Total Drama All-Stars

Total Drama All-Stars is the first half of the fifth season of Total Drama.

Summary
Fourteen of Total Drama's most memorable contestants from past seasons return and face off in the most dangerous challenges yet. This season's cast is comprised of Alejandro, Cameron, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Heather, Jo, Lightning, Lindsay, Mike, Sam, Scott, Sierra, and Zoey. Back in Camp Wawanakwa, the fourteen contestants are divided into two teams, the Heroic Hamsters and the Villainous Vultures and will have to square off for the grand prize of one million dollars. One by one, every contestant will be eliminated and sent home on the Flush of Shame until there is only one all-star left standing.

Elimination
The elimination still takes place around the Campfire, like in seasons one and four, and the symbols of safety are still marshmallows. After an all-star receives the last marshmallow, the eliminated contestant has to take the Flush of Shame, representing their elimination from the competition.

Characters
Fourteen contestants, plus the host, Chris, and Chef Hatchet, the camp's cook and the co-host of the show.


 * Ezekiel appeared in two episodes.
 * Blaineley appeared in an exclusive clip for one episode.
 * Izzy appeared in one episode.
 * Owen appeared in one episode.

History
The new season was confirmed in an interview with Tom McGillis on July 19, 2012, stating that the fifth season would be very similar to the first and fourth seasons, hinting it may take place on the island. The interview can be found on YouTube, here and here.

More information was released about the new season, confirming it to be currently in production through a ReFresh blog post by Tom McGillis on October 23, 2012. It confirmed that the season will be twenty-six episodes long, thirteen of which focus on the original cast in an All-Star season.

Christian Potenza confirmed on his Facebook page that recording sessions for the fifth season have been scheduled for December. That same day, Drew Nelson revealed on his fanpage that Duncan would make some form of appearance this season. On February 3, 2013, Nelson confirmed that Duncan would indeed participate in the season.

Cartoon Network revealed the show's name in their Upfront press release on January 28, 2013 (Total Drama All-Stars), with the description Total Drama is back, but this time the team at Fresh TV have assembled the best loved and most hated contestants from seasons past to compete – Heroes vs. Villains style!.

In a YouTube video posted by Christian Potenza, it was confirmed that Cameron, Mike, Heather, Jo, Courtney, Gwen, Sierra and Alejandro would be returning. Also, it was confirmed that Alejandro would receive a new voice actor, Alex House.

On June 15, 2013, Total Drama creator Tom McGillis confirmed that the season is scheduled to air on Cartoon Network in September 2013 and Teletoon in January 2014.

A full cast list was leaked on August 6 through the Cartoon Network database.

The season aired for the first time on ABC3 in Australia starting December 12, 2013.

The season aired for the first time on Cartoon Network in Australia starting March 3, 2014. (This season also has two of the same episodes on the same day, [Saturday at 10:30 AM and Sunday at 2:00 PM]).

Trivia

 * The first two contestants introduced are the season's finalists.
 * Ironically, the first two veteran contestants were the last two veterans standing in the season.
 * This is the first, and currently the only, season featuring pre-existing cast members where a previous event did not decide the participants.
 * This is the first, and currently the only, season not to feature nudity of any sort.
 * Excluding specials, this season featured the one hundredth episode of the Total Drama series, Zeek And Ye Shall Find.
 * Including the specials, the one hundredth episode is still in this season, being Suckers Punched.
 * Among the original contestants participating, there are five females and two males. This is the reverse for the second generation contestants, with five males and two females participating.
 * Mike, Scott, and Zoey all made it farther in this season than they did in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
 * However, Lightning, Jo, Sam, and Cameron did not.
 * Lightning and Cameron were the finalists of Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, so it was impossible for them to do better.
 * Gwen and Courtney made it farther in this season than they did in Total Drama World Tour.
 * However, Lindsay, Heather, Sierra, Duncan, and Alejandro did not.
 * Alejandro and Heather were the finalists of Total Drama World Tour, so it was impossible for them to do better.
 * Gwen made it farther in this season than she did in Total Drama Action.
 * However, Courtney, Duncan, Heather, and Lindsay did not.
 * Duncan was a finalist of Total Drama Action, so it was impossible for him to do better.
 * Courtney made it farther in this season than she did in Total Drama Island.
 * However, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, and Lindsay did not.
 * Gwen was a finalist of Total Drama Island, so it was impossible for her to do better.
 * Gwen is the only contestant from Total Drama Action to do better this season than in Total Drama Action.
 * Courtney is the only contestant from Total Drama Island to do better this season than in Total Drama Island.
 * This is the first time any of the original contestants have competed on the show since Hawaiian Punch.
 * This is the first season where no contestants return after being previously eliminated.
 * This is the first season to premiere in the United States before Canada.
 * This is the first season to never be edited once by Cartoon Network.
 * This is the first season featuring the original contestants where a former Screaming Gopher is not one of the finalists.
 * This is the first season featuring the original contestants to not have any male Screaming Gophers competing.
 * This is the first season to not have the same team win the first two challenges.
 * This is the first season to feature Alex House, who replaced Marco Grazzini as Alejandro.
 * This is the first season where a former member of the Screaming Gophers is the first contestant voted off.
 * This is the first season where a contestant finishes in the same ranking as their previous season, as Lindsay came in fourteenth in both Total Drama World Tour and this season.
 * This is the first season where Duncan is not the highest-ranking former Killer Bass member in the season.
 * This is the first season where the final four consists of two people from one team and two people from the other.
 * This is the first season since Total Drama Action where the winner is the same in both Canada and the United States.
 * This is the first season since Total Drama Action to not have a name change at some point before its release.
 * This is the second season in which every competing contestant uses the confessional, the first being Total Drama Action.
 * This is also the second season since Total Drama Action where no one ends up bald.
 * This is the second season where both finalists are members of the same team, the first being Total Drama Island.
 * This is the second season in a row where Scott and Zoey make it to the final four.
 * This is the second season where Gwen makes it to the merge, the first being Total Drama Island.
 * This is the second season to merge at the final eight.
 * This is the second season where both members of a couple are the finalists, the first being Total Drama World Tour.
 * This is also the first season since Total Drama World Tour where the antagonist of the season is in the final two.
 * This season features the earliest merge in the show's history so far, with the merge occurring in the eighth episode.
 * This season features the longest streak of consecutive irregular eliminations out of any season in the show's history, with four.
 * This season features the lowest amount of writers, with four.
 * This season features the closest margin between the two teams' numbers of victories and losses out of any season so far, as one team won four times, while the other team won three times.
 * Also, in terms of the number of people eliminated from each team prior to the merge, this is the first season where it was a tie (even though the teams themselves remained uneven): three Hamsters and three Vultures were eliminated before the merge.
 * This is the first time that the better cabin for the winners, doesn't end up getting destroyed, as it was in Total Drama Action and Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
 * Ezekiel, Izzy, and Owen are the only non-competing contestants to make guest appearances this season.
 * This season bears similarities with two seasons of Survivor.
 * Survivor: All-Stars: Both seasons share the same name and consists of contestants from different generations.
 * Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains: Both seasons have the same name for both teams, and the first episode shares the exact same title.
 * This season also introduces a reward of one member of the winning team volunteering for exile on Boney Island, which is similar to Survivor-based concepts such as Exile Island.
 * This season also introduces the new feature of the peanut gallery, where the winning team gets to silently watch the losing team's elimination ceremony. This is similar to the gradually-increasing jury always being allowed to silently watch the post-merge Tribal Councils in every season of Survivor.
 * Also, this season's challenges draw inspiration from past challenges, a common element of  Survivor' s reunion seasons and later seasons.
 * This season, along with Total Drama Pahkitew Island, are the currently the only two seasons that nobody who has been eliminated has returned to compete.