Monster Cash

**"Monster Cash"** is the first episode of the second season of *Total Drama*.

*“Owen, the man of appetites. How was it?"
"The turkey was a bit...* [burps] *dry."
"Not surprising since the food was fake.”*
―Chris and Owen
The fourteen contestants are back, competing in a abandoned film lot. Today's genre is monster. Their first challenge is to avoid a monster. Owen gets the first pick of the trailers.

## Plot

The episode opens by showing the castmates who qualified for season two - Owen, Gwen, Heather, Duncan, Leshawna, Geoff, DJ, Lindsay, Bridgette, Trent, Harold, Beth, Izzy (who only answers to her *new* name, E-Scope), and Justin - being dropped off by a bus to the set of Total Drama Action, after ending in a fourteen-way-tie for the million dollar prize Chris offered in the previous episode. While waiting for Chris, the castmates talk with each other, and praise Beth for getting her braces off, saying that she looks more attractive. Chris arrives in a tram to give them a tour of the set, noting that the new confessional will be in a makeup trailer (which excites the girls), and explaining that, in this season, castmates who are voted off will go down the Walk of Shame into the Lame-o-sine. As they explore the set further, Chris reveals that the place was once a set for a monster movie, until the star had some "problems." Lindsay assumes the star was an actress, but everyone quckly finds out it was a mechanical monster. With Chef controlling the monster with a motion-sensitive suit, Chris explains that the first challenge is to race to a set of trailers before the monster can catch them. Everyone, except DJ (who faints upon seeing the monster), races off the cart and hurries toward the trailers with the monster in hot pursuit.

One by one, each castmate is captured, and deposited into a bounce house by the monster, eventually leaving Owen as the last person standing. When Chef finally finds him, and attempts to pick him up, Owen's weight makes the monster malfunction, since he's too heavy to pick up. In the confessional, Owen states that being 'big' has its advantages, but can only name this incident as one of them. Ten hours later, an exhausted Owen finds the other castmates and releases them from the bounce house by puncturing it with a sharp needle he had found.

With everyone now freed, the castmates move on to the second part of the challenge. After entering the new dining area, they are delighted to see a feast set out on the tables. Chris divides the teams into boys versus girls, but before he can explain what the objective is, Owen erupts into a feeding frenzy, thinking the food is for an eating contest. After Owen eats everything, citing how the food was a little dry, an amused Chris reveals that the food is made from plastic, foam-core, sawdust, and silicone, and that the actual challenge was to find the key hidden inside the food, with the winner getting to choose the trailer that they, and the rest of their gender, get to sleep in. Owen burps up the key, and wins the challenge for the boys, eventually requesting medical attention from the side affect of eating fake food, after initially refusing it. As the castmates make their way to the trailers, one trailer is accidentally crushed by the monster, who is bringing E-Scope back from their date. When asked to choose which trailer the guys get, Owen, much to everyone's surprise, chooses the recently crushed one, claiming "it has more character." The girls cheer happily while the guys get mad at Owen, until Chef crushes the other trailer as well.

After the trailers are repaired by Chef, the castmates make decisions on who to bunk with. The boys decide with relative ease, with Duncan sharing a bunk with Justin, Harold sharing a bunk with Geoff, and Trent and Owen sharing one, leaving DJ alone. The girls run into an issue in deciding bunk placement, since no one wants to share a bunk bed with Heather, so they draw makeup brushes (due to a lack of straws) to see who will bunk with whom. Lindsay and Beth share a bunk, Gwen and Bridgette share, and Leshawna and Izzy share a bunk, leaving Heather happily with a bunk to herself, an unintentional outcome due to the girls' mathematical error. Early the next morning, Chris yells into a megaphone to wake the castmates up, just to mess with them, before letting them go back to sleep, reminding them of their required early morning wakeup. After Chris signs off the episode, the monster roars in the distance, and Chris demands the monster be deactivated.

### Exclusive clip

In the confessional, Justin talks about how he was voted out early last season, and plans to be a fierce competitor this season. Acknowledging he is a pretty boy on the outside, he also cites being filled with rage to win on the inside, and warns the viewers that he'll make sure no one stands in his way. After his speech, he is given a mirror to check his looks, and, satisfied, describes himself as perfection.

## Characters

* Beth
* Bridgette
* Chef Hatchet
* Chris
* DJ
* Duncan
* Geoff
* Gwen
* Harold
* Heather
* Izzy
* Justin
* Leshawna
* Lindsay
* Owen
* Trent

## Trivia

### General

* The various mini-teams formed among the castmates in this episode are:
	+ Geoff and Bridgette.
	+ Harold and Leshawna.
	+ Owen and Duncan.
	+ Beth, DJ, Trent, and Gwen.
	+ Heather, Izzy, Justin, and Lindsay are all by themselves.
		- Originally, Duncan is partnered with Trent and Gwen. However, he eventually teams up with Owen while Trent and Gwen join DJ and Beth.
		- Izzy is seen with Owen, moments before getting captured, but isn't really working with him.
* The eating part is set up similar to the Brunch of Disgustingness, as it has boys versus girls, and Owen winning it for the boys. It also features the same montage song.
* According to the Total Drama Production Blog, while on the table Owen was originally supposed to tell everyone he's fine. However, Scott McCord (who voices Owen and Trent) improvised the line, "Nope. Call 911". The production crew found it so funny that they kept it for the episode.
* This episode first premiered on Teletoon's website on January 8, 2009. It was available to everyone, even those outside of Canada. However, on the next day, Teletoon blocked all non-Canadians from watching any videos on their website.
* The sleeping arrangement for the girls' trailer are as follows:
	+ Beth and Lindsay (Beth on the bottom and Lindsay on the top)
	+ Bridgette and Gwen (Bridgette on the bottom and Gwen on the top)
	+ Leshawna and Izzy (Leshawna on the bottom and Izzy on the top)
	+ Heather alone
* Interestingly enough, when the couples were captured by the monster, the guy would say something as they were falling into the bounce house, with the girl responding. In Harold and Leshawna's case, Harold declared his love as they fell, and when they bounced again, Leshawna responded negatively.
* This is the only episode (aside from the aftermaths, and Super Hero-ld) of Total Drama Action not to have its title be a spoof of a movie's.
* This is currently the only season premiere in which the teams are not formed and is instead a free-for-all challenge.
* This is the only premiere episode of a season to begin with a recap of the previous season.

### Continuity

* The first three cast members that were taken by the monster are to be the first three eliminated.
* This episode features two people in the confessional for the first time in the season.
* This is the first time this season, and fifth time overall, that Chris has mentioned the episode's title. The others are in Phobia Factor, Brunch of Disgustingness, No Pain, No Game, and I Triple Dog Dare You!

### References

* This episode's title parodies the hit song *Monster Mash* by Boris Pickett and his Crypt Kickers.
* When Chris says “42 days, 14 cast mates, one heck of a lot of cash.”, it is a direct reference to one of the opening lines in Survivor, “39 days, 18 people, 1 Survivor!”
	+ However, instead of the title of the winner at the end, Chris mentions the cash prize.
* When Izzy returns from her date with the monster, she says, "Thanks for the date, baby! Don't ever leave me. 'Cause I'd find you!" This is a quote from the movie *The Wedding Crashers.*
	+ Coincidentally, the character who says this quote in the movie resembles Izzy, both in terms of personality and appearance.
* The monster is a reference to the long-running *Godzilla* movies.
* This is the third time Izzy does a Tarzan call. The other times being in No Pain, No Game and Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island.

### Goofs

* In the Netflix release, Chris says that Gwen is the winner of the previous season during the recap.
* There were multiple instances in this episode in which Heather is seen with highlights in her solid colored wig, which denote a goof as her still having her real hair. These instances occur:
	+ When Heather tries getting off the bus and collides with Gwen.
	+ When Chef is chasing the raccoon out of the tent.
	+ When Trent throws Heather out of his way, it also appears to look like her real hair.
	+ When everyone is sleeping in the holding pin, Heather's hair is seen. However, it changes back to her regular wig after she wakes up.
	+ During the eating challenge when the screen goes from Owen and Chef Hatchet to all the other cast members.
* When Heather gets off the bus, she is missing her eyebrows.
* For a brief second, when Lindsay falls after Chris floors on the gas pedal, the top of her hair is not shown.
* When the monster is dropping Justin into the bounce house, the shapes of Gwen and Trent are visible on the right side, but it is supposed to be Bridgette and Geoff there, as shown in the next shot, where everyone is staring at Justin. This also happens when Harold and Leshawna are put in.
* In the bounce house while everyone is asleep waiting for Owen, Trent is not seen until he confronts Owen about his slowness later on.
* When the monster looks at Justin, its eyes are clearly red, but when it is seen with Owen and Duncan its eyes are black.
* When the castmates wake up in the bounce house after waiting for Owen, the iconic skull logo on Duncan's shirt is missing.
* During the zoom-out of the cart, Harold is seen going left instead of right.
* When the monster appears, Duncan is standing next to Bridgette. In the next scene, Geoff is standing between Duncan and Bridgette.
* Several times, the number "0" on Owen's back is missing.
* In the preview for Total Drama Action, DJ is seen running with the other castmates at the beach. However, in this episode, DJ is never seen running with them.
* Izzy is seen sitting on her luggage when the bus pulls away, but when Owen tells her to get on the trailer, and the scene cuts to a whistling Izzy, the luggage is nowhere to be seen.
* Though Owen wins the challenge because the monster could not pick him up, the monster had picked up Beth, DJ, Gwen, and Trent together in one hand without a problem. These castmates' (particularly DJ's) combined weight would certainly outweigh Owen's 296 pounds. However, it could be possible that Owen had gained more pounds prior to this episode or that lifting so many people had a cumulative effect on the monster's ability to lift.

### Running Gags

* **Izzy's running gag:** Izzy demanding the others call her Kaleidoscope or E-Scope.
* A male contestant yelling "I love you" to his love interest as the monster drops them into the moon bounce.