User blog comment:VeryUnknownFan/Returnees in Total Drama/Ridonculous Race discussion/@comment-24152851-20151205231618

I agree with everything you said.

Imho, TDI Izzy was the only good returnee. It made sense since she was never really eliminated, everuone wanted to know what happened to her, and her wild crazy personality made her the perfect candidate. Every other return had problems of some sort, some more than others.

With Eva, while the least problematic, was kind of pointless as she was only around for 1 episode. Same case scenario for TDA Izzy, though at least she was really funny.

Courtney's debut was mixed. I accept they needed an antagonist who could do something, unlike Mr. Eye Candy. Her debut wasn't too surprising for the reasons you mentioned, and she did have one of the largest fanbases from TDI. However, it got a bit problematic when it became blindly obvious that Courtney would make it far at any cost when she keeps beasting challenges. And as you mentioned, rage Courtney could be annoying.

Owen in TDA is one of the most cotroversial to date. His elimination might have been a bit unfair, but his return was what cost him a huge chunk of his fanbase. Owen as the mole was just so stupid, and caused Lindsay and Harold to be kicked out to make room for him. He ended up riding his screenhog status to third, which is no better than the final 3 of TDAS.

While Duncan was the obvious choice to return, the chain of events that happened afterwards made him one of the worst returnees. Anyone other than Duncan and Gwuncan fans would have an issue with him. Pretty much, his only purpose was to kick start the love triangle, and maybe to replace Noah as Owen's friend and threat to Alejandro. But it was pointless in dragging it out for half a season, with Courtney and Gwen having their blooming friendship while Duncan's a ghost. If it happened in the first half, there's a chance the girls could make up, or Duncan would have broken up with Courtney and wouldn't have cheated on her.

Blaineley. She should not have been a contestant, end of story. Her presence was not required for 2 episodes to rat out Ezekiel and get Aleheather together.

Dakota's development was fine and all, but they didn't need to have her return as a contestant and definitely not mutate her. Or at least have her return earlier without the Dakotazoid debacle. Another one of the worst returnees to date.

Surfer Dudes. I was pretty thorough about that in my TDRR review so I won't retype it here. But I fully agreed with what you said.

Good review man. :)