Phobia Factor

**"Phobia Factor"** is the seventh episode of the first season of *Total Drama* .

*“We need this point, DJ! Suck it up!”*
―Courtney to DJ
The campers have to face their worst fears.

## Plot

The episode opens exactly where the previous episode left off, which is right after Katie's elimination. Sadie is still crying uncontrollably at the Dock of Shame due to the elimination of her best friend, with only Bridgette giving her sympathy and support. Bridgette insists that Katie would want her to be strong and move on without her, something Sadie refuses to accept. Bridgette eventually pulls Sadie away, who clings to the dock and manages to break off a plank of wood in the process. When Bridgette and Sadie return to the Killer Bass by the campfire, they are joined by the Screaming Gophers, who bring some leftovers from their tuck shop party. Although they try to convince the Killer Bass that they are joining them out of kindness, Gwen finally admits that they are there because they can't go back to their cabin since Owen farted in it and they need to air it out. Beth brings a green gelatin with a gummy worm inside to Courtney, who panics and rejects the dessert. Duncan asks Courtney if she's on a diet, and Courtney says that she simply does not like green jelly. Beth then brings it to DJ, who looks at the jelly and sees the gummy worm in it, then frantically knocks it out of Beth's hands, thinking the gummy worm was a snake. After Cody shows him it is just a gummy worm and tells him to relax, DJ apologizes for causing a scene, explaining that he's scared to death of snakes.

Tyler sympathizes with him, revealing that he's scared of chickens. Everyone then starts talking about their greatest fears: Beth is scared of being covered in bugs, Harold is afraid of ninjas, and Heather is scared of sumo wrestlers. Gwen tells everyone that her fear is being buried alive, while Lindsay says that her fear is walking through a mine field in high heels. Owen mentions he is terrified of flying, and Izzy admits that she has a similar fear of being in a plane. Geoff then explains his fear of hail. After Geoff tells his fear, Bridgette says that she is afraid of being alone in the woods. As Sadie is holding on to the plank of wood, she mentions that she is afraid of bad haircuts. Lindsay agrees and changes her mind, stating that this fear was far scarier. Cody then mentions his fear of defusing a time bomb. Courtney claims she isn't really afraid of anything, a claim that everyone meets with skepticism. Duncan gives the most obscure fear of all; Céline Dion music store standees. After Trent admits to his fear of mimes, he insists that Courtney share her phobia, but Courtney firmly asserts that she has none. Duncan reminds her of how scared she was when he told his scary story in the last episode, causing her to get snippy with him.

At next morning's breakfast, Chris announces the next challenge is a game he calls "Phobia Factor", where the campers will face their worst fears. Leshawna questions if it could be worse than the breakfast they were eating. Chris calls Heather to the theater for sumo, causing Heather to spit out her drink in Trent's face. Chris then tells Gwen she's got a date with a few tons of sand. Lindsay asks how they could possibly know what their fears were and Gwen tries in vain to explain the nature of a "reality show" to the ditzy blonde. Chris calls out to Chef, asking about a special order for Tyler and Chef passes Tyler a deep fried chicken. Nervously, Tyler bites the head off the chicken shaped food item, only to have the head of a real live chicken pop out, scaring him.

The campers convene outside near a swimming pool full of worms and it's up to Beth to take the plunge. Shrugging, Beth hops into the pool, submerging herself in the worms (even eating some of them). Gophers lead 1-0. Lindsay and Sadie, having revealed their worst fear being bad haircuts, are brought to the main lodge, while Chris brings two wigs for them to wear. Owen snatches one and tries it on, doing a little ballet dance before tripping and falling over. Chris takes the wig back and plants them on the girls' heads. Izzy and Owen are taken to a yellow airplane that looks like it's on the verge of falling apart, piloted by flight attendant Hatchet. Both scream as the plane flies haphazardly over the island. In the washroom, Harold opens the stall door to see that he is surrounded by three ninjas. Showing no fear, he whips out a pair of nunchucks and starts to spin them around expertly, but ends up hitting himself on the head and falls unconscious into the toilet (which counts as a failure). Back outside, Leshawna encounters her worst fear, a spider, or more specifically, Chef in a large spider outfit, but she ends up running away screaming. At the theater, Heather faces off against a sumo wrestler. Too scared to even look at her opponent, Heather crouches into a ball in fear, accidentally tripping the sumo wrestler and causing him to bounce into the distance, hitting a tree in the process. Gophers lead 2-0.

Bridgette starts her six hour-long seclusion in the woods around the camp, and while she acts like she can take it, she panics at the sight of a chipmunk at her feet looking up to her, and kicks it all the way to the lake. The camera pans up to the beach, where Gwen is in a Plexiglass box, being buried in sand; she only needs to stay there for five minutes, and Trent promises he'll stay right there with her, talking to her with a walkie-talkie. The cover of the box closes, and she starts getting buried, starting by blocking out her face with sand. Back at the theater, DJ is confronted with a small snake and he's terrified of it, especially when it blinks. The other Bass try to egg him on, especially Courtney, whose bossy demeanor has her demanding that DJ just pick up the snake. Eventually, DJ reaches down and picks up the snake, conquering his fear. Bass are down 1-2.

With three minutes to go, Gwen is managing her challenge well enough, especially with Trent talking to her. To pass the time, she asks why he's so scared of mimes. Trent explains that when he was four years old, he went to the circus with his mom to see the elephants, and he was so busy watching them that he lost his mom in the crowd. Suddenly, a pale-faced mime appeared and started imitating him. He ran, but the mime followed him and wouldn't stop performing his routine. All of a sudden, it's Trent's turn to face his fear; a mime sneaks up from behind and taps him on the shoulder. Frightened, Trent runs away screaming, dropping his walkie-talkie. Gwen has no idea what happened, but is now faced with enduring her greatest fear alone. Chris then takes Cody to his challenge, defusing a time bomb, which in this case is made out of several garbage cans. Chris tells him he has 10 minutes to defuse it, and hands him a set of blueprints before running away. Trent continues to face his own fear of mimes. As the mime chases him, they both stop for a moment. Trent tries to explain to the mime that there is no wall he is touching, and he spots the dock. Back at camp, Duncan is faced with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Céline Dion. Courtney tries to gently reassure him, inspiring Duncan to run towards the standee and hug it. The Gophers and the Bass are now tied at 2-2. Courtney gives Duncan a congratulatory hug, but quickly recoils when the heat of the moment wears off.

Trent is still being chased by the mime, acting as if he is trapped in a box. Trent makes a run for the Dock of Shame and jumps in the water; when the mime tries to follow, Trent tells him that his makeup will run, so he gives up and leaves. The score is now 3-2, with the Gophers leading. Back on the beach, Geoff is lying in a chair for a nap when a small dark cloud appears overhead and starts pelting him with his worst fear: hail, which Geoff described as small, but deadly. When the hail starts falling, Geoff runs away screaming, and the miniature hail cloud follows him around; Lindsay sees the cloud and thinks it's cute and asks if she could have her own cloud. Trent is watching Chris control the cloud by remote and asks if it can go lower and pelt him harder. Chris calls Trent sick, but he gladly agrees. Trent then asks Chris if he ever feels like he is forgetting something to which Chris replies all the time. Chris then says he's going to bury Geoff in hail, which reminds Trent that he forgot about Gwen.

Out in the woods, Bridgette is holding her own, but still has over four hours to go, and then she hears an explosion. While Chris and Trent are digging up Gwen, they hear the explosion, and Chris figures that the explosion was Cody blowing himself up, therefore failing his challenge. An injured and garbage-covered Cody wanders through the woods looking for help, eventually stumbling upon Bridgette, who is scared away (making her fail her challenge). At the beach, Gwen is alright, and throws the walkie-talkie at Trent out of anger for abandoning her. The score is now 4-2, with the Gophers leading. Elsewhere, the plane lands, and Izzy and Owen get out, just before the wings fall off; while they conquered their fear, they are glad to be back on land. The score is now 6-2, with the Gophers leading. Lindsay and Sadie are in the washroom after wearing the wigs all day, and take them off. They then complement each other on how cute they both look. The score is now 7-3, with the Gophers still leading.

Outside, Tyler is given another chance to face his fear by being placed in a chicken pen for three minutes. Tyler gets in, but quickly ends up in a corner in a fetal position. Courtney shouts at him to stop acting like a girl, but Cody points out that the Bass are too far behind to win anyway. Chris then sweetens the pot, saying that the Bass still have one challenge left, and he'll make it worth triple their current score. The last challenge is Courtney's and even though she didn't say what her fear was, the tape clearly shows her aversion to green gelatin, which she described its resemblance to snot. Courtney is brought to a green jelly pool, and a diving board; her challenge is to dive in for the tripled points. Courtney climbs up to the unusually high diving board, and the Killer Bass try to coax her into jumping, while the Screaming Gophers, specifically Gwen, try to frighten her; while looking down, Courtney decides that she can't go through with it and chickens out, costing the Bass the challenge. While Courtney literally beats herself up over losing the challenge, Owen sits in the green jelly, enjoying it.

At the campfire ceremony, Chris is down to the last two marshmallows and the campers who failed to complete their challenge are up for elimination; Bridgette, Courtney, and Tyler. Chris gives the next marshmallow to Bridgette and after a few seconds of drama, the last goes to Courtney. Tyler is sent to the Dock of Shame, while his former teammates and Chris (except Courtney) taunt him with various bird related puns, and are told "Okay, that's enough", by Courtney. While crying on the Boat of Losers, a humiliated Tyler finds himself surrounded by several chickens, which makes him scream. Lastly, Lindsay is in the confessional, who seems to be okay with Tyler leaving. She says that she'll never forget their time together. Right after that, she accidentally refers to him as "Taylor", but quickly corrects herself, blowing a kiss and saying goodbye to him.

## Characters

* Beth (*no lines*)
* Bridgette
* Chef Hatchet (*no lines*)
* Chris
* Cody
* Courtney
* DJ
* Duncan
* Geoff
* Gwen
* Harold (*no lines*)
* Heather (*no lines*)
* Izzy
* Katie (*mentioned*)
* Leshawna
* Lindsay
* Owen
* Sadie
* Trent
* Tyler

## Trivia

### General

* The Killer Bass had an unfair disadvantage during this challenge. The scores were counted on how many people could conquer their fear, but the Killer Bass had only eight people, while the Screaming Gophers had nine, which means they had higher chances of winning.
* Leshawna is the only camper who never mentioned what her worst fear was at the campfire, but it was revealed the next day that she is afraid of spiders.
* There are a few technicalities in this episode:
	+ Heather technically does not conquer her fear because she tries to avoid the wrestler.
	+ Trent also avoids his fear and merely tells the mime that he can't get wet, thus driving it away.
	+ Tyler technically completes his challenge, as he was asked to stay in the chicken pen for three minutes, which he does.
	+ Harold technically does conquer his fear of ninjas, but his efforts are not counted due to knocking himself out.
	+ Cody also technically does conquer his fear of defusing a time bomb under pressure as he doesn't run away and is there at the time of the explosion, but his efforts are not counted simply because he failed to defuse the time bomb.
* The final two of the season, Gwen and Owen, will eventually face their fears again in the future in which they have yet to overcome despite successfully facing it in this episode.

### Continuity

* This is the second episode in the series to pick up directly where the previous episode left off. The others are Not So Happy Campers - Part 2, The Aftermath: IV, Walk Like An Egyptian - Part 2, Planes, Trains, and Hot Air Mobiles, Hawaiian Punch, Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown and Scarlett Fever.
* This episode marks the first time that Courtney seems to return Duncan's feelings for her.
* On the Boat of Losers, Tyler is surrounded by chickens as he leaves the island. This is the first time something or someone awaits the eliminated camper on the boat.
	+ The second time is when Sadie was voted off and Katie was there.
	+ The third time is when Duncan was eliminated and Chef (or Sasquatchanakwa) was there.
* This is the first episode to showcase Gwen's claustrophobia.
* Cody's challenge where he had to deactivate the garbage bomb is very similar to what the cast of Total Drama Action had to do in the season two episode, Dial M for Merger. The only difference between the two challenges is that Cody had to defuse a garbage bomb while the others had to defuse stink bombs.
* The bad haircuts are palette swaps of the wig Heather has to use in the finale and the beginning of Total Drama Action. A similarly styled green wig was used by Owen in The EX-Files.
* Two of Chef's costumes reappear in future episodes. He is seen in the flight attendant uniform again at the end of Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special, and the body of the spider outfit he used to scare Leshawna reappears in Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan as part of Owen's monster costume.

### References

* This episode's title and its contents parody the similar reality television show, *Fear Factor*.
* This episode is one of the three episodes of Total Drama Island to reference a real life person, in this case, *Céline Dion*.

### Goofs

* In the recap, Chris says no team slept last night, but in reality both teams slept.
* At the beginning of the episode, Courtney was sitting on the last seat to the right, but when Bridgette and Sadie join, there are two more seats left for them to Courtney's right.
* In the main lodge, Chris says that Heather will be the first victim for the challenge, followed by Gwen. However, they aren't first to do challenges, and instead it's Beth.
* Izzy and Owen can be seen during Heather and Leshawna's challenge, even though they are still on the plane.
	+ Likewise, Leshawna faces off against Chef in a spider costume, when he is supposed to be piloting the plane.
* When Gwen is first being buried, Lindsay is watching her with the "bad haircut" wig on, but when Chris says "As long as we decide to dig you up", the wig disappears from Lindsay's head.
* Originally, Gwen said in the confessional, "Beth went on and on about how her mortal fears being covered by bugs". Later in the flashback, her line is "Beth went on about..." with only one "on".
* Duncan's nose piercing is missing briefly at the beginning of the episode when all the campers are seated around the bonfire.
* When Owen is on the airplane, two sections of his hair are the same color as his skin.
* Beth, Izzy, and Tyler are not present with the cast when Courtney attempts to face her fear.
* Lindsay and Sadie's challenge was meant to last for a whole day (or at the very least the whole daytime), but it ended even before the sunset.
* Harold was not seen at the Campfire Ceremony.

### Running Gags

* **Lindsay's running gag:**
	+ Lindsay refers to Tyler as Taylor, but quickly corrects herself.
* **Gwen's running gag:**
	+ The mime interrupts Gwen and Trent's moment by sneaking up on Trent and causing him to run away.
* Flashbacks from the beginning scene appearing.