Dial M for Merger

'''The merged teams all face off in a spy challenge with bombs and lasers. But most noted, false alarms. One camper trusts their brain as another blackmailed the other players, but two people won the challenge, a trip to... a cheese factory!'''

Plot
The episode opens up with LeShawna complaining about the show's food. She then notices the other six remaining contestants glaring at her. They are once again angry about LeShawna insulting all of them. LeShawna asks for her own team to support her, resulting in Harold sarcastically cheering her name, and Duncan admitting he doesn't trust anybody anyway. Lindsay attempts to get into the girls' trailer, but when she touches the door handle, a camera comes out of nowhere. It scans her face, says "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" The stairs give way and Lindsay falls to the ground, and into a ditch. Duncan runs over to her, only to be shot in the neck and fall in the pit himself. Courtney runs to Duncan's aid, (calling him "Dunky"), and is hit into the pit. LeShawna, Justin, and Beth run into the boys' trailer for safety (locking Harold out). In the confessional, Harold talks about being worried that the producers are really trying to kill the contestants. An intern knocks him out with a stick. Justin worries what happened to Harold. Beth becomes worried, but Justin tries to help her by telling her to focus on his beauty. She begins crying, making Justin think he's hideous. A gas bomb is thrown though a window, releasing gas that knocks out Beth, Justin, and LeShawna.

Everyone wakes up in a cave. Beth accidentally elbows Justin in the eye, giving him a black eye. Justin runs off to find ice. Justin sees his reflection in a mirror, and once again thinks he's a hideous freak, and that his modeling career is over. Courtney loses her PDA, but Beth finds it and gives to to Courtney. Courtney accuses Beth of stealing it again. Chris appears on a projection and (in a bad Russian accent) tells the castmates that the challenge is based on the spy movie genre. Chris says that the castmates will need to defuse a bomb, and jump from an exploding building. Courtney asks if anybody has experience with bombs, and Lindsay claims to, but confesses that she was in a musical that "bombed."

Chris then announces that as of now the teams are merged and it's every camper for themselves. The castmates try to find an exit and Justin finds one by accident. It leads to an elevator that leads to a fancy water tower. Chris then appers on a hologram screen and tells them they must get the bag in the glass at the center of the room. While they think it's easy it then shows that they also have to avoid the laser beams, which can slice them in half if they aren't careful. LeShawna, Harold, and Duncan finally decide to form an alliance during the challenge. Beth and Lindsay fight about how they got stuck between laser beams, and Justin has some issues thinking for himself. Courtney shows her flexibility by jumping around the lasers and getting the bag. Once she gets the bag, she finds out that there are just wire cutters and a grappling hook in it. LeShawna then remembers that Chris mentioned jumping off of an exploding building, and Chris begins the ten second countdown. Everyone begins to say how they don't want to die and that they'll miss each other's smiles, and Chris then begins to laugh hysterically after he tells them it was just a joke. But then he begins the real countdown.

Courtney (being the only one with a grappling hook) offers the other players a quick escape, in exchange for half the prize money from whoever won the show. Although hesitant, the other cast mates agree and Courtney gets them all out. The next challenge is disarming a bomb (which are explosive timers on trash cans), should anyone fail to deactivate their bomb, it will explode and cover all in smelly garbage. Courtney tries to contact her lawyers to get her the best disarming experts, but is unable to reach them. Lindsay decides to cut the blue wire (as it it the most fancy one). Courtney is hesitant to trust her, but tosses her the cutters. Lindsay cuts the wire and successfully deactivates her bomb, the other cast mates (in various ways) cut their blue wires. Courtney's bomb is then deactivated after she cuts the wire. The cast mates relax, until they realize they can still hear the ticking. The other bombs explode and Chris (from a safe distance) says that the producers aren't gonna program all the bombs the same way, it would be too easy. The other cast mates bathe in a tomato juice pool to get the smell out, Courtney joins them (after being forced to call off her earlier deal). Chris then tells Lindsay and Courtney that they've won a tour of a cheese factory, though they refuse to take it. Still unable to reach her lawyers, Courtney sighs and dunks her PDA in the tomato juice.

Quotes
Courtney: (in confessional) And that's the only million LeShawna will ever see. My lawyers are working on it right now. Courtney: Door, meet door knob. Lindsay: Oh, yeah! Justin: Beth, it's gonna be alright. Just focus on my calming beauty, and my soothing complexion. Beth: (cries) Justin: Ah! I'm hideous! Beth: I'm so sorry! Are you okay? (Beth touches his elbow) Justin: Ah! I bruise easier than a clingstone peach. Must prevent swelling...I need ice! Ice! (Justin runs away, then looks at himself in a mirror) I...am...a hideous beast! No one will ever hire me again! My modeling career is over! I'll have to go work in the circus as one of those...circus freaks. LeShawna: Jamaican? More like Japanese. Courtney: No, Swedish! Beth: French! Harold: Kinda sounds Italian to me... Chris: Um...hello? It's Russian. Lindsay: Oh, I do! I do! Lindsay: (in confessional) I was once in a musical about the environment called 'The Three Rs.' I was recycle and my best friend Marci played reduce. She paints her nails grapefruit, just like me! Anyway, only three people showed up and the director said it bombed so, yeah. I know a thing or two about bombs. Duncan: I don't normally trust technology, but in this case I'll make an exception. (He follows Courtney) LeShawna: Honey, that direction only leads to a broken heart and tears on your pillow. LeShawna: You've got to be kiddin'. You're willing to bargian...with our lives? Courtney: Uh, duh. And the offers better be good. I already have a PDA. Lindsay: Well, how about a bottle of my face brightener? Papaya's really good at perking up an ashey complexion. Harold: My prized action-figure Transistor man, still in the box? Beth: My French maid's outfit? What? I played a French maid in the school play. Courtney: Sorry, none of these pathetic offers interest me. Harold: What do you want, Woman? Time's running out, can't you see? Courtney: I share the prize money with you 50-50 if you win... Lindsay: Oooh, look at all those different colored wires! Ooh, that one matches my toenails. And that one matches my eyes, and..oh! That one matches my hair! Duncan: Shouldn't an uber geek like you know which wire to cut? Harold: Shouldn't an uber delinquent like you know how to defuse a stinkbomb? LeShawna: Oh yeah, this alliance is working gangbusters. Courtney: I'll e-mail this pic to my lawyers. Those sharks'll have a bomb expert back to me in seconds! (her PDA beeps) Out-of-office reply? Nobody sends Courtney an out-of-office reply! Especially not when I'm paying them 20% of my settlement! Justin: OK, brain, now's the time to bring it...eeny, meeny, miney, moe...Oooh! Or is it eeny, miney, meeny, moe...brain, don't be messin' with me now! Harold: (lifting up his pants, showing a yellow spot on his underwear) Yeah...nearly...
 * LeShawna: I keep eating like this, and my booty's gonna get fiddy!
 * LeShawna: I've said I'm sorry for the teensy spa lie a million times!
 * Lindsay: (to door) Door? It's me Lindsay...from this morning! You remember!
 * Harold: (in confessional) I used to think the producers were mean. But now I think they're actually trying to kill us! If you ask me, it's a conspiracy to- (An intern knocks him out by hitting him in the back of the head with a stick)
 * Beth: We're all gonna die!
 * Justin: (After Beth elbows him in the eye) My eye! My beautiful, un-insured eye!
 * Duncan: Dude, what's with the bad Jamaican accent?
 * Courtney: Does anyone know anything about bombs?
 * Courtney: The GPS indicates that there is an exit somewhere over there.
 * Justin: Now that I'm a hideously deformed circus freak, I have to rely on my brains to win this thing. You hear me brain? Yeah, I'm speaking to you!
 * LeShawna: Fitting under there is not gonna be easy for this bountiful booty.
 * Justin: (in response to the challenge) Brain, got any ideas?
 * Beth: What kind of BFF are you anyway?!
 * Justin: Okay, brain, it's all up to you. I know you haven't had a lot of exercise in the past um... sixteen years, give or take, but you can do this.
 * Duncan: (in confessional) Nothing grips my wheel more than a chick with a furious spin-heel-flying jump kick. After that mixed matial arts display, Courtney shot way up on my "you're all right" meter.
 * Courtney: Uh, not so fast. What do I hear for a ride to freedom?
 * Chris: (while scene is paused) I knew there was a reason we picked Courtney. She's nasty. I love nasty.
 * (the cast runs to the bombs)
 * Harold: Get ready for the fireworks!
 * Beth: I nearly peed my Pants!
 * Justin: Brain, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
 * Duncan: (after seeing Courtney flip through the lasers) If I were a wolf I'd howl...oh, what the heck. (Howls)

Trivia

 * Title Reference: This episode's title is a reference to the 1954 film, Dial M for Murder. This is the first episode where the title and the challenge are drawn from different movie genres--murder mysteries and spy movies, respectively.
 * The Killer Grips and Screaming Gaffers are merged in this episode.
 * During the 6teen parody, Harold is in the place of Wyatt and Justin is in the place of Jude when they are playing music.
 * Due to their being seven people (as opposed to the original six) the 6teen parody features an extra square in the begining.
 * In this episode, Courtney coerced all of the other contestants into splitting the prize money with her, 50-50, if they win, but was later coerced herself into calling off the deal.
 * The prize was an all-expense paid trip to a local cheese factory.
 * This is the sixteenth episode of the show and the teams merge, whereas in the previous season, they merged in the fifteenth episode after a one-off "halftime show", rejiggering of the teams in episode #14. The teams merged later in season 2 because Izzy and Courtney returned before the merger, whereas Eva and Izzy returned after the merger in Season 1.
 * The 6teen parody is an abbreviated version of that show's opening titles, with the seven remaining contestants standing in for the main 6Teen cast.
 * In this episode, LeShawna sucessfully made the alliance she had been trying to make since One Flu Over the Cuckoos, even though Heather, who she originally wanted to make the alliance to get rid of, was eliminated in the previous episode.
 * If you look closely during the 6Teen musical reference, at one point Courtney's hands are around Justin's waist.
 * This episode reveals that Courtney is lactose intolerant, making her the second (known) one to be so.
 * Although Courtney claimed to have no use for the cheese factory tour, a preview for the next episode shows her boarding it off-screen.
 * The scene of Courtney going through the lasers is a reference to the film Entrapment.
 * There are many references to the James Bond film's franchise:
 * 1) In the beginning of the episode when Chris appears in front of the camera throwing a tomato on it.
 * 2) The scene where Courtney is hit by a bowler hat, making a reference to Oddjob, a villain from James Bond franchise.
 * Although Beth was confirmed to have dotted eyes in Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island!, this episode now fully confirms it as her glasses were off completely.
 * Beth nearly wet her pants in this episode.
 * LeShawna, Harold and Duncan form an alliance in this episode. Noteably, LeShawna had once tried to form an alliance between each other in One Flu Over The Cuckoos, eight episodes ago.
 * Though LeShawna says that the alliance is a secret, she mentions it aloud many times.
 * Since Courtney dunked her PDA in the tomato juice, it is not likely it will appear again.

Goofs

 * Justin was not shown with his black eye in many scenes of the episode.
 * The time on the countdown appears to be shorter than three minutes, though this is common in cartoons.
 * The countdown in the building is also much longer than thirty seconds, although this is common in cartoons as well.
 * The Screaming Gaffers and Killer Grips logos appear during confessionals after the teams are dissolved.