Character Appreciation - Week 31: Leshawna

Welcome to **Character Appreciation**, a blog series that will run for the whole year alongside **Project 10**. Each week we'll take a look at one Total Drama character, what we like and dislike about them, how they've grown, and what we hope to see from them in the future. I'm Sarcastic Don, and this week we're going to look at The Sister with 'Tude, Leshawna!

## Overview

Leshawna debuts as a member of the Screaming Gophers. From the first episode, she establishes a rivalry with Heather and throws her off the cliff in the challenge. This plot progresses throughout the season as they fight and bad-mouth each other to the final five. She is also a close friend to Gwen, helping her through her relationship with Trent. After the merge, she becomes friends with Bridgette where they bond over their hatred for Heather. She also dominates in challenges. In No Pain, No Game, she wins against the world's best logrolling bear. In Hide and Be Sneaky, she secures victory after hiding underwater near the dock. This is also the season where she establishes a relationship with Harold in X-Treme Torture. Harold admits that he is the "Poem Boy" and declares his love for her. They quickly kiss before he leaves on the Boat of Losers.

She returns as a member of the Screaming Gaffers in TDA. She starts the season off strong, most notably in One Flu Over the Cuckoos Nest. She and Duncan cure the campers and cries about how badly she needs the reward, only to get criticized later for fake crying. This puts her in a bad standing with her cast mates since they no longer trust her. This is exalted to a point where, in Ocean's Eight or Nine, she is locked inside the bank vault even after the challenge ends because her team "forgot". She tries to make it up to the Gaffers in Million Dollar Babies with a cheer routine and gains some forgiveness. In the end, she ends up resolving her conflict with Heather when she gives Leshawna her wig after being voted off.

In her short stay in TDWT, she is a member of Team Victory. In Slap Slap Revolution, she is attracted to Alejandro and asks Harold to forgive her. She later slaps Heather despite rekindling their friendship from last season. In one of the aftermaths, she comes on-stage to perform "Sisters" with Harold and Bridgette.

## Opinions

I love her. She's sassy, independent, confrontational, loyal and unafraid to voice her opinion. She sticks up for her friends, like Gwen and Bridgette in TDI, vouching for both of them against Heather. Even with her many friendships, I never saw her as a sidekick. She's always been her own person. While many of her fights with Heather were to defend one of her girls, she acts by her own accord.

Unlike most, I actually love her in TDA and was glad that she took on a different role from before. While she was the finalist's best friend in the previous season, she becomes even more independent as a disloyal Gaffer. I was glad that she didn't have a free pass through the season, not that she coat tailed on Gwen, but at times I felt like she was only on screen to support her. Here, she struggles to regain the trust of her team, something she never faced with her allies in TDI. She has to grapple with the fact that while she knows how to be assertive and stand up for herself, she needs to take a step back and realize when the approach does not work. She does not become completely selfless, but she does recognize the strengths of each of her teammates and claws her way to the merge.

**Best Moment:** Winning in Hide and Be Sneaky

**Best Season:** TDI

**Best Episode:** One Flu Over the Cuckoos Nest

## Comments

What about you? Despite the title, this blog is open to all opinions! Share your thoughts about Leshawna in the comments and use the userboxes {{LeshawnaFan}}/{{User:Chewy57/LeshawnaNeutral}}/{{LeshawnaHater}} too. Don't forget to share your Best Moment, Best Season and Best Episode of Leshawna! Next week, TDWTfan23 will be analyzing and giving his opinions on the Athletic Overachiever, Lightning.