User blog:TDFanatic52/Total Drama Island Review Episode 2- The Big Sleep

It is the third episode and the contestants are already tired. But not me because the plays here have been like coffee. Wait... I hate coffee... now I'm wondering what wakes me up in the morning. Anyways, I’m TDFanatic52 and this is the review blog for the third episode of Total Drama. It is time to review The Big Sleep!



What an exciting episode, let me tell you that. We are here to talk about the first ever TD alliance, Heather’s thieving, the blossoming romance of Gwen and Trent, as well as the elimination. We will also talk about the various methods the contestants used during the challenge.



This episode marks the very first episode to have an alliance form. Heather became the leader and asked Beth and Lindsay to join her. However, in the confessional, Heather said that she needs two people to join up with her. In a way, this benefits Heather considering that Beth and Lindsay aren’t the brightest bulbs in the first place and since the contestants are half awake to begin with, there isn’t much thought being processed in either of the two girls’ mind when Heather said, “So you’ll do everything I say then?” The thought of making it to the final three out of 22 contestants is big enough, but Heather does have to realize that she needs a lot more than two others to help her out.

But here is the downfall of this alliance: all the contestants are at the campfire pit. And with the way Lindsay squealed, it probably didn’t take long for anybody to see what was going on. Good strategy and idea, Heather. But the timing was the worst thing you could’ve done. Not only that, but talking about strategy to Lindsay while people are around you DURING the challenge?



Right out of the ballpark is Heather’s thieving. Well, it is more like found and keeping it until just before the campfire ceremony. In a long story short, Eva tucked her MP3 player in her pocket while going to the bathroom. The music player fell out. Heather notices and stretches to pick it up. Heather is making a big play by keeping the player around her. There is a flaw in her plan, if I might add. Eva is at least smart enough to know where she put her MP3, unless she has it in the wrong pocket. She also made it to be one of the last 5 campers still awake in the Awake-a-thon challenge. So Eva’s temper must’ve happened before the challenge ended when Heather was also kicked out and Eva was looking for her player.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It is a good move, but since Eva made it into the final five for this challenge, I am guessing that she forgot about it until the last minute. This is what I am calling a goof by the producers. If Eva made it to the final five without the music, then why is Heather counting on her attitude before the campfire ceremony? It would’ve made more sense for Eva’s temper to go off during the challenge rather than before the campfire ceremony.

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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">What I am going to talk about next is arguably (and probably) one of the best showmances in Total Drama history. The showmance and romantic interest of Gwen and Trent. Though they showed first signs of interest in the first episode, a good portion of this episode was dedicated to both Gwen and Trent. Even after Owen’s stark sleepwalk, they are still shown to help each other in the challenge. But let’s not forget the little flirting Trent said to Gwen at the beginning of the challenge.

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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">We will now analyze the different strategies the campers used to stay awake. I will only count the campers that have an unusual strategy than the rest, given that most of the contestants pretty much sit and do, or say, nothing.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Owen: hyperactive, moving quickly.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Eva: listening to music

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Lindsay: standing on her head.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Beth: Standing on her head.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">DJ: tying himself to a tree

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Courtney: constant movement

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Gwen: talking to Trent, stargazing, watching Katie and Sadie sleep

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Trent: talking to Gwen, stargazing, watching Katie and Sadie sleep

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Justin: painted eyelids (busted by Eva, but points for creativity)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"> ·           <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Duncan: I am going to assume that he waited for Harold to fall asleep first just to do the pee-pants-with-cup-of-warm-water trick.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It is now time for the eliminations, my favorite part of any reality game show. Obviously, thanks to Heather’s scheming, Eva got the boot. However, this eliminated contestant did recognize her wrongs (anger), but it was too late to do anything. In the confessional after the marshmallows have been passed out, Courtney exclaimed that being a “total raging psychopathic and expect people to forgive you” won’t cut it. However, she did exclaim all of Eva’s useful traits to the team: toughness, strength, swiftness…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I cannot do a whole lot of injustice to this elimination strictly because it was a last-man-standing-wins-for-team challenge. And all Eva needed was six votes against her. The six that was at the cabin before the ceremony were Katie, Harold, Tyler, Courtney, DJ, and Bridgette. Six is the magic number to get eliminated. But include Katie’s friendship with Sadie, and you have seven-to-three. And that is the best Eva can get after the elimination.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But I can injustice the fact that this was personal. Eva does have temper issues, but with the game so early and the Bass voting strictly on how a person acts or says is a terrible strategy. There are times when personal votes do matter. But no matter how personal they are, using them within the first few challenges of the game isn’t the best strategy. As we see in later episodes, maybe this was the right move as who knows what Eva could’ve done in the kitchen or in the woods.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But if not Eva, than who? Duncan might be an option, but he did outlast his other teammates. Katie and Sadie? Harold since marathon-related challenges won't be in his best favor? I'm going to leave it up to you guys. If Eva wasn't eliminated in this episode, than who would it have been? Please make sure you leave a good reasoning that relates to the last 2/3 (depending on how you view NSHCP 1&2) episodes only.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Now, what will happen if the Gophers had lost this challenge. Not a single Gopher from this challenge would be eliminated. Heather did form an alliance within earshot (big mistake) but as of right now, she hasn’t made as who the target will be if the team lost. The most presumable option would be Gwen as she was the last Gopher standing and, if the team had lost, lost the challenge for them. Or Owen considering that he was the very first person out during the challenge and not being the most fit contestant on the team. Noah is also a possibility considering that he lost consciousness during the endurance and who knows what time Noah fell asleep around. In all honesty, it’s a pick your pick and vote them out roulette if the Gophers lost.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">If I had to choose one contestant from this episode who should receive a gold star, it will be Heather. Clearly she started to play the game on a strategic level than what the others are doing.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As always, be sure to comment your own thoughts about this episode below. If there is any that I missed that you would like to discuss or would like to debate me on my reasons behind certain key points this episode, do not even hesitate to leave a comment. DO IT.