The final three teams arrive in New York, the final destination of the race. In a cab driving, stair climbing showdown, two players have their final showdown, leading to a mad dash to Central Park where one squad finally vanquish their greatest foes and earn their long-waited comeuppance for what they've done (also someone's biggest problem) but still have one team to contend with. In the end, that one team finally finishes and gets the million, while the other feels good they made it to the end regardless.
Plot
The three finalist teams must now fly to New York for their next Travel Tip. All three teams believe they have a good chance at winning the race, as they have all survived numerous challenges that are thrown at them. After their flight lands at the airport, teams must compete in an All-In, which involves driving a taxi to the Empire State Building. Once there, teams must climb 86 flights of stairs up to the observation deck, where they will collect their next travel tip attached to a suitcase. The Ice Dancers immediately start playing dirty, taunting the Police Cadets and crashing their taxi into the Surfer Dudes, resulting in their taxi spinning out of control and crashing into a pole. Lucky for them, they are near a subway entrance, so they take the train instead.
The Ice Dancers and Police Cadets end up stuck in a traffic jam; however, the Cadets are able to clear the traffic by impersonating a police siren, allowing them and the Ice Dancers to arrive at the building. The Surfers are the first to arrive at the Empire State Building, having no trouble at all climbing the stairs due to having done this in the very first episode. They find out that their next task is to get to Central Park for the mid-point Chill Zone and Don states that the last team to arrive at the mid-point Chill Zone will be eliminated. Unfortunately for them, Brody gets another leg cramp, much like what happened in the first episode. But this time, Brody came prepared, as he kept a banana in his pocket for potassium, though it had become rotten by this point. He eats the banana, causing Geoff to spew. The Police Cadets arrive before the Ice Dancers, but fall behind due to Sanders insisting they find a proper parking spot. As the Surfers rush back down, they take the Ice Dancers taxi, mistaking it for one left by Don, while the Ice Dancers take the Police Cadets taxi. In a bid to catch up, MacArthur uses her police badge to confiscate a hot dog van and pursue the Ice Dancers.
The Surfers are the first to arrive at the mid-point Chill Zone and must make their way to a boathouse to ride a boat to the middle of a pond. Once there, they must find a combination that will unlock their briefcase. Elsewhere, the Ice Dancers get a flat tire and have their vehicle flipped over by the vengeful Police Cadets, resulting in them having to race on foot to the finish. The Police Cadets arrive at the Chill Zone, only to have their tip blown away by the wind into a drain. As the Ice Dancers arrive and get closer, Sanders uses her broken arm to reach down the awkward angle of the drain and grab the tip. MacArthur then carries her to the Chill Zone before the Ice Dancers. As a result, the Ice Dancers are the last to arrive and are cut from the competition. Josee, reaching her breaking point, throws a temper tantrum by breaking a fountain. Jacques stops her before she can throw a hot dog cart by telling her to accept the fact that they have lost and it's over. Josee calms down and begins to cry and hug Jacques, only to be crushed by the hot dog cart she had been lifting. They believe that their tactics weren't worthy of winning the competition, with Josee promising to be a better person, only to push a lady into the fountain afterward.
The final two teams use a map to make their way to the boathouse, but the Surfers end up going to the wrong one. After getting the right combinations, the teams will attain the directions to their final Chill Zone inside the briefcase, where the first team to arrive will win one million dollars. The camera then switches to the previously eliminated teams sitting at the bleachers, some using the interview to express their opinion on the final two. Rock is excited that someone is going to win the money, but Spud mistakes this as themselves being in the finale as finalists. The Tennis Rivals make jokes about the finalists and how bad the finale is. The Stepbrothers reveal that they're rooting for the Police Cadets to win due to their athletic skills. Taylor admits that she's glad that she and her mother got cut from the competition before they had to do any of the disgusting challenges. Crimson is happy about the Ice Dancers' elimination, but Ennui carefully reminds her about showing happiness. The Ice Dancers are still bitter over their elimination, and each gives a score of "0.0." Meanwhile, both teams have trouble searching the buoys for a combination, and MacArthur tries to flirt with Brody, who seems to be more focused on winning, much to her anger. The Cadets are the first to find the correct combination, but in their excitement, MacArthur accidentally creates a hole in the boat, and it begins sinking. However, they manage to make their way to shore before they submerge, with the Surfers not far behind.
After reaching shore, both teams quickly run as fast as they can to the final Chill Zone with the eliminated contestants cheering for them. In the end, one of the teams reached the finish line and is declared the winner. Regardless of who wins, only the Ice Dancers are not happy, but Don blatantly says he doesn't care. In both endings, the Surfers admit that they had a good time during the Race while MacArthur admits that being in the Race taught her a lot and she realizes that her partner is stronger than she thought.
The winning team celebrates their victory by tossing the money joyfully in the air, much to Don's annoyance. Don and the other contestants then join them in a final group shot as Don signs off the show.
Endings
In the final race to the Chill Zone, the Cadets are the first team to arrive because of them picking up speed and win the million dollars. Sanders celebrates her and MacArthur's victory while the Surfers hug each other despite their loss. In the final group shot, the Cadets are celebrating their winnings with them.
In the final race to the Chill Zone, the Surfers are the first team to arrive and win the million dollars as they celebrate. The Police Cadets congratulate the Surfers on their win and MacArthur asks Brody to call her, much to his delight. MacArthur admits that while it is embarrassing that her team didn't win, the race helped her realize how competitive, strong, and forgiving her partner is. In the final group shot, the Surfers are celebrating their winnings.
Cast
Voice actor | Role(s) |
---|---|
Terry McGurrin | Don |
Scott McCord | Brody/Jacques |
Darren Frost | Chet |
Stacey DePass | Crimson |
Carter Hayden | Ennui/Spud |
Dan Petronijevic | Geoff |
David Huband | Gerry |
Julie Lemieux | Josee/Kelly |
Carlos Díaz | Lorenzo/Rock |
Evany Rosen | MacArthur |
Adrian Truss | Pete |
Nicole Stamp | Sanders |
Bryn McAuley | Taylor |
- Carrie, Devin, Dwayne, Ellody, Emma, Jay, Jen, Junior, Kitty, Laurie, Leonard, Mary, Mickey, Miles, Noah, Owen, Ryan, Stephanie, Tammy, and Tom all appear; but do not speak. However, they are heard cheering.
- Anne Maria, Blaineley, and Chris each make brief appearances; however, they have no dialogue.
- A man driving a car, the intercom on the train, and a cart vendor speak, though it is unknown who voiced them.
Leaderboard
Mid-Point Chill Zone
Final Results
Canada, Canada [Netflix], Croatia, USA [Netflix], Hungary, Italy, Romania, Poland [Netflix], Australia [Netflix]
First Place • Racing • Eliminated • Last placer on a non-elimination episode
Returns to the competition • Season winner • Season 2nd place
Canada [Crave], USA, USA [iTunes], United Kingdom, Israel, Portugal, Brazil, Latin America, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, France, Russia, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Philippines, Norway, Denmark, India, United Kingdom [BBC iPlayer]
First Place • Racing • Eliminated • Last placer on a non-elimination episode
Returns to the competition • Season winner • Season 2nd place
Trivia
General
- This is the second and final double elimination episode of the spin-off, the first being in Down and Outback.
- This marks the first time in the franchise that a returning character(s) is in the final two.
- In the Cadets' ending, the Ice Dancers are sitting, while in the Surfers' ending, they're standing.
- Several Total Drama characters cameo in this episode:
- Anne Maria is seen outside the Empire State Building.
- Chris is seen sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper in the streets of New York City.
- Furthermore, Terry McGurrin revealed in a Twitter post that, in one of the first drafts for the finale, Chris was planned to have a bigger role in the episode; he was going to show up and give Don hosting tips, only to not be recognized by the current host and eventually be escorted by the security. The writers had discussed about having Chris and Don meet only for Don to not know about Total Drama or feigning ignorance to annoy Chris. The idea had to be dropped due to concerns about the runtime and ruining the episode's tension.
- Blaineley is seen carrying boxes from an assumed shopping spree, although she is wearing a pink dress.
- A wanted poster of Ezekiel can be seen in the background.
- A graffiti of the skull on Duncan's shirt can be seen on the walls of a building.
- A woman resembling Sky can be seen walking past Don at the airport. Fresh TV confirms on Twitter that this woman is Sky's older sister whom she mentioned in A Blast from the Past.
- Cody's, DJ's, Katie's, and Tyler's Camp TV design were seen throughout the episode as either pedestrians or drivers.
- The Rob Ford look-alike from the premiere is seen in front of The Empire State Building.
- The butler from Total Drama All-Stars, appears at the top of the Empire State Building, in the observatory deck.
- The man in the Hawaiian shirt from The Aftermath: IV, a female intern from Jamaica Me Sweat, and one of the men from Dakota's paparazzi entourage are seen running away from Geoff and Brody's taxi.
- The homeless man from Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special who stole Ezekiel's wallet as well as in Broadway, Baby!, during What's Not To Love, is seen sleeping on the subway train next to the Surfer Dudes.
- When the Police Cadets run after the Ice Dancers after having their taxi stolen, they pass by a woman who looks like the mother from Broadway, Baby! who had her baby carrier swapped.
- The doll from That's Off the Chain! and The Enchanted Franken-Forest appears on the bench after the Ice Dancers try to sabotage the Surfer Dudes while driving a cab.
- Leshawna's bag from Not So Happy Campers—Part 1 and Haute Camp-ture appears in possession of a background character.
- When the Ice Dancers' taxi flips over, a silver medal can be seen hanging in their taxi as a reference to them winning silver at the Olympics.
- Noah and Owen are the only characters voiced by Carter Hayden and Scott McCord who don't speak in this episode.
- Counting Total Drama, this is the second finale in which a female contestant wins in Canada. The first was Lies, Cries and One Big Prize, in which Sky became Canada's first female winner. As of this episode, only three female contestants won a season of Total Drama in Canada.
- This is the first finale since The Very Last Episode, Really! where the winner is the same in both the United States and Latin America.
- When the camera zooms in on the rat coming out of the sewers, a person wearing shoes that resemble Rodney's can be seen passing by.
- This is the first episode in the franchise where there is at least one contestant from each generation from the main series at that point of time appearing (Blaineley, Geoff, Owen, and Noah from the first generation, Anne Maria from the second, and Leonard from the third).
Continuity
- The presence of snapping turtles in the Central Park pond is a callback to Broadway, Baby!
- Taylor mentions the exotic animals eating challenge from New Beijinging and the spa challenge from I Love Ridonc & Roll, the first two episodes after her elimination.
- Sanders indicates she picked up on MacArthur's reckless driving skills, which she had shown in earlier episodes.
- Brody recalls the climbing of the CN Tower in Toronto during the first Either/Or in None Down, Eighteen to Go—Part 1, when he and Geoff climb the Empire State Building stairs.
- Like in the first episode, Brody suffers from leg cramps while climbing the stairs.
- MacArthur uses the same technique to hijack a hot dog car which she did to commandeer the cab in Mediterranean Homesick Blues.
- The old lady who Josee pushes into the fountain looks like the Travel Tip giver from New Beijinging, though her attire has changed.
- Devin hasn't fully recovered from his injuries, as he is seen with his head still covered in bandages.
- Dwayne no longer has the tattoo on his chin that he got during Maori or Less, suggesting that he had it removed.
- Laurie's face has healed from the ant bites in Brazilian Pain Forest.
- Brody has lost the extra weight he had in the previous episode.
- Counting Total Drama, this is the second finale to feature a former Killer Bass member in the finale. The first time was with Duncan in The Aftermath: IV.
References
- The title is a reference to the 2014 film A Million Ways to Die in the West.
- Brody references King Kong when he mentions about a "huge gorilla went bonkers" on the Empire State Building.
- Sanders impersonating the police siren may be a reference to Larvelle Jones, a character from the Police Academy franchise, who also has a habit of impersonating realistic sound effects.
- The hot-dog car is a reference to Oscar Meyer's Weinermobile.
- Like The Amazing Race, the finale for the Ridonculous Race has three teams competing. However, one team is eliminated midway unlike The Amazing Race, where all three teams reaching the finish line.
Goofs
- Because the Surfer Dudes' taxi was crashed by the Ice Dancers, they end up taking a subway to the Empire State Building. Despite this, they didn't receive a penalty.
- One can notice that when Josee blows raspberries and when The Ice Dancers ram the Surfers' taxi, Jacques' hair size changes, the former scene having Jacques' hair shorter than the latter.
- Don claims that the mid-point chill zone is the final chill-zone, but the final chill-zone is the one with the million dollar prize.
- At one point while the Ice Dancers are running to the midpoint Chill Zone, Josee has two ponytails; one dry and one wet.
- The Ice Dancers are somehow able to join the other previously eliminated teams near the finish line ahead of the finalists, despite them walking away from the midpoint Chill Zone earlier.
- This could be explained by MacArthur taking some time to fix Sanders's cast and the Surfer Dudes wasting a lot of time before realizing they arrived at the wrong boathouse.
- Devin sports bandages on his head, which was the one part of his body that wasn't injured in Last Tango in Buenos Aires.
- When the Stepbrothers are shown cheering for the teams during the final stretch, their voices are swapped.
- Lorenzo's knee is partly missing for a frame when he gets up to practice kung-fu.
- In the Cadets' ending:
- The table holding the money is missing in one shot.
- Part of MacArthur's body is still outside of the Carpet of Completion, but they still win, despite Don telling Gerry in French is an Eiffel Language that the contestant's entire body has to be on the carpet.
- Additionally, Sanders is not standing on the carpet.
- In the Surfers' ending, the Police Cadets feet can be seen running up the stairs to the carpet before the Surfers, yet the Surfers still reach the carpet first and win regardless.
- When Josee claims that the Ice Dancers aren't happy upon the winner reveal, Pete's cleft chin is the bigger one from a promotional line-up instead of the one he has on the show proper.