The Chefshank Redemption

**"The Chefshank Redemption"** is the seventh episode of the second season of *Total Drama*.

*“Okay, maggot! I'm gonna ride you to your confidence coasts the back of a spoon and your self-respect form stiff peaks! No more Momma boy, DJ, watch and learn."
"Um, what is that?"
"Taste perfection, boy!”*
―Chef Hatchet and DJ
The competition starts to heat up when the teams face the prison movie challenge. One team is pretty confident, as they have a special deal with Gwen from the opposing team as a result of her past actions. The Killer Grips wins the first challenge, and Izzy returns to the competition. Gwen is eliminated due to her previous actions, though she feels she earned some extra "karma points" in doing so.

## Plot

The episode opens with the castmates waking up, and finding out that they have been locked inside their trailers. While trying to figure out how to escape the trailer, the guys realize that Owen had eaten beans the previous night, and waking him up will cause him to start farting in the confined space and add more to their problems. He wakes up anyway, and is offended that he is only thought of as a farting machine, even though he soon proceeds to fart. The girls quickly decide that one of them will need to slip through the opening in the roof of the trailer in order to escape. After Heather complains that the trailer is "as small as the space in between Lindsay's ears," she then gets talked into slipping through the roof by Gwen, who uses one of Heather's weaknesses: Shameless flattery, saying only someone as thin as a toothpick could fit through. The guys, with the exception of DJ (who is cooking with Chef), have a harder time finding a way out and eventually attempt to use Owen as a battering ram, which only works when Chris opens the door for them.

Chris then tells the castmates that the theme for this week's challenge will be "Prison Break," showing that there is an area around them that has been appropriately decorated to match the episode. Chris then goes into an unappealing and crude description of prison life. The teams are then shown preparing for the first challenge, with the Killer Grips feeling quite overconfident, as Justin reminds them that Gwen will likely throw the challenge for the Screaming Gaffers, due to Trent's previous actions. Chris then describes the challenge, in which each team will pick a member from the opposite team to eat a disgusting dish made by their team, in an effort to simulate gross prison food. The first castmate of the two to barf will be declared the loser, while the other team will get an advantage in the next challenge, which is a golden shovel.

The Screaming Gaffers easily decide on Lindsay as their victim, as she is known to be extremely squeamish. The Grips then choose Gwen, as they know she will throw the challenge for them, which they desperately need. The two victims are then put in prison cell type cages, while the two teams prepare their disgusting meal. However, in addition to the disgusting ingredients, DJ also puts in some of his mother's spices, as cannot bring himself to serve food that he is not proud of. Then, when the victims eat the dishes, Lindsay considers her meal to be very good due to DJ adding his Mama spices, while Gwen could barely hold down her dish. After taking another bite, Gwen barfed up Beth's retainer (retainers didn't count as food). When Beth places her barf covered retainer back into her mouth, Lindsay throws up due to being grossed out. This results in Gwen winning the challenge, much to the Grip's displeasure. Once the challenge ends, Lindsay reminds Gwen that she should have allowed the Grips to win. Heather, seeing Gwen talk to Lindsay, immediately confronts Gwen, and suspiciously asks what she was talking about to Lindsay. Gwen shoves aside Heather's suspicions and walks away, leaving Heather still very much suspicious. Meanwhile, DJ has a conversation with Chef, where Chef at first tells him he is doing a terrible job at winning so far. Then, Chef shows a small amount of his softer side when he tells DJ that he used to be a lot like him, and then tells him to "not waste his gift" like he thinks he, himself, did.

Later, Chris describes the elimination challenge to the teams. They must have one member of their team push the rest through an obstacle course, until they reach a point where they will begin to dig a long tunnel from that point to the finish line. This challenge is to simulate breaking out of a prison. The Gaffers have the advantage of receiving a shovel to assist in digging their hole, while the Grips must dig with plastic spoons. For the Gaffers, DJ offers to push the cart, until Gwen convinces him otherwise. Gwen arouses more suspicions from Heather as she insists on pushing the cart for her team, followed by a wink to the Grips, signaling to them that she will be helping them win the challenge. The Grips have more trouble deciding who will push for their team. Owen is quick to make up an excuse for why he cannot push, saying that his "trick knee" has been acting up ever since he "pushed it to the limit" at the "sports thing". Lindsay then flirtatiously asks Justin if he will push for their team. Justin then tells her that it will make Gwen's cheating for them look more natural if she pushes the cart. After he refers to her as "beautiful," Lindsay blushes, giggles, and agrees to push the cart for their team. Once the challenge begins, Gwen ends up far ahead of the opposing team, as Lindsay is having trouble pushing such a heavy cart. The Grips, angered by Gwen's lead, begin to drop very obvious hints that Gwen needs to throw the challenge. Gwen comes to a stop as soon as she hears Beth call out that Gwen is running faster than *Trent* ever could. Once the Grips pass up the Gaffers several seconds later, Heather's suspicions rise high enough for her to begin suspiciously questioning Gwen about why she had stopped and why the Grips kept mentioning Trent's name. In an effort to convince her team that she had stopped for a legitimate reason, Gwen attempts to fake a cramp. Heather, still suspicious, then tells Gwen to keep moving, despite her "cramp," and Gwen complies.

The Grips then reach their stopping point and begin to dig. The Gaffers aren't far behind and once they reach their stopping point, Leshawna begins to rapidly dig her team's hole. Gwen, noticing how much quicker Leshawna was moving compared to the Grips, begins to insist that Leshawna may injure herself. Heather then suspiciously asks Gwen why she isn't being supportive of her team and questions whether she wishes to win the challenge at all. Gwen denies Heather's assumptions, saying she is only concerned for the well-being of her teammates. Meanwhile, Chris and Chef are watching from the sidelines. While watching, Chris unsuccessfully attempts to strike up small talk with Chef. Chris then asks if Chef is doing anything after work, but immediately stops once he gets a shocked look from Chef. Chris then backs off of the topic. The Killer Grips are shown, in the midst of digging their tunnel. Lindsay begins to worry that the Gaffers are far ahead of them. Justin coolly shoots down her worries, telling her that since Gwen must throw the challenge, they don't need to worry. Meanwhile, The Gaffers are also digging their hole, and are, in fact, very far ahead of the opposing team. Heather, Harold, and Leshawna are being to become excited over their strong chances of winning another challenge. Gwen then begins to worry. In an effort to slow their progress, Gwen begins to fake an anxiety attack due to claustrophobia. Gwen then grabs the shovel from Leshawna's hands and hits Harold over the head with it, smashing it in half and knocking out Harold.

Their shovel is then broken, leaving them with no digging tools. DJ convinces the team that, no matter what, they can still try their hardest to win. Leshawna agrees and tells the team to "get their dig on." However, at that moment, Izzy pops through a bank of dirt, into their hole. They are confused, until Izzy (who now possesses prairie dog style buck teeth) explains how she has been living underground with the prairie dogs since she was removed from the competition. Izzy then, tells the Gaffers to follow her to the finish line, as she knows a 'short-cut', which makes Gwen nervous. Heather, noticing Gwen's nervousness, provokingly tells Gwen how great it is that they had found a short-cut, knowing that she didn't want them to win. Izzy then leads the team through a tunnel, telling them more and more of her 'prairie dog' stories. They then pop out at the top of the hole, to find that the Grips had already won the challenge. Izzy then ditches the Gaffers, saying that it is more fun to be on the winning team, and walks over to the Grips. The Grips are very confused, telling her that they already voted her off. Izzy, however, tells them that they technically voted "E-Scope" off, not Izzy. A flash back of her elimination even shows Chris filing "E-Scope" elimination. Thus, Izzy is allowed to return to the game.

Later, the castmates are shown eating in the dining hall. Izzy and Owen are already flirting again, describing each other as desserts. At the Gaffers' table, Heather taunts Gwen, saying that she will be voted off, to which Gwen asks her how she is so sure. Heather replies, saying that she had seen through Gwen's 'stunt', assuring her that she knew that she threw the challenge. DJ then brings Gwen a dish of food, in order to 'keep her strength up.' Gwen then thanks DJ and Heather looks on angrily. Later, the Screaming Gaffers are shown at the Gilded Chris Ceremony. At the ceremony, Duncan, Leshawna, DJ and Harold all receive awards, while Heather and Gwen continuously glare at each other. Chris then announces that Heather receives the last Gilded Chris. Heather then, excitedly, takes Chris's place at the podium by pushing him down, telling Gwen that she is not a winner and is, therefore, a loser, to which Gwen only glares.

Following this are confessionals from all who had eliminated Gwen. Leshawna revealed that, although voting for Gwen hurt, she was upset that she had hit Harold over the head with a shovel. Harold revealed that, as a result of being hit over the head with a shovel by Gwen, if she stayed, according to "prison rules," he either needed to break a shovel over her head, fall in love with her, or vote her off. Since the first two options were not possible, he had to go with the third choice. Heather is shown declaring that with the three votes for Gwen she knew of (her own vote, plus Harold's and Leshawna's), Gwen would easily be eliminated. Gwen is then shown, being handcuffed by Chef, and taking the walk of losers. Once she had been handcuffed, Duncan offers to go instead of Gwen, as a joking way of saying that he really wants to be out of the competition and would take her spot to do so. However, once Chef actually attempts to take Duncan instead, he quickly assures them that he never actually wanted to take her spot, and that he is kidding. Gwen then takes the handcuffs from Chef and tells Duncan that he won't get out of the competition that easily. She then wishes him luck and walks to the lame-o-sine. Gwen's confessional is then shown, saying that the Grips had forced her to vote for herself in order to make up for Trent throwing more than one challenge for her. Chris is then shown, still at the Gilded Chris podium and obviously beat up, saying that Gwen voting herself off would win her "karma points", but loses her the competition and the money. He then signs off the show.

### Exclusive clip

Gwen is relieved that she was finally eliminated, although she is disappointed that she will not be getting her necklace back from Trent. When she believes she saw Trent outside the window, Gwen tells the driver to drive faster. She is then horrified that they are heading to the Aftermath show. Terrified and not wanting to face embarrassment for her actions, Gwen tries to get out of the lame-o-sine.

## Characters

* Beth
* Chef Hatchet
* Chris
* DJ
* DJ's mother (*mentioned*)
* Duncan
* Gwen
* Harold
* Izzy
* Justin
* Leshawna
* Lindsay
* Owen
* Trent (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

### General

* This is the first episode in the series to reference a character's name, being Chef, with the others being Super Hero-ld, Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen, 2008: A Space Owen, Aftermath: Bridgette Over Troubled Water, The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean, Grand Chef Auto, Zeek And Ye Shall Find, Scarlett Fever and Sky Fall.
* Gwen says that Heather has many useful weaknesses, including glittery objects. This would be brought up again much later when Heather reveals she has a secret glitter glue collection in Awwwwww, Drumheller.
* The nicknames that Leshawna gives everyone after DJ's motivational speech are:
	+ Duncan: Danger boy
	+ Heather: Toothpick
	+ Harold: Soul patch
	+ Gwen: Puke breath
	+ DJ: Mama's boy

### Continuity

* Gwen becomes the first contestant in Total Drama history to ever vote herself off.
* When Izzy returns, she says she has been living with prairie dogs, similar to how in No Pain, No Game (the episode she returned in during Total Drama Island) and she claimed she had been living with a family of beavers.
* This episode marks the first time that Gwen is voted off in the Total Drama series, albeit irregularly as she too voted for herself.
* As of this episode, both of the original captains of the Screaming Gaffers and the Killer Grips have been eliminated.
* This episode marks the first time that someone other than Chris or Chef has talked or been seen (not in clips from the previous episode) in the recap given at the beginning of the show. The entire Killer Grips team was seen during the recap, sitting nearby.
* This is the first episode in the series in which someone offers to be eliminated instead of someone else. In this case, Duncan tried to take Gwen's place, but shortly afterwards admitted that he was just kidding.
* This is the first episode in Total Drama Action to have a castmate return.
	+ In addition, said castmate, Izzy, is the only castmate to return in more than one season.
* This is the second time Gwen shows any type of claustrophobia. The first is in Phobia Factor.
	+ Coincidentally, both episodes were the seventh episode of their respective season.
* This is the only episode in which the Killer Grips win a challenge without Courtney on their team.
* This is the second eating challenge to appear in the series, continuing the trend of each season having one.
	+ Brunch of Disgustingness in Total Drama Island.
	+ Chinese Fake-Out in Total Drama World Tour.
	+ Eat, Puke and Be Wary in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
	+ Food Fright in Total Drama All-Stars.
	+ Hurl and Go Seek in Total Drama: Pahkitew Island.

### References

* This episode's title and content are based on the 1994 film, *The Shawshank Redemption.*
* When Izzy is leading the Screaming Gaffers through the shortcut, there is a buried box with Jumanga written on it. This is a reference to the movie, *Jumanji*.
* Heather pushing Chris at the Awards Ceremony is a reference to a scene in the movie, *Bring It On: All or Nothing*.
* Chris says "No get out of jail free cards here" making a reference to the board game, Monopoly.
* When Chris says the the Gaffers won the west, it is a possible reference to the western movie, *How the West Was Won*.

### Goofs

* In 3:10 to Crazytown, Chris says the jump is seven hundred and fifty feet high. However, in the recap, he says it was one hundred feet high.
* When Gwen is panicking in the trailer, the G on her pajama shirt is backwards.
* When the boys fall out of the trailer, Leshawna is not seen standing with all the girls. Instead, she is seen standing next to Beth a moment later.
* During the recap, the Grips are shown sitting at a table, but when the camera zooms out, they are all missing.

### Running Gags

* **Lindsay's running gag:** Lindsay refers to Owen as Omar.