Masters of Disasters

**"Masters of Disasters"** is the tenth episode of the second season of *Total Drama*.

*“Really, it might be time to end the challenge. The water's getting pretty high, and those kids are terrible swimmers."
"Focus! Want my chips back. I'm starving."
"This is getting serious. Turn off the water!* [gasps]*, we gotta get the casts outta of there! Simple formula: no more contestants = no more episodes = no paycheck! And the end of my luxurious lifestyle!"
"Texas, hold 'em?"
"You're not hearing me!"
"What, Gin Rummy?”*
―Chris and Chef
It is disasterous time for the cast members, as they face their disasterous movie challenge, which includes earthquakes, floods, and lava spills, The disaster gets more worse when Owen gets seriously injured and the others find themselves in deep water - literally! Leshawna accidentally reveals her secret in front of her teammates, angering them. Harold saves the day and his team wins a reward.

## Plot

The episode opens with the castmates eating breakfast in the craft services tent. After Harold complains about how much he misses DJ's cooking, Beth states that her boyfriend, Brady, can also cook delectable meals. Heather points out that Beth never mentioned she had any boyfriend before, to which Beth explains that they met at the orthodontist while she was getting her braces off in between seasons, and starts telling her teammates facts about him after showing a picture of him. Confused, Lindsay remembers that the time between seasons was only two days long, as Beth reassures her that she wasn't lying. Justin then reveals that Beth is just reading off of a model fact card, which makes the castmates believe that she doesn't have a boyfriend. Harold then notices bendy straws that are similar to the ones that they used at a hospital he went to. He then starts to talk about a kidney transplant he had when he was a kid, and grabs several of the straws for later. While the rest of the cast starts to mock Chef's cooking (with the exception of Owen), Chef comes along and glares at everyone. They all quickly go on to tell him how much they love his cooking, and when Owen voices his pleasure, Chef mutters about how much he hates suck-ups. Chris comes in and reveals that this week's movie genre is disaster films.

The first challenge that the castmates face is the 'Earthquake of Inevitable Pain,' in which the two teams run through a mechanical obstacle course filled with many simulated "natural" disasters, and attempt to get to the top of a track hill. Beth then says that her boyfriend once had a job cleaning up after earthquakes and landslides, although no one believes her claim. At first, the two teams think the challenge is easy, until they learn that the course shakes like an earthquake. In addition, Chef tosses heavy and dangerous objects at the castmates; there is also pouring lava, which is hot tomato soup, spewing from the top of the track and a hailstorm, though Chef is simply throwing golf balls. The Gaffers reach the top, while Owen is critically injured after getting hit in the mouth by Chef's unpublished manifesto. Due to Owen's injury, the Grips win the first part of the challenge, because Chris stated that injury trumps all. This was much to the objection of the Gaffers, who all made it to the finish line first. Owen is then sent to the hospital and the castmates all show considerable anger at Chris for his lack of remorse for the incident.

The Grips then learn that Owen is in the hospital with a broken jaw and it will take four to six weeks to heal, although Chris tries to make it sound not too bad. The next challenge is escaping from a sinking submarine that is rapidly filling with water. Since Owen was injured and sent to the hospital, giving them the win for the previous challenge, Chris gives the Grips a paper with a code on it. Beth once again says her boyfriend was a lifeguard, to which Izzy yells that he doesn't exist. The two teams notice two tubes that can get them out. Beth learns that the bottom one is a combination lock and Izzy pulls out the code that Chris gave the team. Justin and Lindsay fight over who opens the lock, but drop the note in the water and ruin the code (to which Izzy gets mad).

The water then causes the two teams to float upward. Both teams open the top hatches. The Grips find a shark in theirs while the Gaffers find fire. Even Chris finds this to be a little too much for the teams to handle to which Chef just shrugs and says he's really not in the mood for criticism. Chris decides to stop the challenge due to the water being too high for the safety of the cast and his checkbook. Chef pulls the lever, but it breaks in half. Panic-stricken, Chris desperately tries to get them out, since their deaths would end his career, but Chef doesn't listen, as he is more focused on the card game they had been playing. Thinking they only have a few minutes to live Leshawna begins to cry, but when Harold tries to comfort her, she denies that she is crying. Duncan reminds her of when she did cry during the medical challenge when she thought she was going to lose her teammates. The guilty look on her face makes her team realize that she fake-cried for the spa reward, making most of the Gaffers angry. During the fight, Harold uses the straws he had collected earlier as a snorkel to breathe through while he unlocks the underwater lock. He is able to pick the lock and the Gaffers escape while the Grips' area is drained of the water also. In the control room, Chris sees them escape and hugs Chef happily, overjoyed that he wouldn't lose his job.

With Harold winning the challenge, the Gaffers are given the reward of going to British Columbia, where they would stay on a little hut near an active volcano, which they will reach after an eight-day hike up the mountain. Angered by how unpleasant and dangerous the reward is, the Gaffers refuse it. They instead ask for, and receive, chips and soda. Owen returns to the set in a wheelchair, with his jaw stitched back together and stuffed with pain medicine. Chris allows him to eat with the Gaffers as long as he doesn't sue the show. As Chris begins to sign off, Owen starts to go crazy, which Chris nervously blames on the pain medication.

### Exclusive clip

Owen makes a confessional about how his jaw being wired shut is very impeding for him. He then grabs a bag of chips, soda, and a blender. At that point, he brings up the plus side and says that he had "discovered the power of the blender". He also states how good pop and chips taste together, and how he wants to open a restaurant that just sells blended food and call them "Blendies". He then takes a sip and hurts his jaw.

## Characters

* Beth
* Brady (*mentioned*)
* Chef Hatchet
* Chris
* DJ (*mentioned*)
* Duncan
* Harold
* Heather
* Izzy
* Justin
* Leshawna
* Lindsay
* Owen

## Trivia

### General

* This is the first episode that a team refuses their reward.
* This is the first episode that Brady is mentioned.

### Continuity

* Despite being disgusted about the kiss they have in the previous episode, Duncan seems to like it when Heather holds onto him.
	+ Duncan also seemed disgusted by the kiss despite showing attraction to Heather in season one.
* This is the first episode of the season, and one of the only few in the series, where Chris shows genuine concern for the contestants' safety. Though it is only because he might get sued if they don't survive.
* Leshawna's hair once again poofs up into an afro, which previously happened in 3:10 to Crazytown.

### References

* The episode title might be a reference to director and producer, Irwin Allen, who was known as the "Master of Disaster" for his movies, which include *The Towering Inferno*, *The Poseidon Adventure*, *The Swarm*, and many others.
	+ Likewise, *The Poseidon Adventure* may have been the inspiration for the second part of the challenge, involving the escape from a ship filling up with water.
* The skyline of Vancouver, British Columbia is seen as part of the reward prize, allegedly being sent to a cabin on the edge of a volcano on Vancouver Island.
* The music playing while Harold is opening the hatch is similar to the theme song of *Mission Impossible*.
* During the earthquake challenge, after Chris shot Izzy with a golf ball, he says "I got one!" to which Chef replies, "Don't get cocky, kid". This is an allusion to a scene from *Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope* where Luke Skywalker and Han Solo have the same exchange while shooting down TIE fighters from the *Millennium Falcon's* turrets (which look similar to the turret Chris uses to shoot the golf balls).
* Owen utters the phrase "Hey! You dropped your chips in my pop! Hey! You spilled your pop in my chips!" before mixing them together. This phrase is similar to the classic *Reese's Peanut Butter Cups* commercial, where someone with a chocolate bar crashes into someone with an open jar of peanut butter and they say "Hey! You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" "No! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"
* The way Chris introduced the reward to British Columbia was similar to how prizes are introduced on the game show, *The Price is Right*. Also, when Chef is climbing the mountain, it is a reference to "Cliffhanger", a game played on the same show which includes a yodeler climbing up a mountain.

### Goofs

* When Owen is wheeled into the ambulance, the bottom half of Heather's left leg is missing.
* When Owen is put in a wheelchair, his legs appear to look thinner.
* When Chris is explaining the challenge to the castmates, Duncan and Harold's pupils disappear.
* The blender Owen uses at the end of the episode has a cover; however, in the next scene, the cover is missing. In addition, the contents in the blender don't spill even though there is no lid.
* When Heather becomes frightened by the fire, a few hairs on her head are missing.
* Although two of the interns quit in Riot On Set, they are seen once again in this episode. It is possible that they came back or were rehired.
* Leshawna's hair puffs up when she goes underwater, which she explains is natural for her hair to puff up, but in Not So Happy Campers - Part 2, she jumps off the cliff and lands in the water, though her hair stays in place, and in Hide and Be Sneaky, Leshawna hides underwater and her hair *still* stays in place.
* When Harold is yelling that his team won the obstacle course, his arms are twice as long as they should be.
* Chris says that "serious injury trumps all", but in one episode, a camper got seriously injured, and his team still lost the challenge, while Chris admitted that he makes it up as he goes along. It may have also been that Chris considered Owen's injuries more serious than Cody's, or that Chris might have made that rule up after Cody sustained his injuries.
* When Harold picks the lock underwater, his hair remains the way it does while it's dry, even though it's usually longer and flatter when wet.
* While criticizing Leshawna in the water, Duncan's sleeves change from tan to black.
* Chris says that the winner of the challenge will be decided by a score of two out of three, yet a tie breaker challenge does not occur and thus the Gaffers win only by winning the second challenge.
* While sitting on the bench after the challenge, Beth looks way too large in the group shot.

### Running gags

* **Harold's running gag:** Harold tells about him going to Picky Steve's Locking Camp
* **Beth's running gag:** Beth telling everyone about her boyfriend Brady and how great he is, despite no one believing her. She would tell them about Brady's attributes and jobs.
* Izzy being usually sane and getting annoyed at the others.