Dante

* S3: Tropics
* S7: BotB

Dante is a contestant on Total Drama Tropics and Total Drama: Best of the Best.

## Biography

Dante is the youngest of two children whose parents went through a nasty divorce. Dante didn't like his father, but he was still hurt when his parents got divorced. When his mother remarried, Dante didn't adjust, even though his stepfather is much nicer to him and his mother than his birth father. Dante almost always feels like everyone is against him, and shows little respect to other people. Dante purposely tries to make his mother and stepfather argue, because he feels better about himself when other people are miserable, and they're less likely to keep an eye on him when they argue. He has committed several petty crimes, but always charms his way out of getting in trouble, or caught. Dante is a rebel in the classroom, when he decides to attend his school, earning him respect from some of his classmates. He is also quite popular with his female classmates, who he doesn't mind using to do his homework for him. Dante only views people as objects to get what he wants.

Dante joined the Total Drama series for the money.

## Trivia

* Dante was initially going to be named Xander, a shortened form of Alexander, until the name was taken before I had a chance to create his character profile. Emmy was going to be named Brandi. The reference was to a song titled Brandy Alexander that compares a relationship to alcoholism.
* Dante was named after Dante's Inferno.
* Dante and Emmy were inspired by a performance on So You Think You Can Dance performed to Gravity by Sara Bareilles. The dance was about addiction, the male dancer, Kupono Aweau representing the addiction. Dante's appearance is based on Kupono's appearance in the aforementioned performance.
* Dante is Latino, though Kupono, his inspiration, is Hawaiian.
* Dante was designated as the 'bad boy', a trope often romanticized in pop culture. My intention was to show that sometimes 'bad boys' are actually bad people.
* Dante was never attracted to Emmy.
* Dante targeted Hae Won early, as she expressed that she defended her friends, and he felt that she might get in his way with his very early conceived plan to manipulate Emmy.
* Dante placed poorly for a main series villain. I felt it would both be a surprise, and something unique to try to not have a villain for a while near the story's end.
* Hinted at in Total Drama: Best of the Best, Dante is particularly well endowed.
* Dante saw the error of his ways when watching Total Drama Tropics. He saw his abusive father in himself and was disturbed. This revelation was shown in the reunion of Total Drama Tropics, well before his appearance on Total Drama: Best of the Best.
* In Best of the Best, Dante was revealed to have a rare disorder that was causing his eyesight to diminish rapidly. This was inspired by America's Next Top Model contestant Amanda Swafford who has the same disorder. He started wearing glasses on this series.
* A running gag with Dante is that he is unaware of his attractiveness and often shows a lack of modesty, as a result.
* Dante's reformation was my way of showing that even my most sinister character could try to change for the better.
* Dante blames himself for Creigh's negative spiral.
* Dante came out as gay in Total Drama: Best of the Best. I felt that this would be a strong story element, in particular his being romantically interested in Tsuyoshi, one of the most successful contestants, though those feelings were not reciprocated. Many readers questioned Dante's sincerity, which was what I was going for. Many felt that his sexuality was unexpected. I wanted to represent someone that wasn't stereotypical.
* Dante was not always intended to be gay, but some of his comments about being attracted to Beau leant themselves to his revelation being believable once I decided to go that direction with his story. He was also attracted to Isaiah, which is implied by his reaction to Isaiah holding his hand at one point. He targeted Isaiah early mostly to keep him away from Emmy as they shared a mutual interest in each other, but also subconsciously to keep his own attraction to him a secret.
* When Total Drama: Best of the Best rolled around, either Dante, Stevie, Doyce, or Eduardo were going to be either gay or bisexual and a romantic interest for Tsuyoshi. Only Dante has been confirmed as gay.
* In Total Drama Tropics, Dante was questioning his sexuality. After Tropics, he started dating a guy in high school that was an openly gay member of the drama club, as they both were rejected and bullied by other students and bonded from there. Dante remained closeted. This was the reason behind their break up.
* Dante and Tsuyoshi were intended to become a couple, linking my most celebrated hero and most notorious villain. I decided against the pairing as no reader seemed to support it, and I didn't want them forever questioning Dante's motives. I also felt that pairing my only two openly gay contestants would suggest that I felt all gay people are attracted to each other.
* Though never stated, as Dante came out in the middle of the season, he had a heavy crush on Nathan. If not for the dramatic impact of Dante coming out later, Nathan would have been shown to pick up on Dante being gay without being told.
* Tsuyoshi rejected Dante as he didn't like that Dante was a heavy smoker, as well as an alcoholic. Dante swore to change, and as revealed in the reunion of Best of the Best, he was successful. This did not lead to a relationship between the two, however, as Tsuyoshi started dating someone else. Tsuyoshi was, however, physically attracted to Dante.
* Dante grew out his hair, and ended up getting it shaved off after a mishap in a challenge. This was a reference to Heather getting her head shaved in Total Drama Island.
* Dante and Tsuyoshi were to be good friends after the competition until a falling out made them part ways. Tsuyoshi and his boyfriend, Bucky, hired Dante on as their pool boy.

Dante in a tribute image.