Chris reviews the events of last season's destructive finale before introducing the location for this season, a Cree island in Western Canada named Pahkitew Island. The island is shown to be the least luxurious location in Total Drama history thus far, with no lodges, no showers, no hotels, no hot tubs, and no cafeteria. The only thing surviving from last season is the confessional outhouse and all the smells that come with it.
The cast is aboard a blimp en route to the new island. Sky observes Ella rocking and humming along to a swinging light. She takes out a piece of gum for herself and offers some to Max, who warns her that this gesture would not save her from his "pure evil," but nonetheless accepts. However, he quickly spits it out, due to disliking the cinnamon flavor and deems it too spicy. Dave watches this exchange and comments on how Max is "a little weird," and turns around to Leonard, in time to see him attempt to cast a spell to ward off evil. Ella begins to sing with beat-box accompaniment from Beardo. Amy is disgusted by all this, and orders her twin sister, Samey, switch seats with her. Samey complies to her sister's demands with a sigh. Amy looks over to her right and screams about a "giant" sitting there. Jasmine glares back and asks if they are "going to have a problem." Meanwhile, Topher is frantically searching the blimp looking for Chris. Sugar becomes so irritated by his "fidgeting" that she slams him into the door and threatens to "toss him out the window" if he "scuffs her pageant shoes." She notes how he'll be "squished flat in two minutes," which prompts Scarlett to walk up and correct her, sounding very smart in the process. Rodney comments about her brains to Shawn, who coils up at the mention of the word "brains." The blimp enters some turbulence and parts start to rain from the ceiling while the contestants scream and panic.
The new contestants falling from the blimp.
Chris appears in a flash of lightning. He asks his new "victims" if they're ready for some fun. Ella and Topher pop up next to him in excitement, and he assures them that humiliation and pain will soon change their enthusiasm. Chris then continues to review the components of the blimp, explaining the emergency exits and parachute packs. According to him, half of the packs are genuine parachutes while others are filled with useless junk. Sky suggests that likely they won't need them. Chris responds with a vague statement about the season having surprises as he presses a button programmed to blow up one of the zeppelin's turbines. The blimp starts to lose altitude, and the competitors, once again in a panic, scramble to each obtain a pack and evacuate the crashing vehicle. Topher offers one to Chris, who declines as he is a hologram. Chef is flabbergasted, as well as angry that he is not a hologram himself. He snatches Topher's second parachute and jumps. Jasmine, Amy, Samey, Topher, Rodney, Scarlett, and Max all find that their packs contain parachutes, much to their relief. While Beardo, Sky, Sugar, Dave, Leonard, Chef Hatchet, Ella, and Shawn all descend without anything to assist them. Ella luckily is able to enlist the help of a nearby bird, which carries her down gently. Jasmine grabs on to Shawn and Leonard, and Sky uses her acrobatic skill to slide down a tree branch and into the lake. Samey lands safely and happily cheers about her accomplishment until Amy uses her to break her fall.
Chris welcomes the contestants and splits them into teams.
After the contestants abandon their packs, Chris places everyone who had a parachute on his right, and everyone who didn't on his left. The right team is deemed the "Pimâpotew Kinosewak", which he has a little trouble pronouncing. He thinks this is Cree for "Soaring Eagles", but Sky corrects him since their name actually means "Floating Salmon". After Chris places these members on the team, Samey tries to change the pronunciation of her name to "Sammy". However, Chris tells her that Amy said that everyone calls her Samey because she is the lesser Amy, and declares that she will officially be called Samey from that point on leaving Samey slightly distraught.
This is so unfair. I auditioned for Total Drama to get away from Amy.
”
Chris names the left team the "Wâneyihtam Maskwak", he thinks this is Cree for "Ferocious Tigers", but Sky corrects him again stating it actually meant "Confused Bears". Chris tears up the paper with the wrong terms and blames Chef for all the confusion because he used a free online translator and Chef accepted that it was his mistake.
He elaborates to the competitors some of the basics of Pahkitew Island, including its lack of anywhere for them to sleep. Building their own shelter is their very first challenge, with the teams being instructed to settle on different sides of the island. Their objective for the first part is to claim as many pieces of useful supplies as possible while Chef hurls tennis balls at them. The contestants retreat to safety to form strategies. Jasmine automatically claims leadership over Kinosewak and Sky does so for Maskwak. Jasmine and Rodney speak over each other trying to explain their plans. Jasmine confronts Rodney directly insisting they need to get the "important" items.
On the farm, it's just me, my dad, and my five little brothers. I'm kind of used to being in charge. We'll do it her way. It's never wrong to let love be your guide.
It's always the big guys; they're intimidated by me; small guys, too, and most girls. I intimidate people.
”
This causes him to become infatuated with her. Scarlett speaks up informing her that they need to get the wheelbarrow so they can carry their items. In the midst of her suggestion, Samey realizes what she means and attempts to finish her sentence, only to have Amy claim ownership of it. Jasmine finishes giving out her orders.
Shawn flips through the air to evade the tennis balls.
Meanwhile, Maskwak, under Sky's influence, decides to go one by one. Shawn easily evades Chef's fire due to his zombie survival training. Shawn enters his range, grabs a can of cream of broccoli soup, and quickly escapes.
Meanwhile, Dave is frustrated by Shawn's worthless get. Sugar tries to reassure him by acknowledging Leonard, the "wizard on their team."
Topher climbs the boulder that Chris and Chef are stationed on. He asks if Chris is about to throw to a commercial break, as he has always wanted to see him do so live. Chris obliges, appreciating Topher's "intelligence," and cuts to commercial as the latter applauds him.
Beardo spends too much time making sound effects, being of no help to his team.
After the break, Chris has Chef throw Topher back into the challenge. As he lands, Ella dances by singing to her bird friends. Chris is simultaneously annoyed and confused.
I was a huge fan of Total Drama World Tour, and just because we don't have to sing anymore doesn't mean we can't sing.
”
Back in the challenge, Ella happily announces her retrieval of a bucket of glitter. Leonard is enthralled. Dave and Sugar, on the other hand, are infruiated by her. Sky tells Dave to serve as a decoy while Beardo grabs the supplies they need. Dave draws Chef's attention after being pushed out into the line of fire. Beardo aims to collect something, running in slow motion and makes the sound effects to match. Dave tries to snap him out of it, but Beardo collapses when he is hit in the crotch. Leonard attempts to stop Chef's barrage by using magic, to no avail. Sky uses a spare piece of wood to deflect one of Chef's shots and send it back to him. He is hit in the face and given a black eye, with the challenge ending soon after.
Chris announces that whatever the contestants currently have is what they will use to build their shelters. Max roams around looking for an "evil lair," while practicing his evil laughter, and goes inside a cave, where he instantly is spooked away by a swarm of bats chasing after him.
It was very dark in there. I prefer something less spooky, not to worry, no rush, plenty of time to evil!
”
As Jasmine orchestrates the creation of Kinosewak's shelter, a tree house, the team hears construction noises coming from Maskwak's side. Samey questions what they could build, but Jasmine doesn't care, simply telling everyone to work even harder. It is then revealed that Maskwak actually hasn't made any progress; the noises were just Beardo trying to psych out the other team. Leonard suggests that they build a wizard tower, which earns the approval of Ella, Sugar, and Beardo. Dave remains reluctant, but Sky reasons that, as there was a majority vote, they have no other choice. He agrees under those conditions.
Team Maskwak watches as Beardo takes the Cannon of Shame.
Jasmine hammers the final nail into the roof of Kinosewak's treehouse. Chris, wearing his jetpack, compliments it and commends their decision to place it above ground. Max questions why and soon finds out when he is trampled by a herd of moose. Team Maskwak completes its wizard tower around the same time, and Dave says that their shelter is useless, but Leonard brushes it off saying that it's still not done, not until Sugar sprinkles it with glitter. Then, Shawn wanders off, confusing Dave.
Spend the night with a bunch of strangers who could turn into zombies while I'm sleeping? Ha! No, thank you.
”
When the moose run by, the tower survives. That is, however, until Leonard touches it, which causes it to fall as Leonard casts a "force field spell," which surprisingly leaves him unharmed. Chris declares their team the losers, and that they will have no shelter to live in for the rest of the season. At the first elimination ceremony, where Beardo and Leonard are in the bottom two: Beardo for not doing anything helpful whatsoever, and Leonard for coming up with the idea of building the wizard's tower that was a failure. In the end, it is Leonard who receives the final marshmallow. Beardo is put in the Cannon of Shame, the new elimination device, and as he is blasted off he yells that it was nice to meet everyone surprising his team. However, Chris doesn't care and signs off the episode afterward.
This is the first episode since "Ice Ice Baby" (Revenge of the Island) to not feature any contestants from the first generation cast. Additionally, this is the first episode since "Hawaiian Punch" (World Tour) to not feature any contestants from the second-generation cast.
As such, this is the first time since her debut that Zoey did not appear, as she appeared in every episode of the previoustwo seasons.
Sky is revealed to understand Cree, being able to correct Chef's translations.
The contents of each fake parachute were:
Beardo: A chicken and its egg.
Leonard: Tambourines.
Ella: A teddy bear with its own parachute.
Dave: Feathers.
Sugar: Trophies and a tiara.
Sky: Cats.
Shawn: Hotdogs.
Chef Hatchet: Meat and chef hats.
This is the first episode since "Eat, Puke, and Be Wary" where more than one character shares the same voice actor. In this case, Chef Hatchet, Leonard, and Beardo (voiced by Clé Bennett), as well as Amy and Samey (voiced by Bryn McAuley).
This is also the first episode since "Walk Like an Egyptian—Part 2" (World Tour) where three characters share a voice actor in the same episode.
Before the episode aired, a storyboard of part of the episode was leaked online. It appears that some of the original plans have been cut from the final version.
Beardo was originally making robot sounds and walking like a robot during his attempt to retrieve supplies from the garbage pile instead of running in slow motion.
Also, Dave and Chef's reactions to this could be seen on two separate small screens.
After Leonard's tower falls over and Leonard is revealed to not be hurt, a piece of the tower falls and hits him on the head as he celebrates.
After retrieving the bucket of glitter, the birds that are following Ella are injured, unbeknownst to her.
There was one more Sugar confessional that was shown at the beginning of the elimination ceremony, along with Dave's, Leonard's, and Beardo's.
During the campfire ceremony, Sugar ate Leonard's marshmallow.
This is the second time Cartoon Network has aired two episodes together.
When Beardo is eliminated, the sound effect he made is from the Pac-Man series whenever Pac-Man loses a life.
Furthermore, Beardo making the Pac-Man sounds is quite likely a reference to Larvelle Jones from the Police Academy franchise (played by Michael Winslow, who was the inspiration for Beardo), as one scene features Jones playing an imaginary Space Invaders arcade game where he provides all of the game's sound effects.
Goofs
Chef falls off the zeppelin first, followed by Topher; however, Topher appears first, followed by Amy, and then Chef in the next scene.
On the blimp, hologram Chris says there are seven parachutes, and seven non-parachutes. However, there is still one for Chef.
When Jasmine runs out of the blimp, she has no parachute on, despite putting it on earlier and wearing it while falling.
When the contestants are shown falling, Amy first appears after Topher with Samey missing. They are later seen together before they pull their parachutes open.
The two lines on Samey's hair don't connect where they should be, and parachute strings in the wrong place.
For a brief second, when Amy lands on Samey, the two lines on the one side of Samey's hair do not meet at the top of her hair.
The cleft on Rodney's chin disappears when falling and slowing down with a parachute.
When Rodney hugs Topher, Topher only has three fingers instead of four on his right hand.
One of many scenes where Scarlett's skin color is paler.
Scarlett's skin tone changes a few times in this episode to a paler color:
When Chris told where the exits are during a scene on a blimp.
When she landed on the ground after falling with a parachute.
Briefly before pulling the cart with Max on it.
While building the house for her team along with Topher.
When the contestants meet at the challenge meeting area right after the challenge.
On Netflix's summary for this episode, it states that there are sixteen new contestants when there are fourteen.
When Max is first introduced, he has his original hair design instead of his final one.
Jasmine is missing her ponytail when Chris checks her team's treehouse.
