Top 15 Total Drama Characters

When I first watched this show, I was surprised how amusing and entertaining it was.  Of course, some of the humor is a little childish and the animation is kind of weak when compared to some of the other work that came from Cartoon Network.  But to be perfectly honest, seeing as how I expected nothing from this show, Total Drama (I've so far only seen seasons 1-5), is one of the most surprisingly entertaining shows I think I've ever seen on CN.  

The characters are really what drives the show.  Try to picture every major stereotype you can find in teenagers and their actions (the punk with the heart of gold, the big lovable jock, the goth chick who wants to be liked, the queen bee, the dumb blonde, the surfer chick, the overachiever, the know it all, and of course that African American chick we all claim to know).  But it's the interesting twists they give each character that makes the character worthwhile.  And of course, you have the sociopath of a host and drill sergeant of a chef.  

So, without further delay, here are the Top 15 Total Drama Characters

15. Cody

 

Cody is easily one of the more annoying characters.  He's like that nerdy kid that thinks he's smooth with the ladies and I was so happy that he was booted early in Season 1 (being mauled by a bear in the process), and was left out of Season 2.  So when I heard he was going to be in Season 3, I was not looking forward to it.  But as the season progressed, not only did Cody get a taste of his own medicine when he came across the psycho fan girl Sierra, but he also got his own moments.  And while we know he'll never end up with Gwen, his falcon punch of Duncan is one of the funniest moments in the entire series.  And while his character will never be one of the elite characters in the series, some moments more than make up for his lack of a quality character throughout season one.

14. Ezekiel

I think he might be the only one who didn't win anything.  And Chris gave him multiple opportunities to try to win.  Originally home schooled by his parents (who were according to Chris, "freaky prairie people), Ezekiel was probably the least likely to win anything, considering his extreme out of touch nature and chauvinistic ways.  But after making it his goal to compete with the rest of the cast, he resorts to feral instincts and becomes a Gollum like monster bent on winning the entire contest and winning a million dollars.

13. Gwen

Gwen is technically the main character in Season 1 and the most polarizing character afterwards.  While she learns to get out of her shell and actually hang out and be friends with people other than goths (which makes no sense), when Season 2 starts, Gwen has become the center of the drama.  She lets her boyfriend Trent throw challenges for her, breaks up with him, convinces her rivals to vote him off and then throws the next challenge for her team causing friction between her and her friends. She also becomes a significant part in a love triangle between Courtney and Duncan, when many question if Gwen indeed had a crush on him, only to learn on a reunion special before Season 3 that she did.  Oh, that's just season 2.  Season 3?  She tries to become friends with Courtney only to steal her boyfriend and then complain for the remainder of the series.  To be perfectly honest, were it not for her being a main character, she wouldn't have made it on my list.  I mean, what goth people you know act like Disney Princesses?

12. Bridgette

Bridgette is one of the few characters who doesn't go through much character development in the series.  She, being the surfer chick, is very conscience about the wildlife throughout their journey, and even throws a challenge when she refuses to eat hot dogs made from dolphins.  But it's her horrible luck and extremely nice attitude that more often than not, lands her in the elimination ring.  That, or spending more time making out with her boyfriend Jeff.  After landing in the final 10 in Season 1, Bridgette is never allowed to recover, being eliminated fairly early in Seasons 2 and 3, being the 1st and 4th people voted off.  But in a show filled with skulduggery and treachery, it's refreshing to have a sane and good human in the show.

11. Zoey

I like to call Zoey "Bridgette 2.0", with all the niceness and friendly nature of the original model, despite the bad luck, but added naivety.  Zoey is very quick to become friends with most people she meets, becoming friends with everyone from bad boy Duncan to nerdy Cameron.  And unlike Bridgette, Zoey never loses focus on her goal, ultimately allowing her feelings for fellow competitor Mike to fall to the wayside in her drive to win, even clashing with him in the Season 5 finale.  For the record, Zoey is the only character in the post Season 3 group.

10. Izzy

Izzy is an absolute mental patient.  Where do I begin with her?  She's a compulsive liar but has no shame in revealing dark and disturbing secrets about her life and her family.  She apparently blew up an RCMP (Royal Canadian Mountain Police) base, and likes to refer to herself as Kaleidoscope (E-Scope) and Explosivo.  She has the attention span of a gnat and despite showing that she cares for big and lovable Owen, she is that wild stallion that is almost impossible to catch, and a wild ride if you do.  She is terrible at hunting, yet great at building bikes and kung fu.  Chef Hatchet views this psycho as his equal, besting him on multiple occasions.  Izzy has the uncanny ability to find her way back into competitions, until a head injury leaves her out of the game for good.

9. DJ

DJ is the gentle giant, but perhaps he takes the whole gentleness thing too far.  DJ shows virtually no hostility towards anyone throughout the series, and to be honest, is a big coward and a mama's boy.  His kindness and big heart often cause him trouble in challenges, being partially responsible for his teams or alliances losing nearly 20 challenges throughout the run of the series.  But DJ's most ironic moments come in Season 3, when he becomes cursed and ultimately brings harm to cute cuddly animals and ultimately doom to his team, causing Team Victory to lose all of it's teammates before one of the other teams loses one of theirs.

8. Chef Hatchet

To say Chef Hatchet can't cook is an understatement.  I think the only times he's ever cooked anything remotely edible was to further trick people into falling for one of Chris's many schemes throughout the series, such as making a huge turkey dinner for the teams, only to have Chris have the challenge be a test of stamina.  But Chef's highlight moments are when he is in charge of the show when Chris is either away or doesn't care enough, like in the episode "Basic Straining" when he becomes a drill sergeant and runs the campers ragged as if they were in a military base camp.  Or in "Are We There Yeti" when he puts the remaining campers out on a challenge while he goes through there personal belongings (Gwen's Diary, Heather's exfoliating cream, Duncan's knife etc.).  But the one thing you can't count on Chef for is making an alliance, because he ultimately pays the price when DJ and Blainely both get eliminated.



7. Chris Mclean


Chris is one of the few characters in the series you cannot describe with one word.  As the host of the entire series, all of the following words describe him:

Maniacal
Twisted
Self Absorbed 
Ruthless
Crazy
Evil
Soulless 
Hilarious
Sadistic 

I could keep going, but I have more people to get to.  Let's just say, there is a good reason the people in the show hate coming back, but the one thing they'd put up with in order to get their fame and fortune.

6. Heather

In terms of character development, Heather is probably the most well rounded.  She is the antagonist of Season 1, ruthlessly cutting her way through actual relationships and efficiently cutting down all but Owen and Gwen, who ultimately join forces to take her down.  While still selfish and coldhearted in Season 2, the additional antagonists Justin and Courtney lower Heather's importance down.  But Season 3 is centered around Heather's intense love-hate relationship with Alejandro, while she also gets replaced on many enemy lists by Gwen, Courtney, Duncan, or whoever was starting the drama.  In the end, Heather was able to prove she's smarter than she acts, ultimately winning it all in Season 3, before losing the money into a volcano in Hawaii.

5. Alejandro


The creators of Total Drama initially tried to make the good looking Justin a villain in Season 2, but he ultimately fell by the wayside when Courtney became the main villain.  Naturally, when the team was brought back for a third season, they needed a new antagonist.  And Alejandro is the perfect villain for this show, a good looking Latino who uses his looks and charms to manipulate and connive his way to the Final 2.  He is responsible for the elimination of Bridgette, Noah, Leshawna, Duncan, Tyler, Courtney, Cody, and Owen.  But Alejandro ultimately meets his match in Heather, who he falls in love with and is ultimately torched into a smoldering pile of fire and ash, who gets the Darth Vader treatment and gets put into a robotic suit until the beginning of Season 5, when he is also outclassed by another character, the evil personality Mal.

4. Owen


The most popular character in the series, Owen is a 296 pound bag of wonder and happiness that somehow manages to make the minimal amount of enemies: Heather, Courtney, and Alejandro.  Owen is a sloth throughout most of the series, and is usually the cause of his team's failures due to his over consumption habits.  But when motivated by sweets, delicious delicacies, or smoking meat (pun partially intended), Owen becomes determined to do whatever it took to find the source, even blasting past Gwen to win Season 1.  Owen's consumption is only matched by his naivete, which allows him to be a pawn in Chris, Duncan, Alejandro, and Courtney's various schemes.  His love for food is only matched by his love for Izzy, who only partially returns the favor.  After being one of the top rated contestants, Owen was surprisingly left out of Season 5.

3. Lindsay


Patrick Star, Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Dopey, and the entire Kardashian family have more brains than this smoking hot model.  Lindsay is twice as gullible as Owen, twice as clumsy as Bridgette, and yet somehow manages to make it into 4 of the 5 seasons.  How?  I guess luck.  And the occasional use of her brain.  Lindsay does show signs of a functioning brain, such as in her ability to mess with Courtney by asking her boyfriend Duncan to go to the movies with her, while also playing a major role in Heather's downfall in Season 1, by making her lose her hair to Chef's barber shop.  But, that is also compounded by her distraction by shiny things, her short term memory loss regarding her boyfriend Tyler, and her accidentally voting herself off in Season 2 that ultimately keeps Lindsay from being perfect.  But man, is she entertaining when both smart and stupid.



2. Duncan

Duncan is, in terms of placing, the strongest competitor in the entire series.  He finishes:
4th
1st
5th
8th
He is extremely rude, calculating, and overall an unprincipled delinquent who continually warns people that he has no friends, nor a desire to have friends.  But Duncan is much more like a teddy bear on the inside, doing surprisingly sweet and kind things for many people.  His kindness wins him many admirers and damages his reputation as a hardnosed criminal, as Bridgette, Leshawna, DJ, Owen, Jeff, Beth, Lindsay, Zoey, and his two heartthrobs Courtney and Gwen all manage to see past his piercings and gruff exterior.  Of course, his attraction to Courtney ultimately causes intense friction between the two, especially when he learns Gwen is into him.  In the end, Duncan's drive to become a criminal sends him not back to Juvenile Hall, but into a Canadian Prison where he still sits today.

1. Courtney

Living proof that Izzy did not corner the market on insanity.  She begins the series as "Heather B", because she is more driven by making herself win than her team.  But Courtney's character takes a surprising twist when the C.I.T. and class president falls for Duncan and unleashes her inner bad girl out on everyone just like Duncan.  But this results in her elimination when Harold stuffed the ballots against her.  This causes the second dynamic of Courtney's character, the psychotic blood sucker who uses her lawyers to get back into Season 2 and gain unfair advantages all throughout.  And while she engages Duncan in an intense rivalry, more often than not the two are drawn to each other and the friction becomes intense make out sessions.  Courtney's calculating only gets her so far, as her rules and attempts to control the game result in her elimination.  But it's her jealousy and anger that cause Courtney to lash out against Duncan and Gwen in Season 3, when it is revealed to her that Duncan and Gwen are now a couple.  Her calculating and stratigizing fails her, as she is ultimately swept up by Alejandro, who trashes her head to the point when she's hated by all and kicked off the show once more.  But it's Courtney's ruthless pursuit of her ambitions, her jealous rages, and her incredible freak out moments that make Courtney not just my favorite TD character, but also one of my all time favorite characters, period.  I always find myself voting for her, regardless of the circumstances.