Total Drama Island (sometimes shortened to TDI) is the first season of the Total Drama series, a Canadian animated television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon on July 8, 2007, and later in the US on Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008. The season has 26 episodes, each 22 minutes in duration, as well as a special 44-minute season finale.
Plot
Total Drama Island is set in the fictional titular reality show, which follows the competition of twenty-two unsuspecting and unwitting campers at Camp Wawanakwa, the most rundown, insect-infested, disgusting island in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario. The campers participate in competitions and challenges that get more insane and dangerous each week to avoid being voted off the island by their fellow campers and teammates. At the end of the series, the winning contestant is said to receive C$100,000 (US$73,129.00). The competition is hosted by Chris McLean, assisted by the camp's chef, Chef Hatchet, who is also Chris's best friend despite being mistreated at times. Egotistical and immoral, unless something affects him legally, Chris places the show's contestants in various life-threatening challenges.
At the beginning of the season, the campers are placed into two groups of eleven, the "Screaming Gophers" and the "Killer Bass". In each episode, the teams participate in a challenge, in which one or more campers can win invincibility for their team. The losing team is called to the campfire that night, where the losing team vote one of their members off the island. The camper with the most votes is eliminated from the competition. At this campfire, Chris passes out marshmallows to the campers who have not been voted off, while the one who does not get a marshmallow must walk down the Dock of Shame to the Boat of Losers, which will take them away from the island (which is actually a hotel/resort quite close to the island with a pool and luxuries) and they will "never, never, never, ever, ever, ever, come back, ever" according to Chris (this was proved to be a lie in Episode 15, "No Pain, No Game", when he brought Eva and Izzy back into the game).
In Episode 14, the teams are disbanded, so it is every camper for themselves, after which the challenges continue; the winner of each challenge then only receives invincibility for themselves, whereupon the rest of the campers vote one camper without invincibility off the island (with a few exceptions where elimination is determined by the challenge itself). This process of elimination continues until two players remain where they are then subject to a final contest.
Total Drama Island is a parody of the reality show Survivor. McLean is very similar to Survivor host Jeff Probst. This is the first season in which the winner does not get to keep the money, due to it being eaten by a shark in the episode "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island". The season finale, "The Very Last Episode, Really!" had two endings that changed whether Gwen or Owen won the season, with the winner depending on the country the season aired in. This tradition of two endings for each finalist was kept for the rest of the original series' run, and its spin off The Ridonculous Race. The following special, "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island" and season, Total Drama Action had alternate versions to acknowledge a specific ending in their episodes, but previous winners were simply never directly acknowledged following Action.
Episodes
Total Drama Island premiered on July 8, 2007, on the Teletoon channel. This season has 26 episodes, each 22 minutes long, and two special episodes. It was the third Cartoon Network show outside of Adult Swim and Toonami to have the U.S. rating of either "TV-PG" or "TV-PG-D", and a parental-guidance warning after every commercial break and at the beginning of the show (the first two being Sunday Pants and IGPX). Its rating in Canada was initially "G"; current broadcasts are rated "PG".
Source for list:
Episode finale variations For every season, the show's producers create two alternate endings for the final episode, such that the winner seen in one country's broadcasts is the runner-up in other countries (and vice versa) where the show airs. Owen is the original winner in Canada, but he is also the winner in Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latin America (Cartoon Network), the Middle East, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland (Netflix), Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. Gwen is the original runner-up in Canada, but she is shown as the winner in Brazil (Boomerang and TBS), Latin America (Boomerang and TBS), Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Characters
Staff Character Voice actor Description Christian Potenza Chris is the host of the series. Clé Bennett Chef is the cook and Chris' assistant for challenges.
Contestants There are 22 original contestants who competed in Total Drama Island. They are Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Justin, Katie, Leshawna, Lindsay, Noah, Owen, Sadie, Trent, and Tyler. Many of the characters return in later seasons either as contestants or as guests. + List of Total Drama Island contestants Contestant Label Voice actor Team Finish Original Swapped Battle of the sexes Merged Placement Episode Ezekiel The Home-Schooled Guy Peter Oldring rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 2 Eva(Returned to game) 3 Noah The Schemer Carter Hayden rowspan="3" rowspan="2" 4 Justin The Eye Candy Adam Reid 5 Katie The Sweet Girl Stephanie Anne Mills rowspan="2" 6 Tyler The Jock Peter Oldring rowspan="2" 7 Izzy(Returned to game) rowspan="3" 8 Cody The Geek Peter Oldring rowspan="2" 9 Beth The Wannabe Sarah Gadon 10 Sadie The Sweet Girl's Friend Lauren Lipson rowspan="4" rowspan="4" 11 Courtney The Type-A Emilie-Claire Barlow 12 Harold The Dweeb Brian Froud 13 Eva The Female Bully Julia Chantrey rowspan="12" 15 Trent The Cool Guy Scott McCord 16 Bridgette The Surfer Girl Kristin Fairlie rowspan="2" 17 Lindsay The Dumb Princess Stephanie Anne Mills 18 DJ The Brickhouse with a Heart Clé Bennett rowspan="3" 19 Izzy The Psycho Hose Beast Katie Crown 20 Geoff The Party Guy Dan Petronijevic 21 Leshawna The Sister with 'Tude Novie Edwards 22 Duncan The Delinquent Drew Nelson 24 Heather The Queen Bee Rachel Wilson rowspan="3" rowspan="3" rowspan="2" 25 Gwen The Loner Megan Fahlenbock 26 Owen The Funniest Guy Around Scott McCord
Season summary +Total Drama Island Returns season summary Episode Original airdate Challenge winner(s) Eliminated No. Title Written by Canada United States Team Contestant 1 "Not So Happy Campers- Part 1 Jennifer Pertsch July 8, 2007 June 5, 2008 colspan= "100%" 2 "Not So Happy Campers- Part 2 June 12, 2008 Ezekiel 3 "The Big Sleep" Nicole Demerse July 15, 2007 June 19, 2008 Eva 4 "Dodgebrawl" Alex Nussbaum July 22, 2007 June 26, 2008 Noah 5 "Not Quite Famous" Jennifer Cowan July 29, 2007 July 3, 2008 Justin 6 "The Sucky Outdoors" Jennifer Pertsch Aug. 5, 2007 July 10, 2008 Katie 7 "Phobia Factor" Shelley Scarrow Aug. 12, 2007 July 17, 2008 Tyler 8 "Up the Creek" Alex Nussbaum Aug. 17, 2007 July 24, 2008 Izzy 9 "Paintball Deer Hunter" Shelley Scarrow Aug. 26, 2007 Jul. 31, 2008 Cody 10 "If You Can't Take the Heat..." Alex Ganetakos Sept. 2, 2007 Aug. 7, 2008 Beth 11 "Who Can You Trust?" Alex Nussbaum Sept. 9, 2007 Aug. 14, 2008 Sadie 12 "Basic Straining" Jennifer Pertsch Sept. 16, 2007 Aug. 21, 2008 Courtney 13 "X-Treme Torture" Erika Strobel Sept. 23, 2007 Aug. 28, 2008 Harold 14 "Brunch of Disgustingness" Alex Nussbaum Sept. 30, 2007 Sept. 4, 2008 colspan="100%" 15 "No Pain, No Game" Erika Strobel Oct. 7, 2007 Sept. 11, 2008 Leshawna rowspan="8" Eva 16 "Search and Do Not Destroy" Alex Nussbaum Oct. 14, 2007 Sept. 18, 2008 Heather Trent 17 "Hide and Be Sneaky" Tom McGillis Oct. 21, 2007 Sept. 25, 2008 Heather & Leshawna Bridgette 18 "That's Off the Chain!" Erika Strobel Oct. 28, 2007 Oct. 2, 2008 Heather Lindsay 19 "Hook, Line, and Screamer" Nov. 4, 2007 Oct. 9, 2008 Gwen DJ 20 "Wawanakwa Gone Wild!" Shelley Scarrow Nov. 11, 2007 Oct. 16, 2008 Gwen Izzy 21 "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon" Nov. 18, 2007 Oct. 23, 2008 Geoff 22 "Haute Camp-ture" Alex Nussbaum Nov. 25, 2007 Oct. 30, 2008 Leshawna 23 "Camp Castaways" Erika Strobel Dec. 2, 2007 Nov. 6, 2008 colspan="100%" 24 "Are We There Yeti?" Alex Nussbaum Dec. 9, 2007 Nov. 13, 2008 Gwen & Heather rowspan="2" Duncan 25 "I Triple Dog Dare You!" Erika Strobel Dec. 16, 2007 Nov. 20, 2008 Gwen & Owen Heather N/A "Total Drama Island Recap" (CA) "TDI Rundown" (US) None Matt McElhannon Jan. 4, 2008 Dec. 4, 2008 colspan="100%" 26 "The Very Last Episode, Really!" Jennifer Pertsch Dec. 11, 2008 Owen Gwen 27 "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island" Jennifer Pertsch & Tom McGillis Nov. 29, 2008 Dec. 18, 2008 colspan="100%"
Elimination table Contestant Episode
1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Owen SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Gwen SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Heather SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Duncan SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Leshawna SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Geoff SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Izzy SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE colspan="2" DJ SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Lindsay SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Bridgette SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Trent SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Eva SAFE Harold SAFE SAFE SAFE Courtney SAFE SAFE SAFE Sadie SAFE SAFE SAFE Beth SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE Cody SAFE SAFE SAFE Tyler SAFE SAFE SAFE Katie SAFE SAFE Justin SAFE Noah Ezekiel
Production As Camp TV Development began in 2003, as a project called Camp TV. A later pitch was made in 2004; both pitches were eventually rejected, however.
On February 15, 2006, it was announced that Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch were working on a project called Camp TV. According to Tom McGillis, Fresh TV was approached by Teletoon to create the show.
As Total Drama Development On March 27, 2006, the project was renamed Total Drama Island and the franchise was also renamed Total Drama. Production began in June 2006.
Writing Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch studied what tweens liked (and disliked) about reality television shows in the writing process. McGillis said that they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine what 9-to-14 year olds were watching. It was found that Canadian tweens enjoyed watching Fear Factor, Survivor, The Amazing Race, American Idol, and Canadian Idol.
Animation The season was animated at Elliott Animation and was directed by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton. Fresh TV partners McGillis, Pertsch, Elliott and Irving produced the series. The budget for the series was US$8,000,000. It was animated in Flash, at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto. All the characters were designed by Kauffman.Total Drama Island: Final 4
Confidentiality agreement Every cast and crew member on Total Drama Island had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was.
Casting Voice actors from the series 6teen have lent their voices for Total Drama Island.
Christian Potenza, who played the character Jude on 6teen, played the role of host Chris McLean. Potenza said that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show.
Emilie-Claire Barlow plays a recurring role as Chrissy on 6teen and plays Courtney on Total Drama Island. Barlow stated that Courtney was her favourite character that she had ever played.