud for coming in second-last right after they beat Chet and Lorenzo.
Author's Saving Throw:
- Owen's status as a Creator's Pet. He's been accused of being this for a while now, but the writers of Race seemed to make a deliberate effort to reign it in and address some of the criticisms thrown at him by the fanbase. His cute and funny friendship with Noah, actually trying to help their team win, dialing back the food and fart jokes a tad and not even getting close to the finals made it so even his haters have to admit this was Owen at his best (even if they'd still wish that he was retired).
- Noah and Emma seemed almost an apology for Dave & Sky in Total Drama Pahkitew Island. First off, they made it clear from the start Emma was not only single but absolutely was in need of a new boyfriend. Noah's attempts to win her over came off as very endearing rather than annoying. While Emma was attracted to Noah as well, she was upfront in telling him she wants to focus on the competition for the time being and spared his feelings by telling him she does want to be with him. Noah's attraction to her led him to become a better person over the course of the season, as opposed to Dave's Face–Heel Turn. It's implied that by the end of the season, the two pursued their relationship.
- Critics of the previous three seasons' decreased number of competitors and episodes were pleased by this show's return to a longer season and bigger cast.
- While The Ridonculous Race had two former Screaming Gophers (Noah and Owen) and only one Killer Bass (Geoff), the show/season managed to have Geoff make it a little farther than the two Gophers in TDRR. In the past seasons/main show, the Screaming Gophers were favored more than the Killer Bass most of the time, especially in Island (where the final 3 consisted of former Screaming Gophers—Owen, Gwen, and Heather) and World Tour (where Cody and Heather, former Gophers, make the final four with the two newcomers that season.
Base-Breaking Character:
- Don is either a Replacement Scrappy for fans who prefer Chris for his ability to create unpredictable drama and see Don as a boring character, or a More Popular Replacement for those who consider Chris Total Drama's worst character (especially in the later seasons) for his immense Jerkassery and like how Don actually cares about the contestants' safety and does not interfere in the game. To put it simply, fans of Don hate Chris and fans of Chris hate Don, with the former group wishing that Don was made the permanent host of the Total Drama franchise and the latter group wishing that Chris came back for this series.
- Owen keeps this going from the main series. There are quite a few who feel his character has improved dramatically, after seeing him mature for the first time and being more focused on the competition. Though he still has haters who feel too much of his character is taken up farting and excessive eating and would prefer he doesn't return.
- Ellody started out as an Ensemble Dark Horse, but opinions soon became divided once people noticed how similar she was to Scarlett and Courtney (the latter with whom she shares the same voice actress). It also didn't help her early elimination did not give her enough time to develop her character. While she still has fans, most consider her an overall one-note and forgettable character.
- Taylor is an extreme 'love her or hate her' type of character with very little middle ground. She's either loved for her stereotype as a Spoiled Brat that is original and offers lots of potential plots, or she's despised for being an Ungrateful Bitch who treats her mother like trash and is incredibly annoying due to her constant whining.
- People either love MacArthur for her witty banter, action persona, and how she parodies the "bad cop" stereotype, or dislike her for her brutish nature, Hair-Trigger Temper, selfish behavior, and Gasshole humor. Her carelessness which causes Sanders to break her arm in "How Deep Is Your Love" really didn't help as some viewed it as the beginning of her Character Development while others consider it her point of no return^note and that it cancels out any chance of sympathy for her.
- The fanbase's opinions on Dwayne are split between those who find his comments and antics to be obnoxious or amusing. He was also under fire for a comment that was deemed sexist in the second episode.
- Emma. While some fans think she's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold whose relationship with Noah is finally bringing her out of her shell and giving her character depth, others consider her nothing more than a Jerkass and a stand-in for Heather/Amy, whose relationship with Noah is being exploited by the show as her only redeemable trait.
- The Daters/Haters, especially Stephanie. Starting off as Sickeningly Sweethearts was already met divisively, but it's what happened afterwards that really split the fandom apart. After their breakup, they spend every episode arguing and fighting, to the point where at times they would resort to throwing challenges just to spite each other. This behavior was immensely annoying to many fans, while others felt it was greatly entertaining and one of the highlights of the season. Then there's the fact that they managed to evade elimination twice due to two of the legs where they came in last place being non-elimination rounds further adding to their problems.
- The Best Friends, Devin & Carrie, split the fanbase. One half despise them for their plot being dragged out for most of the season and see the characters and their story as immensely boring. The other half enjoy them for being one of the nicest teams in the race, find their friendship (and eventual relationship) to be very sweet, and felt sympathetic for them (especially when Devin got injured leading to their exit from the race).
- While the Ice Dancers (Jacques and Josee) remain one of the more popular teams, there are still divided opinions on them especially in regards to Josee. The two biggest reasons against Josee is her constant screaming, violent tantrums, and evil laughs become much more prominent and ear-grating to some, as well as how they would keep cheating starting around the halfway mark and continue to get away with it^note.
- Despite being an Ensemble Dark Horse in Total Drama (especially after World Tour) and his popularity being the reason why he is in the race, Noah is a lot more divisive in this spin-off. The main reason is his relationship with Emma, which improves his character for some people, while still having a fair share of the sarcastic quips he is known for. Others think it makes him act Out of Character and he's not as fun as he used to be.
Broken Base:
- Noah falling in love with Emma. Fans either consider it interesting development for Noah or are angry that it contradicts the fanon theory that he is gay. It's not helped that he's paired on a team with Owen this season, with whom he's had considerable Ho Yay before. Then there's a third camp who doesn't mind Noah being in a straight ship, but find his choice in Emma of all characters, the presented explanations thereof, and to some even his general behavior in the season, extremely out of character.
- The many non-elimination rounds. Some fans found them cheap and disliked how they spared certain teams that would've been better off getting booted, while others appreciate them because they give the remaining contestants a chance at having more screentime and development.
- Was Jacques crossing a line by letting Josee suffer a panic attack due to her claustrophobia as revenge for being mistreated for 14 years, or are his actions justifiable, considering how much of a jerkass Josee was to him? Some fans take the middle road and posit that it was the right idea, just at the worst time possible. After the episode came out, there were a lot of heated posts calling Josee abusive towards Jacques or Jacques abusive towards Josee.
- Geoff's overall characterization. Some loved how it was a return of his original easygoing Nice Guy persona in Island while others say that it came across as yet another example of a character from the 1st Generation cast being Flanderized in later seasons by losing a lot of his common sense he had in World Tour and actually acting dumber than he was in Island. Being partnered up with Brody didn't help his case very much either as he came across as pretty flat when the character he mostly interacted with was essentially an even stupider version of himself. Some even go as far as to say that they would've preferred he stayed forgotten rather than being brought back and becoming yet another victim of returning characters (especially those from the original cast) being Flanderized and/or derailed in subsequent seasons.
- There's also the fact that Geoff wasn't partnered up with Bridgette for the race. Some fans adored Geoff's extremely close friendship with Brody, while others wished Bridgette had been brought back to give her and her relationship with Geoff more positive development (in the same way the series did for Noah and Owen's friendship).
- The debate on the host. Some wish Chris McLean was the host for the race based on his ability to bring drama and tension and his memorability, while others prefer Don as the host because of his sense of fair play, genuine concern for the contestants' safety, and how he doesn't interfere with the game.
- The Ice Dancers' comeuppance of receiving bronze in the final challenge and being forced to watch the Cadets, their sworn enemies compete in the final leg. Some find it good or otherwuse fitting considering their mindset or just see it as a break from the over-the-top "villain gets horribly maimed to the point of needing to be put on life support" formula that had been a point of criticism for several of the later seasons (barring Pahkitew Island). But others thought it bad due to the constant foreshadowing from other characters that karma was going to bite them in the butt big time....only for the payoff to be so underwhelming that it's virtually non-existent (especially when compared to many of their earlier actions).
Cargo Ship: Josee/her lucky rabbit's foot Bunbun.
Character Rerailment: Somewhat. Geoff is brought much closer to his original characterization of being a nice and easygoing party guy, after Action and to a lesser extent, World Tour turned him into a more serious, egotistical, and sometimes sadistic host...though at the expense of most of his character complexity by being portrayed at his absolute dumbest.
Common Knowledge: Some fan assume that the Ridonculous Race is also a Total Drama spin-off in-universe. There is no evidence suggesting this.
Contested Sequel: Some say that it has managed to save the franchise by breathing new life into it, while others say that it further shows that the franchise is past its prime. Those in the former category saw the series as a return to glory after several seasons of inconsistent quality, enjoyed the new direction as a fresh change of pace, and liked the new host and contestants. Those in the latter category hated the new characters, disliked the new direction, and felt it was no better than any of the other unpopular seasons for various reasons.
Continuity Lockout: Like its predecessor, The Ridonculous Race is one of the few Western animated series of its time with a serialized narrative. However, The Ridonculous Race largely stands on its own, and prior knowledge of previous Total Drama seasons, although helpful for Continuity Nods, is not explicitly required for series newcomers.
Crack Pairing: Pete/Laurie. (Yes, really).
Designated Hero:
- MacArthur for quite a few. The show mostly portrays her as a hero or at worst a very aggressive Anti-Hero, but a lot of her actions tend to lean more on the antagonistic side to the point where some thought she was more of a villain than Jacques and Josee, the actual villains of the series! This especially didn't help after her actions in "How Deep Is Your Love" where her recklessness over intentionally dropping Sanders down the 7-mile bore hole, resulted in her breaking her arm.
- Carrie is another example. She has a crush on Devin, but when his girlfriend breaks up with him, instead of comforting him, she enjoys it due to the fact that she could get a chance with Devin. She also acts selfish throughout it, as she deliberately pushes the five stages of grief so he could recover faster.
Designated Monkey: Dwayne. Unlike other pain magnets, there's actually a lot more to his character than just being comic relief, so his constant injuries aren't even necessary. He's just a Bumbling Dad who wants to win over the respect of his son but the powers that be are determined to make that as hard for him as possible.
Die for Our Ship:
- Emma for Noah/anyone else.
- Brody for MacArthur/Sanders.
- Brody for Bridgette/Geoff, due to the Ho Yay moments with the latter.
Draco in Leather Pants: Since Jacques is more sensitive than Josee and often ends up on the receiving end of her temper tantrums, fandom sometimes makes him out to be purely a victim of Josee's aggressive attitude, ignoring the fact that they were equally responsible for the many underhanded and outright dangerous schemes they enacted against other teams.
Elimination Houdini: Has its own page.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Noah being one of these in the main series was the reason he got to compete.
- The Fashion Bloggers, Tom and Jen, are a pretty straightforward example. Well-liked characters who were eliminated fairly early.
- Though they started off the season to rocky reception, it became increasingly difficult to find people who dislike Rock and Spud by the season finale. Their being one of the few teams to have lines among the peanut gallery was met with praise.
- The Goths, Ennui and Crimson are one of the most popular characters in this show, despite never getting any notable arcs to flesh them out and making it to a respectable 7th place. This owed mainly to a lot of factors, like their original designs and personalities, their amusing Deadpan Snarker moments and owning a badass bunny named Loki. Another reason why fans love them is that despite their utter deadpan stoicness, the two aren't completely stereotypical goths, they aren't completely wallowing in misery and at least seem to enjoy the race they are partaking in. Alongside that the two genuinely love each other, with many fans calling one of the few stable romantic relationships in the series.
  - Mentioned above, their pet rabbit Loki is also quite popular, not only is he absolutely adorable, but he's also a Hypercompetent Sidekick, despite The Goths being pretty competent in their own right.
- The Tennis Rivals are pretty popular despite being eliminated second due to their well-received Friendly Rivalry leading to plenty of funny dialogue.
Epileptic Trees: Due to a few jokes regarding the Daters and babies ^note, a fairly common theory was that Stephanie would become pregnant during the show. This never happened, likely because an unplanned pregnancy out of wedlock would be too controversial for the target demographic.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Depending how you feel about the Daters/Haters relationship, them getting back together in the end can be this. Especially since it's hinted that them constantly breaking up and getting back together is a regular occurrence as well as how Stephanie wants to start a family.
Fan Nickname:
- The Adversity Twins (Mickey & Jay) are often referred to as "The Camerons", due to having the exact same appearance as Cameron's original design.
- Ellody is often called "Not Courtney", due to Emilie-Claire Barlow doing the exact same voice.
- The Daters (Stephanie & Ryan) are known both in the show and the fandom as "The Haters".
Fanfic Fuel: Like the show it's spun-off of the series' very premise opens up possibilities for continuation stories for new seasons with a mix of OCs and past characters from Total Drama, similar to the group from it's sole season.
Fanon:
- It has yet to have Word of God confirmation, but many fans firmly believe the Ice Dancers are the same ones mentioned by the Total Drama cast during "Not So Happy Campers - Part 1".
- Many fans have the assumption that Tom is gay and, somehow, Jen is a lesbian. So far they are half right as Word of God has confirmed the former on Tom.
- With Josee's mother teaching her that bronze is the "medal of failure" and, according to Jacques, being just as violent as Josee, it is almost unanimously accepted that she's an outright Abusive Parent towards Josee. A common headcanon is that Josee's severe claustrophobia stems from her Stage Mom locking her in a dark space as punishment for losing competitions in her youth. Much less is known about Jacques' family, and since he's somewhat less aggressive than Josee, he's usually assumed to come from a healthier family background.
- Pete is often interpreted as Chris's father, due to having similar Black Bead Eyes and hair.
- Don and Topher being related (usually father and son) has been a common headcanon since Don's design released due to their similar hair and square jaws.
Fountain of Memes: The Goths are among the most quotable characters in the entire Total Drama franchise.
Franchise Original Sin: The Total Drama franchise has always had non-elimination episodes even going back to Island. However, even the season that abused non-eliminations the most (World Tour, where basically every non-elimination was treated like a regular episode (complete with an elimination ceremony) until the very last second) never resorted to an instance of two of them happening back to back!
Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- You might have noticed the huge American fanbase the show has.
- In-universe, the series is apparently huge in Croatia despite the real-life No Export for You.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The tennis players got eliminated because one of them didn't step on the mat fully. In Season 30 of The Amazing Race, the first team got eliminated because one racer was the last one to put her foot on the mat.
Ho Yay: Has its own page.
Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Those who ship the Tennis Rivals together often refer to them as "Tennis Husbands."
It's Short, So It Sucks!: After listening to feedback from the fans, Ridonculous Race switched back to a 26-episode run instead of the 13 the franchise had been using for the last few seasons of Total Drama. All well and good...except then they screwed it up by airing it all over the course of one month, and ended up being the only season of the spinoff.
Jerkass Woobie: Josee, in "Bahamarama" when she had her worst panic attack. Even though she'd done horrible things throughout that season, many people felt bad for her and even disliked Jacques for calling her out in that moment.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Characters like the Stepbrothers, Stephanie, and Taylor are hated for being rude and horrible to the contestants. The Ice Dancers, while worse than them, at least have traits that can make them enjoyable to watch, such as their reactions to their placements and their Evil Is Cool tendencies.
Love to Hate: The Ice Dancers thanks to Evil Is Cool.
Memetic Badass: Loki, the Goths' badass bunny.
Memetic Loser: Leonard and Tammy, for being the worst competitors in the series.
Moe:
- Kitty, who's a sweet, innocent Genki Girl who wants to live life to the fullest.
- Carrie, who is very sweet to everyone and just wants her crush Devin to notice her.
- Jen and Tom of the Fashion Bloggers come across as super peppy and excitable. Their enthusiasm for shopping is contagious and one can't help but love their reactions to things that excite them, along with their fast-talking whenever they're excited, which is almost all of the time. They are also very much nice despite their stereotype as shallow fashion bloggers, even giving a nice compliment to one of the locals for her swan dress at one point.
More Popular Replacement:
- Don took over from Chris as the host, which was welcomed by many in the fandom given how unlikable Chris had become in the later seasons with the flanderization of his sadism and sociopathy. Don on the other hand is closer to the original interpretation of a hedonistic but overall fair host who does not change the rules willy-nilly for his own amusement and interfere with the game, unlike Chris who is a contender for Trope Codifier of Screw the Rules, I Make Them!.
- Crimson and Ennui replaced Gwen as the goth stereotype characters, with the two of them proving insanely popular with many fans deeming them superior due to Gwen's own waning popularity. This is likely the reason why Gwen was made to be more like Crimson in the Spinoff Babies series Total DramaRama.
- Taylor ended up being almost a carbon-copy of Amy, even down to the same voice actress, but nearly all of the fandom consider Taylor to be a better character due to being somewhat more fleshed out thanks to her backstory being provided, as well as actually having a few redeeming qualities. Also, Taylor ended up having a small ounce of respect for her mother, while Amy remained as awful a person as she was from the beginning.
Nausea Fuel:
- The infamous challenge in Morocco, where Owen drinks camel saliva to try to mitigate the spicy stew. That makes Chet almost barf and barely containing it, and mentions that the vomit in his mouth was at least less spicy that the stew... Which almost makes the other teams puke as well.
- A good portion of "New Beijinging" which has the contestants being forced to eat a disgusting meal and most of them throwing up because of it. Carrie even vomits a lot before she starts eating because even the word "worm" makes her sick.
- Sanders intentionally dislocating her arm in "A Million Ways to Lose a Million Dollars" in order to retrieve the travel tip after it falls into the sewer.
Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page!
One True Threesome: Those who liked Geoff/Bridgette in previous seasons who also enjoy the Ho Yay between Geoff and Brody often headcanon all three in a polyamorous relationship.

P-Z

Preemptive Shipping: Before the season was released, fans were quick to ship Dwayne and Kelly together, since their teams were Distaff Counterparts. Once the season came out and revealed that both were Happily Married to other people, the ship was quickly dropped by many.
Questionable Casting: When the Polish dub was released, the comments on YouTube complained about Geoff's new voice actor, Jarosław Boberek, sounding too much like Grunkle Stan.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Thanks to his time here, Owen's scrappydom seems to have further waned. While he's still guilty of many of his previous character faults, this season he actually seems to be trying to win, has good friendship chemistry and development with Noah, and him not making it so far in the competition doesn't feel anywhere near as forced as previous seasons.
Romantic Plot Tumor:
- Carrie/Devin for the parts of the base that found them blander than the rest of the cast with a plot that was extremely predictable. It's worth saying that the reaction was never as negative as previous Total Drama examples, probably thanks to Race being a full length season so their romance didn't stifle the other plots due to competing for limited airtime.
- Stephanie/Ryan also fit the bill for the same reasons. Unlike with Carrie/Devin, the reaction to them is about as negative as previous Total Drama examples (if not worse) due to many finding their immaturity to be very insufferable (most of their post-breakup conversations boils down to them yelling and screaming at each other) as well as dodging elimination twice.
Rooting for the Empire: Jacques and Josee are two of the most popular characters in Ridonculous Race and the franchise as a whole, due to being very entertaining to watch. Many fans wanted them to win despite all of their foul play in the game, and were disappointed they didn't make it to the final two.
The Scrappy:
- The Adversity Twins, Mickey and Jay, who are virtually the same character, are extremely unpopular due to being complete clones of Cameron (right down to their designs being recolors of his original design), minus anything that made him likable (like his intellect or his ability to manipulate stronger competitors). Their forced The Woobie status that tries to make viewers feel sorry for them, and the initial belief that they would follow the underdog route, further added to their unpopularity.
- The Stepbrothers, Chet and Lorenzo, who were essentially the same character are venomously despised by the fandom. Reasons include them having no real characteristics besides hating each other, most of their conversations/interactions amounting to beating each other up and how they'd continue to stay in the race until a little past the halfway mark in spite of the fact their endless fighting made it implausible they would have been able to complete even a single challenge. Often the show manages to justify their placing by not showing them do the challenge at all and randomly have them reach the chill zone before last place, at the expense of booting several other more popular teams. Them making up and becoming friends only made things worse, with people accusing them of going from an Anti-Katie and Sadie to a Katie and Sadie 2.0 without fixing their other problems. They also downright refuse to remember their times on the race when eliminated, instead just rambling on how they hate the show, and laugh at the Rockers when they are eliminated as well, though at least they had a cute moment when they shared a hug.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: Those who liked Noah/Owen due to their interactions in World Tour were excited to see the duo together again. Once Noah got canonically paired with Emma, tensions naturally flared up between Noah/Emma and Noah/Owen fans, as well as Noah/Emma and every other Noah ship (and because Noah is an Ensemble Dark Horse, there are a lot of Noah ships).
Shocking Elimination: See the Total Drama entry for more details.
Squick:
- Pretty much any time the characters throw up (which is often) and Vomit Discretion Shot isn't used. Ick.
- Owen drinking camel spit in "None Down, Eighteen to Go - Part 2."
- The Sisters and Reality TV Pros escaping through the sewers in "Shawshank Ridonc-tion", after Owen had used the toilet they entered from.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Much like its predecessor, this also tends to be a common fan reaction toward characters who are voted off too early, way before they could get any real development.
- The LARPers were this to some. Quite a few were hoping that bringing Leonard back would allow him to have some development. But outside of having a slightly more fleshed out backstory, he's pretty much exactly the same as during his time on Pahkitew Island and once again serves to only be an early-out, while Tammy had no characterization other than being his partner/female clone.
- The Tennis Rivals. While the characters eliminated right before and after them were bland, one-note pairs without much to go on, the Friendly Rivalry of these Cool Old Guy Vitriolic Best Buds was never allowed to develop. Plus, they managed to go from last place to fourth in the first challenge, which showed they might have been good competitors despite their age. Particularly frustrating is there's a tennis challenge later in the season, which would've given them an opportunity to show off their skills after all these years.
- The Geniuses. Mary didn't do much of anything, but Ellody was seen having friendly interactions with both Geoff and Laurie, which might have afforded her some character development. She also placed high in challenges until her elimination.
- Tom and Jen, who are an Author Avatar team of the show's creators, were eliminated in favor of the Daters. Some fans believe they had potential for more storylines based on their close friendship, internet prowess, and love for international fashion trends, and keeping them over the Daters would've broken the cliché "couple argues and gets back together just in time to be eliminated" plot line. Additionally, Laurie and Miles, two other competitors who were named after some of the show's writers, were just eliminated before them, leading viewers to believe one Author Avatar team would go early while the other team would last a while longer.
- The Rockers, after half the season was spent developing their Hidden Depths, and them both growing on the fandom (Spud less so and later than Rock, but still), were abruptly thrown out in an completely unprecedented double elimination right as Spud really began to be an active part of the plot.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Has its own page now.
Tough Act to Follow: Funnily enough, Ridonculous Race, which the producers insist is only a Spin-Off set in the same 'verse, is regarded as one of the best Total Drama seasons since the first.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Taylor, of all people, comes out sympathetic when her mother Kelly reveals her father bought off all her accomplishments and trophies. Taylor was nothing but a spoiled brat that was spoiled by her father while bullying her mother throughout the show. Taylor would brag that she had all these talents and skills but would always come up short in the challenges and blame her mother for her failures. In the episode "Hawaiian Honeyruin," Kelly eventually loses patience with her daughter when they lose the challenge, and she blames her while saying that her mother is not used to winning like her. Kelly revealed that Taylor had never won anything in her life; Taylor was confused and told that her room was full of trophies. Kelly revealed that her father bought all her trophies, pointing out why she did not wonder why the trophies came from the mail, and her father bribed all her coaches to lie about her skills. Taylor desperately asked about The beauty pageants; she won them; those can't be fake, only for Kelly to smugly tell her that you can fake anything with enough cash. Even Don admits that was cold. This moment was supposed to come off as Kelly giving her spoiled daughter a long-overdue reality check, but the thing is, Taylor genuinely thought she was skilled and earned those trophies and had no idea her father bought them. While arrogant about her skills, Taylor wasn't delusional because she thought she was greater than she was or could buy her wins; she genuinely thought that she earned her accomplishments and was devastated to learn the truth. Taylor later accepted her limitations regarding her skills in a later challenge, those she made it clear to her mother that she was still unhappy to learn about all her accomplishments being fake. And with Taylor's skills at holding her breath, it's implied that she would've genuinely worked to be skilled, given the right motivation. Taylor comes off less as a spoiled brat who thinks she's skilled when she's not and more as a girl whose parents were too lazy to train and bought off her wins, sabotaging her when she could've been a genuine winner.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- The show wants us to root for Carrie's attempts to try and proclaim her feelings for Devin, but most of her actions in doing so come across as either selfish or downright despicable. The prime examples of this occur in "The Shawshank Ridonc-tion" and "Down and Outback". In the former, her first instinct after Devin and Shelly break up due to the latter cheating on him with her tennis coach is not to comfort him in any way, but instead think that NOW is the ideal opportunity to confess her feelings for him (but ultimately decides that it isn't the right time, while still not even attempting to comfort him), while in the latter, she intentionally provokes Devin's feelings by angering him in order to push him through his "seven stages of break-up" faster.
- MacArthur is this for the people who view her as a Designated Hero. It's hard to feel sorry for her grief over accidentally causing Sanders to break her arm at the end of "How Deep Is Your Love?" due to the fact that she intentionally dropped her partner down the seven-foot hole as fast as she did due to her recklessness. And prior to that, she spent most of the season treating Sanders like garbage by teasing her for being weak and doing things that made her feel more like a villain than the Ice Dancers (the actual villains of the spinoff) such as commandeering a taxi from its driver in "Mediterranean Homesick Blues" and taking enjoyment out of being part of the "Axis of Evil" in "Ca-Noodling" by sabotaging the "Axis of Good".
- Even though Stephanie feels bad for how she treated Ryan and has a little cry about it, it's kind of hard to feel bad for her by then considering how cruel she was in most of the season.
Unpopular Popular Character:
- Many of the teams, especially the Goths and Ice Dancers who together may be the most popular teams of all for the fanbase.
- Noah was not very liked in the first season of Total Drama, due to his condescending, sarcastic know-it-all, slacker nature (though he Took a Level in Badass and got some Character Development for the season 1 special, continuing into World Tour), but among the fanbase he's an Ensemble Dark Horse for the very same reasons. It's what got him a place on Race.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Has caused a huge Periphery Demographic among older teens and adults. Contains truckloads of comic violence and pixellated nudity shots. For ages 8-12. Oddly enough, earlier Fresh TV promotional material said the spinoff would be geared more towards older fans who grew up with the original Total Drama, but they've since gone back to refer to it as a children's show.
Win Back the Crowd: Ridonculous Race seems to have been made specifically for this reason, after the more divisive reception of later seasons. Not only did they go back to the original 26-episode format, but the gross-out humor was severely toned down (oh, it's still there, but there is less of it); they brought back fewer previous contestants so they could still give fans the occasional Continuity Nod while avoiding the Continuity Snarl they ran into in All-Stars; the sadism and insanity of the later seasons was toned down back to first season levels from the much too Denser and Wackier nature of the seasons after; and it revisited the well-liked World Tour theme of the third season while still managing to go in its own direction so it didn't come off as repetitive (so those who liked the third season still found reason to enjoy it on its own merit and those who hated that season saw it as a better take on the concept).
The Woobie: Has its own page now.

YMMV / Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race

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