Million Dollar Babies

'''The final eight compete in sports-themed challenges. One's infatuation with a mysterious love, combined with another's new rules and conditions, causes a small problem to come about between one cast mate and the other seven, revealing a foreshadow. However, after an accepted apology, a different person gets sent home instead.'''

Plot
The episode opens by showing Harold, Duncan, and Justin waking up to Chris' French horn alert, being dazed and confused. Beth walks out of the girls' trailer "sleep-twirling" Courtney's PDA. Courtney is horrified, and dives to get it after it falls. The competitors find that they are eating pasta for breakfast, and that they will be competing in a sport-themed challenge.

Chris brings the cast to a football field, and puts them through a variety of training exercises. First, the Screaming Gaffers must push Chef like a football dummy. Heather refuses to help, but LeShawna forcefully tells her to put effort into it. Duncan sides with LeShawna, which she interprets as progress towards the damage done about by the spa incident. When Chef badmouths the Gaffers one too many times, LeShawna gets so mad that she charges at Chef and knocks him down all by herself. Next, the Grips have to run through tires, made more difficult by the tires being too small for their feet, and mousetraps planted inside. For the final exercise, both teams have to crawl through mud under barbed wire. Courtney thinks this is somewhat over-the-top, but Chris explains that he wanted to reuse some props from the war-themed challenge. With the obstacle course completed, the teams are wondering who won, but Chris tells them that that the obstacle course wasn't their challenge, rather a simple test to determine their rankings. He explains that the real challenge will be four sporting events, with members of each team facing off based on their seedings.

Harold and Lindsay are seeded fourth, so they are pinned against each other in boxing, using marshmallow gloves. Chris then tells them that in true boxing style, they will have to fight in slow-motion. Despite this, Lindsay fights in a normal speed, but Harold fights in slow-motion, awing LeShawna. Lindsay easily blocks Harold's slow-motion jab, and takes a bite of his glove, since the marshmallows are real. Courtney begins yelling at Lindsay, and doesn't notice that her PDA has fallen out of her pocket. Beth notices though, and decides to borrow it so she can write an e-mail to Brady, but while browsing the internet, she finds something that shocks her. Lindsay knocks Harold out after he was distracted by LeShawna's support. However, Harold wins, due to his use of slow-motion. Chris also docked Lindsay for biting Harold's glove, angering her.

The next challenge pits Beth against Heather in badminton. Before the challenge, Chris mentions his role in Badminton: The Movie after Justin refuses to believe that any badminton movies exist. Heather begins pummeling Beth, and it looks as though all hope is lost for the Grips. The Gaffers start trash-talking Beth, and LeShawna tells her that her "chances of winning are about as real as your boyfriend." Her comment sparks fury in Beth, and she transfers her anger to the game, easily defeating Heather. LeShawna again tells Beth that her boyfriend doesn't exist, and Beth retaliates by revealing that she saw a video on Courtney's PDA of LeShawna saying bad things about all of the other competitors on her way to the spa to her cousin, LeShaniqua. They then play the tape, and everyone else is angered by LeShawna's mean comments, save Heather, who says that she does the same thing, and wonders why everyone is so angry.

In the next challenge, Duncan was matched up against Courtney in Greco-Roman wrestling (which had to take place in a kiddie ball pit, thanks to Chris). Duncan revealed in a confessional prior to the match that he wasn't going to throw the challenge to let Courtney win, mainly because he didn't want to duplicate what ultimately happened to Trent and Gwen's relationship. However, Duncan still had trouble against Courtney due to her athleticism and determination. After a lost toddler calls him "Momma," Duncan claims he loses to Courtney due to the distraction, despite his attempts to compete normally. Courtney is seen to be very proud of her victory.

LeShawna was put up against Justin in a "slam dunk" challenge, much to LeShawna's dismay. She didn't want to play for her teammates, much less the camera. Justin's slam dunk included humiliating the Gaffers, by butt-bumping LeShawna, dribbling under Duncan's legs (hitting Harold in the chest), and stealing Heather's wig and putting it on the basketball, before dunking it. LeShawna returned the wig to its rightful place, on Heather's head. LeShawna's slam dunk was much more simple. She threw the ball at Justin's chest, tossing him into the trampoline. He bounced and landed in the basket, bruised and scarred. Chris gave the point to LeShawna, and with each team now having scored two points, Chris lead them to a tie-breaker. The tie-breaker was a cheer leading competition, which each team coming up with someone to cheer for. The Killer Grips began planning immediately, but the Gaffers had more trouble, not deciding who they'd cheer for, despite Harold's suggestion of Norbert Swindlow, or Heather's suggestion of herself. When Chris announced time, and that the Gaffers were up, LeShawna improvised a cheer about the other competitors, as a way of apologizing. The apology was well-accepted, and she was liked once again. The Grips won the challenge, however, as they cheered for Chris, who was the judge of the challenge.

At the Gilded Chris Ceremony, Chris reviews everyone's reason for possibly going home. He then says that Harold is the only one with possible guaranteed invincibility and gives him the first Gilded Chris to shut him up. Chris then tosses an award to Duncan, calling him "Diaper Shark". Heather was voted off in place of LeShawna because Duncan and Harold liked LeShawna's apology. At the end of the episode, LeShawna walks Heather to the Lame-o-sine, telling her she can consider them friends. Heather then gives LeShawna her wig from the past episode as a farewell gift so LeShawna can use it (according to Heather) when her hair looked bad as it did in the episode.

Quotes
Duncan: Harold, if you added trumpets to your snoring, then it's definitely time for you to die. Justin: That's it, I'm moving to Canada. Except I'm already there... Heather: You said sweat twice. Harold: You are aware that two-hundred percent is a mathematical impossibility. Chef Hatchet: Don't call me a dummy. Heather: Uh, I am not swapping sweat with an over-sized jalapeno! LeShawna: You're taking it for the team. Now get your skinny behind over there and push that dummy! Harold: (to Duncan) Sounds like you're up. Chris: Harold! (Courtney's PDA falls out of her pocket) (Beth picks it up) Beth: Courtney, your- Courtney: (not paying attention to her) Play dirtier! Duncan: (giggles) Courtney: (to Duncan) What? Duncan: I like when you talk like that. Beth: (shrugs) My boyfriend is going to be so surprised to hear from me! (presses a button) What the... oh my glory! Duncan: 'Ew-ew-ew ''is more like it! Chef: Ah, y'all are just jealous! Chris: Yeah, but he scored major points for his awesome slow-motion effects. And, I had to dock you for biting. Very unsportsmanlike, Miss Tyson! Lindsay: This was fixed! Ref's going down! (The Grips restrain Lindsay from punching Chris) Chris: This is a badminton court, Justin. Justin: But there was never a movie about badminton, 'cause that'd be seriously lame. Chris: There was a movie about badminton and it was very un-lame. And it starred the very talented, me. Chef: (in confessional, and crying) Why couldn't the Olympic Committee just give the Flipper a break? It was his big dream. (continues to cry) Courtney: No way! Duncan: Come on, Courtney. You know you wanna... LeShaniqua: (laughs with LeShawna) Oooh, girl! (Courtney turns the video off; Duncan, Lindsay, Harold, Courtney, Beth, and Justin all turn and glare at LeShawna) LeShawna: You guys don't understand, that was outside the game! I didn't know everyone would see it. Lindsay: But she called you mean and nasty! Heather: I can live with that. LeShawna: You can? Thanks, girl. Heather: Don't push it. It's not like we're new BFF's. Chris: (riding in on a chariot, and in a bad Greek accent) Silence! The score is 1 to 1! And now, second-seat Courtney, will attempt to brrrrrrrrreak the tie, in Grrrrrrrrreco Rrrrrrrrrrroman Wrrrrrrrrrrestling against...Duncan! Duncan: He shoots, he scores! Courtney: (In confessional) My heart can't be swayed by just any tattooed bad boy oozing danger out of every pore. I'm a fit and well-coiffed little package of pure competition! Duncan: Oh, she's a fit an well-coiffed little package, alright. But I'm not going there, even though I could. Remember what happened to Trent and Gwen? Hee hee hee...ugly. (off-screen laughter) Duncan: What?! Am I funny to you?! Well come over here and you can laugh to my face! Harold: Where there are Pom-poms, there are Pom-pom girls. Heather: Who? Harold: The inventor of the pom-pom. Duh. Heather: Well I say we should cheer for me. LeShawna: You? Duncan: I'd rather cheer for my school principal, my mother, LeShawna. LeShawna: Hey, I got enough problems without you mixin' things up! Chris: And Heather, you gotta feel awful over your humiliating loss to Beth on the badminton court. (Heather rolls her eyes, thinking) Chris: (impatiently) Heather... Heather: Sorry, I'm trying to remember what feeling awful is like! Chris: Duncan might remember seeing as he lost to a girl...in wrestling! Duncan: She's not a girl, she's Courtney. It's a whole 'nother thing. Chris: Harold, I'd say you're the only one here who might be safe! Harold: Well Chris, I- Chris: Oh, no one wants to hear it! Just take the statue. (throws a Gilded Chris to Duncan) Chris: Diaper Shark, you're safe too. (Chris looks at Chef, who is holding one Gilded Chris left) Chris: LeShawna... LeShawna: (nervously) Yes? Chris: I'm sorry, but...heads up! (LeShawna catches the award and stands up in delight) LeShawna: Yes! Heather: What?! You voted me off?! Me?!! Duncan: (in the confessional) I know LeShawna dissed us... Harold: (in the confessional next to Duncan) Sure LeShawna called me deluded. Duncan: But that cheer, well, we counted her out, but she showed us that she had heart, guts, grit, and a bounce that won't stop! Harold: Sounds like a sports movie. The thing is, she didn't totally shoot me down. (sadly) Alright, I'll admit it, she's still got a hold on me. I can't help it! I'm a slave to looove... (Harold puts his head on Duncan) (Duncan frowns. Cut to the Lame-O-Sine)''' LeShawna: '''Heather, if it's worth anything, you can count me as a friend. (Heather smiles) Just don't tell anyone that I said so, and if this ends up on the TDA Website, I'll pretend it was all CGI.''' Heather: 'Hey, something to remember me by, (takes off her wig, and hands it to LeShawna)'' and to wear next time your hair looks as bad as it does today. (Heather steps into the Lame-O-Sine, and LeShawna scowls as it drives away)
 * Harold: (after waking up from a dream) I can't take the shelling anymore, Sarge! I just can't take it! (sobs)
 * Chris: Today's competition is gonna require sweat, guts, heart, and sweat.
 * Chris: Today, you're all going to give two-hundred percent in an exciting sports movie challenge.
 * Justin: We've got to push spiced-up Chef like he's a football dummy?
 * Chef Hatchet: What did I say about the dummy thing?!
 * Chris: And in the left corner-ner-ner-ner-ner, from the Screaming Gaffers-ers-ers-ers: The deluded dork, the light-weight loser, the knock-kneed numbskull...
 * Courtney: (to Lindsay) Don't eat it! Block it!
 * Chris: Round Two-ooh-ooh-ooh! (Chef walks by in a bikini, holding a two card; the others are disgusted) '''
 * Lindsay: What? But I knocked him out!
 * Justin: (holding a Badminton racket) Hey, it's a miniature tennis racket. Where are the miniature tennis balls and why is the net so stupidly high?
 *  Chris: (acting) I just wanted to let you know...you guys are the best darn badminton players I've had the pleasure of coaching. You're beacons of freedom. Show the Olympic Committee we deserve a chance. Show them, it's not badminton, it's goodminton. Heck, it's greatminton! Now get out there and win one for the Flipper!
 * LeShawna: (to Beth) Your chances of winning are just about as real as your boyfriend!
 * Harold: Let me see!
 * LeShawna: (in the video, to LeShaniqua) Oooh, Heather! Just mean for the sake of being mean. Lindsay? (Lindsay gasps) Has half a brain cell max, and it's usually gone out shopping! Probably with Justin's giant ego! (Justin's eyes widen) Hoo hoo! Oh, Duncan? Likes to think he's a bad boy, (Duncan slowly glares) but when Courtney was there, (Courtney gasps) she basically dragged him around by his eyebrow ring. Beth? Actually wears a side ponytail! A side pony! (Beth frowns in anger while looking at her ponytail) And Harold? (Harold gasps) Darn fool's sweet on me. But he's getting about as much play as an old cassette tape in a world of MP3's! (Harold frowns dejectedly)
 * Heather: LeShawna just told it like it is. I don't see what the big deal is. I do it all the time.
 * Duncan: (to himself) Just compete. Just compete, just compete.
 * Courtney: Eww...How long since these things have been washed?
 * Courtney: Ooooo! The big bad Diaper Shark!
 * Duncan: (in confessional) I dunno, the kid called me "mama" and it threw off my A-Game.
 * Courtney: Pom-poms?!
 * Harold: Ooh, ooh! I got it! Let's cheer for Norbert Swindlow!
 * LeShawna: Courtney, Courtney, she's my pal, she loves her PDA, she's an organized gal! Lindsay and Justin, they might be dumb, but I'd be proud if they called me their chum! Heather, Heather, queen of mean. She's got a nice scalp for a groovin' teen! Duncan and Beth, they're quite a pair. He tough, she's goofy, but they've both got flare! And Harold's the best, he's quite a guy. He's goofy and scrawny, but he's got my eye! Wooooooooooooo hoo!
 * Chris: So, the Gaffers lose it again! Must be tough, especially with your own teammate dissing you all over the world wide web!
 * Heather: (inside the Lame-o-Sine) You know, it's really a total relief to be out of there, and a Mill isn't worth wasting another second of my time with those freaks! At least I didn't have to lick anyone's armpit, this time, and now, I have time to get a weave, and correct this travesty. I mean, the million would've come in handy to get some totally rad extensions. My dad's so cheap, I'll probably end up with pony hair. Maybe I could cut my mom's off, while she's sleeping. She's always had some nice volume. Now that the dumb game's done, the possibilities are endless.

Trivia

 * Title Reference: This episode's title is a reference to the 2004 film, Million Dollar Baby.
 * This is the third episode to air the in USA before Canada. The other two episodes were TDI Rundown, because it was only shown in the USA, and One Million Bucks, B.C. This episode apparently had an "unofficial" air date on September 13th. It was shortened as it was used only as a mini cartoon to catch the schedule up (as it aired after the movie Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins).
 * Due to this, the episode also started about 7 minutes earlier than it was supposed to.
 * This episode marks the first time that Heather was officially voted out of the Total Drama Series since her elimination on Total Drama Island was a sudden-death elimination.
 * This also marks the first real time (out of three) a Screaming Gaffer is voted off (as Gwen orchestrated her own elimination in The Chefshank Redemption, and DJ quit the game in The Sand Witch Project)
 * As of Heather's elimination, none of the final three from last season are still in the competition until Owen returns in Rock N Rule)
 * This means Duncan has outlasted all the competitors ever to compete at least once in the series.
 * This is partially because he ends up winning this season.
 * This is the very first episode Owen is not seen, or even mentioned in the entire series.
 * Heather is the final contestant eliminated before the teams merge. Coincidentally, Harold, whose name also begins with an H, was the last camper eliminated before the teams merged in the first season.
 * This is the second challenge in a row where the competitors were paired up for part of the challenge.
 * This is also the second challenge in a row where Duncan and Courtney and Heather and Beth were paired together.
 * This also happens to be the second time in a row where Beth defeated Heather in a challenge, the first being in One Million Bucks, B.C..
 * This is also the second time in a row where Courtney defeated Duncan in a challenge. The other being in the episode before.
 * In this episode, Chris is revealed to have starred in a movie about badminton, in which he played a main character named "Flipper." The nickname and the speech about "winning one for the flipper" is a parody of a similar speech done by "George 'The Gipper' Gipp" (played by future US president Ronald Reagan) in Knute Rockne, All American.
 * LeShawna was revealed to have insulted all of the other competitors on the show, while she was riding to the spa.
 * Heather: "Just mean for the sake of being mean."
 * Lindsay: "Has half a brain cell, max" that's "usually gone out shopping."
 * Justin: Has a "giant ego."
 * Duncan: "Likes to think he's a bad boy", but "when Courtney was there", she "dragged him around by his eyebrow ring."
 * Beth: "Actually wears a side ponytail."
 * Harold: Is "sweet on" LeShawna, but "is getting as much play as an old school cassette tape in a world of MP3s."
 * Oddly, LeShawna wasn't shown to insult DJ, Izzy, or Owen, who were still in the competition while she was at the spa.
 * This is the first episode in which Courtney is seen in her pajamas.
 * This is the second episode (and in row) were part of Chris's chest is seen, it's also the same amount seen in One Million Bucks, B.C.
 * Duncan and Harold are the third pair to use the confessional together this season, sixth time overall. The first pair was Katie and Sadie in The Sucky Outdoors. The second pair was Chris and Chef in Camp Castaways. The third pair was Heather and Owen in Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon. The fourth pair was Geoff and Bridgette in Monster Cash, and the fifth pair was Lindsay and Beth in Alien Resurr-eggtion. One may also count DJ and Chef Hatchet in The Aftermath: II.
 * Courtney states that her "heart can't be swayed by just any tattooed bad boy," implying that Duncan may have a tattoo. If this is the case, it may be down around his thighs, as his upper body is shown not to have one anywhere.
 * The little kid that comes out in the ball pit was also briefly seen in Wawanakwa Gone Wild!.
 * Chris calls Lindsay "Miss Tyson" after biting Harold's marshmallow. This is an indirect reference to Mike Tyson, the boxer, who was also known for a well-publicized biting incident.
 * This is the first time someone besides Courtney has touched her PDA, due to Beth's "sleep twirling".
 * Duncan quotes Courtney's confession, meaning he may have heard it, or may have been told it afterwords.
 * LeShawna actually foreshadows the final two in this episode.
 * In her cheer, LeShawna said that Beth and Duncan are "quite a pair," and sure enough, they end up as the final two competitors.
 * She also describes them as tough and goofy, similar to Gwen and Owen in season one.
 * Technically, Heather loses her hair both times she was eliminated. In I Triple Dog Dare You!, she loses her hair, in this episode she willingly gives away her wig.
 * This is the first episode to use props from a previous episode, the barbed wire.
 * Mutiny on the Soundstage is the only other episode to reuse props from previous episodes.
 * This is the first, and currently only, episode written by Richard Clark.
 * Harold refers to LeShawna as a Benedict Arnold, the name of a traitor during the American Revolution.
 * This is the first time Beth, Courtney, Duncan, Harold, Justin, Lindsay, and Leshawna outrank Heather.

Goofs

 * Oddly, LeShawna mentioned bad things about Heather, Lindsay, Justin, Duncan, Beth, and Harold. However, she did not mention anything bad about Owen, Izzy, and DJ (all eliminated in between the seven episodes). There is a possibility that Courtney just stopped the tape after LeShawna was done talking about the current competitors. It's also possible that she had nothing bad to say about them.
 * LeShawna mentioned Courtney in her video, yet she hadn't returned to the game yet when LeShawna went to the spa. However, Courtney was only mentioned in reference to Duncan, and not as a direct target of LeShawna's insults herself.
 * At the beginning of the episode, the cast is hit with spaghetti and sauce gets on their pajamas but seconds later the stains disappear.
 * At the end of the episode, Harold mentions LeShawna calling him "deluded" when, it was actually Chris who called him "deluded" during the boxing challenge. LeShawna has never called him deluded on-screen.
 * When LeShawna cheers for Harold, Harold's hand has vanished for a moment.
 * In the boxing challenge, when Chris is announcing the names, Harold thought that Chris was talking about Duncan, but it was himself instead, showing that he didn't know who would be participating in the challenge. But when Chris is announcing Lindsay's name, she was already in the ring, signifying that she already knew it was her. It is very unlikely that Chris would inform one team and not the other, though Harold may have forgotten about his participation in the challenge.
 * When Duncan says to the person who laughed at him if it is funny to him, his piercings around his eyes, the one on his nose, and one of his earrings on his left ear are all missing.
 * When Courtney shows everyone LeShawna's rants about the contestants, LeShawna is sitting on the left side and LeShaniqua on the right, when really LeShawna was on the right and LeShaniqua on the left.