Chicken hat

The Chicken Hat is a hat that was designed to resemble a chicken. It is meant to signify that the person wearing it is a chicken; in other words, cowardly. This is shown in Not So Happy Campers - Part 2, when the campers have to wear a chicken hat if they are too afraid to jump off of the cliff during the first challenge.

The chicken hats were first used in Not So Happy Campers - Part 2, where they were given to the campers that refused to jump off the cliff into shark-infested waters. Of the twenty-two campers, only three had to wear it: DJ, Beth, and Courtney. DJ and Beth are simply afraid of heights, while Courtney refused to jump, because she did not want to and underestimated the other team's collective courage. The three were forced to wear these hats for the rest of the day. However, Beth was not seen wearing it later in the episode.



A chicken hat is also used in I Triple Dog Dare You!. This time, Heather has to wear it when she is dared to act like a chicken.

The final time a chicken hat is used is in The Very Last Episode, Really!, where Chris makes Gwen wear a chicken hat before she can compete in the Rejected Olympics. Instead of having a practical or symbolic meaning as it had in its previous uses, it is only used for that part of the challenge as an article of clothing, and does not mean that Gwen is a chicken, nor does it have any significance during the challenge.

In a never-before-seen Polish clip from Newf Kids on the Rock, Owen is seen pulling objects out of a pot, and one of them is a chicken hat. After finding the hat, Owen places the hat on his head and wears it for the rest of the clip.

Trivia

 * Gwen, Beth, Courtney, DJ, Heather, and Owen are the only contestants who have worn the chicken hat.
 * Heather wore it in I Triple Dog Dare You!, Gwen and Owen wore it in The Very Last Episode, Really!, and DJ, Beth and Courtney wore it in Not So Happy Campers - Part 2.
 * DJ, Beth, and Courtney had to wear it for refusing a challenge, whereas Heather and Gwen had to wear it as part of the challenge.
 * Total Drama Action is, so far, the only season in which no contestant wore a chicken hat.