User blog comment:Summer55/maybe the constants are not humans/@comment-24152851-20150401111805

Well I've had a lot of doubts whether or not Max is human. He has gray skin, purple hair, and very distorted physical facial features. I wouldn't be surprised if he was half alien from the same species as Roger Smith from American Dad.

As for the contestants not dying, that's just the physics in the Total Drama Universe being a bit different in the real world. Characters are said to be "made of iron", which means they can take a lot of damage and surviving without sustaining significant injury.