The teams saddle up for some rootin'-tootin' Western-themed challenges, but one contestant keeps|keeps riggin' the game like a crooked card dealer to help a rival team member. Soon after, this outlaw romance reaches a dead end when the boyfriend confesses to throwin' the game, causing a showdown that splits them apart. A sly schemer catches wind of this break-up and ropes the goth into voting off her ex, using blackmail as sharp as a cactus needle.
The episode opens with the castmates struggling to keep cool in the intense heat wave outside. Heather and Leshawna sit in a bench with an umbrella over them; Lindsay and Beth sit on the stairs of their trailer, under its shadow; and Harold stands on the window, complaining about how hot it is to do anything, but is tired to finish his sentence.
My mad skills are leeching out of me. I can feel it. My mojo isn't sweatproof.
”
Owen fans a palm leaf for Justin, who asks him to go faster. DJ, panting under the sun, sits inside a small inflatable pool, and Duncan is sitting in the other bench with his feet inside a bucket of water. Gwen and Trent are sitting under the shadow of a tree, and Gwen manages to develop a cold, prompting Trent to try and cheer her up, and he lets her drink from his water bottle. Unfortunately, he makes things awkward when he incorporates his obsession of the number nine by wiping off his water bottle nine times after she drinks from it.
And we're back to zero on the relationship scale. Not that anyone's counting — I mean, besides Trent.
”
Chris arrives in a cowboy outfit, announcing the day's challenge will a Western-themed challenge, telling the contestants that he'll meet them in the town at noon and to "be there or I'll drive you deadbeats out of town!" Lindsay misinterprets this and asks that, since they're going out of town, if they could go to the mall.
Ugh, darn humidity. What you think you're looking at? Nothing to see here.
”
The castmates stop at the set of an old western movie, where they are given their first challenge: they must jump onto a horse from a hundred-foot high diving board. Beth asks what about the "pretty dames," but Chris just says that they hang out in the saloon during the bar brawl, to which Harold reacts excitedly, trying to show off his boxing moves but trips into a large container of water, amusing Duncan.
Who says a western has to end with a guy and his horse. This is the movies. The guy always gets the girl. Meaning me.
”
Since the Screaming Gaffers won the previous week's challenge, Chris forces them to go first because he says so. Before they begin, Gwen sneezes and believes she has more than just a cold, obtaining Duncan's approval for help if needed, to which Trent tells the Gaffers that Gwen was really sick and that, "In her condition, she'd probably fall off the platform and land on the horse," covering his mouth as he realizes his mistake.
As Gwen begins to climb up the ladder, Duncan jokingly tells his teammates that they will probably need a new leader, which Gwen overhears, making her more exasperated. Once she gets to the top, she suddenly decides not to jump. Trent tries to wish her
luck by telling her to "break a leg."
Acceleration equals mass times the gravitational constant occasional equational… not good, people! Not good.
”
Though Gwen manages to land on the horse, albeit painfully. As she falls off the horse, Trent rushes to help her, which she appreciates. She discovers her arm is injured when Trent pulls it to help her up, prompting Leshawna to push him away and help Gwen up instead.
Trent volunteers to go next, thinking things can't get any worse, but misses the horse and painfully lands crotch first on a fence post. Harold successfully lands on the horse, then Duncan lands on top of him. Owen jumps, but the horse runs away in terror at his massive weight, causing Owen to chase it, and force himself onto the saddle. Chris gives the Killer Grips a point, despite Owen cheating, angering the Gaffers. All of the castmates jump, except Justin, who cites a modeling contract that prevents him from participating in order to protect his assets. Lindsay and Beth take the challenge together, but before jumping, both exchange promises that if one of them dies, they could have one of the other's items. Despite their theatrics, they land on the horse successfully. With the score tied, Leshawna and Heather are the last one's left, and they both climb up the ladder while insulting each other. At the top, Leshawna pushes Heather off, but Heather pulls Leshawna down with her. Both end up hanging from a weather vane by their pants. Leshawna's pants rip on the weather vane and she falls off, but she still misses the horse, while Heather is left hanging off the plank. Both teams are still tied with three points each.
For the tie-breaker, Chris explains that the castmates will settle it via a showdown using water guns.
Finally, I think I did good. Man, girls are complicated.
”
However, Owen drinks all the water out of the squirt guns, forcing Chris to make a new tie-breaker. The final challenge is to have the team of cowboys (the Grips) rope the group of cattle (the Gaffers, wearing cow udder hats), to which Trent embarrasses himself again by trying to compliment Gwen.
I just found out I have a new neck modeling contract. Apparently, I have excellent tendons. See? See, check it out. You like that?
”
The remaining Gaffers find some extra rope lying around and turn the tables on the Grips by capturing them, thus winning the challenge. Duncan ties Harold up, despite being on the same team.
Chris says that branding is off and, instead, the Killer Grips will be voting someone out. Chris then lets everyone shower in a barrel before the eliminationceremony, where Harold takes a long time, bothering the other contestants, so Duncan shakes him off the barrel.
You wanna know why I pick on Harold? Here's a hint. She's about ye tall, has beautiful brown hair, and could tear you limb from limb. No, it's not a bear. It's Courtney. Harold got Courtneybootedlast season. Yep. Payback's a—
”
While everyone is showering, Gwen meets with Trent, expressing guilt over him throwing challenges for her, and also how unsettling his obsession with the number nine is. Gwen ends her relationship with Trent, much to his dismay. Justin, who is nearby, overhears everything and tells his team. The rest of the Grips confront Gwen and accuse her of having Trent throw challenges. Though she tries to convince them she didn't, they don't believe her, and Justin accuses her of attempting to get to the final two. Desperately trying to convince them, she urges them to vote off Trent, while Justin ominously insists that Gwen will owe them.
At the elimination ceremony, Chris tosses the Gilded Chris Awards to Lindsay, Beth, Justin, and Owen, with Trent having been voted off. He begs to say goodbye to Gwen before leaving, but an uncaring Chef hurls him into the lame-o-sine. Afterward, Chris and Gwen watch a replay of the night's elimination ceremony from Chris' viewing room. Gwen questions if Chris had her view the ceremony to make her feel bad, which he affirms. Gwen sadly responds that it worked.
So it really stinks that I’ve got to go! I thought this season I'd go all the way, with Gwen! Things with Gwen and I were great. You know that sweet spot in the sofa, the one you spent years carving? That's how Gwen felt to me. Things got a little nuts — okay, I got nuts! Liking Gwen made me crazy! Crazy enough to make me lose a million bucks! Guess the Grips are better off without me. Think my forehead needs a bit of time to heal.
Just like the previous season, the final ten castmates consist of four people on one team (a red-colored team that starts with "Killer" in its name) and six on the other (a green-colored team that starts with "Screaming"):
The cowboy hats that Chris, Beth, Justin, and Lindsay wear are the same shape as Geoff's, although all of them are different colors.
Although this is never adressed, in addition to the cowboy hats, Justin, Trent, and Beth switch out their normal shoes for cowboy boots for the duration of the tiebreaker challenge.
Continuity[]
Gwen breaks up with Trent in this episode, making them the second couple in the series, and the first in Total Drama Action, to break up.
This episode shows that Chef is now starting to rebel against Chris, as he is refusing to wear certain outfits and even ties him up, possibly because he is still angry at Chris for not giving him his paycheck.
Duncan admits in this episode that he continues to bully Harold, because he rigged the votes and eliminated Courtney last season. This reveals that he eventually found out the truth about her wrongful elimination, even though he initially thought Heather was behind it.
This is the second time Trent and Owen are in the bottom two.
This episode's title is a parody of the movie, 3:10 to Yuma.
Justin’s Neck Modeling Contract is a reference to Jonesy’s Neck Modeling job for International Parts Modelling in the 6teen episode The Hunted.
The horse challenge is a parody of the movie The Mask of Zorro, involving a scene where he jumps on the horse from a tall building (and misses).
In the recap of the last episode, Chris states that the sandcastle made by the Grips is named "Casa Dos Gwen," which is a mixture of the two names previously given to it, "Casa Gwen" and "Casa Dos Paper-Mâché."
Goofs[]
In "No Pain, No Game," Leshawna states that she's wearing a weave, but in this episode it curls up into an afro, as if it were normal hair, but later in the season Heather mocks Leshawna for her weave.
When the camera is zoomed out before Chris says that the Killer Grips will have to vote someone off, DJ is missing his udder hat while all the other members of his team have their hats on. However, it appears on his head in the next scene.
When the castmates meet up with Chris for the tie-breaker challenge, Leshawna's pants show no signs of being ripped by the weather vane earlier. However, she may have simply changed her pants.
When Leshawna yells at Heather, Lindsay appears to have no teeth.
When Duncan trips Harold, he falls into a water trough. However, when zoomed out, Duncan is clearly not anywhere near the trough.
When Gwen decides to climb up the diving board, Duncan is lacking his nose piercing.
When Trent and Beth are caught in the rope, Trent is seen having only one leg.
After the Gaffers find rope during the calf roping contest, Leshawna and Harold both rope Justin. Even though Harold roped him first, Leshawna's rope is lower on Justin's body than Harold's is.
When the Gaffers win the tie-breaker challenge, Owen is not shown tied up.
During the scene when Gwen, Trent, and Justin are outside of the communal bathroom, they're in front of Camp Wawanakwa's washroom rather than the one on the abandoned film lot.
Gallery[]
Due to the heat, Heather and Leshawna share an umbrella.
Lindsay and Beth hide under the shade on their trailer.
Harold passes out in his trailer.
Owen struggles to fan Justin, due to his own overheating.
Trent is willing to get a cold from her, as long as she is hydrated.
DJ made a kiddy pool for himself to sit in to cool himself down.
Harold bumps his head on the trailer's window after hearing Chris's gunfire.
Leshawna's hair is turned into an afro.
Leshawna's reaction when Heather laughs at her hair.