Duncan and Trent

This article focuses on the interactions between Duncan and Trent.

Overview
Duncan and Trent had very few interactions in Total Drama Island, but were ultimately shown to get along. However, in Total Drama Action, conflict arose between them (although it is mostly one-sided on Trent's side) when Trent becomes jealous at Duncan for becoming close friends with his girlfriend, Gwen. He then starts to believe that Duncan is trying to steal Gwen from him. Duncan, unaware of the jealousy he caused, started to prank Trent and even calls him weird. Stressed over this situation, Trent eventually starts to throw challenges for Gwen in order to impress her, but instead, caused their break-up (which Trent partly blames Duncan for). However, by Total Drama World Tour, the conflict seems to be mostly resolved as Trent appears to be no longer jealous of Duncan and accepts him dating Gwen.

Brunch of Disgustingness
After the Screaming Gophers and Killer Bass teams dissolved into gender-based teams, Trent and Owen were warmly welcomed into the guys' cabin. Trent and Duncan were seen, along with the other boys, enjoying their free time dancing and burping in the cabin. When faced with the challenge in the episode, the guys were more than willing to help Trent out due to his weak stomach. Trent and Duncan, along with the other guys, enjoyed a fantastic weekend on a cruise before all teams were officially merged.

No Pain, No Game
After their weekend getaway, the guys are seen getting along really well, with Duncan going as far as saying that they were all "tighter than family." However, this moment of unity was short-lived, ending up broken when Chris dissolves the teams. The boys then distance themselves from one another. However, during the challenge, after Duncan finishes the "turtle puck-shot" challenge, Trent shows major concern for Duncan, calling it "harsh".

Search and Do Not Destroy
Duncan gets angry when Leshawna tells him about Trent's incident with Heather that broke Gwen's heart. He says in the confessional that what Trent did is really messed up, and it is implied that he votes Trent off later that night. As Trent sailed away on the Boat of Losers, Duncan bids farewell to him. This is likely because he felt regretful that he, like the others, fell for Heather's trick, and voted off the innocent Trent. It is also worth mentioning that when Trent left the island, Duncan was the only one to return his hand gesture, other than Gwen.

Alien Resurr-eggtion
The conflict intensifies when Duncan and Gwen discuss their favorite movie, Alien Chunks. Trent attempts to join the conversation as a way to connect with Gwen, but Gwen and Duncan immediately see through his act, since Trent does not seem to know much about alien movies. This makes Gwen feel awkward, but Duncan simply dismisses Trent for trying too hard. Gwen, Duncan, Trent, and DJ form a group for the challenge, which is to locate alien eggs and return them safely to the home base before getting splattered with Chef Hatchet's slime gun. Trent complains about Duncan in the confessional about how much he and Gwen are turning out to share too many similarities for his liking.

Trent also takes the opportunity to insult Duncan's personality, questioning how manly a guy could be when he uses hairspray. Gwen loses her necklace after Chris drops a slime bomb on them, which hits Duncan and eliminates him from the challenge. Gwen jokingly makes fun of Duncan for losing, which Duncan laughs back in response. Trent, however, seems to perceive this exchange as something much more malicious on Gwen's end, saying how much he loves seeing Gwen "stick it to Duncan" even though the verbal exchange is not nearly as nasty as Trent thinks it was.

Suddenly, Trent is forced to choose between the eggs (the only one he could see was about to fall and break) or Gwen's lucky necklace, which was just about to fall into a sewer grate. He chooses the necklace and gives it back to Gwen, but she decides to let Trent keep it. Duncan admits he would have gone for the win, then he mutters "girl" to Trent when he accepts the necklace, insulting his manhood. This prompts Trent to glare at him. After Trent finds two eggs to secure the victory for Gwen and himself, Duncan is annoyed by Trent's success.

Riot On Set
The conflict continues as Trent and Gwen are about to choose who they want on their team. Gwen chose Duncan first for her team, inadvertently making Trent jealous again. In the confessional, Trent talks about how he feels betrayed. As a result, Trent responds by picking "the beautiful" Lindsay first, in an attempt to make Gwen jealous. Once the teams were assembled, the first challenge was to run up a steep prop hill with backstage equipment, including lights, backgrounds, and cameras. Trent gets angry after seeing Duncan catch Gwen when she falls, though when he questions Gwen about it, she simply states that they are teammates. Afterwards, when Lindsay ends up helping Trent, he states that they're teammates too. Later, as the Killer Grips begin to make progress, Trent taunts Gwen and Duncan, calling them "punk wannabes." While shocked by Trent's sudden mean streak, Gwen and Duncan resolve to bring Trent's team down. They succeed in doing so, thanks to Duncan's touching performance as a sentimental gangster. After the challenge, Trent and Gwen make amends when she assures him that she and Duncan are just friends.

Beach Blanket Bogus
Duncan is shown early on in this episode to have taken a liking to pranking Trent (similarly to how he pranked Harold last season and this season) by loosening the tops of the salt and pepper shakers and causing Trent to accidentally spill all of the salt and pepper on his eggs. Gwen slaps Duncan and scolds him for it by calling him a third-grader, finding the act to be juvenile. After Trent inadvertently throws the excess salt and pepper at Heather, Duncan walks over to steal a piece of Trent's breakfast. Unexpectedly, Trent panics since Duncan leaves him with only eight pieces left. Duncan replies by stating how Trent is weird for fretting over something as trivial as how much breakfast he has on his plate. Gwen cuts in, assuring Trent that she likes weird, and then eats a piece of Trent's breakfast herself to leave seven pieces. She asks if it's better for him to have an odd number which makes him feel a little better.

The first challenge of the day is being able to stay on the mobile surfboard while dodging various obstacles (such as sharks, high-speed winds, and a barrage of seagulls). Duncan wins this challenge for his team, leading to Gwen giving Duncan a congratulatory hug. Trent grows suspicious over this, stating to Owen how Gwen's team is a "ticking time bomb of betrayal."

As Gwen and Duncan sneak off together to dismantle the bus, Trent's team tries to win the second challenge. Trent's obsession with the number nine is still ever-present. Gwen is relieved, thinking Trent's obsession with her is at least not as bad as the "9" obsession, but Duncan points out that the amount of letters of Gwen's name and Trent's name combined makes nine, which makes her panic. After the Grips win the second challenge, Trent is chosen to participate in the final tie-breaking challenge: a dance-off. Trent figured the way to win Gwen's favor again would be to throw the competition so her team could win, and as such, he falls down in the middle of the dance-off, feigning an ankle injury. As Trent squirms on the ground, Chris comes over and states that what Trent is doing isn't dancing. Although Trent tries to claim that it is "modern dancing," Chris does not buy it and Duncan in particular thought his moves sucked, which leads Gwen to retort to Duncan that she is the one to blame for Trent losing his focus due to ignoring him throughout the episode. Duncan then states that Gwen is giving herself too much credit.

The Aftermath: I
When Trent appears on the talk show episode, he tells everyone about Gwen and Duncan hanging out together, which makes Courtney jealous as well. Trent solely blames Duncan for his elimination after seeing Duncan suggesting to Gwen that his nine-obsession is due to the fact that the combined number of letters in both Gwen and Trent's names equals nine, which makes her even more uncomfortable about her relationship with Trent. However, his number nine superstition ends up having nothing to do with Gwen. Trent believes that Duncan inadvertently makes Gwen break up with him over nothing. Later, Geoff tells Trent during the "That's Gonna Leave a Mark" segment that he knows Trent wants to "lay Duncan out for what he said to Gwen."

The Aftermath: II
Trent finally accepts the fact that Duncan was not trying to steal Gwen and tells everyone that he was to be blame for his and Gwen's break up, preventing Gwen from needing to sit over the piranha pit.

Million Dollar Babies
Duncan feels bad in the confessional about how Trent and Gwen's relationship comes to an end when they were put on separate teams. Duncan also states that since he and Courtney are now in a similar situation, he wants to avoid risking his relationship with her by not throwing challenges like Trent did. Throughout the ball pit wrestling challenge, when Duncan was against Courtney and had the urge to truly fight back, he repeatedly whispered to himself, "Trent and Gwen, Trent and Gwen," reminding himself of what happened between them. This could possibly mean that Duncan was unaware of the jealousy he caused Trent to have, and has actual respect for him.

The Aftermath: IV
When it is Trent's turn to ask Beth and Duncan a question, Trent asks the both of them politely. Although Trent brought up his failed romance with Gwen, he didn't mention his assumption of Duncan trying to steal Gwen from him or the assumption that he is the cause of their break up. While it is unknown who he votes for, Trent cheers for Duncan after he is declared to be the winner of Total Drama Action.

Aftermath: Bridgette Over Troubled Water
Trent calls Duncan an "idiot" for blowing his chance at a million dollars when he quits the competition for not wanting to sing a reprise in the first episode.

Aftermath Aftermayhem
Unlike Cody, who is jealous of Duncan for kissing Gwen, Trent did not show any sign of jealousy when Gwen returns. This hinted that he is no longer angry and jealous at Duncan like the previous season and accepts Gwen dating him. When he tries to start a conversation about her and Duncan, he mentions that he did not see that coming.

Trivia

 * The conflict is similar to the conflict between Courtney and Gwen.
 * In both of the conflicts, one of the sides is jealous about the other's friendship with its canon pair. During Total Drama Action, both Trent and Courtney are concerned about Gwen and Duncan's friendship despite Gwen and Duncan insisting that they're only friends. However, Trent and Courtney's concerns did come true later on in Total Drama World Tour.
 * This conflict is also similar to Cody and Duncan's conflict.
 * Both have kissed two girls:
 * Both have kissed Heather (in which neither of them enjoyed it). Trent in Search and Do Not Destroy and Duncan in The Sand Witch Project.
 * Both have also kissed Gwen.
 * Two of their eliminations are directly or indirectly because of Gwen:
 * Trent's elimination in Search and Do Not Destroy is because of him kissing Heather prompting Leshawna to form an alliance to vote him off as a revenge for Gwen. In 3:10 to Crazytown, to prove there was no alliance between her and Trent, Gwen tells his team to vote him off.
 * Duncan willingly quits Total Drama World Tour due to Gwen and Courtney's quarreling. In African Lying Safari, Duncan was distracted by Heather taunting him about Gwen's elimination, causing him to be tripped by Alejandro, falling for their plan to vote him off.
 * Both were tricked by Heather, who acted vulnerably in front of them in order to get an advantage which leads to their elimination, at one point in the series.
 * Gwen dated the both of them despite calling them "not sane" in The Very Last Episode, Really!.
 * However, she only called Trent "not sane" because of his kiss with Heather.
 * Interestingly, both know how to play the guitar, as seen in Not Quite Famous (Trent) and Rock n' Rule (Duncan). Ironically in Not Quite Famous, Gwen reveals in her diary that she likes guys who play guitar.
 * Both were broken up with by Gwen in the fifth episode of a season.