Duncan and Harold

This article focuses on the interactions between Duncan and Harold.

Overview
Duncan and Harold's long history of conflict started during the very beginning of the show. Duncan can't stand Harold's geeky ways, and Harold doesn't particularly like Duncan's constant bullying and rebelling, displaying a classic "Bully vs. Nerd" scenario.

Throughout Total Drama Island, Harold was frequently tormented by Duncan who had pulled many pranks on him. After a while, Harold could no longer take Duncan bullying him and decides to get even with him in Basic Straining by rigging the votes to eliminate Duncan's love interest, Courtney.

By the time Total Drama Action started, Duncan had found out about Harold's actions towards Courtney in the previous season and intensifies his bullying on Harold. This include Duncan belittling Harold of his feelings towards Leshawna who didn't return his feelings. Despite this, Leshawna will often protect Harold from Duncan's bullying several time in the season. Duncan and Harold are once again placed on the same team this season and they were forced to work together several times since their team is unable to work properly together especially after Gwen and DJ were eliminated and Heather and Leshawna couldn't be trusted (the former due to her actions in the previous season and the latter for fake crying in order to claim the reward for a challenge all for herself). Their combined efforts were proven fruitful as they helped their team to win invincibility several times. It was also revealed that the two of them did not fully hate each other as they revealed that they have some degree of respect for the other.

Near the end of the season, Duncan and Harold nearly ended their conflict as neither of them wanted to sabotage the other during the challenge in Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen. In fact, they get along well and helped each other throughout the challenge. However, Owen was forced by Chris to break them up by telling Harold to beat up Duncan. Harold does so after Duncan again mocked Leshawna. With this, their temporarily truce was broken and their conflict has resume. However, Harold now no longer fears Duncan and give him a taste of his own medicine by pulling several pranks on him.

Their conflict is still unresolved due to their lack of interaction in Total Drama World Tour, but Harold has somewhat settled the score with Duncan.

Not So Happy Campers - Part 1
The conflict starts after Chris begins talking about the organization of teams. When Harold smiles at Duncan, the latter suddenly puts his fist in front of Harold's face, making him feel nervous. Towards the end of the episode, Harold is impressed by the way Duncan kills the cockroach in the Gophers' cabin.

The Big Sleep
Duncan makes Harold wet himself while sleeping by placing his hand in a cup of lukewarm water. Duncan laughs and points the incident out, making Harold run away in humiliation.

Dodgebrawl
When Harold comes into the main lodge, he has a marker-drawn mustache on his face (revealed to be drawn by Duncan in Haute Camp-ture) which made him laughing stalk of the camp. Later in the episode, it became apparent that Duncan's fierceness was needed to win the dodgeball game, so Harold was forced by Courtney to poke a stick into Duncan's nose (since, in the event that Duncan killed Harold, he was the only team player that the Bass could afford to lose).

Harold is eventually allowed back into the game, due to Geoff pitying him, and saves his team, defeating overwhelming odds by dodging all of Owen's balls and catching the last one to win for the Bass. Duncan compliments Harold's dodgeball playing after he wins the challenge, though he calls him a "skater nerd" after he compliments him (however, his tone is neither malicious or disrespectful).

Phobia Factor
Harold cheers for Duncan after he is able to overcome his fear.

Up the Creek
Duncan chooses Harold and Sadie as his canoe paddling partners, though both Harold and Sadie are visibly uncomfortable.

If You Can't Take The Heat...
When Duncan is doing morning exercises, he is greatly disgusted by Harold's underwear lying around when he sniffed the air, therefore, Geoff and DJ join Duncan in teaching Harold a lesson about leaving his underwear lying around by pulling a series of pranks against Harold. Geoff secretly steals one of Harold's briefs and DJ purposely spills water on Harold. Duncan, Geoff, and DJ put hot sauce on one pair of Harold's underwear. Geoff then feeds Harold with a sandwich containing Harold's underwear and Geoff says that he will return Harold's clothes if Harold admits that he leaves his underwear lying around. After the ceremony, Duncan, Geoff, and DJ drag Harold's bed to the dock while Harold was sleeping. Harold finally admits that he will never leave his underwear lying around when he wakes up naked in presence of the girls who are swimming in the lake.

Basic Straining
This episode begins with Duncan and Geoff making s'mores out of Harold's underwear. Duncan, aided by Geoff, also gave Harold a wedgie with a fishing hook, as well as tricking Harold into drinking kitchen grease by telling him that it is apple juice, making Harold spit it back out. After Duncan and Courtney smuggle food from Chris' tent, Duncan uses some peanut butter to make a smiley face on Harold's bed. Geoff and Duncan laugh at Harold's reaction after he sees their mess and says that it was gross. When Harold sees Duncan and Courtney kissing, Harold gets upset and uses Courtney for revenge against Duncan for his constant pranking. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Courtney was voted off because Harold tampered with the votes, saying "Let's see how you like it when someone messes with your love life."

X-Treme Torture
In the confessional before the final part of the challenge, Harold states that he and Duncan will guarantee their teams' victory. Duncan high-fives Harold when he leaves the island.

Haute Camp-ture
Harold says that he hates Duncan and then lists all the pranks Duncan has pulled on him over the course of the season. He also says that what he did to Courtney is pretty heinous, but he is really upset with Duncan because he kept bugging him. He refuses to vote for Duncan to win, despite Courtney's threats to post his love letters to Leshawna on the Internet.

Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island
Harold asks Courtney and Duncan if he can join them, but Courtney furiously rejects him, saying that he will only slow them down. Duncan also calls Harold a doofus in the confessional after Courtney ignores and turns down Harold.

Total Drama Action Promo Picture/Main Group Shot
Duncan and Harold are standing next to each other with their arms around each other.



Opening sequence
Duncan is seen shooting Harold with multiple seagulls until he falls off of the surfboard.

Monster Cash
After Chris told the contestants to go and complete the challenge, Duncan threw Harold out of the vehicle they were in.

Beach Blanket Bogus
Duncan laughs at Harold after he surfing challenge along with Heather and Gwen. In the sandcastle building challenge, Duncan looks impressed with Harold's sandcastle. Harold also backs-up Duncan's theory about the relationship between Trent's number nine superstition and with Gwen. However, the two ended up wrong as Trent's addiction with the number nine has nothing to do with Gwen. Later during the Gaffers' victory party, Duncan kicks sand in Harold's face, but he compliments his dance moves and it may be his way of respecting Harold.

3:10 to Crazytown
Duncan trips Harold into a tub of water and laughs at his misfortune after Harold shows off his toughness before the first challenge. Duncan purposely landed on Harold when he successfully landed on the horse during the first challenge. Leshawna is shown in the confessional, disapproving of Duncan's behavior to Harold. Later, Harold is hogtied by Duncan and has his entire body wrapped in rope by him after the Screaming Gaffers won the final challenge. Duncan shakes Harold out of the barrel he is bathing in. In the confessional stall, Leshawna wonders why "that punk-haired skull-shirted wannabe" Duncan continues to pick on Harold, clearly frustrated at this point over the way Duncan is treating her crush. Duncan is shown in his confessional scene immediately afterwards, replying that he is paying Harold back for what Harold did to Courtney (in Basic Straining), as he finally figured out who was behind her wrongful elimination in Total Drama Island.

One Flu Over the Cuckoos
During the episode, Leshawna makes an attempt to form an alliance with Harold and Duncan in order to keep an eye on Heather and eventually eliminate her. Despite her attempts, they both refuse outright. Duncan just laughs at the idea. After she pitches the same idea to Harold, Harold vehemently refuses. Harold also questions why Leshawna even talks to Duncan, saying he is a "worthless punk." Throughout the episode, Duncan continues to bully Harold, such as when he pulled down his pants during the first part of the challenge, when Duncan tramples Harold only to say "whoopsie-daisy," and when Duncan attempted to take Harold's 'temperature' with a rectal thermometer. Also, Harold reveals his full name in the confessional, and tells the cameraman to not tell Duncan that one of his middle names is "Doris." However, Duncan found out anyway, infuriating Harold. However, Leshawna steps in for Harold multiple times when Duncan antagonizes him.

The Sand Witch Project
The conflict continues in this episode. While the Gaffers are discussing who the killer should be for this challenge, everyone agrees that Duncan should be the killer because of his acting abilities and plain scary personality; Harold agrees, shivering and stating that he's already "terrified of (Duncan) on a daily basis." Harold tries to convince Duncan and the others that he is very skilled at magic multiple times, but Duncan remains unimpressed, and often refers to him by insulting names such as "The Great Dorko" and "Harry Hou-weenie." At one point, Harold uses Duncan's soccer ball to perform a magic trick (in an attempt to scare the opposing team out of the tent, which was the objective of the challenge), after which Duncan proceeds to kick him in the groin for messing with his soccer ball.

Masters of Disasters
In the beginning of the episode, Duncan nods in agreement when Harold says he wishes DJ was still making food and in the competition. While Beth is busy talking about her boyfriend, Duncan is seen putting his share of Chef's disgusting food in Harold's bowl. During the flooding submarine challenge, Harold volunteers to pick the lock and boasts about his lock-picking skills. Duncan trips him and tells him to hurry up. Later, Harold criticizes Duncan's intelligence by stating that he doesn't "look like a thinker," which causes Duncan to dunk Harold's head underwater out of anger. At the end of the episode, Duncan and Harold are shown happily clanking bottles of soda together during their victory celebration.

Full Metal Drama
When the war challenge starts, Harold insists that he will be a valuable player due to his vast experience in online battles; Duncan mocks this by calling him a "virtualloser." Harold retorts by saying that he will defeat his foes with his "num-yos," which seem to simply be a pair of yo-yos that he wields as weapons; he then proceeds to show them off with a spinning routine. Duncan sticks in a twig into the yo-yos during Harold's spinning routine, causing one of his yo-yos to hit Harold in the groin. Duncan calls him a loser and walks off laughing, while Harold lies in pain.

When Harold and Duncan are trapped in the foxhole with Leshawna farting all over the place, Duncan is desperate to escape, but gets in a heated argument with Harold when they accuse each other of not being team players. Fed up, Harold blocks the exit and forces Duncan to admit to that he isn't a complete loser and that he values a small portion of him that isn't a loser by intimidating him with Leshawna's worsening farts. Later, Duncan and Harold cooperated in fighting off the attacking Killer Grips. Using Leshawna's blasts of bad gas as cover, Duncan buys Harold time to defeat all of the Grips with his "num-yos," and is thoroughly impressed by Harold's performance. Later, when they find that the chest they were protecting was empty, they both wail in agonizing defeat.

Ocean's Eight - Or Nine
Duncan consistently picks on Harold throughout the challenges again. For the bank-robbing heist, he made masks from Harold's lucky socks, cut up his karate magazines to make a stick-up note, and slapped an unflattering caricature of Harold on Harold's face. When Harold notices Courtney returned, he teases Duncan by saying "Good news, eh, Duncan?," to which Duncan replies by shoving him to the ground. Duncan also laughed at him, along with Heather, when Harold had a bra on, after they had crashed through a pile of clothing during the go-kart challenge.

One Million Bucks, B.C.
Early in the episode, Harold slips on his own soap bar and falls to the ground. Duncan laughs at Harold, but then grows uncomfortable over Harold's subsequent nudity, telling him to "keep your skin to yourself, dweeb." Later, Duncan throws a rock on Harold's feet when Harold was condescendingly explaining the advantages of rocks in prehistoric times. During the fire-building challenge, Duncan tripped Harold and let "animatronic" prehistoric beavers drag him away. Duncan eventually looks worried when Woolly Beavers are attacking Harold during his duel with Justin in the final challenge. In the confessional, Harold admits that both he and Duncan equally hate each other, though he's willing to put that aside for the good of the team.

Million Dollar Babies
After Harold and the other guys wake up due to a trumpet blast at the beginning of the episode, Duncan remarks that if Harold has added trumpets to his snoring, it was "definitely time for Harold to die." Later, as Chris was announcing the participants for the boxing challenge, Harold misinterpreted Chris' description of the Gaffers' boxer ("the deluded dork, the lightweight loser, the knock-kneed numskull") as referring to Duncan, only to find out that Chris was talking about him. Duncan smirks smugly at Harold's misinterpretation. Duncan and (especially) Harold are so crestfallen because of what Leshawna said about them that they're too sad to even insult each other for the remainder of the episode. Duncan and Harold share a confessional at the end of the episode. Duncan looks sorry for Harold when he admits he's still sad about Leshawna trash-talking about him. Duncan then angrily frowns at Harold after being hugged by him

Dial M for Merger
After Chris announces that deactivating a bomb will be a component of the episode's challenge, Duncan and Harold proceed to derisively dismiss each other's supposed bomb-deactivating abilities. In the laser challenge, Harold comments that Duncan was "too busy making googly eyes at a certain girl" to help Leshawna get through the lasers, causing Duncan and Harold to glare at each other; Duncan then pushes Harold into a laser. In the bomb-deactivating challenge, both blamed each other about not knowing how to disarm a bomb. In the end, they would both finally agree to make an alliance with Leshawna in this episode.

Super Hero-ld
Duncan puts a burrito (off-screen) in Harold's pocket after dinner. After Duncan brings it to Harold's attention, Harold reaches reaches in to see what's in his pocket, only to cause the burrito to burst onto his hand. Harold glares at Duncan for this; Duncan then kicks him in the butt, causing the burrito to splatter all over Harold's pants, much to Harold's annoyance. Justin intervenes in the fight and convinces Duncan and Harold to form a new guys' alliance because they were outnumbered by the girls. The two agreed to join him.

During the superhero challenge, as Harold was getting ready to head over to complete the obstacle course, Duncan makes fun at Harold and jokingly asks him if he's using his farts to get him through. Harold tells him that he is right and manages to complete it. After Harold tells Duncan to top that (referring to Duncan as the "All-Seeing Jerk"), Duncan grabs him by the cape and threateningly tells Harold that his real superpower is being able to cream dorks like Harold. As the Guys' Alliance plan on who to vote off, Duncan suggests that Leshawna gets sent home, but Harold refuses to vote with him and Justin. Harold reminds Duncan about their alliance with Leshawna and says to him that they should vote him off for treason. Duncan again threatens Harold, telling Harold that he plans on telling Leshawna that Harold picks his nose in his sleep if he doesn't vote her off. Harold replies that Duncan only has circumstantial evidence at best (while sticking out his mucus at Duncan).

When it was revealed that Leshawna was sent home instead of Duncan, Harold tells her that he voted for her along with Justin, Duncan, and Courtney. Leshawna forgives him, having suspected that Harold was manipulated to doing so. As she heads over to the Lame-o-sine, Leshawna tells Harold to kick Duncan's butt. After she leaves, Duncan tells Harold that he's got something in his pocket, then kicks him in the butt, splattering a burrito all over Harold's pants again. Duncan runs away laughing, and Harold remarks that he should have seen that coming.

The Princess Pride
Duncan was sickened by Harold's burrito that resembled Leshawna in his burrito-building contest at the beginning of the episode, but awarded the win to him anyway. Later, Duncan tries to impress Courtney by beating up Harold while she was singing. When Courtney blew an air kiss to Harold, Duncan grabbed it before it can reach Harold, then sarcastically wishes him luck in a sneering tone of voice. When Duncan was fighting the dragon, he called the dragon names he would usually call Harold, even calling the dragon a "Harold-type loser.” Harold teamed up with Justin to help take down Duncan by having the dragon fall on him.

Get a Clue
When Chris gave clues on where to find him in the bank vault set, Duncan said that unless there was an awesome reward he wasn't going to go look for Chris, as he could use a day off from him and his challenges. Harold gladly agreed with Duncan and said to let Chris search for them. Harold attempts to get Duncan's DNA and fingerprints with an elaborate trap, but Duncan manages to avoid it; Duncan subsequently bullies Harold into giving up his prints and DNA instead. Harold tries to trap Duncan again in the confessional by dropping a barrel on him, but Duncan caught it. When Chris is thought to be dead, Duncan tells Harold and Beth to calm down. After the castmates throw soda and a pillow at the train's wheels in an attempt to stop it, their contents fly back at Harold, covering him with feathers; Duncan laughs at Harold for this, calling him Bigfoot.

Rock n' Rule
Duncan gets annoyed with Harold acting like a rock star. He tells Harold "bite me" before the guitar challenge begins. During the red carpet challenge, when Harold was about to start, Duncan told Harold to hurry up, calling him by his middle name, Doris. This caused Harold to have a crying fit and run through all the cardboard cut-outs of the fans and paparazzi, destroying them. During the elimination ceremony, Harold and Beth voted for Duncan.

Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen
Duncan and Harold's conflict nearly vanished in this episode. At the beginning of the episode, it's revealed that Duncan filled Harold's bed with snails as a prank. They are then pair up against Beth and Courtney, with Duncan being the master and Harold being the student. When Harold was punching a "Duncan" punching bag very poorly, Duncan manage to get Harold to his limit by saying he "had kissed Leshawna" and blew a left hook in his face. When Duncan gives Harold the platter of bees for him to catch with chopsticks, he looks shocked when the bees swarm Harold, and says in the confessional that it wasn't his intention to have them swarm Harold. Right before the challenge, Chris put Harold and Beth in robotic combat suits which were controlled by Duncan and Courtney; Duncan made Harold kick himself several times for his own amusement. In the end, the two of them manage to defeat Beth and Courtney and are allowed to proceed to the next challenge.

At this stage, Duncan and Harold started to get along with Duncan helping Harold when he almost spilled his cup and Harold thanked. They later agreed to split the prize if they win and helped each other climb the mountain. However, Chris disliked their new budding friendship and sent Owen to sabotage it. After several unsuccessful attempts, Owen asked what Harold missed about Leshawna, Harold comments that he misses Leshawna's "delicate beauty." Duncan laughed derisively at Harold's response and commented that she was about as delicate as a freight train. This caused Harold to grab Duncan's glass of water, splash it in his face, then knock Duncan out with a single left hook. This allowed him to win the challenge. Duncan can later be seen sulking outside the tent while Harold indulges in his reward. In a bonus confessional taking place immediately after the episode, Duncan confirms that Harold kept the reward for himself; in reference to that and the punch he received from Harold earlier, Duncan acknowledges how quickly the student became the teacher and how the "little twerp" made him proud. This indicates that despite Owen's attempts at sabotaging what could have been a budding friendship, it did not prevent Duncan from developing newfound respect in Harold in the long run.

2008: A Space Owen
At the beginning of the episode, it's revealed that Harold filled Duncan's mattress with rocks as a prank, possibly as retaliation for Duncan's actions in the previous episode. This made Duncan's back feel incredibly sore throughout the episode. After Harold accidentally kills Duncan's pet tarantula, Scruffy, Duncan helps vote out Harold. When Harold departed the competition, Duncan shouted "Get on with it Doris!" This implied that Duncan was eager to see Harold finally leave. This angered Harold, causing him to run up to Duncan and pull down his pants. Duncan admits he had that one coming for everything he's done to Harold throughout the season.

The Aftermath: IV
Chris showed a video clip that reveals Duncan's kinder side. Duncan tucked Harold into bed while Harold was sleeping. Harold also seemed impressed, and somewhat relieved, with Duncan when he managed to fit through a hole and pass through the other side on a treadmill. Duncan tells Beth that Harold's idea for the tie-breaker is the stupidest thing he ever participated in, though. He also said that he was "intrigued" by Duncan's drawing.

Total Drama Action Alternate Realities
Duncan's Alternate Reality is Dork Fishing, where Harold is tied up as bait while Duncan is watching, waiting for the shark to eat him.

Opening sequence
When Harold was doing karate moves on a hut, Duncan throws a canoe paddle at him, knocking him off the hut, and laughs at Harold falling.

Walk Like An Egyptian - Part 1
When Harold asks if he'll be able to beatbox, Duncan told Harold he would beat him up if he tried to.

Hawaiian Style
During Who You Gonna Root For?, when Courtney sings "Duncan's a dead man!" Harold responds with "Ricki-tick, oh, no!". Harold then asks his team if he can be the representative for Team Cody, which Duncan allows. However, Duncan calls Harold a "moron" for volunteering to participate in the surfing challenge in order to help Cody.

Trivia

 * This conflict is considered the biggest conflict of Total Drama Action, and one of the biggest conflicts overall of the series, the others being Gwen and Heather, Heather and Leshawna and Anne Maria and Jo
 * There is a connection between this conflict, Courtney and Harold's conflict, and Duncan and Leshawna's conflict.
 * Both have kissed two female members of the Screaming Gophers.
 * Both have one-sided attractions to Heather.
 * Both have experienced break-ups at some point in the series:
 * Leshawna broke up with Harold in Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island.
 * Courtney broke up with Duncan in The EX-Files while Gwen broke up with him in Moon Madness.
 * Both have placed fifth in a season.