Sundae Muddy Sundae

'''The final five take a find the ingredients to create a sundae to feed the host's interns. Someone feeds mistrust between everyone and a traitorous player, ruining her relationships and forcing her to find some way of surviving, either on her own or through an alliance. Another tries to figure out the cryptic meaning of a fallen contestant's final words. Though one appears to reach victory, but a twist in the rules leads her to lose completely, instead it makes the other one the winner of the challenge, and ultimately gets her desserts and her ticket to the toilet.'''

Plot
The episode begins with Mike (still under the control of Mal), ransacking the spa hotel's bedroom looking for the DVD that Alejandro hid. Zoey arrives, and worryingly asks what he is doing, to which Mal tries to pass his actions off as watering plants and dropped one "against the wall." In the confessional, Zoey wishes that she could see inside Mike's head, while Mal evaluates his current situation: the DVD for others to find, Zoey losing her faith, and Mike "on the loose" in his head. The scene switches to wandering Mike, and bickering Chester and Svetlana. They come across Vito performing as a ventriloquist, holding a dummy that resembles Mal. Mike asks him to join them to defeat the evil personality, but before he can answer, the puppet becomes possessed and threatens Mike. He takes action quickly, grabbing the doll and smashing it into Vito's chain. With Vito now on board, the group wastes no time advancing to find the only remaining personality - Manitoba.

In the outside world, Chris makes his daily announcement to meet for the challenge. Chef brings Gwen back from exile on his jeep, and pushes her off in front of the lodgings. "Mike," Zoey, and Courtney approach, asking her how the night was. Gwen states calmly that while she had a wooly beaver after her, she climbed into a tree, and fell asleep looking at the stars. This earns an elated hug from Courtney, as Zoey, with Mike/Mal beside her, welcomes her back and goes to meet Chris. Gwen is taken aback when Courtney seems to mock Zoey, the C.I.T. claiming that she felt a "cutthroat" vibe from her. She suggests they shun her, before asking if Gwen is still mad at her for the Cameron situation.

After some talk, they promise to take each other to the finale. However, in the confessional, Courtney reveals an alternate plan - one she thinks will guarantee her a first place ranking. Showing the camera a chart, she explains that she will take Scott to the final two, believing that he will forfeit the game. She intends for Gwen to go before him, in order to make sure that she doesn't get eliminated prior to that. Mike she admits is a "wild card," but she wants Zoey gone immediately. In the woods, Scott attempts to flirt with Courtney, only to humiliate himself. She laughs with Gwen, who couldn't be happier that Courtney has regained her trust in her. Scott then begins to taunt Mike/Mal and Zoey, but is met with something completely unexpected. Mike/Mal exposes the chart Courtney showed in the confessional. Scott and Gwen are infuriated at the list, and leave as the latter scrambles to come up with an explanation. Gwen vows to take her down for pretending to be her friend all this time, and Scott swears that he will never forgive her for that drawing of him. Courtney ends the chain of confessionals by cursing Mike, and assuring the audience that she will not take the Flush of Shame.

The contestants are greeted by Chris, who shows them two starving interns, and nonchalantly states that he hasn't fed them all week. To honor their needs, the challenge involves making a sundae out of ingredients placed in various dangerous locations around the island. The winner is the contestant whose entire sundae is consumed by one of them. Courtney is fond of this, as she has experience working in an ice cream shop. As the contestants race to the diving cliff, which is covered in man-made snow, she apologizes to Gwen, who calls her "Chartney," and declares that "now it's every woman for herself."

Meanwhile, Zoey wants Mike to explain why he did something as "mean" as revealing the chart. He sweetly tells her that the two of them need to stick together, as they are outnumbered, thanks to Courtney's friendship with Gwen and relationship with Scott. Mike/Mal states that Courtney "kind of had it coming," leaving Zoey to contemplate Alejandro's exit warning of a "greater evil" among them. On the cliff, Scott pushes Gwen down into the snow, determined not to let Courtney win. He is the first to reach the ice cream snowman, but slides across the ice until he ends up hanging from the cliff. When Gwen claims the lead, filling her bowl and sliding back to the ground, Mike/Mal separates from Zoey and rushes to overtake her. Courtney then asks Zoey for an alliance, to be declined, and "Mike" follows Gwen down the cliff. When Courtney and Zoey reach the top, Courtney taunts Scott and tells him that he'll be the one suffering elimination. As Scott manages to recover from the cliff, he slips again and smashes into the ice cream snowman, as a furless bear (which had its fur burnt off by the fire breathing flower) tries to eat it. This leads the bear to attack Scott.

In the swamp, Gwen remains in first place as she approaches the cherries. She is suddenly threatened by an alligator, and Mike/Mal passes her in the race when he forces the animal back down, grabs a cherry, and dunks Gwen into the water as he leaves. Gwen is shocked, labeling him as either "really brave, really bananas, or both," but recovers and stays on his tail. Courtney is next, floating on a log with a swimming Zoey right beside her. Courtney claims a cherry and heads back without trouble, while Zoey becomes the next target of the alligator and soon a bear. Making sure to grab a cherry as well, she shoves a scoop of ice cream into the bear's mouth and flees, as Scott arrives. The scene cuts to Mike/Mal and the main lodge, where the nuts are located...as well as the newly repaired Drama Machine, wielding a mallet.

When Gwen reaches the lodge, he calls her out and the robot turns its attention towards her. He tops his sundae and walks out performing his signature whistle of In the Hall of Mountain King. When the robot gets its mallet stuck into the wall, Gwen grabs a handful of nuts and makes a quick escape, bumping into Courtney. She apologizes again and begs Gwen not to vote against her at the elimination ceremony. Still wanting to be Courtney's friend, Gwen agrees, on the condition that Courtney vote for herself. Courtney protests, but Gwen offers no alternative and goes on to the next part of the challenge. The latter heads for the next ingredient and screams as she notices the robot, as Zoey swiftly comes in, takes some nuts, and runs. Her place is eventually taken by Scott, who is crushed repeatedly with the mallet, allowing Courtney her topping and escape. The third ingredient is chocolate sauce, which forms a pool beneath a fire-breathing flower.

While Mike/Mal is the first to reach it, Gwen takes back the lead as he waits for Zoey. The two share a conversation before Zoey kisses his cheek and leaves to compete against Gwen. Mike/Mal, deciding the challenge is becoming too close for him, takes a large rock and shoves it into the flower before getting some chocolate, causing the flower to explode and burn the chocolate pool into coal. Scott is impressed though suspicious, but doesn't mind using dirt as an alternative. Courtney, on the other hand, is conflicted, but decides to use the coal as opposed to going without sauce. A bird then vomits on top of her sundae. The scene cuts to Gwen, Zoey, Scott, "Mike," and soon Courtney racing to the finish line.

Courtney is the first to cross and cheers, forcing her sundae towards the interns. Chris, at the last second, announces that he is changing this part of the challenge. Instead of feeding the interns, the contestants must eat their own creations until someone cleans their bowl. Everyone except Courtney is delighted by this news. While the other four eat their sundaes, Courtney finds herself unable to stomach hers due to her inability to eat disgusting foods. Zoey becomes the winner of both immunity and the stay at the McLean Spa Hotel. Chris then forbids Courtney from eating anything else until she finishes her sundae.

At the elimination ceremony, Courtney again apologizes to Gwen and asks her not to vote her off. Gwen repeats that she will not do so as long as Courtney votes for herself. Once the results are being tallied, Courtney is being voted off by a 3-2 count and takes the Flush of Shame. As the winner of the challenge, Zoey is allowed to stay at the spa hotel but Chris reveals that she would not be bringing anyone with her this time which makes Mal mad. As Zoey is about to sleep, Chris signs the episode off after popping out of one his self-portraits.

Exclusive clip
Courtney ends up in the sea of an unknown area and to her horror, she is surrounded by two sharks. Just as they are about to attack her, Courtney tells them not to. However, instead of eating her, Courtney insists that they take her sundae in her place, which the sharks are disgusted by. This causes them to vomit all over her, making Courtney cry.

Cast

 * Chef and two interns appear; however, they have no lines.
 * The female intern is heard moaning, but it is unknown who voiced her.

General

 * It is revealed in this episode that Courtney had a job at an ice cream shop for three weeks, but was fired for throwing a scoop of ice cream at a customer for annoying her while she was on her break.
 * While Mal is searching for the DVD in the spa hotel, if one looks underneath Chris's portrait at the right side of the screen, a Gilded Chris Award and the Chris bobblehead from the Total Drama Jumbo Jet can be seen.

Continuity

 * During the recap Chris calls Alejandro "Ale-jerk-o", a nickname Geoff called him in Aftermath: Revenge of the Telethon.
 * As of this episode, Gwen is the final first generation cast member remaining in the competition.
 * This marks the first time since Basic Straining where Courtney is not eliminated with another contestant.
 * This is the second episode of the season where no one gets exiled to Boney Island, with the first being You Regatta Be Kidding Me. This episode also marks the end of exile duty overall.
 * This is the second time a challenge involves preparing food for designated judges, only for it to be changed so the competitors have to eat what they prepared themselves.
 * In both episodes, one contestant's food is too disgusting for them to eat.
 * This marks the second time Gwen, Scott and Zoey make it to the final four of a season.
 * As of this episode, all of the contestants in Total Drama Island's final four have been in the final four twice.
 * This episode marks the first time the main lodge has appeared in this season.
 * This marks the first time in the series where the final four are composed of two members of each team. In previous seasons, it is always three members of one team and one from the other.
 * However, the "three against one" pattern repeats in a different matter, since it's three contestants from the second generation and one from the first generation.
 * This is the first time since Heroes vs. Villains where the Drama Machine makes an appearance.
 * The way Courtney and Gwen's friendship is destroyed in this episode is similar to what happened in Greece's Pieces (albeit reversed). In both cases, one of them did something unfaithful and their betrayal is revealed to the other by the season's antagonist.
 * The beach in the background of the exclusive clip resembles the beach movie set in Monster Cash.

Goofs

 * Gwen's eyes vanish for a split second when Courtney hugged her.
 * The Mal puppet's hair is over its right eye when Vito is holding it, even though this is untrue to Mal himself. After the dummy becomes possessed, the hair changes to cover the correct eye.
 * Courtney states that the final five is the farthest she's ever gone on Total Drama. However, she came in fourth place in Total Drama Action.
 * Courtney states that she can't stomach gross foods like the others. However, in Chinese Fake-Out, she claims that she has "a very strong stomach" and manage to help Alejandro during the eating challenge.
 * Courtney's loose strand of hair is missing when the bird vomits on her sundae.
 * When Scott is hit by the Drama Machine, some of his ice cream is seen on the hammer as if it were getting squashed, but in the next scene, his bowl of ice cream is full.
 * Although Courtney claims to be lactose intolerant in Dial M for Merger, she still manages to eat a bit of ice cream sundae. However, it is possible that she was lying previously, given the circumstances she was under.
 * When Mal is furious about not getting into the McLean Spa Hotel, the gap in his front teeth is missing.
 * During the elimination ceremony, Chris tells Scott that he came in last place despite the fact that he crossed the finish line before Mike.
 * In the exclusive clip, a part of the beach in the background is cut off.