Duncan and Trent

This is about the developing conflict between Trent and Duncan on Total Drama Action.

Overview
During Total Drama Island, Trent and Duncan were actually good friends. After the Screaming Gophers and Killer Bass teams dissolved to gender-based teams in Brunch of Disgustingness, Trent was warmly welcomed to the guys' cabin. When faced with the challenge of this episode, the guys were more than willing to help Trent out due to his weak stomach. Trent and Duncan, along with the other guys, enjoyed a fantastic weekend on a cruise before all teams were officially dissolved. In Search And Do Not Destroy, Duncan was angry when LeShawna told him about his incident with Heather, which broke Gwen's heart. He and several others voted Trent off the island, but realized it was all an elaborate rouse by Heather after the fact. As Trent sailed away on the Boat of Losers, Duncan bid farewell to him, likely feeling regretful that he fell for Heather's trick like the others and voted off the innocent Trent.

Alien Resurr-eggtion
The rivalry began when Duncan and Gwen (Trent's girlfriend at this point) were discussing about their favorite movie, Alien Crunch. Feeling threatened, Trent inserted himself into the conversation and tried his best to fit in, but Gwen and Duncan saw right through him. This made Gwen feel awkward, but Duncan simply dismissed Trent for trying too hard. Gwen, Duncan, Trent, and DJ formed a group for their challenge, which was to find alien eggs and return them safely to home base before getting splattered with Chef Hatchet's slime gun. Trent complained about Duncan in the Confessional cam about how much he and Gwen are turning out to share too many similarities for his liking. Trent also takes the opportunity to insult Duncan's personality, questioning how manly a man who uses hairspray can be. Gwen loses her necklace after Chris dropped a slime bomb on them, which hits Duncan and eliminates him from the challenge. Gwen jokingly makes fun of Duncan for losing, which Duncan laughs back in response. Trent, however, seemed to perceive this exchange as something much more malicious on Gwen's end, saying how much he loved seeing Gwen "stick it to Duncan" even though the verbal exchange was not nearly as nasty as Trent thought it was. Suddenly, Trent was forced to choose between the eggs (one was about to fall and break) or Gwen's lucky necklace (which was about to fall into a sewer grate). He chose the necklace and gave it back to Gwen, but she decided to let Trent keep it. Duncan admits he would have gone for the egg, but mutters "Girly" to Trent when he accepts the necklace, prompting Trent to glare back at him.

Riot On Set
The conflict continues as Trent and Gwen are about choose who they want in their teams. Gwen chose Duncan first for her team, inadvertently making Trent jealous again. In the confessional, Trent feels betrayed and wonders if he really knows the true Gwen. As a result, Trent responds by picking "the beautiful" Lindsay first in an attempt to make Gwen jealous of him. In the confessional, Gwen was well aware of the meaning behind his pick and was shocked that he would be so petty (as Gwen's choice for Duncan was not nearly as enthusiastic). The two exchanged catty remarks at each other while Duncan simply smiled, seemingly pleased that he was the cause of the tension of this relationship. Once the teams are assembled, the challenge is to run up a steep prop hill with backstage equipment like lights, backgrounds, and cameras. Trent insults both Gwen and Duncan after he sees Duncan catch Gwen when she falls, calling them "punk wannabes". While shocked by Trent's sudden nasty streak, Gwen and Duncan resolve to bring his team down. They succeed in doing so, thanks to Duncan's touching performance as a sentimental gangster. After the challenge, Trent and Gwen make amends when she assures him that she and Duncan are just friends.

Beach Blanket Bogus
Though Gwen and Trent have made up, Duncan has now resorted to pranking Trent (similar to how he pranked Harold last season) by loosening the tops of the salt and pepper shakers and causing Trent to accidentally spill all of the salt and pepper on his eggs. Gwen finds the act to be juvenile, but Duncan shrugs it off, and walks over to steal a piece of Trent's breakfast. Unexpectedly, Trent freaks out since Duncan leaves him with only eight pieces left. After he complains to Duncan and calls him weird, Duncan says he is the weird one by fretting over something as trivial as how much breakfast he has on his plate. Gwen cuts in, assuring Trent that she likes weird, and then eats a piece of Trent's breakfast herself to leave seven pieces. She asks if that makes it better for him to have an odd number, and Trent agrees.

The first challenge of the day is being able to stay on the mobile surfboard while dodging various obstacles (such as sharks, high-speed winds, and a barrage of seagulls). Duncan wins this challenge for his team, leading to Gwen giving Duncan a congratulatory hug. Trent is crushed by this and considers Gwen's team a "ticking time bomb of betrayal". By this point he is showing a particular obsession with the number nine, which freaks both Gwen and Duncan out.

After Gwen and Duncan sneak off together to dismantle the bus and Trent's team wins the second challenge, Trent is chosen to participate in the final challenge: a dance-off. Trent figured the way to lure Gwen away from Duncan would be to throw the competition so her team could win, and indeed falls down in the middle of the dance-off, moving and crawling on his back. While he claims it is "modern dancing", Chris Mclean does not buy it and Duncan in particular thinks the moves suck, which makes Gwen's team once again the winners. Trent's obsession with the number nine is still ever-present. Gwen is relieved, thinking Trent's obsession with her is at least not as bad as the "9" obsession, but Duncan points out that the amount of letters of Gwen's name and Trent's name combined makes nine. This makes Gwen feel guilty for being the cause of Trent's mental distress and again tries to mend things at the end of the episode. Duncan still seems rather content in the trauma his closeness with Gwen is causing Trent, although it's possible that he is unaware of Trent's jealousy.

3:10 to Crazytown
Although Trent and Duncan didn't interact that much in this episode, it is most likely that their conflict would never be resolved since Trent had been voted off.