Chapter Text
Killer Bass: Duncan, Ella, Ezekiel, Harold, Mike, Rodney, Sadie, Shawn
Screaming Gophers: Beth, Brick, Cody, Dawn, Heather, Lightning, Lindsay, Owen, Sky
Episode 7: Phobia Factor
"Last time, on Total Drama Island! The campers had their survival skills put to the test when they spent the entire night camping in the woods."
"Katie and Sadie's friendship was strained when Katie's sense of direction got them totally lost. Duncan's mad ghost-story telling skills freaked out the Killer Bass, and bears showed up and the Gophers would've spent the night up in a tree if not for Brick and Dawn."
"Cody peed in his pants and then it rained. Basically, no one got any sleep last night. Ultimately, the Killer Bass were the ones on the chopping block, leaving Katie without a marshmallow."
"Yup, the challenge was rough alright, and if I have anything to say about it, today's will be even more brutal. Luckily, I do. What fresh horror have we planned for our campers? Find out next, on Total! Drama! Island!”
(Theme Song)
The scene opened to reveal Sadie still on the Dock of Shame crying as her tears drip into the lake, Mike standing beside her.
"Katie would want you to keep going," Mike tried to comfort Sadie, but she still continued to cry.
This irritated Mike enough to the point where he gasped into Chester. “Quit yer blubbering! Your friend didn't pass away, she left the island!”
Chester tried pulling Sadie away, which wasn't easy since she had a strong grip on the dock, but he was able to get Sadie off, causing her to snap off a piece of the wood.
"Katie! I miss you!" Sadie cried.
The shot cut to the other eight remaining members of the Killer Bass seated around the campfire pit. The sound of crying got their attention and they looked to see Mike and Sadie walking towards them. Mike, who was no longer Chester, was carrying a loudly-crying Sadie, who was still holding on to the ripped piece of the dock.
They both sat down with Sadie hugging the piece of wood she had as Mike said "It was a pretty long goodbye.”
Shawn noticed something that wasn't on-screen. "Why are you guys here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" the conspiracy nut questioned as the scene showed the Screaming Gophers at the fire pit, with Beth holding up a plate of apple pie.
"We brought you some extra dessert after our tuck shoppe party," Brick said. "We thought you might want some."
Ezekiel gave them an odd look. "Why?”
"Real talk," Lightning rolled his eyes. "Owen stank up our cabin and we need some time to air out."
As if on cue, Owen farted. "Yuck!" Sky complained.
Beth walked the apple pie past the fire and presented it to Ella. "EEK!" she yelled, slapping the plate away as soon as she realized it was close to her. It landed close to Cody, who bent over to pick up the plate – the pie itself had landed first, and was ruined.
"Chill. It's just an apple pie," the gap-toothed boy said, scooping up a handful of it.
"Sorry about that," Ella said. "I just haven't been able to trust apples or anything related to it ever since I watched ‘Snow White’."
"I know how you feel," Rodney told her. "I don't like needles, even if my brothers have them in their rooms."
"Pfft," Shawn scoffed. "Why are you afraid of either of those things when we could get attacked by zombies any second?" His eyes darted around the area nervously.
Confessional: Brick
“And then we were talking about our fears by the fire," Brick opened. "Beth hates being covered in worms, Harold's afraid of ninjas, and Heather's frightened by sumo wrestlers."
"Ever since I was born, I hated the dark," the cadet delved into his phobia. "With the creaks, a-and the ‘Who's that?’, a-and the ‘Get away!’. The only reason I'm at the campsite right now is because there's a bonfire lighting the area, and I sleep with a nightlight by my side.”
Confessional Ends
The footage cut back to the campfire pit, where the Gophers were shown to be sitting around it with the Bass.
"My worst fear would have to be thunderstorms," Sky announced.
"Walking through a minefield," Lindsay said. “In heels.”
"Flying, man. That's some crazy stuff," Owen admitted.
"Robots," Dawn said firmly. "They are not what the Earth Mother intended.”
"I'm scared of clowns, eh. Something about their makeup makes me uncomfortable," Ezekiel said.
Mike was next. "Gophers."
"Bad haircuts," Sadie said between sniffles.
"Oh, okay. I change mine!" Lindsay spoke up again. "That's so much scarier than a minefield!”
"Having to defuse a time bomb under pressure," Cody said.
"What are you afraid of, Duncan?" Dawn asked.
Duncan looked worried as the eyes of the other campers were shown to be on him. "C-Celine Dion music store standees..." he muttered quickly.
"Ex-squeeze me?" Cody chuckled. "I didn't quite get that."
"Did you say Celine Dion music store standees?" Lightning asked.
"Ooh, I love Celine Dion!" Lindsay spoke up before growing confused. "What's a standee?"
"They're those cardboard cutout things that stand in front of a music store," Ezekiel explained.
"Don't... say it, dude!" Duncan told Ezekiel with a glare.
"They're like a life-sized, but flat Celine," Ezekiel continued.
"Shut up!" Duncan yelled. "What about you guys?"
"I can't dig fire," Lightning replied. "Well, I guess that’s everybody."
The camera focused on the main lodge the next morning as Chris whistled to gain the teens' attention. "Campers!" he announced. "Your next challenge is a little game I like to call 'Phobia Factor'! Prepare to face your worst fears!"
"Worse than this?" Lightning stated, holding his meal with a fork.
"Now, for our first victims!" Chris continued. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and scanned it quickly. "Heather! Meet us all in the theater! It's sumo time!"
Heather's eyes went wide and she did a spit take after drinking his coffee. The camera switched to show that Brick was the victim of the spit take, much to his unenjoyment.
Chris turned his attention to another player. “Sky! You and me have a date at the top of the cliff…while a thunderstorm comes brewing.” His words caused Sky to gasp.
"Wait, how did they know those were your worst fears?" Lindsay got confused.
Sky remembered the campfire and slumped down. "Because we told them."
"At the campfire last night," Lightning said as the footage flashed back to the clip of Sky confessing her fear of thunderstorms.
“Wait. They were listening to us?” Lindsay asked.
"Girl, you cannot be that dumb. This is a reality TV show, so they're always watching and listening to everything we do," Lightning said.
"That's like…eavesdropping!" Lindsay exclaimed.
"Chef Hatchet!" Chris called. "Didn't you have a special order for Mike here today?"
Chef grinned as he worked the fryer. He thrust a frying basket at the boy with a single object in it – something battered and fried in the shape of a gopher.
Trembling, Mike picked it up and the scene flashed back to show his fear of gophers. Mike looked at the item he was given, bringing it close to his mouth before biting it.
The comedian looked at the broken piece of the fried gopher, and the food burst out to reveal a small gopher, causing him to scream.
"That was hilarious, but you did take a bite out of it," Chris chuckled. “Your team gets a point.”
The scene cut ahead to Chris standing in front of a small inflatable pool with the campers gathered around it. The camera panned across the Bass who looked at the pool in disgust, before the clip of Brick mentioning Beth's fear in the confessional was replayed. The camera then panned over the Gophers, showing Owen fainting before ending on Beth.
The short girl shrugged and hopped the side of the pool, landing with a distinct squish amongst a writhing mass of worms. She emerged moments later none worse for wear, causing her teammates to cheer and earning a point for the Gophers on the on-screen scoreboard. "And Beth sets the bar way up there!”
Lindsay and Sadie were shown next, sitting on a stool in the cafeteria as Chris arrived with two brown and tattered wigs. Sadie and Lindsay's shared fear was shown in another flashback, and just as Chris was about to put the wigs onto the girls, Owen snatched one of them and put it on his own head. The big guy pranced around for a bit before he tripped and hit the wall, and Chris quickly took the wig back and placed both onto the two girls’ heads.
Next was a pan over the Killer Bass who watched Rodney take his turn. He was shown looking scared as he backed up and ran away screaming. Chef Hatchet, holding a needle, chased after him.
Owen was next, his portion beginning with a flashback of his fear. Cutting back to the present, he was shown standing in front of a beat up plane in fear. Chef opened the door to reveal that he was wearing a female pilot outfit, and the scene flashed ahead to Owen screaming inside the flying plane.
The next clip showed Harold in one of the stalls reading a magazine when three figures disguised as ninjas tore through the roof and slid down their ropes to the ground. The dweeb opened the stall and had a staring contest with them before holding up a pair of nunchucks. He spun them around for a bit and started intimidating the ninjas before hitting himself in the head and knocking himself out.
"While he didn't defeat them," Chris announced, "he didn't run away, so I'm counting it!" The Bass got a second point.
The next clip was of Heather, trembling on stage as she stared at a sumo wrestler. The camera cut to show that every camper not already occupied by their personal challenge was watching her along with the host himself.
As the sumo wrestler came menacing towards Heather, in a quick form of thinking, she stuck out her foot, tripping the wrestler and sending him tumbling off-screen.
"Heather stepped up to the plate, scoring the Gophers their second point on the board!" Chris declared. Both teams were tied at two points each.
Meanwhile, Owen was still wailing and screaming about as the plane started to fly upside down.
"Brick began his six-hours of solitude in the dark cabin feeling pretty confident," Chris explained over the cadet sitting alone in his own cabin with the lights turned off.
"I'm not scared," he told himself, though his eyes were darting around. "I just have to stay strong and win this point!"
Sky was next, and she was inside a glass container at the top of the cliff as Chris and Cody stood next to her and a programmed cloud was above the container. Both contestants also had walkie talkies in their hands.
"This cloud above you is programmed to strike thunder," Chris told the athlete. "Stay in this container to win, or just break the glass and lose."
"On the plus side, Chris is letting a friend be with you," Cody reassured her.
"Thanks," Sky said gratefully.
Chris then pressed a button, and Sky steeled herself for her challenge as the sounds of thunder were heard.
(Commercial Break)
The footage focused on the next camper. Shawn's well-known fear of zombies was shown again as a means of transitioning to him standing alone in an oddly desolate part of the woods.
The walkie-talkie in his hands crackled and Chris's voice could be heard once more. "Listen up! I went to the trouble of bringing a couple of these suckers to the island, and," he chuckled darkly, "it looks like they really liked the interns if you know what I mean. Good luck!"
The transmission crackled to an end, but Shawn had already figured out what was going on. Thoroughly on-edge, he snapped his attention towards a handful of shuffling figures emerging from the forest around him. He uttered a single word before bolting for the nearest tree. "Zombies!"
The camera cut ahead to Shawn clinging to the top of a tree. Below him, the group of zombies were slowly making their ascent.
"They can climb?!" he exclaimed in horror. "Everything I know is wrong!" He quickly looked around, and spotted another tree close by. He jumped to it, and nearly bounced off as he desperately tried to grab a branch. He succeeded, but not for long – the impact and his weight caused the branch to snap and Shawn to fall to the undead below.
Eyes wide in fear, he tried to scramble away from them but was stopped by another tree. "Okay..." he muttered nervously, "time for the plan of last resort." He took a deep breath, uttered a battle cry, and charged the zombies.
A montage of kicks, punches, and ill-advised headbutts was shown as Shawn fought his way through the zombies. Strangely, most of the allegedly-mindless things turned and fled in a rather lively fashion. Shawn paid no notice, clobbering zombie after zombie until he stood before a particularly well-put-together one. He went for a punch, but the zombie just ducked and cowered.
"Why'd you duck down?" Shawn asked in confusion. He looked back at the zombie's he'd already beaten and the one before him and came to a swift conclusion. "Wait a minute, you aren't zombies at all!"
The “zombie” took off their rubber mask to reveal an intern as the other interns groaned and did the same.
"Oh man, that was awesome!" Chris said, stepping out from behind a tree. "But yeah, dude, no zombies on the island, I promise." Shawn glared at the host even as the scoreboard dinged to show 3-2 in the Bass’ favor.
The camera cut back to Sky still in the glass box as Cody stood nearby, the cloud rumbling and blasting out lightning bolts. Sky yelped everytime a thunderstrike occurred.
"You’re alright, Sky," Cody consoled her. "Only a couple more minutes."
"And then I can leave, right?" Sky asked.
"Of course," Cody said. “If it'll help, you can talk to me about anything. As a way to distract you from the thunderstorm.”
"Okay," Sky agreed. “So my sister, Jane, has a boyfriend named Jim, but before they got together, there was this school dance, and Jane went to ask Jim out.”
“That doesn't seem too bad,” Cody said.
“But Jane admitted to Jim that she had a crush on him first,” Sky continued.
Cody's eyes went wide. “What?”
"Who stares at a guy and says ‘I like you’?" Sky asked rhetorically. "That's not how it works. You're supposed to write it on a note and give it to a friend of the person you like. Then he tries to pass it to the guy, gets caught by the teacher, and the teacher reads it out loud into class. Everybody knows that!"
"Did Jane even get to go to the dance with her boyfriend?" Cody wondered.
"She did, but they mostly didn't talk to each other at the event," Sky claimed.
“That does sound kind of bad, but you have to give her points for actually getting into a relationship with someone,” Cody complimented. “And they're happily dating, right?”
“Correct,” Sky agreed.
An alarm went off, and Chris appeared. "Nice job Sky! You lasted the full hour," he said as he turned off the cloud, and the scoreboard increased one point for the Gophers.
Confessional: Sky
"Cody has been really nice to me," Sky informed the confessional camera. "But I'm not here to meet boys. I'm here to win," she said seriously, though a blush formed on her face.
Confessional Ends
Cody's fear was shown again before transitioning to him standing next to three tied up trash cans in the woods, which had a bomb and timer on it. "Alright, Cody. This garbage bomb's going off in exactly ten minutes. Everything you need to know to diffuse it is on these schematic blueprints," Chris held up the aforementioned object.
"What?! No way!" Cody exclaimed. "I can't do this!"
"Then, uh," Chris laughed, "I suggest you find a safe place to hide, brah. Later, dude."
Cody was handed the blueprints. "Wait. You're not gonna watch?"
"No way! That's a live bomb, dude!" Chris answered and ran away.
Duncan's clip was presented, and it cut to Duncan standing in front of a life-sized cardboard cutout Celine Dion standee, Chris and the Killer Bass members watching from afar.
"Just one hug, and you're done," Chris told him.
"T-That looks really... real, man," Duncan stuttered.
"She's made of cardboard!" Shawn yelled. “And she's not a zombie!”
"It's ok if you can't do it," Rodney said.
"I'll try," Duncan said. He took a deep breath and started running toward the standee with open arms. The delinquent wrapped the standee in a hug, prompting his teammates to cheer for him and their added point.
"Ha! I did it!" Duncan hollered.
Dawn's clip was shown next, and the scene changed to Dawn sitting on a log when she heard a stomp. She turned around and saw a robot that looked like it had come from a several-decades-old science fiction story. She promptly screamed and ran away. As the aura whisperer ran screaming, the camera panned over to show Chris watching nearby.
"How did you even get that robot here?" Ezekiel wondered nearby.
"All it took was a bribe," Chris grinned. "But I think you've got your own problems to worry about right now."
Ezekiel raised an eyebrow, and the sound of a honking horn got his attention. Slowly, he turned around.
"Hiya! I heard you could use some cheering up!" It was a male clown, all done up in white makeup and full goofy costume, holding a couple balloons. Ezekiel screamed and ran. "I only wanted to show him a few balloon tricks!" the clown exclaimed.
“And since he did not stay and watch, Ezekiel doesn't get the point,” Chris added before an explosion shook him.
"If I have to guess, I'd say Cody just blew himself up," Chris smiled as the shot moved to Cody feeling dizzy. He was also covered from head to toe in garbage.
"Oops. Is anyone here? Girls? Ladies? Anyone?!" Cody mumbled before he walked through the woods uncontrollably.
The camera cut over to Brick, who was still inside his dark cabin. "I'm bigger than the dark… I'm better than the dark…" A whimper can be heard from him.
Chris then came inside the cabin and turned on the lights. "It's been six minutes. You're good to go," Chris announced while a point for the Gophers was earned.
Brick let out a sigh of relief before passing out and falling asleep on his own bunk bed.
The plane had finally landed on the ground, and Owen was glad to get off the plane as the Gophers gained a point.
Sadie and Lindsay were inside the communal bathroom, and their time to wear the wigs were up.
“We did it!” Lindsay celebrated while they looked at their reflections in the mirror. “We made it through the whole day!”
“Ready? One... two... three!” Sadie counted off before they took their wigs off, and they started to gasp.
“I totally forgot how cute you are!” Lindsay said to Sadie.
“Oh my gosh! You are too!” Sadie said back.
The scene cut to a nervous looking Lightning standing apart from the other campers. He stood frowning at a pile of books, CDs, video tapes, and other assorted merchandise stamped with the face of Chris McLean. Chef whistled as he doused the pile with gasoline.
"Alright gang, we're in the ninth inning," Chris said and focused on Lightning. "Lightning," he put a hand on the uber-jock's shoulder, "all you have to do is watch all of the stuff I've ever regretted doing burn to ashes without looking away. Do you understand?"
Lightning nodded, and so did the host. Chef lit a match, and started the bonfire.
An oddly touching tune was played over several shots of Lightning watching the memorabilia get destroyed, the flames reflecting in his increasingly terrified eyes.
The camera focused in on the case of burning video tape, the area around the hosts' smiling face slowly being consumed.
"NO!" a voice cried out, using a fire extinguisher to take out the flames and rescue the tape.
It was Chris himself. "Even if it is just a pile of embarrassing memories," he cried as he pulled more and more things out of the fire, "I can't bear to watch my face be destroyed like this!"
"Does this mean I get the point?" Lightning asked.
"Yes!" Chris exclaimed. "Just help me with this, will ya?"
The footage skipped ahead to Chris standing in front of the campers. "We've got one more challenge set up, and this one is suited for Ella," she winked at her direction.
Ella became uncomfortable. "Wait, you don't mean…"
Ella mentioning her fear of apples was shown again, and the camera flashed to everyone surrounded by a pool of apple juice being stirred by Chef. A diving board was set up behind the pool.
"Your final challenge is to dive into the pool of apple juice," Chris described the challenge. "Doing so will earn your team a point."
Ella was feeling timid and scared at what she was about to do. "Wait! Even if I do make the jump, my team will still be a point behind!" she protested heavily. "Six points won't beat the Gophers' seven."
"Let's make this interesting, then. I'll give you three points if you can complete it," Chris upped the ante.
Ella looked at the pool one last time. "Oh dear," she gulped before climbing up the ladder.
"Don't think about the juice too much!" Mike motivated his friend.
"Okay then," Ella nodded and got on the diving board. She looked down and saw how far the drop was going to be, increasing her nerves.
"I can't do this! I'm coming down!" Ella panicked from the apple juice and climbed back down, causing the Bass to hang their heads in shame and the Gophers to celebrate.
"And there you have it. The Gophers win invincibility this week. Again!" Chris declared.
Confessional: Rodney
“Ella's in danger tonight,” Rodney confessed. “However, I know something that will keep her in.”
Confessional Ends
The scene cut to Owen in the pool of apple juice. "Wow," he chuckled. "It is warm." He then slowly sank to the bottom.
The standard dramatic music played over a shot of the moon, which panned down to show two marshmallows remaining on the plate atop the sole vacant log. "There are only two marshmallows left on this plate," Chris said as the camera zoomed out to reveal Rodney, Ezekiel, and Ella sitting closest to the host.
"The three of you did not complete your challenges today," Chris continued as the camera focused in on the three losing contestants and their nervous looks. "One of you is going home tonight and cannot return. Ev-er." The host smiled in a close-up. "The next name I'm gonna call..." he paused as each of the three camper's faces were shown, "is...Ezekiel!" The prairie boy was shown smiling as he walked over to claim his treat, and Ella and Rodney shared a look of dread.
"The final marshmallow of the night goes to..." Chris began again. "Ella!"
"What?!" Ella exclaimed. "But how?!"
"I told the guys to vote for me," Rodney explained to her. “That's all there is to it.”
“But why would you do that?” Ella questioned the country boy.
"You were likely gonna go home, and I wanted to make up for thinking that you liked me," Rodney admitted. “Besides, I also didn't face my fear as well.” He stood up and began to walk out. "Thanks for voting me off, guys."
Confessional: Ella
“Rodney sacrificed himself to keep me in the competition,” Ella mentioned. “He really is a noble boy, and even though I'm not attracted to him, I will atone for my blunder that led to our loss and make sure his sacrifice is not in vain.”
Confessional Ends
(Roll the Credits)
Courtney - 22nd
Eva - 21st
Noah - 20th
Jo - 19th
Katie - 18th
Rodney - 17th
Killer Bass: Duncan, Ella, Ezekiel, Harold, Mike, Sadie, Shawn
Screaming Gophers: Beth, Brick, Cody, Dawn, Heather, Lightning, Lindsay, Owen, Sky
