TD:SP Ep. 3: Sandcastle Crashers

Once the scene fades in, Chris appears to be standing on the beach in front of the two team houses. The camera is facing the shore as opposed to the ocean, keeping the blue waves out of view but certainly audible. The blue sky and green jungle of palm trees remain in within view.

"Last time on Total Drama: South Pacific," Chris begins the recap, "our sixteen contestants set sail in the first challenge of the season!" Scenes of the aforementioned event are shown. "We got each team to start steering, stroking, and swimming for the win in the viking race. After the Popular Pandas got fed up with Judd's ego, Elizabeth made a splash when she stopped everything she was doing just to knock him out.  Skylia intently watched Colin swim to sweet victory for the Eagles, but not before the Pandas literally spun one hundred and eighty degrees right out of control due to their careless captain, Parvati, falling asleep on the job...and on the wheel!" Chris chuckles. "At the first elimination ceremony of the season, Parvati's ditzy airhead personality irritated her team to the point of voting her out of the game, sparing Judd, who also annoyed his team... a lot." After scenes of Parvati leaving on the Sampan of Shame are shown, Chris is displayed walking along the beach. "With fifteen contestants remaining, will the Popular Pandas continue to be unpopular with each other? Or will the Ecstatic Eagles end up ecstatic that they get to vote someone off?  The suspense is building, the tide is rising, and someone's Total Drama game is about to come crashing down!  Whose will it be?  Find out right now on Total!  Drama!  South Pacific!"

After the once-iconic theme song, now less prevalent due to having been condensed from a full-fledged intro sequence to a twenty-second vestige of the earlier Total Drama season openings, the scene appears to pick up about an hour or so from where the previous episode left off. The three remaining females on the Popular Pandas team are congregating on the pink couches in the central lounging area of the team's house.

"I just..." Angie says with a twinge of sadness in her voice, "You guys voted for Judd, too...right?"

Elizabeth bursts out laughing. "Are you daft? Of course I voted for Parvatwit," she explains. "She was easily the stupidest twit I've ever bloody met."

Angie rolls her eyes before appearing in the confessional area. "I'm determined to find out who voted for who last night at the elimination. Parvati may not have been the sharpest eyeliner pen in the makeup bag, but she was someone I was looking forward to get to know...and now she's gone." She sips from a glass of some sort of tropical-looking orange drink. "I have to say, I'm really liking the free drinks at the pool bar. Great production move!" She giggles before realizing that she had gone off-topic. "Anyways," she says as she puts the drink down, "a potential friend is a potential ally that I've now lost. Weak people forgive each other.  Strong people avoid each other.  Fierce people get revenge, and I'm out to strike first.  My sights are set on cowboy Judd.  Game on!"

"I voted for Judd, I can honestly say," Catelyn remarks as the scene returns to the three female Pandas. "Anyone who wants to tell me I can't swim isn't on my top list of friends at all. He was trying to insinuate that us girls are weaklings, which obviously I didn't appreciate."

"Well," Elizabeth says, visibly annoyed, "I didn't appreciate Parvati being such a bloody dimwit all the time!"

"Okay, hold on," Angie replies, "there's really no need to get feisty about it. Just...  talk to me next time you want to make such a bold power play, okay?"

"Hey, Judd's got me wound up, too, don't get me wrong here," Elizabeth continues. "You all saw the row I had with him on the boat, I assume. It's just that I wanted to make sure our team is the strongest it can be, and Partwat wasn't going to help that out."

Catelyn yawns. "I'm getting tired, can we just all agree that Judd has to go next?"

"Sure, let's go with that one," Elizabeth says. "I'm pretty knackered myself after today, too."

Angie blinks. "Knackered?"

Elizabeth sighs. "Tired, worn out?" Angie and Catelyn both blink. "No?" She sighs again. "It's a Brit thing."

As Elizabeth walks towards the girls' bedroom, Catelyn sighs. After watching to make sure that Elizabeth was out of hearing distance, she snickers. "She tries so hard to be British, it's mental." Angie cracks a smile as well.

The scene transitions to Skylia and Colin just outside of the Ecstatic Eagles' residence. Shortly after, Skylia appears in the confessional area. "So, after my nightly yoga routine, I was looking for Colin all over the house...which, really, shouldn't have taken long, because there are only, like, three rooms..." She blinks before refocusing on her original topic. "Anyways, I looked all over the house for him until I finally found him leaning up against the doorway...outside." She blushes. "I had no idea he was an outdoors-y type of guy!"

Colin also appears in the confessional area. "I have to say, dude, that Skylia chick is pretty chill. After she does her weird stretchy yoga stuff, she came out to hang out with me outside.  Normally, this should kinda bother me, like, with some girl following me outside at night, but...weirdly, bro, I don't mind at all." He smiles. "...No, no, I don't like her like that." His face appears panicked. "Not at all! ...Not...at all.  It's purely paleotonic...or whatever..." He blinks. "Bro."

"So..." Skylia begins to converse with Colin outside of the house. "Great swimming at the challenge today!"

"Yeah, dude, no worries, that's what I, like...do," Colin replies.

Skylia giggles. "You're on a swim team, huh? That's pretty...uh...cool."

Colin appears in the confessional area. "Dude, she's so into me, though."

"I know this one girl who was on a swim team for like, three years, until she pulled a muscle in her shoulder...or something...I think." Skylia temporarily looks away from Colin before refocusing her eyes on him. "Yeah, that's what happened. We actually met, because, uh, she was doing yoga to help the injury...or something." She appears in the confessional area once again. "Okay, so, I might not be the best at talking to guys. Like, even when I don't really like them that much, I just kinda stumble over my words, and I can't help that...  Maybe I'm just a little too calm?"

"And it's like," Colin says in the confessional area, "she's so nervous when we talk. She's such a cool chick, she never loses her head, and that's super awesome, but...she can't talk to guys, bro."

The rest of the Eagles are gathered in one bedroom, which appears to be the guys' bedroom.

"Hey, where are Colin and Sky?" Karin asks.

"SKY?!" Byran says excitedly. "Sky the celebrity and iconic finalist from Total Drama season six or five depending on how you view it but nonetheless amazing olympian jock with flaws who everyone was rooting for in the end Canada's sweetheart--"

"Skylia," Karin says with wide eyes and a disturbed facial expression. "I was referring to Skylia. You know, our teammate?"

Byran blushes. "...Oh, yeah...Skylia."

Aly stares at Byran with a deadpan expression. "That's the shortest set of consecutive sentences I've ever heard you say."

"Is that a compliment?" Byran asks. "If so--"

"Please," Karin whines. "Don't finish that sentence."

Byran appears to be offended. "Geez, sorry."

Karin appears in the confessional area. "Okay, so normally I love talking to everyone, but, like, Byran talks way too much. I can barely hear myself exist whenever he tries to socialize with...anyone, really."

"There's another short one," Aly continues. "It's like you're starting to embrace certain parts of your--"

"Okay," Erik interrupts, "but seriously, where are Colin and Skylia?"

Cyrus laughs. "What do you think? Boy goes missing with girl?  That's literally the easiest thing to figure out." Afterwards, he appears in the confessional area. "It's obvious that Erik's not as big of a Total Drama fan as he insinuates. Any super-fan of any reality television show would know that when a guy and a girl go off together, it's obviously because they're trying to make sparks fly.  I thought Erik would be a potential candidate for a TD fans alliance, but he's obviously not as impressive as I thought he was." He sighs. "He tried."

"Did I hear my name?" An off-screen voice is soon revealed to be Colin, who enters the bedroom where the rest of his team is gathering.

"Yeah, we were just--" Erik begins, but is interrupted yet again.

"You and Skylia were making out, weren't you????" Byran asks excitedly.

Skylia follows Colin as he steps through the doorway. "Did you just say making out?"

"Bro, we totally weren't. Like, seriously, dude," Colin says.

Skylia laughs. "It's the first night, no one's making out."

Byran raises his eyebrows. "Okay but when people were like wondering where you were and stuff Cyrus was like, 'They're definitely making out and kissing and all that, don't you watch television, it's obvious!' So I just kinda thought that you might be--"

"I was making a suggestion," Cyrus says, cutting his rambling off. "What was I even supposed to think? Aren't relationships and drama what the producers live for?"

"Dude, just be real," Colin says to Cyrus and Byran. "No one's gonna make out the first night. No one even knows each other!  It's, like, totally out of the question, bro."

Cyrus rolls his eyes. "Don't get fresh with me, I'm just trying to be realistic here."

"He's not getting fresh!" Skylia shouts, followed by an awkward silence.

Cyrus snickers. "Of course you weren't making out! This kind of emotional reaction from one of the calmest people I've ever met is definitely not a tell-tale sign of your obvious affection for him."

"What does that even mean, bro?" Colin asks.

"Look, we're all kind of tired, okay?" Erik says. "Cyrus, don't answer him. Colin and Skylia, don't keep instigating the conversation."

"Whatever," Cyrus says. "But I just want to make it known that--"

"Okay," Erik says to interrupt Cyrus, "girls, go to your bedroom; after all, this is the guys' room. Other guys that aren't me, do whatever you want, I'm going to sleep." The camera zooms in on a bed that already features colored marks from pencils, pens and paint.

"Me too, bro," Colin agrees as the camera refocuses on him. "Super tired after swimming."

"It's really difficult trying to keep the peace," Erik says in the confessional area. "With all of the suspicion surrounding Skylia and Colin, Byran's nonstop sentences, and just tonight having Cyrus come out of the woodwork as some kind of chaotic rabble-rouser? This team's a freaking nightmare!" He sighs, then holds up a blank piece of paper. "And there's no time to focus on my art!" He crumples up the paper and throws it off-screen.

Raechel laughs as the scene returns to the guys' room. "Yeah, I just hope we don't have to do any more of those competition game things anymore. Those are so tiring!"

Karin sighs and begins to leave the room. "Raechel, that's the point of the show."

Raechel pauses. "Oh," she says with a blank expression.

Karin appears in the confessional area. "Obviously, Raechel is far from the most aware person here. I don't think she's ever watched Total Drama!  But...I am willing to take her under my wing, despite how oblivious of a girl she is.  When I was new to the socialite scene, I had to look out for myself and teach myself how to navigate a social gathering.  So, like, I just want to make sure that her lack of experience with this show doesn't hurt her experience.  You know what I'm saying?"

The scene switches to a time lapse showing the transition from night to morning. Afterwards, the male Pandas are shown sleeping in their room. Suddenly, a loud knock is heard coming from the closed bedroom door.

"Wake up, losers!" Chris yells before snickering. "It's time for your next challenge. Meet me on the beach in five minutes!"

"Shouldn't we be able to get something to, you know, eat?" Mitch asks. "Breakfast is kind of important."

Chris bursts through the door with an orange whistle around his neck. He blows into it, emitting a loud, high-pitched noise. "Hate to break it to you, kid, but we're on island time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mitch retorts.

"It means everything you do - including eating - happens when I say so," Chris answers while sadistically grinning.

"Isn't 'island time' that darn time zone that all beaches get?" Judd asks. Mitch sighs.

"You're an idiot," Mitch replies.

"What?" Judd whines in response. "I'm just try'na be helpful, y'know?"

Sean appears in the confessional area. "I've been closely analyzing the behavior of my male teammates in order to pinpoint the fatal weakness that caused us to lose the last challenge. Mitch is being a major Middle-Realm Persona Negative presence right now, further cementing the fact that he doesn't win the season.  Judd is continuing to be very unaware of himself, and while his visibility has gone down a bit, I'm sure he's getting a lot of Negative Proxy Visibility from everyone else.  So...I'm leaning towards the idea that Matthew's indeterminable logit rating is dragging the team down."

Back in the bedroom, Judd jumps off of his bed and stands up, fully clothed. "Well, y'all heard the guy, let's get outta here!"

"Hey, Judd," Matthew says, "can you..." His voice trails off once he realizes that Judd has already left the room. Matthew then appears in the confessional area with a furrowed brow. "I can count on my fingers the number of times that someone has paid attention to something I've said on this show so far," he explains. "I've tried not to be as introverted and antisocial as I would prefer to be at home and at university, but my recent efforts to integrate into this team's quickly forming social society didn't really do much."

Mitch quietly chuckles as the camera shows that he has changed into his swim trunks. "Did you see him leave in his full clothes? That guy's an idiot.  Chris said we were gonna be at the beach again, didn't he?"

As Sean stays silent, Matthew's face briefly lights up. "Yeah...I think so, I think that's what, uh, Chris, he definitely said that, yeah."

Mitch chuckles again. "Yet another stupid move by genius athlete Judd. What a surprise," he says sarcastically.

Matthew then appears in the confessional area. "My efforts didn't do much until Mitch started conversing with me!" Matthew says excitedly. "This is huge. It was approximately twenty seconds of dialogue, but that's definitely enough to help me get social footing here." He starts beaming. "This is just so exhilarating!"

Mitch appears in the confessional area after Matthew's confessional segment has concluded. "I'm not blind, deaf, mute, whatever. It doesn't take a smart guy to see that we only have two sane guys on the Pandas team; myself and Matthew.  And unfortunately, Matthew doesn't really talk a lot, so I frequently end up having the pleasant life experience of having to talk to Judd all the time." He pauses before scoffing. "It makes me want to drown myself. Oh, and there's a guy named Sean on our team.  That's really all anyone knows about him.  Great team."

The scene switches to all fifteen remaining contestants, separated by team, on the beach in front of Chris. Judd, the only contestant to not be wearing swimwear, has an irritated facial expression.

"C'mon!" Judd shouts. "Was I seriously the only one that didn't wear their swim stuff?"

Chris rolls his eyes. "Rough life, dude," he says sarcastically before blowing his orange whistle. The noise produced by the whistle startles the contestants. "Now for some actually important information." He turns to the Ecstatic Eagles. "Eagles, as you can see, the Pandas voted off Parvati last night." He turns back to his original position facing both teams. "Today's challenge, because we've acquired this beautiful island locale in the South Pacific, is a classic beach activity: building sandcastles!"

"Bro, I'm boss at building sandcastles," Colin explains.

"Hah!" Judd shouts. "You may think you're the boss, but I've got--" Suddenly, Mitch puts his hand over Judd's mouth.

"Really, it's in your best interest to SHUT UP right now. You're gonna embarrass yourself if you say anything else," Mitch explains to Judd.

"Tension over in the Pandas!" Cyrus says excitedly. "I might know who's going home next!"

Karin leans in to whisper to Cyrus. "I'd shut up, too."

Cyrus nods before appearing in the confessional area. "Now, normally, I'd be super offended if some random Asian chick told me to shut up out of nowhere. But she's just been so kind and open to socialize with everyone lately!  I'm so drawn to her.  ...Not romantically.  Platonically."

Back on the beach, Chris appears to be irritated. "Now, if you'd kindly stop talking during my designated screen time - which, that's a thing, by the way - I'll explain how today's challenge works." Chris clears his throat. "You'll be racing to build the biggest, baddest, most amazing sandcastle EVER!" Chris laughs. "But there's a twist, which I'll explain after you're done building your masterpieces." He points to his left. "Eagles, build your pretty palace over there." He points to his right. "Pandas, build your masterful mansion over that way."

"So...no tools? No shovels, no buckets, nothing?" Matthew asks.

There is an awkward silence as Chris blinks. "You can, uh, look for them...somewhere...I'm sure we probably fit that into the budget. ...Maybe." Matthew does a fist pump.

"What's got you all excited?" Catelyn asks.

Matthew stammers. "It-it...uh, doesn't concern you...not really." Catelyn shrugs in response.

Chris begins to move his orange whistle to his lips. Some of the contestants cover their ears in preparation for the incoming loud noise. "Start doing your thing in three... two... one!" He blows into the whistle, generating yet another loud noise as the two teams take off in their respective directions.

"Bro, the South Pacific is totally my element," Colin explains while he runs next to Skylia. "If we had to do, like, a marathon thing, I could run as far as I can in the sand."

Skylia giggles. "That's cool. If I can snag a yoga mat or a towel, stuff like Pilates on the beach is really relaxing."

"You're totally into all of that exercise stuff, aren't you?" Colin asks. Skylia nods in response. "That's super chill," Colin continues.

Skylia giggles again and blushes. "Yep! I guess it is super... um, chill." She then appears in the confessional area. "Colin is such a cool guy. He's laidback, I'm laidback, it's perfect.  We're gonna be..." Her eye twitches. "Fantastic friends! Yep...  Just friends."

"So...where exactly are we gonna build our thing?" Erik asks as his team's running pace slows down. "I've got some great ideas, and--"

"Oh my gosh Erik I can't wait to hear your great ideas because I know art is totally your thing and you love doing artsy stuff and a sandcastle is like a sandy sculpture so we've definitely got this in the bag I'm so excited we're gonna win the challenge again let's go I'm so ready!" Byran grins after finishing his sentence, seemingly uncontrollably.

Karin leans in to whisper to Aly. "Does he ever shut up?"

"I really feel bad for anyone with hearing on this team," Aly replies. "Having to endure his endless tangents is unbearable. Like, seriously, cool it with the sugar for once." She rolls her eyes.

"I definitely agree," Karin replies. "His hyper-ness is the worst." She then appears in the confessional area. "I've been making sure to talk around one on one with my team, even if it's only for a few seconds. I just need them to feel comfortable talking to me so that I can get the truth from them about future votes, which isn't hard.  The easiest way to bond with someone is to talk about something or someone that you both find irritating.  When your team has its fair share of manics, that's not hard either.  Oh, and it helps that I'm basically a people magnet anyways!" She winks at the camera.

"Alright, listen up," Erik says to his teammates, who are all gathered around him in a circle on the beach. "We need to build the best sandcastle we can. It's obviously going to be an aesthetics competition," he says as he takes out blueprints for a sandcastle, "so if we follow these simple instructions, we should have a sandcastle that's as sturdy as it is beautiful.  Does everyone get it?"

Raechel raises her hand.

Erik sighs. "What is it, Raechel?"

"What does asthma have to do with us?" Raechel asks.

"Aesthetics. Not asthma.  It's like...the visual feel of things," Karin explains to Raechel.

"...Oh, that makes more sense now," Raechel replies. "Thanks, Karin!"

"Thanks for that clarification," Erik says towards Karin with a hint of sarcasm. "Any other questions?"

Raechel raises her hand again.

Erik groans. "What?"

Raechel flinches. "Wow. That groan was really rude of you, in my opinion."

"This isn't a couples counseling show, that doesn't really matter," Erik says irritably. "What's your question?"

"Wait," Raechel says, bewildered. "This isn't Relationship Therapy?"

"Girl, this is a competition show," Cyrus explains. "You have to build this sandcastle with us or else you can't snag the million."

"Is that the name of this show?" Raechel asks. "The Million?"

"Let's just start building now, Erik," Karin says. "Raech can catch on later!"

"Wait, not without me!" Raechel appears concerned. She then appears in the confessional area. "I'm so catching on to these people. I've seen every episode of every season of The Million, but the other people here don't want me to know that I'm on The Million with them.  How stupid do they think I am?"

Aly appears in the confessional area as well. "The Million's not a real show. She's an idiot."

Meanwhile, the Popular Pandas are each digging holes in the sand. Everyone is digging their own hole except for Elizabeth, who is standing over Judd, who has barely made any progress digging.

"What the bloody heck are you doing?" Elizabeth shouts. "Don't you want to actually be the victor for once?"

Judd whimpers. "I just can't get these jeans all dirty 'n' sandy, y'know? Don't rush me!"

"I'll rush you as long as I bloody feel like," Elizabeth explains demonstratively. "I'm brassed off with your awful performances in these challenges. How stupid can you be?" She walks away scoffing.

Judd begins to dig faster. "I'll show her," he mutters. "I'll show her real good."

Elizabeth appears in the confessional area. "Thanks to my ace leadership, everyone's digging a hole in the sand so that we have plenty of material for building when the time comes." She smiles satisfactorily. "This sandcastle's going to completely knock the socks off of Buckingham Palace when it's all done. Judd had better bloody believe that!"

"Judd, just dig!" Angie says. "I'm one of the prettiest girls out here and I don't have an issue with this. Why should you?" She giggles.

"Seriously!" Catelyn says, annoyed. "If you want to prove you're the big, strong, manly man who could beat me in a swimming contest, just go!"

Judd whimpers again. "I can't risk gettin' m'pants all dirty! Y'know I only got one pair, right?  'Cause of the whole Chris raidin' our stuff?"

"Then go back and change?" Mitch suggests. "It's not that difficult to freaking change your clothes, and it's not like we even ran that far away from the houses."

"Is Chris even gonna let me do that?" Judd asks.

Mitch rolls his eyes before appearing in the confessional area. "I can't stand Judd at all. I'm voting him off tonight after we lose, because we're going to with him still on our team."

Back at the Eagles' building area, Skylia is scouring the shoreline for seashells.

"Skylia!" Erik shouts. "How many medium-size warm-colored kinda-circular-shaped shells have you found? We need them to decorate the left wing doorway."

"About six," Skylia calmly replies.

Erik's eyes widen. "We only needed five! That's way more than we need."

"It's only one more...I can't imagine it would hurt to have extras," Skylia replies.

Erik groans before appearing in the confessional area. "Being the leader is hard work, even harder than being the peacemaker. I almost regret taking this position, but I can't imagine that anyone else would have the artistic ideas that I do."

"Erik!" Cyrus calls as he meticulously digs a large trench in the shape of a square around the words "SANDCASTLE" drawn in the sand. "I'm almost done with the mock-Cambodian moat, is there anything else that other people aren't doing?" The camera pans to Raechel pointlessly playing in the ocean, Skylia continuing to search for seashells (now with Colin's help), Byran rapidly digging a hole, Karin slowly putting together a pillar of wet sand in the corner of the moat, and Aly nonchalantly putting together another pillar in a different corner.

"It's not a mock-Cambodian moat, it's a legitimate Cambodian moat imitation!" Erik says.

Cyrus appears in the confessional area. "Is there even such thing as a Cambodian moat? Get it together, people!  And by people, I mean no one but Erik.  I'd love to vote him out next, but when you have massive personality flops like Byran and Raechel on your team, it might be harder to convince people to vote him off than it is to convince Colin and Skylia to admit that they're in love.  And I'm not saying that they are, but girl, they're being way too friendly."

"This is the most fun activity I've ever done," Aly says dryly as she smooths out the round top of her pillar.

"This is fun for you?" Raechel, who is now on land, asks as she squeezes the water out of her hair.

Aly locks eyes with Raechel without any facial expression. "Yeah, this is so much fun," she answers impassively.

Byran, whose hole is now deep enough to fit himself completely below the surface, jumps out of his hole with sand all over his body. "Is that what you needed me to do Erik because I think that I did the job pretty well and that I should definitely get to take a break there is a lot of sand here what do you want me to do with it why was I digging this hole anyway did you even ask me to or was it my idea because I can't remember so--"

"It was my idea because I needed sand that was wet but not soupy, if that makes any sense to you," Erik explains. "It'll be perfect for trying to sculpt square-shaped castle buildings since we don't have any molds to use."

"I don't know what that means but okay!!!" Byran says.

Erik halfheartedly laughs. "You should probably start--"

"Digging again?" Byran says before jumping back into his hole. Sand comes flying out of his large pit at an indescribable rate.

"That's...not what I was gonna say..." Erik says disappointedly.

"Hey, Erik, Aly and I are--" Karin begins talking to Erik, but is interrupted when he loudly groans.

"What do you want?" Erik says abrasively, before realizing his negative tone. "...Sorry, what can I help you with?"

Karin begins to back away. "Is now, like, not a good time? I can come back later if you need me to."

Erik rubs his forehead. "Sorry, it's just that I have four people who can't work proficiently and I have a headache and I'm really tired and I'm regretting--"

"You're starting to sound like Byran," Aly interjects. "Get to the point."

Erik appears in the confessional area. "Everything's falling apart for me! Byran can't stop digging when I need him for other things, no one except Karin, Cyrus and Aly wants to work at all, and my dreams of the perfect pueblo-style sandcastle are crumbling!  Rapidly!"

Skylia and Colin join the conversation. Skylia's arms are full of seashells. "Erik, we got a whole bunch of decoration shells!" She holds out multiple types of shells in all different shapes and sizes.

Erik groans once more. "I needed ones that were round! I only needed five round seashells and you got a billion extraneous ones.  Great work, team."

"Weren't you all about team-wide unity before this, girl?" Cyrus asks. "Literally twelve hours ago you were preaching about how we shouldn't be arguing. Pick a side, hon."

"Where even is Raechel? Shouldn't she be doing something?" Erik asks irritably.

"Over here. What do you need?" The cameras reveal that Raechel has started an attempt to create a square out of sand using the product of Byran's work.

Erik's eyes light up and he begins smiling uncontrollably. "Finally!" He rushes over to Raechel. "Someone who works!" He hands Raechel his copy of the blueprints. "Be the leading architect!"

"You're trusting HER to be the leader?" Aly asks skeptically. "I guess they don't teach you perceptivity in art school."

Erik furrows his brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Aly sighs. "Nothing. Let's just build a sandcastle."

"What are we going to do about Byran?" Karin asks, pointing to his hole. He appears to have stopped digging.

"Byran? You in there, bro?" Colin yells towards the hole. "It's too dark down there to see if you're there, dude!"

There is no response.

"...He'll be alright," Skylia says. "He's probably just taking a break."

Everyone else nods.

Aly appears in the confessional area. "Everyone being so nonchalant about the state of Byran makes me wonder if anyone here has any morals. Of course, it is Byran, so I'm not too concerned with him being missing in action."

As the scene changes, Chris is walking along the beach, looking at his watch. He turns to the camera and smiles.

"Dude, we're ready," the cameraman whispers.

"Oh!" Chris flinches. "Well, uh, it looks like time's up for our two--"

Judd suddenly runs by Chris wearing only underwear.

"W-wait, Judd!" Chris shouts. "Shouldn't you be helping out your team?"

Judd stops to talk with Chris. "Okay, well, I didn't want to get my nice plaid shirt and everything all sandy 'n' dirty, so I went back ta' the house to change, that's all!"

"You...changed into your underwear," Chris points out before bursting out laughing. "Please tell me you didn't meant to do that!" He continues laughing, turning more malevolent every second. "That's so embarrassing! Brendan, get a look at this!"

Brendan, assumably the cameraman, zooms in on Judd's underwear before shifting the camera's focus (as well as the on-screen show) onto Judd's face, who is now blushing.

"I thought this was m'bathing suit!" He groans and attempts to head back to the Pandas' house.

Chris grabs his arm to prevent him from running. "Oh," he laughs, "there's no way we're letting you change into something less humiliating. Go back to your team and see what they say about your new wardrobe!"

"G-got it!" Judd starts sprinting off-screen.

Chris stops and looks at the camera. "I wonder if he knows he's going the wrong way." He snickers.

As the scene shifts to the Pandas, Elizabeth is standing directly over Sean, who is meticulously using what appears to be a toothpick to add designs to their sandcastle.

"I'm actually shocked," Mitch says while standing next to Elizabeth. "We actually got this to look like Buckingham Palace. I didn't think that the people on this team could do anything remarkable...ever."

Angie, who overhears his comment, rolls her eyes.

"Well, you can't give them all of the bloody credit, can you?" Elizabeth replies. "If it weren't for fantastic leadership like this..." She pauses before looking straight down at Sean. "If those windows don't look IMPECCABLE when you're done...you know what's coming next," she says forcefully.

Sean mutters a few unintelligible statements to himself in response, although the word "negative" can be heard.

Mitch snickers. "What IS coming next?"

Elizabeth smirks. "Well, you know what bloody happened to Parvati, don't you?"

Mitch raises his eyebrows. "I do, but she actually ruined the entire challenge for us. You can't just go on massive...erm, 'aggro' power trips like this every day."

"Well, what's a nation without a powerful queen, anyway?" Elizabeth replies. "Real dull, that's what."

Mitch shrugs. "You do you."

"I bloody will if I have anything to say about it," Elizabeth replies. She bends down and inspects her supposed Buckingham Palace replica. Multiple attempts at drawing the British flag are evident all around the castle.

Angie is seen talking to Catelyn, who is placing seashells around the border of the castle. "If we lose, how do you think the vote's gonna go for us?"

Catelyn places her last shell and stands up to talk to Angie. "Well, it's pretty obvious that we're on the outs. I'm not really that big on strategy, but I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to get Elizabeth and Mitch to vote for Judd with us."

Matthew pipes in and joins the conversation as well, although he is visibly nervous. "Yeah, Elizabeth's opinions are like gold."

"...Gold?" Angie asks with a quizzical expression. "Like, they're worth a lot?"

Matthew sighs. "They're extremely malleable. It's not hard to change them." He then appears in the confessional. "I guess trying to talk to people here like I talk to my...uh...acquaintances at home doesn't work so well."

"Well, you're definitely right about that," Catelyn replies. "Why don't we go over to her and ask her right now? It's not like Judd's here."

"No, don't!" Matthew replies concernedly.

Angie laughs. "You're right! Judd's not back yet.  What should we say to her!"

Matthew's eyes widen. "Seriously, don't!"

"I don't know, Judd sucks?" Catelyn laughs.

"You guys!" Matthew shouts loud enough so that Catelyn and Angie react. "If you act like we're going to lose, she's going to think that you don't like her Bucking-sand Palace idea and that's going to engender more anger from her than she already gives off."

"I'm not sure what a couple of those words meant," Catelyn replies, "but you have a good point."

Angie sighs. "Yeah. I guess let's just wait and see if we lose or not.  Although, I can't wait to throw Judd's stupid cowboy hat in the ocean once he gets the heck out of here!"

"We can do that one together," Catelyn says. She and Angie high-five each other.

Suddenly, Chris walks over to the Pandas. "Nice!" He looks shocked. "This is actually really impressive. I didn't think you guys could pull it together after your awful trainwreck performance in the last challenge.  Nice work!"

"Thanks!" Angie replies.

Elizabeth laughs and offers to shake Chris's hand. "It was all my pleasure putting this together!"

Chris recoils. "You think I want to touch ANY of you?" He laughs before taking out a metal bucket. "Hold on to this. You'll need it in a sec."

The scene shifts to the Eagles, who have a considerably less impressive sandcastle. Raechel is once again playing in the water, Skylia and Colin are working on pulling a sandy Byran out of his hole, Karin is hastily putting Skylia's seashells on the sandcastle (which appears to be an awkward, lumpy structure), Cyrus is inspecting the moat, Aly is nonchalantly watching him, and Erik is sleeping on the ground.

Chris, who has approached the Eagles, looks horrified. As the camera pans to Erik sleeping once more, the now-feared orange whistle is blown from off-screen. Erik awakens with a shock.

"What the heck, man?" he asks.

Raechel, still in the water, appears very concerned. "What's the whistle for? Is there a shark?!" she asks worriedly.

"No, Raechel, just get out of the water and come over here!" Karin shouts, clutching her ears.

"...So that man isn't a lifeguard," Raechel says as she comes ashore.

Chris glares at her before taking out a metal bucket, similar to the one he gave the Pandas, as the eight Eagles team members (including Byran) gather around him.

"You guys have produced quite possibly a worse mess than the Pandas did at the first challenge," he says irritably. "What are you doing?! Get it together!"

"Raechel, our fearless leader, decided to go have a bath instead of tell us what to do," Aly explains.

Karin looks worried before appearing in the confessional area. "As weird as it is, Raechel's important to me. People are people.  Friends are friends, and as unaware as she may be, she could be pivotal in making it through the first few votes I'm vulnerable in.  I need to come to her defense, but seeing as she failed as being our leader, it could cost me big time." The scene returns to the beach. "Yes, Aly, she did fail at being our leader, but so did Erik - twofold."

Erik groans. "Not this again. I gave up every association with being the leader!"

Cyrus rolls his eyes. "To be fair, girl, you elected yourself the leader and quit at it. Then you made the least capable -- no offense, Raech -- person on our team the leader."

"...Girl?" Erik pauses. "You...were talking to Raechel or Aly...right? Or Karin?"

Cyrus laughs. "You should know that I use 'girl' to refer to everyone. Haven't you seen my--...way of talking...to people...?" He appears in the confessional area. "That. Was.  So close.  I almost outed myself as a celeb right then and there!  I know I came into this show kind of expecting people to know who I am, since after all, I'm super duper iconic, but now that no one knows, I'd like for it to stay that way."

"My budget doesn't have time for your soap opera!" Chris says irritably. "Just take this bucket and follow me, would you? Seriously!"

Both teams have returned to the beach in front of the two houses, standing in the same formation that they were at the start of the challenge. The Pandas appear to be missing Judd, who fatiguingly walks towards his team from off-screen, still in his underwear.

"Where the bloody heck were you?" Elizabeth shouts.

"I was..." Judd pants. "I thought I was... that way... and then I ran... but I didn't realize..." He heaves for a couple of seconds. "...and then it wasn't that way...and now..."

"You're so bloody done if we lose, you know," Elizabeth replies. She glares at him before returning her attention to Chris.

The host clears his throat. "Now that I have your attention and you have your buckets, we can start the second part of the challenge."

"Second part?!" Erik excitedly exclaims before appearing in the confessional area. "Okay, as a Total Drama fan, I know that if challenges come in two parts, the second part is generally completely independent of your performance in the first part. Seeing as how some of my team hates me for sucking so much at being an architect, I can and need to totally rock this!" He pumps his fist in the air. "I've just gotta be helpful and positive, and even if the Eagles lose, we can send Raechel packing."

"Yes, Erik," Chris says, "second part. Also..." Chris blows his whistle again, causing the entire cast to recoil. "Don't EVER interrupt me!" He clears his throat again. "Now, I'd just like to point out that the designs and cool parts about your sandcastles are now completely irrelevant. The next part of your challenge is to wash away the other team's sandcastle!"

"My palace?!" Elizabeth shouts concernedly. "...I mean, I was never that bloody attached to it."

Chris snickers. "Anyways, our wonderful interns have set up nice little stands in the sand for you to stand on." Clips of interns laying down blue and pink dots in the sand are shown. "You'll have to fill up your bucket with water here and run it to your teammates in this Total Drama Ultimate Splash Castle Destruction Relay Race!" Chris smiles. "Copyright, me."

Matthew, who is holding the Popular Pandas' bucket, looks at Chris with an alarmed expression. "You mean you expect us to run with a bucket full of water? Sea water's just as viscous as anything, it's all gonna spill over!"

Chris looks around, ignoring Matthew's question. "Any other questions?" There is a silence accompanied by Matthew sighing. "Okay, we'll get started! Along the path to wherever you built your sandcastle, there are nice, big rubber dots, color coded by team, that you'll have to figure out some order to stand in.  One person will fill up the bucket here on this beach and run it to the closest teammate, who will run it to their closest teammate.  The last person to get the bucket will dump water all over the other team's sandcastle.  If you don't know how sand and water work together, well, water makes sand go away."

"We weren't born yesterday," Mitch comments.

"Be quiet when I'm talking! I'm the host here!" Chris glares at Mitch. "So! The first team to completely flatten the other team's sandcastle and give me their bucket will win the challenge.  If you lose, you vote someone off tonight at the dreaded dramatic Poolside Elimination!"

"That sounds frightening," Aly replies. "I had nightmares as a child about being eliminated at a pool." She rolls her eyes.

"Wow!" Judd shouts. "You sure musta' been a wimpy girl."

Aly smacks her own face with her palm. "It was supposed to be sarcastic. Glad to know that our opponents all have their PhDs already."

Judd attempts to reply, but Chris blows his orange whistle before he can start talking. "Go!" The contestants cover their ears and start running. "I'm tired of the constant chit chat!" Chris groans. "These people!"

Matthew fills up his bucket with water and attempts to run it to Sean. This is the first clip in a montage of contestants running with buckets, with the occasional fill by Matthew or Erik as well as the occasional dump by Elizabeth or Cyrus. It is made clear that Matthew gets the Pandas' bucket marginally more full than Erik does with the Eagles' bucket.

As Cyrus dumps out more water on the Pandas castle, he appears disappointed that it is not completely flat yet. It has been reduced to a few wet sand lumps.

"We need more water!" Cyrus shouts as he throws the bucket towards whoever is off-screen.

As Elizabeth dumps water on the Eagles sandcastle, the last few remaining shells are washed away.

"The bloody thing is flat!" Elizabeth shouts. "Move it, you twits!"

The Pandas, except for Judd, sprint back to Chris.

"Wait, y'all!" Judd shouts. "I'm still a lil' worn out from m'run earlier, y'know?" He sighs.

Angie complains. "Come on, Judd! Don't you want to actually win?"

"We have a chance to be the winners!" Matthew shouts to Judd. "Come on!"

Mitch runs past a walking Judd and sighs. "Do I really need to carry you?"

Judd laughs. "You're the scrawniest--" Before he can finish his sentence, Mitch lifts Judd off of the ground starts to carry him.

While this is happening, Cyrus finally flattens what used to be the Buckingham Palace replica. "I did it!" he shouts.

"Go, dude, go!" Colin is heard shouting as the Eagles take off for the beach. Yet another montage, this time a strange close-up video of people's feet running on the beach (assumably comparing the two teams) is shown.

However, by the time the Eagles arrive at the beach with their bucket, the Pandas have already given Chris theirs.

"The Popular Pandas win!" Chris shouts. "An amazing comeback after their awful performance in the viking challenge!"

Raechel appears to be puzzled while the rest of her team is visibly disappointed. "What does that mean?" Aly smacks her own forehead again.

Total Drama's elimination ceremony theme plays as a zoomed out shot of the pool at nighttime, the exact same as what had appeared last episode, is shown.

Another camera angle shows all eight Ecstatic Eagles members sitting in poolside lounge chairs. Chris is sitting in the lifeguard chair once again.

"Eagles, welcome to your first elimination ceremony of the season!" He snickers sadistically. "Because your team lost the challenge today, one of you will be voted off by your own teammates and will have to take the Sampan of Shame tonight, leave the island and the competition, and never come back."

Aly looks at her fingernails nonchalantly. "I'm so scared."

Chris glares at Aly. "I'd normally have my whistle right now, but it broke because I kept using it to freak you guys out today." He laughs. "One by one, I'll call each of you individually over to what some of you may know as the confessional. An intern will show you eight pictures, one for each member of the team, including yourself."

Raechel interrupts. "Hi, I'm sorry, but aren't pools normally closed after nine?"

"This is the Poolside Elimination!" Chris shouts in an attempt to intimidate Raechel, to no avail.

"Yeah, so what exactly is this? Are we filming Love in the Water 2?  I thought that had gotten cancelled after the incident where tiger sharks ate the fan favorites," Raechel asks.

Chris blinks. "You don't know what show you're on?"

Raechel shakes her head.

Chris pauses. "...Well, that's your loss! Anyways, along with the pictures you get will be a knife."

Byran takes a deep breath in preparation for his upcoming sentence. "That's incredibly unsafe Chris I can't believe that the Total Drama producers would let us of all people use super sharp unsafe knives but honestly that is such a Chris McLean move so I can't hate on it honestly I love the idea and--"

"You had gone, like, four hours without you talking!" Aly exclaims exasperatedly. "Those were so wonderful! You're so awful!"

Chris laughs. "If only I had the mean bones in my body," his voice suddenly turns hostile, "to eject you from the game for talking while I'm supposed to be having camera time!" He takes a deep breath. "Anyways, you'll use that knife to put holes in the picture of the person you want to vote off. The person with the most votes is out.  You should all know how this works." He claps twice. "Get to it!"

Raechel is shown voting for herself. "That's an awful picture of me. Are there any others?"

Erik stabs Raechel's picture. "I dominated the bucket stuff today. You dominated playing in the ocean.  Here's to hoping!"

Karin is shown stabbing Erik's picture. "I really hope this vote saves Raechel. I tried my best to use what connections I have to get this to go through, so if this--"

"Stop talking over there!" Chris shouts from off-screen.

Aly is shown stabbing a picture, but whoever's it is remains unseen. "I couldn't care less which one of you is out, you're both generally incompetent, anyway."

The scene returns to the Ecstatic Eagles sitting in their pool chairs. Chris climbs down from the lifeguard chair and returns with a tray of seven coconut drinks.

"These are the Total Drama: South Pacific symbol of invincibility, safety, and all things worth playing for - the tropical coconut drinks," Chris explains.

"Can't you order those at the snack bar?" Skylia asks.

"Shush!" Chris shouts. "I'll throw these at you and hopefully get the sugary liquid all over your clothes. If not, congrats, enjoy the drink.  If I throw one to you and call your name, you're safe.  If you don't get a drink, you're done for.  You'll take the Sampan of Shame," Chris says as the camera displays the growingly iconic ramshackle boat, "and go home." Chris picks up the first drink.

"Byran! ...Shockingly." Chris throws a drink to Byran, who somehow manages to catch it.

"Karin, Colin, you two are safe," Chris says as he throws them both drinks. Karin's drink misses her while Colin's spills onto him.

"It's all cool, dude," Colin says as he takes off his tank top, catching Skylia's attention.

Chris picks up another drink. "Skylia, you're good." As Skylia is currently watching Colin, her drink spills all over her blue jacket.

"That's all right, too," Skylia says.

"Aly," Chris throws a drink to Aly, "you're safe."

"Thanks?" Aly says sarcastically as she dodges the incoming projectile.

Erik is shown looking anxious.

"Cyrus, here's one for you," Chris says. He throws a drink to Cyrus, who catches it.

"This doesn't taste too bad, actually," Cyrus compliments. "Nice budget this year, girl!"

Chris snickers. "Okay, sure." His face returns to a serious look.

A camera angle of Erik shows him growing more anxious, while Raechel is generally confused.

"Erik, Raechel, you guys both royally screwed up at the challenge today. If your sandcastle was bigger and better, it'd have taken the Popular Pandas longer to dilute the thing.  You guys flopped."

"I did flop!" Raechel says proudly. "Did you see me flopping in the water?" She laughs. "I love the beach."

Erik appears to be disgruntled. "I didn't flop, it was my team that couldn't get it together! My blueprints and designs were on point.  They weren't.  Big deal."

Chris's facial expression conveys the idea that he is disinterested. "Cool." He clears his throat. "I only have one more tropical drink left to give out. Who's it gonna be?"

"Shockingly..." Chris throws a drink to Raechel. "It's Raechel!"

Erik stands up disappointedly. "What?!" he says sadly. "This has been my dream for like, five years, and I'm out second?!"

"You couldn't handle the throne, big guy," Colin says. "Sorry."

Erik sighs. "Whatever. I'm not good at being the leader, anyway."

"Then why'd you make yourself the leader? It doesn't make sense at all and I'm shocked that you don't see the error of your ways like you didn't even tell me to do anything you just let me fall in a hole again and keep digging like did you want me to get out of the game I hate you so much goodbye!!!" Byran says, hyper as always.

"You're lucky you're still here, you know," Erik retorts.

"Look," Karin says, "you drew up the lyrics to your own swan song. You had it coming."

"That's enough for goodbyes, don't you think?" Chris says, smiling malevolently. He blows his orange whistle, shocking everyone, but triggering Erik to run out of the pool area.

"What the heck?!" Aly shouts.

"Bro!" Colin shouts as he covers his ears. "You said that thing was broken, man."

Chris laughs evilly. "I lied!"

Erik is shown on the Sampan of Shame. "I hate that stupid whistle! That's the worst shade of orange I've ever seen!"

Suddenly, the sampan takes off at high speed, just as it did when Parvati was the passenger, catching Erik off-guard. "How fast are you driving this thing?!"

Chris is shown standing in the pool, leaning on one of its walls. "Well, that concludes another dramatic, juicy episode. Did Erik designing his own demise fill in all of the cracks in the Ecstatic Eagles?" Chris laughs. "I really hope it didn't!" He clears his throat. "Anyways, find out next time on Total... Drama... South Pacific!" Chris takes off and begins swimming as the episode fades to black.