Masters of Disasters

'''It's a disastrous time for the cast mates on TDA, with earthquakes, lava and floods. The disasters get much worse as Owen is injured during the first challenge. Then the rest of the cast faces certain danger when they find themselves in deep water. '''

Plot
The cast mates are eating breakfast while Harold is complaining how he misses DJ's cooking. Beth then states she has a boyfriend, to which no one believes her. She then says she met him at the orthodontist while she was getting her braces off and starts telling them his facts, but then Justin reveals she's just reading a fact card. Harold then starts to talk about a kidney transplant while the rest of the cast starts to mock Chef's cooking (except Owen who says he loves it). Chris then comes in and reveals this week's genre is disaster films.

The first challenge that the cast mates face is the Earthquake of Inevitable Pain, in which the teams run through an obstacle course to the top of track hill. Beth then says here boyfriend once had a job cleaning up after earthquakes and landslides, though no one believes her yet. The two teams run through the course, at first they think it's easy until they learn that the course shakes like and earthquake. In addition, Chef tosses objects at the cast mates as they hurray through the course, as well as lava (hot tomato soup) spewing from the top of the track and hail (golf balls). The Gaffers reach the top, while Owen is critically injured after getting hit in the mouth by Chef's unpublished book. Due to Owen's injury, the Grips win the first part of the challenge. Owen is then sent to the hospital and the castmates all show considerable anger at Chris for his lack of remorse for the incident.

The Grips get word that Owen is in the hospital with a hurt jaw that will be healed in four to six weeks, though Chris tries to make it wound less bad. The next challenge is escaping from a leaking submarine. Since Owen was sent to the hospital, Chris gives the Grips a code of numbers. Beth once again says her boyfriend was a lifeguard, to which Izzy yells that he doesn't exist. The two teams notice two tubes that can get them out. Beth learns that the bottom one is a combination lock and Izzy pulls out the code that Chris gave the team. Justin and Lindsay fight over who opens the lock, but drop the note in the water and ruin the code (to which Izzy gets mad). The water then causes the two teams to float upward. Both teams open the top hatches, the Grips find a shark in theirs while the Gaffers find fire. Chris decides to shut off the challenge due to the water being to high. Chef pulls the trigger, but it breaks. Chris desperately tries to get them out (since dead contestants means the end of his great life), but Chef doesn't listen. Harold wins the challenge for his team by making a snorkel out of the bendy straws he collected and getting the bottom hatch open.

With Harold winning the challenge, the Gaffers are given the award of going to British Columbia, where they will stay on a little hut near a volcano and a hike up the mountain. But angered that they almost drowned, the Gaffers refuse the award. They instead get chips and soda. Owen returns to the set in a wheelchair, with his jaw stitched back together and stuffed with pain medicine. Chris allows him to eat with the Gaffers as long as he doesn't tell anyone what happened. After Chris ends the show, Owen starts to go crazy, to which Chris says it must be the pain meds.

Quotes

 * Harold: I wish DJ was still here! His cooking is awesome; this is totally grossinating!


 * Izzy: (in the confessional, regarding Beth's boyfriend) Ooo-kay. I've bought a lot of stuff off of late night infomercials but I'm not buying that!


 * Beth: My boyfriend had a summer job cleaning up after earthquakes and landslides. Izzy: Nope, still not buying it! But I did cave in and buy the electronic salad spinner! (makes a scratching noise) Woo Hoo!


 * (Owen pukes as the set is shaking) Owen: My precious lunch! Lost forever! Chris: That reminds me... it's lava time!


 * Chris: It's getting hot in here. How about a cool, refreshing hailstorm! (we see Chris in a golf cart with a golf ball shooting gun) Chris: Golf ball sized hail is bad; Hail sized golfballs are even worse!


 * (Chef pulls out a giant green book) Chef: Ahhh, my unpublished manifesto. I've lived a lotta years! (he hurls the book at Owen nailing him in the mouth) Owen: Ouchie! That'll hurt come morning. Izzy: Oh, no! Owen! Are you okay? Chef: My editor was right. My life really is dangerous!


 * Izzy: (in confessional) Owen is my buddy; he's the only one who truly gets me. If something happens to Owen, I'll be stuck with my imaginary friends, and let's face it, I should have ditched them years ago! (taps her head) Yeah Phil, I'm talking to you!


 * Izzy: Ugh! I'm surrounded by loons!! Justin: Where? Lindsay: I love ducks! (Izzy runs off in annoyance)


 * (Owen mixes soda and chips in a blender) Owen: Hey! You got your chips in my pop! You got your pop in my chips.

Trivia

 * It is revealed that Harold had to have his kidneys swapped because he had a rare kidney condition that had them in the wrong spots.


 * Beth claims she has a boyfriend she met at the orthodontist's in between seasons. (And continues to talk about how great he is throughout the episode.)


 * Owen breaks his jaw when Chef throws his unpublished manifesto (a giant book) at him during the earthquake challenge.


 * The Gaffers found out about LeShawna's fake crying, making Heather and Duncan angry at her for the deception. Harold is considerably more forgiving about the incident.


 * The Gaffers won the reward, but refused it. It was a trip to British Columbia to stay at a cottage at the top of an active volcano.


 * The second disaster challenge occurs on board a leaky old submarine.


 * Chris said that the winner of the challenge would be decided by a score of two out of three, yet a tie breaker challenge did not occur and thus the Gaffers won only by winning the second challenge. It is likely that they were simply given victory as the second challenge went wrong and nearly killed the entire cast.


 * This is the first episode of the season in which Chris shows serious concern for the castmates' safety (though it's only because he won't get paid if they don't survive).


 * The music playing while Harold is opening the hatch is similar to Mission Impossible.


 * During the earthquake challenge, after Chris shoots Izzy with a golf ball, he says "I got one!" to which Chef replies, "Don't get cocky." This is an allusion to the first Star Wars film in the scene where Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are shooting down TIE fighters from the Millenium Falcon turrets (which look similar to the turret Chris uses to shoot the golf balls). After shooting a ship down, Luke yells back to Han "Hey, I got one!" to which Han replies "Great, kid, don't get cocky."


 * Leshawna may have feelings for Harold. When Owen was being loaded into the ambulance, Leshawna put herself into Harold's arms.


 * The skyline of Vancouver, British Columbia is seen as part of the reward prize, allegedly being sent to a cabin on the edge of a volcano on Vancouver Island.


 * The castmates seen in the confessional in this episode are Izzy, Justin, Lindsay, Duncan, Harold, Heather, and Beth. Chris and Chef are also seen in the confessional.
 * When Owen is wheeled back in with his jaw wired shut, he is given chips, soda pop and a blender. He then utters the phrase "Hey! You got your chips in my pop! You got your pop in my chips!" and then mixes them together. In the classic Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercial, someone with a chocolate bar crashes into someone with an open jar of peanut butter and they say "Hey! You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!" "No! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!


 * This may or may not be a goof, but when Owen was getting into the ambulance truck, the bottom half of Heather left leg (Right leg to us) was missing. It's unknown if it was behind the other leg or not.


 * It is shown that LeShawna's hair also puffs up into an afro in the water. Ironically, this never occurs in previous episodes where her hair got wet.