Challenge Night is a weekly competition Chris McLean conducts with the original twenty-two competitors every Friday evening in the Total Drama Academy series. The challenges generally take place in the Riker Hall amphitheater, also known as The Marshmallow. Richmore Academy students are welcome to purchase tickets for seats in the amphitheater to watch the challenges, with the money placed into school funds. The challenges are done Friday evenings so as not to full interfere with the academic studies of the students.
Because education is of the highest order at the school, the show is not allowed to run elimination challenges. Since the challenges have nothing to do with the competitors' academics, it would be unfair for them to be dismissed form the school simply because they did bad in a challenge. However, the school did agree that attendance in the challenges would be applied to their GPA. To ensure the competitors do their best in the challenges, luxurious rewards are offered. It is randomly decided at the end of each challenge what the competitors were playing for. Furthermore, the winner of a challenge will receive an advantage going into the next week while the loser will receive a disadvantage.
Year One[]
Week 0 - Room Decoration[]
Competitors were to decorate their assigned rooms just after having arrived at Richmore Academy and Riker Hall to impress Chris, Chef Hatchet, their resident assistant Jessica, and a special jury to be revealed at the end.
First they are given thirty minutes to plan their decorations. Then Jessica would take them to a nearby department store where they had an hour to shop. Each room is given a budget of $100 for the challenge. If the competitors wished to purchase more than the budget allowed, the extra cost would come out of their pockets. When they are finished shopping, they had five hours to decorate their rooms.
At the end of the five hours, Chris, Chef, and Jessica would each pick a room they liked and a room they disliked. All occupants of rooms that were disliked were collectively the losers of the challenge. All occupants of the rooms that were liked would advance to the next round, where the special jury would pick the winning room. The special jury was made up of the freshman class of Richmore Academy.
| Judge | Favorite Room | Least Favorite Room |
|---|---|---|
| Chris McLean | Room 3 Duncan and Ezekiel |
Room 7 DJ and Justin |
| Chef Hatchet | Room 2 Bridgette and Courtney |
Room 10 Eva and Heather |
| Jessica | Room 12 Gwen |
Room 1 Owen |
Winner: Gwen
Losers: DJ, Eva, Heather, Justin, Owen
Week 1 - Brunch of Disgustingness[]
Competitors would split into four teams of five and compete in a series of elimination rounds eating disgusting foods. For winning in the previous week, Gwen got to sit out this week. A spin of the Random Loser Generator resulted in Ezekiel sitting out as well.
Jessica would assign the teams, with one team being made up of the five losers from the previous week. In the first three rounds, each member of each team will eat a dish one at a time and keep going until someone either refuses to keep eating outright or vomits. The person quitting or vomiting is eliminated along with the rest of their team. In the final round, the members of the surviving team compete against one another until the last competitor standing wins. The person responsible for their team being eliminated first is designated the sole loser of the week.
For losing in the previous round, every dish DJ, Eva, Heather, Justin, and Owen will be specifically cooked by Chef. Because of objections made by PETA when the challenge was done in Total Drama Island, no meat by products would be used so long as Bridgette was still competing. In addition, Harold and Noah's allergies were taken into consideration and recipes would compensate for them until they were eliminated.
| Stage | Dish | Eliminated |
|---|---|---|
| First Round | Fried Salad | Beth, Katie, LeShawna, Lindsay, Sadie |
| Second Round | Pizza Made by an Opposing Team | DJ, Eva, Heather, Justin, Owen |
| Third Round | Stuffed Ravioli Made by Ezekiel or Gwen | Bridgette, Courtney, Geoff, Izzy, Noah |
| Final Round 1 | Garbage Stew | Cody |
| Final Round 2 | Skunk Milkshake | Tyler |
| Final Round 3 | French Bunion Soup | Harold |
| Final Round 4 | Bull Testicles | Duncan |
Winner: Trent
Loser: Sadie
Week 2 - Boys vs. Girls: Super Soaker Food Fight[]
Competitors are divided by gender with teams of two squaring off against the opposing side. Matches take place on the amphitheater stage, which randomly changes the background environment for each contest. Each competitor is armed with super soakers filled with leftovers from the previous challenge as liquified by Chef.
Pairs are selected by Chef for the boys and Jessica for the girls. Chris then selects which pairs will face off and in which order. The three will judge each match to determine which side was drenched the most. Though the challenge is designed to determine the winner in a best of five scenario, all matches still take place regardless if one side has already won three matches. This is because the audience determines the individual winner and loser of the challenge. The audience will also be used should there be a tie after all five matches.
Since everyone is competing, one match would feature three against three by adding Trent and Sadie to the competition. The Random Loser Generator would determine which match they would compete in. Combining Trent's advantage and Sadie's disadvantage together, Sadie would be competing without a super soaker and would already be covered from head to toe in the food slop.
| Match | Environment | Winners | Losers |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | Gas Station | Gwen and Lindsay | DJ and Geoff |
| Two | Forest | Cody and Noah | Bridgette and Heather |
| Three | Giant Hamster Cage | Ezekiel, Owen, and Trent | Beth, Eva, and Sadie |
| Four | High Seas Ship Warfare | Izzy and Katie | Justin and Tyler |
| Five | N/A | Draw Courtney and Duncan vs. Harold and LeShawna | |
Winner: Izzy
Loser: Justin
Week 3 - Screaming Gophers vs. Killer Bass: Musical Showcase[]
Illustration of "The Underground Song" Performance by Lord Akiyama.
Competitors are placed in their previous two teams from Total Drama Island and display their singing abilities performing musical scenes from movies.
Jessica has selected two musical scenes for the teams to perform. Not everyone in the entire team is required to perform, but the amount needed to perform the scene is necessary. Teams will perform one at a time, after which Chris, Chef, and Jessica will determine which team won and which team lost. The audience would then get to vote the individual winner and loser.
Since Izzy and Justin were Screaming Gophers, Justin needed to switch with a member of the Killer Bass so that his disadvantage would not cancel out Izzy's advantage. The advantage and disadvantage were combined in that Izzy would determine which member of the Killer Bass Justin switched with and determine which scenes each team would perform. Izzy chose to switch Justin with Ezekiel.
| Team | Performance | Performers | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screaming Gophers | "The Underground Song" from Peter's Friends |
Ezekiel, Izzy, Noah, Gwen, Trent, Beth | Winners |
| Killer Bass | "Johanna (Reprise)" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
Geoff, Duncan, Bridgette | Losers |
Winner: Beth
Loser: Duncan
Week 4 - Torture Chamber of Love[]
Competitors are put into pairs, pitting them against other pairs, engaging in a complex game of either having to admit embarrassing truths or making a partner suffer nasty electric shocks.
Paris are pitted against another pair with boys directly against boys and girls against girls. One member of each pair will be connected to a lie detector while the other member is hooked up to a device that will shock them with an electrical discharge. The wiring is set so that if the member of the pair lies their partner gets shocked. If one pair has the boy in the lie detector and the girl in the electric chair, the opposing team will have the reverse. Two Random Loser Generators are used to determine the set up. Each pair will be asked ten questions by the opposition. Two points are awarded for every truth they tell, yet one point is taken away for every lie they tell.
For winning the previous challenge, Beth got to sit out this week. A spin of the random loser generator resulted in DJ sitting out as well. In losing the previous challenge, Duncan was automatically seated in the electric chair. He was also pressured to ensure his opposition lied because every truth they tell will not only earn them two points, but will also take away one point from Duncan's team.
| Match | Pair | Points | Pair | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One | Lindsay (Lie Detector) Tyler (Electric Chair) |
14 pts. 8-2 |
Eva (Electric Chair) Justin (Lie Detector) |
11 pts. 7-3 |
| Two | Bridgette (Lie Detector) Geoff (Electric Chair) |
17 pts. 9-1 |
Izzy (Electric Chair) Owen (Lie Detector) |
14 pts. 8-2 |
| Three | Katie (Lie Detector) Noah (Electric Chair) |
20 pts. 10-0 |
Cody (Lie Detector) Sadie (Electric Chair) |
11 pts. 7-3 |
| Four | Gwen (Lie Detector) Trent (Electric Chair) |
20 pts. 10-0 |
Ezekiel (Lie Detector) Heather (Electric Chair) |
8 pts. 6-4 |
| Five | Courtney (Lie Detector) Duncan (Electric Chair) |
9 pts. 9-1 |
Harold (Lie Detector) LeShawna (Electric Chair) |
14 pts. 8-2 |
Winners: Tie - Gwen and Trent, Katie and Noah
Losers: Ezekiel and Heather
Week 5 - Arena[]
Competitors are split into teams of four and face off playing a series of PC first-person death-matches. For having won in the previous week, Gwen, Katie, Noah, and Trent got to sit out this week.
Teams are put together primarily from who they were paired with in the previous challenge. They are pitted against another team selected through the Random Loser Generator in three PC video games. The games are generally first-person shooters that include death-match modes. Teams compete in three rounds per game.
Winning a game earns a team one point per game. The team with the most overall number of kills accumulated in the three games earns another point. The team with the most valuable player of the match earns one more point. The MVP is determined by kill-to-death ratios, adding in any objectives secured such as capturing a flag, planting a bomb, or rescuing a hostage, and any unique accomplishments scored. The team with the most points earned wins. The audience gets to vote amongst the MVPs who is the overall winner as well as vote the individual loser.
For having lost the previous week, Ezekiel and Heather would be placed on opposing teams in a match determined by the Random Loser Generator. The disadvantage handicap has be dropped due to the unpredictability nature of the games.
| Game | Team | Rounds Won | Team | Rounds Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MechWarrior 4: Black Knight | UMM Eva, Ezekiel, Justin, Lindsay, Tyler |
3 | Leftovers Beth, Cody, DJ, Heather, Sadie |
0 |
| Iron Bridgette, Geoff, Izzy, Owen |
2 | Half-N-Half Courtney, Duncan, Harold, LeShawna |
1 | |
| Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror | UMM | 3 | Leftovers | 0 |
| Iron | 2 | Half-N-Half | 1 | |
| Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast | UMM | 3 | Leftovers | 0 |
| Iron | 2 | Half-N-Half | 1 |
Winner: Eva
Loser: DJ
Week 6 - Boys vs. Girls: Mash-Up Competition[]
Illustration of the First Girls Performance by Lord Akiyama.
Competitors are divided by gender and display their singing abilities having to sing songs. The challenge featured a guest judge in then-newly elected Vice President of the Richmore Academy student body council Janet.
Each team perform songs, each one having been composed of two mashed together to make a coherent tune. Each performance will requires teams to pick two leads while the others since back-up. Janet will determine which team performed the best and the individual winner while the audience got to vote for the individual loser.
In winning the previous challenge, Eva got to pick the songs both teams would perform. In the first round, the boys performed first and the girls second. In the second round, the girls would perform first, but for compensation the boys would not know which songs they were performing until moments before it was their turn. For being the loser in the previous challenge, DJ is forced to be one of the leads on all of the performances and the second lead would be determined through the Random Loser Generator. The girls would have to switch their leads between performances.
| Round | Team | Songs | Leads | Back-Ups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | Boys | Don't Stand So Close to Me by The Police Young Girl by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap |
DJ and Ezekiel | Chorus: Cody, Duncan, Geoff, Harold, Justin, Noah, Owen, Trent, Tyler |
| Girls | Halo by Beyoncé Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves |
Bridgette and Lindsay | Chorus 1: Courtney, Eva, Gwen, Heather, LeShawna Chorus 2: Beth, Izzy, Katie, Sadie | |
| Second Round | Girls | Crazy in Love by Beyoncé Hair from the musical Hair |
Heather and Izzy | Chorus 1: Beth, Bridgette, Courtney, LeShawna, Lindsay Chorus 2: Eva, Gwen, Katie, Sadie |
| Boys | It's My Life by Bon Jovi Confessions Part II by Usher |
Trent and DJ | Chorus 1: Cody, Harold, Justin Chorus 2: Duncan, Ezekiel, Geoff, Noah, Owen, Tyler | |
| Bonus Round | N/A | Somebody to Love by Queen |
Harold and LeShawna | N/A |
| N/A | Don't Stop Believing by Journey |
Courtney and Duncan | N/A |
Winner: DJ
Loser: Heather
Week 7 - Russian Roulette; Twenty-Four Hour Off-Campus Challenge[]
Illustration of The Off-Campus Challenge by Lord Akiyama.
Competitors partake in a game of Russian Roulette where the losers have to compete in an off-campus challenge that runs for twenty-four hours. For being the winner of the previous week, DJ got to sit out this week.
In the first stage, Russian Roulette, competitors pull one string leading up to the ceiling. Either nothing will happen or they will be doused in slime. If nothing happens, the competitor is safe and does not compete in the next stage. Competitors doused in slime will have to compete. There are enough strings to offer competitors at least a fifty percent chance to avoid moving on. Being the loser of the previous challenge, Heather automatically goes first. In addition, she determines which gender will compete to avoid the next stage. If she gets doused in slime, the boys are safe. Since she did not get doused, the girls were, therefore, safe.
The unfortunate competitors doused in slime move on to the next stage, that begins early in the morning the next day. They are taken to a specific off-campus location and are competing in a challenge that runs for twenty-four hours. The goal being to refrain for laughing through the time period. If any one is caught laughing, they are punished by Ninjas running in to whack them hard in the bottom. Making the task harder is the fact that everything at their location has been designed in an attempt to make them laugh whenever possible. The competitor to go through the entire challenge with the least amount of butt slaps is the winner while the competitor with the most amount is the loser. For this segment, Sierra was brought on board to supervise the competitors from beginning to end.
| Rank | Competitor | Final Butt Slap Count |
|---|---|---|
| 4th | Duncan | 172 |
| 1st | Ezekiel | 127 |
| 3rd | Geoff | 159 |
| 5th | Harold | 259 |
| 2nd | Trent | 156 |
Winner: Ezekiel
Loser: Harold
Week 8 - Heartbreak Hotel[]
Competitors go in blind and are blinded even further by the overwhelming power of love. Jessica takes over hosting duties this week when Chris is suspended due to overspending on the last challenge and the advantage and disadvantages are not used.
The challenges begins with all twenty-two competitors being blindfolded by hoods and taken out of the Marshmallow. When the hoods are removed, they find to have been placed in a room with another person. A boy is partnered with a girl in a room decorated in pink and love metaphors. Prior to the start of the challenge, the audience picked their favorite fan pairings, thereby determining the pairing. Moments later, a special form of non-toxic gas is released into the rooms. The chemical compounds cause those who breathe it in to instantly fall in love with the first living presence they recognize.
The challenge being for the couples to refrain as long as they can from kissing. The pair that is able to keep from kissing after all others have are the winners with the first pair to kiss being the losers. Once a couple has kissed, a horn will go off with water sprinklers being activated. Then the competitors drop from the floor through a chute, during which they are splashed with Mountain Dew and water to dispel the affects of the gas, and are dropped back onto the amphitheater stage. Intensifying the affects of the gas is Marvin Gaye songs being played in the background.
| Room | Occupants | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| One | Eva and Geoff | 5th |
| Two | DJ and Sadie | 10th |
| Three | Katie and Tyler | 8th |
| Four | Lindsay and Owen | 11th |
| Five | Cody and LeShawna | 7th |
| Six | Harold and Heather | 1st |
| Seven | Beth and Justin | 6th |
| Eight | Bridgette and Ezekiel | 9th |
| Nine | Courtney and Trent | 4th |
| Ten | Izzy and Noah | 2nd |
| Eleven | Duncan and Gwen | 3rd |
Winners: Harold and Heather
Losers: Lindsay and Owen
Week 9 - Banken Gao Gao (Beware of the Dog); Russian Roulette II[]
The toy game Banken Gao Gao, or Beware of the Dog.
Competitors play what appears to be a straight forward toy game that turns out to be more emotionally taxing than they first imagined. Then it's another game of Russian Roulette where the losers are given a surprise they will never forget. This is the first challenge to introduce Alejandro and Sierra into the competition. The advantage and disadvantage is used for the Russian Roulette game.
In the first challenge, Banken Gao Gao, the contestants play an elimination tournament where they play a toy game by the name of Banken Gao Gao. In the game, players will one at a time carefully try to remove a bone piece from a bowl while the toy dog sleeps. Should an attempt to remove a bone piece awaken the dog, it will bark at them and they will be eliminated. Competitors are placed together in each round based on their performance in the previous week's challenge. In the final round, where six remain, the toy dog is calibrated to be much more sensitive. In addition, the rewards the competitors are playing for are labeled on the bone pieces they retrieve. The color of the bone determines how great the value of the prize is with white being the least valuable then yellow then blue and finally red. When a player is eliminated, the prizes they managed to pick off will also be pulled out of contention. The winner will receive the very prizes they picked out of the bowl.
| Stage | Group | Eliminated |
|---|---|---|
| First Round | Harold, Heather, Izzy, Noah | Heather and Noah |
| Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Trent | Duncan and Trent | |
| Beth, Eva, Geoff, Justin | Eva and Justin | |
| Cody, Katie, LeShawna, Tyler | Cody and Katie | |
| Bridgette, DJ, Ezekiel, Sadie | DJ and Ezekiel | |
| Alejandro, Lindsay, Owen, Sierra | Alejandro and Owen | |
| Second Round | Harold, Izzy, LeShawna, Tyler | Izzy and LeShawna |
| Beth, Bridgette, Geoff, Sadie | Bridgette and Geoff | |
| Courtney, Gwen, Lindsay, Sierra | Gwen and Sierra | |
| Final Round | Beth, Courtney, Harold, Lindsay, Sadie, Tyler | 6th: Harold |
| 5th: Beth | ||
| 4th: Lindsay | ||
| 3rd: Sadie | ||
| 2nd: Courtney |
Winner: Tyler
Loser: Eva
In the second challenge, a new game of Russian Roulette is played. Having won the previous week's challenge, Harold and Heather do not have to play and automatically safe. For having lost, Lindsay and Owen do not have to play either, but they are automatically out. The remaining eighteen competitors are split up by gender. Each gender is stationed at a table where there are ten different rolls of sushi, each roll with ten pieces. Therefore, each table has one hundred pieces of sushi. They will all eat one piece at the same time as a means of keeping count of how many each has eaten. In each table, four pieces have been laced with super hot wasabi, which in turn has secretly been mixed with the Bhut Jolokia chili pepper, or ghost chili. Those who bite into a sushi piece laced with the wasabi are out and must join Lindsay and Owen, as well as Alejandro and Sierra, in a special game.
Losers: Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Duncan, Eva, Geoff, Izzy, Tyler
Trivia[]
- Room Decoration in Week 0 of Year One is based from and inspired by the first challenge done in the story Total Drama School by Just Another Fanatic. Both stories contain a virtually similar outcome.
- Oddly, though, Chris' favorite and least favorite were both Boys' rooms, Chef's were both Girls' rooms, and Jessica's were both One-person rooms.
- Arena in Week 5 of Year One is based from the G4 television game show of the same name. The games are as used in the show and the dialogue come primarily from the commentary by first season hosts Wil Wheaton and Travis Oates.
- The Boys vs. Girls: Mash-Up Competition in Week 6 of Year One is inspired from the television series Glee. The songs come directly from the show.
- The Twenty-Four Hour Off-Campus Challenge in Week 7 of Year One is based from the annual New Year's Eve "No Laughing" batsu (or punishing) game special from the Japanese television variety show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende (or Downtown's This is no task for kids). The concept of the challenge taking place at a hospital comes from the 2007-2008 edition.
- Furthermore, the Russian Roulette games in Week 7 and 9 of Year One are inspired by such games used in the variety show to previously determine who would have to participate in the "No Laughing" batsu game.
- Banken Gao Gao in Week 9 is inspired from its use in the 2010-2011 edition of the "No Laughing" batsu game, set at a spy training facility, where the competitors played the game as a means of determining what their dinner would consist of. In the show, the loser would have his food items confiscated and end up with no dinner save for a bowl of rice.
- The only two challenges so far where the disadvantage handicap is dropped is during Weeks 5 and 8.