Someone forces the teams to go through several difficult obstacles designed to push the campers to their limits. By starting a conflict with the "Master Chief," one camper goes too far and ends up being sent to the boathouse. There, he hooks up with another camper, who is not quite his opposite as previously thought. That camper is then voted off the island under mysterious circumstances.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Harold storming out of the guys' cabin in a rage, demanding to know who made s'mores out of his underwear. The question makes Duncan and Geoff laugh. When Harold drops his underwear on the ground next to her, thinking it is dirty, Courtney recoils in disgust, calling Harold disgusting. Moments later, Chef announces over the PA that all campers must be at the Dock of Shame at 9:00 a.m.
At the dock, Chef takes on the role of a tough-talking field sergeant, explaining that the challenge will be difficult and that the campers will be removed one by one until only one remains, who will win immunity for his or her team. Chef, who insists on being called "Master Chief," tells the campers that if anyone wants to leave, they must go to the end of the Dock of Shame and ring the bell. Chef goes on to say that the first day will not end until at least one person quits, and with that, he orders everybody down to the beach for the first challenge.
Gwen |
“ | Okay, whoever's sick, twisted idea this was to put him in charge of this challenge, I have to say… I'm a little bit impressed! | ” |
On the beach, Chef instructs the two teams to hold a canoe over their heads for as long as they can, and anyone who takes their hands off the canoe will be disqualified. Chef begins the challenge after reminding them that lunch will not be served until someone drops out. Chef, sitting with Chris on each team's canoe, nudges the teams to keep going at the three-hour mark. At one point, Geoff uses a fishing line to rip off Harold's underwear, much to Harold's consternation. The challenge continues into the night, with Chef telling a story about his time in the army and Lindsay declaring that she cannot keep it up any longer. Owen tries to stop her, but Lindsay tells him she can't feel her arms. Lindsay walks to the end of the dock and, exhausted, rings the bell with her head, eliminating herself from the challenge. With that, everyone drops their canoes, and the first part of the challenge is over. Chef tells the teams to go to the main lodge for dinner.
In the main lodge, Chef tells the teams that they have ten minutes to eat before night training begins. He tells them that the food is the leftover garbage from the morning breakfast and whatever else is in it. Heather decides that she will not eat garbage, and Courtney agrees. When Duncan asks why, Courtney replies that she'll be "running for office one day, and no one is going to pull up a file of her eating garbage." Harold is given a glass of apple juice by Geoff and Duncan, which he learns is actually kitchen grease. Courtney scolds them for their behavior and suggests that she thought Duncan was nice, but Duncan flatly denies it. Courtney then walks away, telling Geoff that's exactly what Duncan wants him to think, adding, "Enjoy your garbage!" Duncan then gives Geoff a sheepish smile and tells him that he is the one she wants. Geoff agrees.
Chef leads the campers in a series of dance moves with the music blaring, which goes on for quite a while before Duncan abruptly turns off the music, prompting Chef to order him to do twenty push-ups. Gwen asks to use the bathroom. Moments later, Gwen is seen alone in the bathroom with a mop and bucket, explaining that this is not what she had in mind. Back at the main lodge, Chef tells the teams that their next task is to write a 300-word essay about how much they love him, with anyone who falls asleep or fails to complete the essay being eliminated. Two hours later, Chef collects the completed essays and notices that Duncan's essay repeats the word very for five pages. Chef is angry at first, but Duncan points out that his essay is exactly 300 words long. Trent and DJ have fallen asleep, so Chef declares them eliminated. Duncan tries to verbally taunt Chef again just after Chef tells the campers to go to bed and be ready for a 5 a.m. start, and Courtney pulls him aside just as Chef threatens him with 50 laps around the camp.
At 5 a.m., Chef tells the campers that they are going to run an obstacle course, which everyone must complete in less than a minute. The campers set off, and Harold is forced to leave the camp and is sent to the infirmary by Chef after ingesting too much mud. The campers continue around the course. After getting stuck in the mud, Leshawna is forced to drop out, prompting Duncan to exclaim, "Fallen soldier, I salute you!" Chef punishes Duncan with twenty more pushups for his defiance, and a drenched Duncan responds by thanking Chef and kissing him on the nose. A moment later, it becomes clear that Duncan has pushed Chef too far, and Chef orders Duncan to spend the night alone in the dreaded boathouse. Others gasp in fear, but Duncan says the punishment isn't so bad. However, as he sits in the boathouse and sees the sharp objects and teeth around him, he regrets his words and thinks that he should have kept his big mouth shut.
At the main lodge, Courtney agrees to check on Duncan, but when Geoff asks if she likes him, she denies it.
Geoff |
“ | She likes him. | ” |
At the boathouse, Courtney and Duncan talk until Duncan convinces Courtney to break the rules and raid Chef's food supply. As they raid Chef's supply, Chef tells Chris a story about a time when twenty-five people, including himself, went into the woods and only five came out. The two load up on food, with Courtney leaving a large bass in the middle of the remaining desserts.
Later, the campers gleefully eat the stolen food, and Harold finds that someone has smeared peanut butter on his bunk in the shape of a smiley face. Soon after, it is clear that Courtney is on an adrenaline rush, as she overeats to the point where, despite Bridgette's warnings, she becomes so full that she runs outside to vomit, much to the amusement of Gwen and Leshawna. Duncan joins her moments later, and Courtney admits that it was fun to be bad for a change and that she couldn't help herself. Duncan tells her that kissing him might be bad. He's not her type, she claims. After they both wish each other luck with their opposite lifestyles, Courtney steals a kiss. As Geoff congratulates Duncan, Harold, watching from a nearby window, gasps and scowls. A few seconds later, Chef announces over the speakers that the remaining campers will compete in their next challenge at 7:00 the next morning.
The next morning, the six remaining campers hang upside down from a tree branch while Chef tells them about the various things they will experience as time goes on. Duncan is the first to drop out, followed by Heather, who willingly drops out because of Owen's farting, but Owen falls on her moments later as he drops out. Courtney bursts out laughing and, after dropping out, tells Chef to take a chill pill, much to the surprise of Gwen, Owen, and Geoff. Geoff and Gwen are the last two, and after Geoff retires, Gwen wins the challenge for the Gophers, who celebrate by carrying Gwen. As a sign of respect for overcoming all of his obstacle courses, Chef salutes Gwen and promises to go into battle with her anytime. Gwen sarcastically agrees and leaves with her team.
At the Campfire Ceremony, Duncan, DJ, Bridgette, and Geoff receive marshmallows. Harold and Courtney, the latter with a confident grin on her face, are in the bottom two. After the suspenseful moment, Harold receives the last marshmallow, surprising Courtney, Duncan, DJ, and Geoff. Duncan disagrees with Chris, arguing that at least three of them did not vote her off, while Geoff and DJ agree, but Chris remains firm in his decision, grabbing Courtney by the arms and dragging her along with Chef to the Boat of Losers. Courtney, crying that she will not give in and threatening to sue, is dragged to the dock and shortly thereafter thrown on the Boat of Losers. She screams at her teammates about how, as a C.I.T., she was the team's only hope. Duncan runs down the Dock of Shame before Courtney leaves the island and tosses her a small wooden skull he made for her, and while she finds it weird and creepy, Courtney says she loves it and will never forget him.
Back at the campfire, Harold recalls how, inspired by his memories of Duncan's many tortures, he secretly switched the votes in the confessional so that Courtney would get the most votes and be voted out in retaliation for Duncan's actions against him. The episode ends with Harold smiling slyly into the camera at the success of his plan.
Cast[]
Voice actor | Role(s) |
---|---|
Christian Potenza | Chris |
Kristin Fairlie | Bridgette |
Clé Bennett | Chef Hatchet |
Emilie-Claire Barlow | Courtney |
Drew Nelson | Duncan |
Dan Petronijevic | Geoff |
Megan Fahlenbock | Gwen |
Brian Froud | Harold |
Rachel Wilson | Heather |
Novie Edwards | Leshawna |
Stephanie Anne Mills | Lindsay |
Scott McCord | Owen |
- DJ and Trent appear, but they have no lines. However, DJ cheers when he gets his marshmallow and Trent sighs when Lindsay concedes and cheers when Gwen wins.
Elimination Ceremony[]
Harold tampered with the votes.
Elimination Ceremony 11: Killer Bass | |
---|---|
Status | Contestant |
Safe | Duncan, DJ, Bridgette, Geoff |
Low | Harold |
Out | Courtney |
Still in the running[]
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trivia[]
General[]
- Chris fails to mention Sadie's elimination during the recap.
- Ezekiel appears on a milk carton in the refrigerator from which Courtney and Duncan are stealing food from.
- Although he had previously stated that anyone could leave at any time, Chef refused to let Duncan leave the challenge.
- The last three Screaming Gophers in the challenge were the last three of the season.
- Chef Hatchet is revealed to have an anchor tattoo on his left arm.
- With Courtney's elimination, Bridgette is the last remaining female Killer Bass until Eva returns in No Pain, No Game.
- This is the only Total Drama Island episode that shares a name with its corresponding game from "Total Drama Island: Totally Interactive!"
Continuity[]
- This is the second challenge where Gwen manages to be the last person standing on her team, the first being The Big Sleep.
- The final marshmallow goes to Harold for the second time in a row, and the third time overall.
- This episode marks the first and only time someone has been cheated out of the show due to vote rigging.
- Another such instance would occur 4 seasons later, but was unsuccessful.
- Courtney's elimination marks the only time in the series that she is eliminated before the merge, does not make it to the final seven, and is not the last female Killer Bass of a season.
- Five of the final six campers in the challenge (Duncan, Geoff, Gwen, Heather and Owen) make it to the final six overall.
References[]
- The episode title is a pun on "basic training."
- The music and choreography during the dance challenge is a parody of Michael Jackson's song "Thriller" and its music video.
- Chef's lines "You will eat when I tell you to eat! You will sleep when I tell you to sleep! Is that clear?!" are taken from Byron Hadley's speech to the new inmates in The Shawshank Redemption, minus the swearing and use of slang.
Goofs[]
- In the recap, Chris says there were three challenges in the last episode, when there were actually five.
- After turning Harold's underpants into s'mores, Duncan smiles at Geoff and his nose piercing appears on the wrong side of his face.
- When the screen pans down to the teams holding up the canoes, no one is above them. However, when Chris says his first line of dialogue, he and Chef suddenly appear on top of the canoes.
- When Geoff and Duncan play a prank on Harold, Geoff holds the fishing rod instead of the canoe. However, Geoff is not disqualified for not holding the canoe when the teams are supposed to.
- Also, after the prank, Harold takes his hands off the canoe for a second. However, Harold is not eliminated.
- Harold unknowingly drinks kitchen grease after Duncan convinces him it is apple juice, but Harold claims he is allergic to apples in Who Can You Trust?
- When Courtney says she thought Duncan was nice, Geoff is seen eating food, but it is gone in the next frame.
- The rings under everyone's eyes disappear when Chef slips on Owen's drool.
- Despite being eliminated in the first round, Lindsay is seen dancing with the other campers during the dance challenge.
- Harold is able to move on to the next challenge despite not completing his essay.
- Bridgette is not present during the obstacle course challenge, even though she was never eliminated in any of the previous on-screen challenges.
- Harold is not present when the screen pans to reveal the obstacle course challenge, but was shown later doing the obstacle course.
- Heather and Owen get stuck during the obstacle course challenge but still make it to the final challenge.
- Duncan's nose piercing is on the wrong side of his face when he emerges from the bush on his quest to steal Chef's food.
- Once Owen gets off of her, Heather's belt turns green instead of black.
- When the Gophers carry Gwen, Lindsay is wearing her outfit from "Up the Creek" instead of her usual outfit.
Gallery[]
See also[]
- "Not So Happy Campers—Part 1"
- "Not So Happy Campers—Part 2"
- "The Big Sleep"
- "Dodgebrawl"
- "Not Quite Famous"
- "The Sucky Outdoors"
- "Phobia Factor"
- "Up the Creek"
- "Paintball Deer Hunter"
- "If You Can't Take the Heat..."
- "Who Can You Trust?"
- "Basic Straining"
- "X-Treme Torture"
- "Brunch of Disgustingness"
- "No Pain, No Game"
- "Search and Do Not Destroy"
- "Hide and Be Sneaky"
- "That's Off the Chain!"
- "Hook, Line, and Screamer"
- "Wawanakwa Gone Wild!"
- "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon"
- "Haute Camp-ture"
- "Camp Castaways"
- "Are We There Yeti?"
- "I Triple Dog Dare You!"
- "The Very Last Episode, Really!"
- "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island"
Recap: