User blog comment:CheeseBurgerGuy/Total Drama: The Finales We Never Got/@comment-32999728-20191213125415/@comment-35606925-20191213171800

I'm not saying that making the top 5 means you are instantly out of the running for ever winning. I'm just trying to say that I don't think the writers wanted the 4th and 5th placing contestants in the previous season to be the finalists of the next. Same with All Stars, but with 3rd and 4th place. It's the fact those characters got that placement in the previous season that is the deciding factor.