User blog comment:Glenn31/Character Appreciation - Week 24: Heather/@comment-4726418-20170612161935

From my explanations page:

Heather is by default one of my favorite contestants of all time simply due to her being the only one ever who I managed to frequently enjoy in all of her seasons. Admittedly she was a bit too lucky of a villain in TDI. Okay she was really lucky of a villain in TDI. But I think the point of this is to show how unfair it is that Heather gets away with so much scot-free before her inevitable downfall in the penultimate episode. Ignoring that she was still the original villain, and a very entertaining one too. Her cutthroat yet slick attitude made her funny by virtue of either being in-your-face comically nasty or just being deliciously snide about people. Like her or not, she was one of the stand-out contestants from the start. She was a gloriously fun-sucking demon who preyed on people in her way at every turn and it was beautiful. It just makes you wait and wait in anticipation for her inevitable downfall near the end and it could not have been a better pay-off. Having her go through repeated humiliation through dares after humiliating others and losing her hair in a dare while still not TECHNICALLY accepting it and being eliminated for it? It was just a sight to behold and why it's still one of the most well-remembered moments of the show. Even despite all this though, we had some depth added to Heather in the form of the special where it turned out she actually really does hate being mean and it's more of a habit by her, most likely due to her more spoiled upbringing. So even though she had a love-to-hate role, there was insight into her pretty early on that becomes important in her more rootable seasons, such as World Tour.

Her best season, as many agree on, is World Tour. With her profoundly wicked side having been exposed early on in the series, she has to fight her way to the top again in this season and it was a great idea to have the original villain of the show end up being someone you surprisingly root for. She was relentless in trying to win but it was in a more Duncan-esque way where she felt more grounded at it and was easier to emphatize with as a result. Her crush on Alejandro greatly benefits this as, similar to him, it brought out a humanized side of Heather that was sort of lacking before and shown she had compassion too. Their rivalry of who was better at the game yet still having the temptation of each other due to how impressed they were of the other's strategical capabilities made it a versatile interaction.

But it was nearing the end and with only four competitors left, Heather probably was the best possible winner you could have. Having a villain take on an even bigger villain was an idea most shows hadn't really tackled before and Heather's consistently enjoyable self and her one-liners makes it more enjoyable. And after flip-flopping between who to ally with, she finally professes her love for Alejandro but causes her best moment; betraying him at the last second and slapping him down a path from the top of a volcano(<3). And even though there's more than one ending, Heather is still the one who ultimately humiliates the more malovelent contestant which is exquisately ironic for her to do. She developed into her own in this season and was more worth rooting for but thankfully her inner self didn't change too much as she still ultimately valued the million dollars over love in the end. By far the best anti-hero the show has had.

Even in her weaker seasons like TDA and TDAS I still had enjoyed Heather. Under-utilizing her in both seasons made sense anyway due to both being right after seasons she was so prominent and major in. TDA was kind of a prelude of her more calmer WT self while still having her show her ruthless TDI side at times. She was obviously a supporting character but was never a hinderance at all. She was out near the end of the TDAS pre-merge and although she was under-utilized here too, they still wrapped up her storyline with Alejandro pretty well (as weird as it is that she'd hide her idol behind a rock). Them being all lovey-dovey only for them to betray each other AGAIn for money was probably the best thing of an otherwise atrocious finale. Overall she deserves all the acclaim she gets and is definitely one of the best characters.

Best Season: Total Drama World Tour

Best Episode: Total Drama World Tour

Best Moment: Kicking Alejandro in the crotch and landing him on an ice cube before slapping him down a cliff.