This Is The Pits!

'''The teams are sent down into a cave complex and must navigate their whole team out. One has a hard time trying to impress another while someone's fear causes her team to be separated. Two partners finally reach their breaking point. In the end, no one wins the challenge after disobeying the host's rules, but he decides to make things interesting by splitting up two partnerships.'''

Plot
At Pimâpotew Kinosewak's treehouse, Jasmine wakes up on her branch and hops down onto the balcony, using the roof as a landing. This startles Max and Topher out of their sleep. The former confronts her outside about the noise cutting short his "delightful" dream of being carried like an Egyptian king. Jasmine points out that his "servants" have stuck around, acknowledging the ants crawling over Max's body. He is appalled by the infestation in his bed and calls Scarlett to remove them. She expresses in the confessional that she wants him eliminated. She also realizes that the others will grasp who the true mastermind is as soon as they see how incompetent he really is. Scarlett walks in on him using a magnifying glass as a "death ray," which results in his bed catching fire. She smiles smugly while Topher is put off by it all.

With Waneyihtam Maskwak, Sky dreams about a muscular Dave proposing she be his jungle queen. In reality, he is actually offering her some berries. Sky denies having a crush on him and believes he understands she is focused on the competition. Dave realizes that Sky is hesitant about getting into a relationship, convinced it's because he hasn't kissed her yet. Sugar takes their bonding as proof that they are in an alliance. When Sugar tells Shawn that Dave or Sky could team up to vote off her or him, Shawn indicates that he wouldn't mind voting off Sugar. She recommends to Shawn that they form one of their own before it's "game over" for one of them. Shawn exclaims in the confessional that he'd "rather be eaten by a zombie." Dave attempts to wipe a berry stain off Sky's cheek, but Sugar beats him to it by spitting on her hand and vigorously rubbing it off. Both of them are disappointed at this development, while Sugar is determined not to allow their relationship to progress. Chris calls the contestants to gather for the challenge.

Chris tells the cast that their challenge is to get into hamster balls and run around the island until they cross the finish line. All of the contestants reluctantly comply, except for Jasmine who has huddled on the ground shivering in terror, revealing that she has claustrophobia. Chris tries to snap her out of it by feigning sympathy but has little success, so instead he has Chef pick her up and toss her in. Chris and Chef then push the balls into a long drop that sends the competitors down into a cave. Dave exits Maskwak's ball, followed by Sky, who falls on top of him. Dave is ecstatic as he believes the near death experience will make her want to kiss. However Sugar, still wanting to break Dave and Sky apart, vomits up the berry juice. Sky realizes just in time and steers clear, but Dave who still has his lips puckered for a kiss, opens his eyes to see a stream of puke fly towards him. Being covered in Sugar's puke causes him to go into another panic attack. Topher thinks Chris has pulled a "host fail" by putting them in a situation that they are unable to be narrated. On a television high up on the cave wall, Chris's image appears informing them of the truth: the balls were a trick to lead them to their real challenge, which is to navigate out of the cave. He points out two bags on the side; one contains useful supplies, claimed by Max for Kinosewak, and the other has random, unhelpful objects, taken by Sky for Maskwak. Along the walls is a series of tunnels, some will help them exit safer and faster than others.

Without warning, Jasmine begins to panic and pounds on the walls. The cave shakes, threatening to collapse on itself. Shawn discourages the way Jasmine is acting before Sugar screams so loudly it results in a cave in. The contestants scramble to safety. Kinosewak gets separated as Topher, concerned about his hair, knocks Jasmine into a random tunnel, and it is sealed off by rocks. Scarlett leads Max into another while Maskwak sticks together. Topher provides the still anxious Jasmine with night vision goggles to see. He complains about Chris's stolen phone having no bars, and irks Jasmine by narrating her actions. They arrive to a room where there is a drop. The bottom is blanketed in fog, thus making it impossible to see. Jasmine hugs Topher so forcefully that he passes out. He becomes unable to control his weight, and both descend to the ground. Contrary to their earlier beliefs, they are safe. After a while longer, the phone detects a signal, and Topher follows it to get them out. Their exit is later revealed to be a hole dug by gophers. While Topher starts to go back, Jasmine doesn't allow it and uses his head in order to bust them out from underground.

Meanwhile, Max and Scarlett find themselves in a room full of stalagmites. She finds this strange because of the lack of water on the cave floor. Chris warns them to control their volume as he releases a crocodile. Max's terror from confronting it causes the stalagmites to collapse. The two are unharmed, however, the crocodile is demolished and its interior is shown to be robotic. Scarlett is intrigued, and attempts to put together a remote control which will allow her dominance over all the other robots on the island. The two load into an elevator that Max locates. Before the doors close, he tosses out Scarlett's device. In the confessional, she declares that she officially hates him. The elevator gives them the ability to safety exit the cave off-screen.

Team Maskwak finds themselves in a seemingly normal part of the cave. Dave and Sky attempt to kiss again, but after Sugar burps loudly and awakens a swarm of bats, he ends up kissing a bat instead. Next, they find themselves in a room full of glow slugs, one of which Sugar eats in order to provide a light source for the team. The final room they appear in is a room full of crystals guarded by Scuba Bear, now wearing an abundance of jewelry and known as "Bling Bear." Chris warns them not to take any crystals, but Bling Bear pursues them despite no one having stolen anything. Dave and Sky are confused, but a succeeding confessional shows that someone did, in fact, swipe something: Shawn. The team retreats and jumps into a pool of water. Bling Bear ceases his attack, perplexing Sky since he is wearing the necessary gear to continue. Sugar finds a large hole in the wall, which they use to escape the cave. Much to the disgust of everyone, it leads out the toilet of the confessional.

Chris expresses his aggravation that neither team actually completed the challenge correctly, so both teams lose. At the elimination ceremony, he unveils what would have been their reward, a gourmet dinner, before announcing that it would be the dinner that would be eliminated. Chef then proceeds to set the dinner alight, but burns himself in the process. Chris then notes that one couple, is on the verge of entering "smooch town," and decides to implement a team swap. Although Sky believes that Chris was talking about her and Dave, Chris reveals that the "couple" he was talking about was none other than Max and Scarlett, much to Scarlett's embarrassment as she nervously tries to defend herself that the two of them are not in a relationship. Chris sends Max over to Maskwak and selects Sky to replace him on Kinosewak, devastating Dave.

Cast

 * Chef Hatchet appears, but he has no dialogue.

General

 * Jasmine is revealed to be claustrophobic in this episode.
 * This makes her the second person revealed to be claustrophobic, the first being Gwen.
 * This is the second time overall in the series in which no one wins, the first time being Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon.
 * Beardo makes a cameo in this episode, very similar to Ezekiel's cameo in Basic Straining.
 * Chris and Chef both have fake passports, and the name on the latter's is "Hector."

Continuity

 * This is the only non-elimination episode in Total Drama: Pahkitew Island, and the third time that a season features only one non-elimination episode, the others being Finders Creepers in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island and Moon Madness in Total Drama All-Stars.
 * This episode is also the only one in this category that wasn't the horror-themed episode of the season.
 * The intended prize for the episode was dinner from Darwin's All You Can Eat Food Safari, which Sugar had previously done a commercial for as revealed in her audition tape.
 * This episode is features yet another team swap. In this case, Max and Sky both switch teams.

Goofs

 * Topher stated he couldn't get a signal on Chris' phone while in the cave. However, when the camera zooms on the phone, the phone has a full signal.