Moon Madness

'''During a rare Blue Harvest Moon, all of the wildlife is affected and becomes its opposite. Causing usually savage animals to become docile, and turning normally gentle creatures into ravenous monsters that hunt the teams. Someone else is also affected by the moon, and he wreaks havoc on his teammates, leading one of them to become suspicious and another to remember that they met before. Meanwhile, one contestant starts to warm up to another, as someone else continues to try to make amends. When someone expresses interest in a former lover, his current partner promptly breaks up with him. A contestant on the losing team volunteers for elimination in order to escape another's affections, but is instead switched to the other team.'''

Plot
The Heroic Hamsters are eating slop for dinner outside the cabin, while Duncan gags and Cameron complains. As Cameron walks down the stairs, Mike's evil personality, who is hiding underneath, trips him. Mike regains control, but has no memory of what had happened. He helps his friend up, and gives him back his glasses, but having suffered from the fall, they split in two. Zoey is shocked by Mike's odd behavior, as she saw what he did. Meanwhile, Sierra is still distraught from breaking her smartphone, and begins questioning her existence. She asks Zoey if she is invisible, but as Zoey's attention is still focused on Mike tripping Cameron, she doesn't respond. This leads Sierra to scream in Zoey's ear, temporarily deafening her. Zoey finally answers though she is distant, but a relieved Sierra doesn't notice as she walks back into the cabin.

Meanwhile, Alejandro and Heather argue at the McLean Spa Hotel about his loud breathing through his nose. Alejandro's lack of interest is annoying Heather, who is flabbergasted when he calls her "typical". Alejandro reveals in the confessional that he is doing this in order to distract her. Outside, Courtney sees a bird resembling Scott, and realizes she misses him. All the while, Scott is searching for the invincibility statue on Boney Island, but runs into some trouble with a bear. He is "rescued" by Chef Hatchet airlifting him away, presumably before he actually finds anything. He drops him rather harshly at the starting line where Chris is about to announce the challenge. Courtney worries for him, but insists that she is only interested in Scott as an ally, although she calls him "cute, in a rustic kind of way".

Chris explains the "extremely dangerous night time challenge", which turns out to be a homage to the challenge from The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean. The contestants must race to the other side of the island, with the team with all of its members at the finish line first winning. Duncan remarks that it sounds easy, and Chris reveals that the full moon that night is a rare blue harvest moon, which will cause all of the island's animals to behave unusually. He gives the Villainous Vultures a map for winning the last challenge, and has Chef give bacon hats and sausage tails to the Hamsters before sending them off.

When Mike suggests to Cameron that they follow the Vultures since they have a map, his idea is quickly praised. Zoey then whispers to Cameron that Mike purposely broke his glasses. Cameron confronts Mike about this, accidentally breaking Zoey's request to keep it between them. However, Cameron accepts Mike’s apology, and promises to help him should any problems arise with his personalities. While talking, he smashes into a tree, only to be saved by Sierra. Sierra again refers to him as Cody, before pointing out the moon. It turns blue, releasing a ring of radiation that turns normally gentle animals violent, and vice versa. Mike is also affected, at this point changing to his evil persona. His evil personality comments on how fortuitous the Blue Harvest Moon is. He shows in the confessional that he can imitate Mike’s voice and hair without changing back, and intends to do this so as not to alert the others. The Vultures come across an alligator, who confuses them by wagging its tail like a dog, and seeming docile. Alejandro deduces that the moon has caused the animals to become their opposites. Unexpectedly, Heather sweetly compliments him and cuddles the alligator, seemingly affected as well. This new demeanor shocks her teammates, particularly Alejandro, who is terrified.

Birds attack Cameron, Sierra, and Duncan, while Scott gets "taken down by a gang of bunnies." A duck with large teeth walks menacingly towards Zoey, its quacking imitating demonic laughter. "Mike" convinces Cameron to ditch Sierra, though the latter is concerned that it will hurt her feelings. "Mike" then convinces him to grab onto a stick with him so they won’t get separated, and runs off dragging Cameron. The Vultures run along, though Scott is still being chased by bunnies, and Heather stays while cuddling the alligator. When she finally moves on, she prances around happily, leading Gwen and Courtney to joke about her being "part wolf". Courtney initially laughs at the joke before remembering she still hasn't forgiven her yet. Gwen comments in the confessional how she is "so close" to patching things up with her.

Cameron, still holding the stick, talks about how Mike getting hit with a shovel may have triggered his inability to bring out his personalities. "Mike" notes his knowledge and labels him a threat. To keep Cameron from figuring out anything further, he halts abruptly, causing the latter to trip and tumble down a slope. Cameron doesn't realize it was Mike who caused him to fall and apologetically states he "lost his footing", however "Mike" is nowhere be seen. A seemingly innocent looking bunny appears, but as Cameron smiles at its cuteness it suddenly roars and a whole pack of them close in on him. Sierra saves him just in time by swinging by on a vine and snatching him out of harm's way. Now even more delusional, she refuses to let Cameron out of her sight and weaves a pouch to keep him in so that he can't leave her, carrying him for the rest of the challenge. Duncan also encounters "Mike". Per the moment, he has dropped his façade and is talking a bird into helping him make the others "wet their pants with fear". Duncan once again realizes the familiarity in his voice and demands to know where they have met before. The Mike impostor tries to cover himself with his prior Total Drama experience, but Duncan doesn't buy it. "Mike" then releases the bird to attack him before he can think any further.

The Vultures come to a rope bridge. Gwen leaves (much to the disapproval of her teammates) because she believes it will break. Seeing his team's hesitation, Scott demonstrates how people cross bridges where he's from – by screaming, running, and flailing his arms. However, he meets a moon-crazy beaver on the other side. At first Scott is uncertain whether the beaver is dangerous, but his question is answered when the animal bites him in the rear end. In his struggle Scott manages to loosen the beaver but it instead chews through one of the bridge's ropes, leaving it suspended by the sole intact one. The rest of the vultures carefully cross using the side of the bridge. Heather loses her footing but is saved by Alejandro. She taunts him in triumph, reverting back to her usual self. She triumphantly reveals that the performance had been an act, for the purpose of getting him to admit he still cared. Courtney approaches Scott (who is still having his struggle with the beaver), and intervenes by grabbing it and having it chew through the remaining rope so the Heroes can't cross. She then throws the beaver over the cliff, but it opens a parachute while giving Courtney the finger. At first Alejandro is impressed by her plan. He changes his mind when Heather points out that Gwen is unable to use the bridge should her own idea prove a failure, sealing the Vultures' defeat.

Duncan and Gwen, each being chased by animals, run into each other. Duncan saves them both by using his sausage tail as bait to lure them away, but the two are not together for long. He angers her by asking about Courtney, specifically, what she has been saying about him since the team swap. She retaliates and walks away. Gwen is then shown in the confessional, labeling his "obsession" with his ex-girlfriend "so uncool it burns". Zoey arrives at the now-broken bridge, where "Mike" appears behind her about to club her with a stick. As the other Hamsters arrive, he resumes his Mike impersonation, putting an arm around her. However Zoey becomes suspicious of him lying when he says that a bear chased him (when a bear should've been nice under the effects of the blue harvest moon). Sierra comes up with the idea to swing them all over on a rope, and though they all smash into a tree on the other side, they are able to climb up and get close to the finish line around the same time as the Vultures. Believing her team will lose because of Gwen, Courtney screams into the forest angrily. A deer then viciously threatens her. Gwen shows up with enough time to shove a stick in the animal's mouth. After some small talk and the stick breaking, the moon returns to normal, reverting all the wildlife, as well as Mike, back to their usual behavior. In his confusion, he stands still, letting Gwen and Courtney cross the finish line. The Villainous Vultures claim another win.

At the elimination ceremony, Gwen wishes aloud that she were a Heroic Hamster. Duncan comforts her and kisses her cheek, but asks excitedly if Courtney was watching. This angers Gwen, who then pushes him away, and tells him that she wants to break up with him. Scott volunteers for exile, to Courtney’s dismay, as Cameron volunteers for elimination, to Sierra's dismay. Chris then announces the twist he had in mind - rewarding the winning team with the eliminated member of the losing team. Thus, Cameron joins the villains. Cameron is both relieved to get away from Sierra and not getting eliminated. He approaches Mike (who reverts to his evil self) and reassures him that he will still help him with his problem. Cameron nervously greets his new teammates, who stare him down. Chris signs off the episode shortly afterwards.



Exclusive clip
In the confessional, Cameron wonders why Chris switched him to the Villainous Vultures, saying there isn't an evil bone in his body, even pulling out an X-ray of his body to prove it. He then decides to practice a villainous evil laugh before falling in the toilet and yells for help.

Cast

 * Chef Hatchet appears, but has no dialogue.
 * An intern can be heard screaming, but it is unknown who voiced him.

General

 * This marks the first time since exile duty was introduced that a contestant has gone to Boney Island twice.
 * With Duncan and Gwen breaking up, Lindsay and Tyler are the only couple from the original cast that have yet to break up at any point in the series.

Continuity

 * Chris states the episode's challenge is a reference to the treasure hunt from The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean.
 * Despite this, the challenge seems to be more closely related to Finders Creepers for several reasons.
 * Both challenges occur at night and involve the cast going through the forest.
 * The end goal of both challenges is to cross the finish line first. Notably, this was not the goal in The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean.
 * Animal(s) play a large part in both challenges. In Finders Creepers, the teams are being pursued by a giant spider, and in this challenge the cast is constantly being attacked by animals affected by the moon.
 * The "surprise twist" at the end of both involves someone switching teams rather than getting eliminated. Coincidentally, both times the contestants who switches teams at first intends to quit.
 * Thus, both are the only non-elimination episodes of their respective seasons.
 * Sierra is seen weaving in this episode, the third time in the series she has done so. She previously revealed to be extremely skilled at the craft in Walk Like An Egyptian - Part 2, and once again in Rapa Phooey!
 * Sierra placed Cameron in a carrier in a similar fashion to the way she did Cody in African Lying Safari.
 * Gwen once again explains the common clichés and scenes occurring in a horror movie. The first time being in Hook, Line, and Screamer.
 * This is the fifth horror-themed challenge of the series, which continues the trend of each season having a horror-themed challenge.
 * Hook, Line, and Screamer in Total Drama Island.
 * The Sand Witch Project in Total Drama Action.
 * I See London... in Total Drama World Tour.
 * Finders Creepers in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
 * Zeek And Ye Shall Find, later in the season.
 * Hurl and Go Seek in Total Drama: Pahkitew Island.
 * This is the first, and currently only, horror-themed episode of the series in which two contestants do not share a mutual kiss.
 * Both of Gwen's break-ups happened in the fifth episode of a season. The first, with Trent, happened in 3:10 to Crazytown.
 * Gwen recalls when she and Duncan kissed on the plane in I See London...

Goofs

 * When the Heroic Hamsters are about to reach the other side of the bridge with a liana, Mal's dark circles around his eyes are missing.
 * The side of which Zoey's flower is on changes throughout the episode.
 * The watch on Chris's hand disappears or appears throughout the episode.
 * Some of the sausage tails disappear and reappear throughout the episode.
 * When the Vultures are terrified by 'Nice Heather' hugging the alligator, Courtney's freckles momentarily disappear.
 * In the previous episode, Sierra fixed her broken phone for "emergency repairs", but in this episode, her phone is still broken.