The Sand Witch Project

'''The castmates compete in a horror-themed challenge. One castmate takes the leadership role of their team, and someone else's conscience begins to bother them about their previous actions, which leads to them quitting from the competition even though their team won the challenge, saving two others from possible elimination.'''

Plot
The episode opens with the castmates relaxing and enjoying not having to compete in any kind of challenges. Some of them are playing "Go Fish" and eating some stolen sandwiches. Duncan and Justin are kicking a soccer ball back and forth and DJ is asleep between the two, blissfully unaware of the game. During the game of "Go Fish," Izzy demonstrates her skills in card shuffling. Harold talks in the confessional about his annoyance towards Izzy, saying, "Izzy thinks she's so cool, but did she spend three whole summers at Magic Steve's Magic Camp?" He then pulls out what he thinks is the ace of spades, but it turns out to actually be a photo of himself covering his genitals with a pillow from the prank the guys pulled on him from an earlier episode during the first season. All of the cast members are surprised that the sandwiches are so delicious and steal the rest of them from Beth.

While DJ is dreaming, he dreams of the night before, when he was preparing the sandwiches for the team. Chef appears, reminding him that they both are still in the alliance to make DJ the winner and Chef is to take half of the million. Back with the cast members, they are called to the fake mountain by Chris, so he can reveal the next challenge. Once they arrive there, Chris' screams are heard and he falls out of the sky and is impaled on a spotlight. He appears to be dead, but then it is revealed that it is a stunt prop and he announces that the challenge's theme is horror films. After everyone screams about Chris' stunt, Lindsay notes that Beth didn't scream like the others. Beth tells her that she cannot scream due to a faulty tonsillectomy from one of the doctor's earrings getting stuck on her tonsils. Back at the challenge, each team has to select a 'scarer' from their team to scare the members of their team, with the rate of the scream being shown on the scream-o-meter. The Screaming Gaffers all agree to choose Duncan for it because he did great in the acting challenges before and he would make a great scarer due to his personality alone, but Chef forces them to go with DJ as the scarer. In the confessional booth, Duncan says that he'd like to keep his arms after Chef threatened him and said that the one thing he learned from home cooking class is to always listen to the guy with the knife.

Meanwhile, the Killer Grips argue with each other over who should be the killer. Justin wants to be the killer because the mask would protect his face from damage, whereas Izzy wants to be the killer because she claims that her 'scary faces' even creep her dog out. However, Owen disagrees and continuously claims that Izzy is cute, which annoys her. While Lindsay was trying to get everyone to go with Beth because she can't scream, Beth was distracted by Justin and the mask, with Owen rambles about how Izzy is cute and never scary, prompting Izzy to glare at Owen. While no one was answering to Lindsay, she finally shouts that Beth would be the killer and that was it. The challenge begins with both Harold and Justin standing in the forest setting and both DJ and Beth set to scare them. Beth tries to scare Justin, but as he doesn't want his pipes to be strained, he does not try very hard to scream. DJ is pushed by Chef, and he bumps into Harold and puts on his mask, making Harold scream. Harold's screams was the loudest, which causes the Screaming Gaffers to win the first round.

The next round involves scaring one of the teammates in the outhouse. The victims are Leshawna and Lindsay. Leshawna thinks that being scared in the outhouse is the most inappropriate thing ever and Lindsay states that she is not going to pee on camera like she did last season. When DJ goes in to scare Leshawna, he realizes that she is sitting on the toilet and is immediately embarrassed. She angrily tells him to scare her and he grunts softly and claws at her with his hand, which causes her to laugh because it is such a feeble attempt. However, when Beth runs in to Lindsay's stall, she scares her so much that she pees herself and screams twice. Beth then tells Lindsay that it was her and she stops screaming. Beth and Lindsay score a point for their team.

The tie-breaking round is the couples round, in which both "killers" go after the couple, who are making out. The couples are Owen and Izzy as well as Duncan and Heather. Owen and Izzy are excited about the scene and start making out in front of Chris, but Duncan and Heather are horridly disgusted. Once Chris mentions the incentive of a million dollars, they hesitantly and briefly kiss and recoil almost immediately, both visibly shaken. When both "killers" try to scare the two couples, neither couples are scared because Duncan and Heather are still grossed out by the kiss, and Owen and Izzy are too busy making out to be scared. Chef then comes out with a mask and chainsaw and scares Duncan, Heather, and DJ. This stunt scares DJ so much that he passes out. After a show break, everyone is surrounding the shocked DJ to see if he is still alive.

In DJ's dream, he is in the clouds and sees his mother. He runs to her, but she gives him an upset look and tells him she didn't raise a cheater. She then slaps him which brings him back to the set, where he is being slapped by Heather, who is trying to bring him out of the shock. He requests to speak to Chef, but Chef is talking with the producers, getting disciplined for messing with the challenge. Chris then sets them up for another challenge, in which the Killer Grips' challenge is to stay in the craft services tent and try not to get scared for the rest of the night. Afterwards, Chris tells them a fake story about an old movie lot guard who mysteriously disappeared. They are given devices to detect where the ghost of the guard is.

Chris then comes out of tent and informs the Screaming Gaffers of their challenge: scare the Grips out of the tent using any items available. Before the night ends, Harold tries to scare them with a floating object trick, but it doesn't work. Duncan makes some fake blood and rigs it to seep from the windows of the kitchen. The Killer Grips are terrified of the blood and attempt to leave the tent until Lindsay points out that it smells like ketchup. She forces Owen to taste it, proving it is ketchup, allowing them to stay in the tent.

During that time, everyone on the Killer Grips notes that Lindsay was being a bit bossy. Meanwhile, the Gaffers try to think of something else to scare the Grips, and everyone turns to DJ, for he hasn't been helping out with the other tricks. DJ claims that he doesn't want to scare the Grips, as his Momma doesn't like him scaring people, but the Gaffers force him to cooperate. DJ's plan was to scare the Grips with the ghost of the guard. Heather dresses up as the guard, and added with some spooky voices (provided by Leshawna), complete darkness (Duncan turns off the power) and Harold suspending Heather above the Grips, scares everyone (except Lindsay) out of the tent. Lindsay tries to tell everyone that the ghost detecting devices were still not going off and therefore it was just a prank, until DJ throws a fork that sets off the device and sends Lindsay screaming into the night. Once the Killer Grips were gone, DJ walks toward the hanging Heather and sees the 'conscience momma' telling him that he did a bad thing and she would never forgive him.

At the Gilded Chris Ceremony, Justin and Lindsay are in the bottom two. As Chris is about to name the contestant who receives the last award, DJ abruptly confesses about his illegal alliance with Chef and votes himself off the show. Chef tries to talk to DJ, only for DJ to scold him in front of everyone and then prepare to leave.

Before leaving, DJ also confesses that he is the one who makes the delicious food that everyone eats. All the castmates want DJ to stay, with Justin even saying that they should have Chef voted off. However, DJ wants to clean his conscience and getting voted off will fix everything that he did with Chef. Once DJ enters the Lame-o-sine, Owen tries to stop the vehicle because he wants DJ to stay with the contestants and make food for them, but fails. Chris signs off the show while holding Owen's face and telling him that in the next episode they will face the most horrible thing ever, Chef's cooking. Owen then drops to the ground and pukes on Chris' shoes as the episode ends.

Exclusive clip
DJ begins telling the audience what he will do with his mother once he reunites with her. He hopes that she will not be mad for forming an illegal alliance and for quitting the show. He believes that he still has integrity to the people who haven't seen the show and for those who did watch, he will make them his famous cinnamon buns.

General

 * This marks the first time in Total Drama history where one team wins the challenge, but ends up losing one of its own members anyway.
 * This episode marks the first time in Total Drama history in which a contestant has quit the competition.
 * In DJ's dream, it is revealed that his initials stand for "Devon Joseph."
 * The Scream-O-Meter is very similar to the Chef-o-Meter from Not Quite Famous.
 * Coincidentally, Harold won that challenge when it was his turn as well.
 * Beth reveals that she cannot scream due to a botched tonsillectomy.

Continuity

 * This is the second of five episodes in the series to have a horror or spooky theme. The others are Hook, Line, and Screamer, I See London..., Finders Creepers, and Moon Madness.
 * Also, the shot where all of the other contestants are looking down at DJ mirrors a similar shot where most of the other remaining contestants looked down at Geoff in Hook, Line, and Screamer.
 * This is also the second time that DJ is eliminated in a horror-themed challenge. The first time is in the Psycho Killer challenge in Hook, Line, and Screamer.
 * This is the second time Lindsay is saved from almost being eliminated due to an irregular elimination. The first is in Up the Creek, when the RCMP came just before the final marshmallow was distributed.
 * This is the second time that DJ has left the competition without actually being voted off by the other contestants. In Hook, Line, and Screamer, the loser was chosen based on poorest performance instead of votes.
 * This is also the second time in the series that someone offered to be eliminated instead of someone else. The first is Duncan offering to take Gwen's place in The Chefshank Redemption. However, this is the first time that it actually happens, as Duncan admitted that he was just kidding in the aforementioned episode.
 * This is currently the last episode in which Izzy and Owen kiss.
 * Izzy reveals she has a dog, making her the fifth contestant to own a dog. The others are Lindsay, Noah, Owen, and Duncan.
 * Izzy and Owen make out for the first time in each of the first two seasons in episodes based on horror movies. They first made out in Hook, Line, and Screamer and now in this episode. The difference is that they are seen out in the open making out in this episode, while in Hook, Line, and Screamer, Izzy dragged Owen behind a bush to make out with him.
 * The picture Harold pulls out is from If You Can't Take The Heat....
 * The music from Cody's dream in The Big Sleep is heard during DJ's dream.
 * The port-a-potty that Leshawna and Lindsay sit in during the challenge is the same one seen in The Aftermath: IV, where the jury must cast their votes for the season's winner.
 * This is the first episode of the series in which Gwen does not appear or is not mentioned by the remaining contestants.

Goofs

 * Beth states that she can't scream due to a faulty tonsillectomy, but in various episodes before and after this one, Beth can be heard screaming. Some examples include: 3:10 to Crazytown, in which Chris shot his gun and Beth screamed out of fear and annoyance; Monster Cash, where she is heard screaming while running from the Monster with DJ, Gwen, and Trent; and The Princess Pride, where she screams in happiness after being informed that Chris will start selling Princess Dolls of herself.
 * When Lindsay is inside the confessional, the Gaffers logo is shown, but Lindsay is a Grip.
 * When DJ confesses that he started an Illegal alliance with Chef, Chris seems angry, but in the recap of Riot On Set, Chris seems to already know about the alliance.
 * When DJ quits, all of the Killer Grips are shocked. This is strange, as Izzy knew of the alliance between DJ and Chef in The Aftermath: I.
 * When Chris faked his own death, it was impossible for Chris to get where he was and have a hole the size of what he had, due to the light being much larger than the pole.
 * Owen states in this episode that he hates Chef's cooking. However, he has displayed admiration for Chef's food in previous episodes.
 * The sandwiches DJ made disappear after he throws the spoon at Chef.
 * Lindsay is absent at the beginning of the episode when the camera shows a full view of all the contestants, and only appears after Beth returns.