The teams are chosen by the two winners of the previous challenge, and their first challenge is to put on a play. While one person is chosen to play an old lady, the other team picks somebody for the role of a rundown gangster. Someone's insecurity is discovered by a staff member who decides to use it for his means. But when someone gives him the wrong scripts, things start to get weird on the set. It all leads up to one cast member getting eliminated for her bad performance.
Plot
The episode opens with each of the castmates sleeping in their bunk beds, before they are rudely awakened by Chris through a megaphone. They are told that they'll have to learn how tough being on production set really is, and that it's not all about red carpets and the fame. Gwen states that she can handle it, since she once had a job at a petting zoo, cleaning up after the animals. Chris is reminded that it's time for Gwen and Trent to pick their teams, as they won the previous challenge. They are both nervous, as neither wishes to get competitive and nasty towards each other, and feel they have learned enough from last season.
The choosing starts off with Gwen, who picks Duncan, much to Trent's dismay and anger. Out of spite and jealousy, Trent chooses "the beautiful Lindsay". Gwen's next choice is her partner in crime Leshawna, and Trent chooses Justin. Gwen remarks that Trent is choosing all the attractive people, much to Leshawna's chagrin. Gwen picks DJ, while Trent chooses Beth. Gwen, not sure who to pick, is reminded by Leshawna to keep her enemies close, and tells Gwen to choose Heather instead of Izzy, which she does. Trent, unsure who to pick as well, since he only had the option of either choosing Harold or Owen, decides to settle for Owen since he made it to the finale last season, leaving Harold for Gwen's team and Izzy for Trent's. Once the teams are settled, Chris announces that Gwen's team will be known as the Screaming Gaffers, and Trent's team as the Killer Grips.
Izzy frightens Trent with her imitation of her Scottish grandmother.
They are brought to a lot filled with studio equipment and a trailer. Chris informs them that their first challenge is moving the equipment up a huge hill. When Gwen is going up the hill, she nearly falls, but Duncan catches her. Trent, seeing this, becomes angry, and due to his anger, he doesn't look where he's going and falls down. Gwen goes to help him up, but is beaten there by Lindsay, which makes him happy, to attempt to make her jealous. Back at the base of the hill, it is down to the final item, the trailer. Trent asks Owen to help pull the trailer up the hill, convincing him that if he helps, he'll get to eat at a catering station, which he says is at the hill's top. They start up the hill, and Owen uses his belt buckle as a way to pull the trailer, causing his pants to fall down and slow their ascent. Gwen asks DJ if he could pull the trailer, but he refuses, afraid someone might get hurt from his actions. His refusal allows the Killer Grips to reach the top first and win the first part of the challenge.
Heather and Leshawna cry because of Duncan's heartwarming performance.
At the top of the hill, Chris tells them that what they just did is only the first part of the challenge and that they now needed to perform a scene for Chef, the winning team being the one that makes him show the most emotion. The Killer Grips are given a story of an old woman who lived a full life and is reflecting on it, and the Screaming Gaffers are given a story of a thug who tries to go straight, but can't fight the allure of the streets. Izzy immediately offers to play the old woman, claiming she has been reincarnated "like a whole bunch of times". She even claims that she is the reincarnation of her great grandmother Mavis. She then imitates her, frightening the team, who in turn give her the role. The Screaming Gaffers choose a reluctant Duncan to play the part of the gangster, since they had no other person to interpret it; as Harold is as tough as butter and DJ is way too kind.
Chef becomes emotional and starts to shed tears after seeing Duncan's performance.
During the preparation, Heather, after being helped down from being stuck in a light cable, admits that Harold would be an easy person to string along for an alliance. At the same time, Chef pulls DJ aside while he is putting on Duncan's make up and tells him that he will help him man up and win if DJ splits the prize money with him. Once the filming started, it becomes clear that Chef had mixed up the scripts, leading to an emotional performance by Duncan and Izzy as a gangster grandmother. Due to the formation of the alliance, Chef let the Screaming Gaffers win by crying when Duncan performed. DJ mocked Chef when the Screaming Gaffers performance made him cry and Chef claimed even tough guys cry. While the Gaffers are celebrating their victory, Gwen steps out of it for a bit to talk to Trent. Trent is assured that Gwen and Duncan are just friends, and the couple makes amends.
At the elimination ceremony, Gilded Chris Awards are given out to everyone, but Lindsay, Justin, and Izzy. Soon after, Chris announces that Izzy has been voted out without giving out any more awards. After insisting she will not leave, since her name is E-Scope, Chris scribbles out "Izzy" on the elimination sheet, and changes it to E-Scope, declaring her eliminated. Chris calls for two men to escort her/force her in to the Lame-o-sine and toss her inside. As it drives away, she informs the others that this is just a dress rehearsal, that she will return someday as a big star. She adds that they will see her star on the walk of fame, and tells them to mark her words.
Exclusive clip
Izzy in the Lame-o-sine.
E-Scope is seen in the Lame-o-sine, stating all of her talents including doing back slides on an up-escalator. She believes that with her performance, Hollywood will call her sooner or later. Izzy then tells the driver to go to the nearest diner for a banana milkshake and cheese and later to a place with an up-escalator.
Cast
| Voice actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Christian Potenza | Chris |
| Sarah Gadon | Beth |
| Clé Bennett | Chef Hatchet/DJ |
| Drew Nelson | Duncan |
| Megan Fahlenbock | Gwen |
| Brian Froud | Harold |
| Rachel Wilson | Heather |
| Katie Crown | Izzy |
| Novie Edwards | Leshawna |
| Stephanie Anne Mills | Lindsay |
| Scott McCord | Owen/Trent |
- Justin appears, but he has no lines. However, he is shown saying "Okay, fine!" with the rest of his team.
Trivia
General
- With Izzy's elimination, this marks the first of only two times in the whole season that there are two elimination episodes back-to-back, as Bridgette and Geoff were eliminated in the previous episode. The second and last time is with the consecutive eliminations of Harold in 2008: A Space Owen, followed by Courtney and Owen in Top Dog.
- This episode is the first time that a non-participating contestant is mentioned. In this case, Tyler and Courtney.
- The cast have switched bunks since they originally chose them in the first episode. DJ now shares a bunk with Owen, Duncan, and Justin are now in separate bunks and Harold is shown alone. Trent's sleeping location is not revealed, although it is likely that he is sharing with either Harold or Justin. Meanwhile, Leshawna is now surprisingly sharing a bunk with Heather, Lindsay and Beth have separated, with Beth alone and Lindsay bunking above Gwen, and Izzy has a bunk to herself.
- The two workers were the Camp TV designs of DJ and Cody.
- Tyler's first design is seen as one of the guards who carries Izzy to the Lame-o-sine.
- This episode reveals for the first time that the Gilded Chris Awards are actually chocolate statuettes covered in gold foil.
- Leshawna convinces Gwen to pick Heather by reciting her line of "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer".
- Interestingly, Heather used that same saying during the first team challenge in Total Drama Island, when she faked an apology to Leshawna.
- Based on Izzy's performance as her great-grandmother Mavis, she is apparently of Scottish descent. Her being a natural redhead further supports this theory.
- Furthermore in Newf Kids on the Rock while singing Sea Shanty Mix, Izzy mentions having an Irish partner.
- Like in Alien Resurr-eggtion, Chris narrows the eliminations down to three cast members who may be eliminated as opposed to two, which is the norm in the previous season.
Continuity
- This episode marks the second out of three times in which Izzy becomes the first girl voted off from her team.
- This is the first post-Total Drama Island episode in which not every castmate still competing has an individual speaking role, as Justin didn't speak (not counting new castmate, B in season four, who doesn't have a voice actor). This would later happen in Food Fright with Zoey.
- When Duncan is sleeping, he folded his fingers to the sign of the horns. This is the second time he does that while sleeping. The first is in The Sucky Outdoors.
- In Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special, Izzy is in the same outfit and on the same stage as she was in this episode when she cursed on set.
References
- This episode's title references the 1967 movie, Riot on Sunset (Strip). It may also be a pun on the saying, "Quiet on Set".
- Chris' line "Ladies first, but since we have no ladies... Gwen!" may be a parody of the Joker's dialogue in the Batman: TAS episode, Almost Got 'im.
- When Chef tells DJ he'll help him "man up" and tells him he's making him an offer he won't let him refuse, this is a reference to Vito Corleone's famous line from the 1972 crime film, The Godfather.
Goofs
- Around the beginning of this episode, when the girls are shown sleeping, one can clearly see Heather's wig on the side of her bed; however, it was lost in the previous episode.
- When Chris is saying the cast is late, he has a watch, but when he gets in front of the trailer, he is not wearing a watch.
- When Screaming Gaffers react to the noises caused by insulted interns, DJ is missing.
- When Chef is asked to give the teams their envelopes he has three, but there are only two teams.
Chef has a full set of teeth instead of a gap.
- When Chef growls, he has a full set of teeth, when he normally has a gap.
- When Gwen exits the trailer after the Gaffers win, she exits the guys trailer.
- At the Awards Ceremony, when zoomed in on the new voting devices, Bridgette, Geoff, and most of the Gaffers' faces are seen, signifying that they could be voted off. This is a re-used animation from the previous episode.
- When the voting devices are shown, Lindsay's face is displayed, yet she has no hair. She only has her bandanna.
- Also, Leshawna is missing her ponytail.
- When the bottom three (Lindsay, Justin, and Izzy) are shown, Justin's window is to the left of Lindsay's, who is in the middle with Izzy on the right. When Izzy is announced as the loser, Lindsay and Justin both look to the right. This is strange, seeing as Lindsay is actually sitting on Izzy's right.
Gallery
See also
| Total Drama Action Episodes | |
|---|---|
| Team Phase | "Monster Cash" | "Alien Resurr-eggtion" | "Riot on Set" | "Beach Blanket Bogus" | "3:10 to Crazytown" | "The Aftermath: I" | "The Chefshank Redemption" | "One Flu Over the Cuckoos" | "The Sand Witch Project" | "Masters of Disasters" | "Full Metal Drama" | "The Aftermath: II" | "Ocean's Eight—or Nine" | "One Million Bucks, B.C." | "Million Dollar Babies" |
| Individual Phase | "Dial M for Merger" | "Super Hero-ld" | "The Aftermath: III" | "The Princess Pride" | "Get a Clue" | "Rock n' Rule" | "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen" | "2008: A Space Owen" | "Top Dog" | "Mutiny on the Soundstage" | "The Aftermath: IV" |
| Special | "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special" |