Explained: Don Love

Hi all! As you might be able to tell by my username, I love Don. While I know that many favor other hosts, I'd like to put in my two cents about why he is my favorite, and actually one of my favorite characters from the entire show. I'm not going to force my opinion on anyone, just want to list some of the reasons why I love him as much as I do. Feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments below.

**1. Penalties.** Unlike Chris, he is actually opposed to antagonists cheating their way to the top. While Chris likes them for stirring up drama, Don never hesitates to penalizes cheaters, particularly the Ice Dancers. In fact, in some instances, these penalties actually cause teams to get eliminated instead of just penalized. With the Daters, Tennis Rivals, Rockers and Stepbrothers, these penalties cause fair eliminations since he followed the rulebook rather than let contestants win immunity time and time again. If something is violated, he knows when to call teams out.

**2. Not a screen hog.** He knows that he is an important factor in the show, but he also knows when to back away and give screentime to the contestants. Each team is a source of drama, heartbreak, friendship, etc. that make the Ridonculous Race what it is. If Don hogged the screen, the characters would not have gotten as developed and be considered one of the best generations of characters.

**3. No biased hosting.** He doesn't play favorites. Unlike Chris, who certainly favored contestants over others, Don sticks to his rulebook and makes sure that no one takes a short-cut out of a challenge. While he does not favor the Ice Dancers or the Goths, he only inflicts penalties if it interfered with the rulebook and NOT because he wanted to stir up drama.

**4. Carpet of Completion.** While this may just be a result of the show parody, he makes the eliminations fairly painless. Rather than design a \_\_\_\_ of shame to mock the eliminated teams, Don has a carpet of completion. Instead of preparing for physical injury, particularly with the catapult and cannon, contestants have a chance for a quick montage of their time on the show and can walk away without physical harm. This could arguably be a result of the changed format, but it still leaves a nicer impression and send-off than a quick, violent method of eliminations. It shows that he cares about giving the contestants a moment to say their goodbyes and reminisce about their time on the show. That is invaluable.

**5. Not Sadistic.** It somewhat coincides with the last point, but, unlike Geoff and Chris, he does not derive any pleasure from hurting contestants. This is quite important since he recognizes that the contestants are people, not mirrors for pain. Like I mentioned in the last point, none of the injuries are caused by unfair methods that are not specifically addressed in each challenge. In fact, HE'S the one who gets hurt in Bjorken Telephone after Laurie attacks him. He still carries on with hosting despite the pain. This never detracts from the characters on screen, as he is just there to demonstrate the challenges, and serves as an example of what contestants went through under Chris.

**6. Sarcastic Humor.** I love his off-the-cuff sarcastic comments particularly in the finale. He is also quite funny during the eliminations. When the Tennis Rivals are eliminated, they debate whether they were in or out (like a real tennis game). The humor makes the show more light-hearted and makes eliminations easier to swallow.

Overall, he's charismatic, attractive, good-natured, and actually hosts without bias, unlike some of his predecessors. While I do not believe he would be a good fit for Total Drama, he fits well as the Ridonculous Race host.