User blog:Raised By Wolves/Total Drama World Tour Challenge Review

Hey everyone, RBW here with a sequel to my Total Drama All-Stars Challenge Review blog, this time reviewing one of the most popular seasons of the show, Total Drama World Tour. Along with development for many characters and some very brilliant songs, let's analyze the challenges that complemented this season and see if they measure up to the hype.

Walk Like An Egyptian - Part 1
Location: Giza, Egypt

Challenge explanation: "Pyramid Under Over": Walk through or climb over the Giza Pyramid.

Participating contestants: Alejandro, Cameron, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Heather, Jo, Lightning, Lindsay, Mike, Sam, Scott, Sierra and Zoey.

Winners: Team Victory (Bridgette, DJ, Ezekiel, Leshawna, Lindsay) Challenge won by: All except Ezekiel.

Losers: Team Amazon (Cody, Courtney, Gwen, Heather, Izzy, Sierra) Eliminated: Duncan

So, this is the challenge we have that kicks off Total Drama World Tour. One can easily divide this challenge into two parts; the "Under" portion and the "Over" portion. At first glance, this challenge just seems like a choice between what you specialize in; walking around until you find an exit, or climbing. Obviously, the more athletic contestants (such as Alejandro, Bridgette and Tyler) will choose the Over path. Some contestants who also pride themselves on thinking of strategies, like Courtney's belaying strategy, would also choose this. Continuing with "first glance", the "Under" option also seems like the easier option that requires less work. This means contestants like unathletic Owen and lazy Noah would choose it. Since it seems easier, and this is a race, it's quite obvious most contestants would choose Under, and Chris obviously knew this. However, a very clever plot twist that Chris throws in is making the under portion MUCH more difficult than what meets the eye. There's three paths to choose from, making the challenge much harder and confusing the contestants. We see many paths from those with mummies, to scarab traps, and so on. I'm particularly fond of this, since it brings about many possible outcomes and interesting performances.

As for the Over part, it doesn't slack in the entertainment department either. Pyramids are huge; like, VERY huge. It's quite unbelievable how big they are actually, considering the lack of advanced technology back in those times. My point is, such a large pyramid, and such funny contestants. You're bound to have some wacky outcomes, that's for certain. I feel like the sheer difficulty of climbing a pyramid without any additional help (except for Courtney, Duncan and Gwen helping each other obviously) balances out well with the complex maze of the inner pyramid. However, I feel like the odds are tipped a bit in favor of this part of the challenge. Like I said earlier, the athletic contestants are the ones who are going to choose this type of challenge if they have a choice, and thus they are going to win. However, I won't deduct points for that because the athletic contestants would be using their skill to win, rather than relying on any sort of skill that the challenge provides. Also, yes, you can argue that Courtney, Duncan and Gwen ended up in last place but you're forgetting how dysfunctional they were as a team. Anyway, that's irrelevant. Coming down to the matter at hand, I think this challenge is a really solid premiere challenge that allows for interactions and to help us watch the contestants in action well.

Best Performer : Alejandro, obviously. Like Lindsay pointed out, he's like the world's cutest mountain goat. Worst Performer : A lot of contestants messed up in this challenge, but the worst case was probably Izzy's, mostly because she felt the need to cosplay as Frankenstein's Bride rather than focusing on the challenge. And yes, I know that she's crazy but I never complained about Izzy as a character. I was originally going to choose Tyler, but he actually was focused on the challenge (because he wanted to impress Lindsay). No, I'm not biased. ...Really. Overall Rating : 9/10. This challenge tested the skill of the more athletically inclined contestants and the amount of different outcomes for the other portion of the challenge made things interesting. Also, solely by having an Either/Or choice it gives the challenge extra points.