Total Drama: Camp Kickoff

***Total Drama: Camp Kickoff*** is the first season of *Vix's Total Drama (Era 3)*.

The season ended with Coin defeating Cassiel and Toby in the final jury vote, by a 7-2-1 margin.

It has produced five returning players (Barnaby, Icarus, Izanami, Ryker and Toby) for subsequent seasons.

## Development

Following the conclusion of Era 2's Heroes vs. Villains, applications for the first season of the new era opened. Around 30 different members applied, including the former host for the first time since Era 1's first season.

## Twists/Changes

* **Advantages:** Several advantages appeared in the game.
	+ **Hidden Immunity Idols:** Hidden within each team's camp was a different-colored Immunity Idol. This allowed all votes for a player to be nullified at one ceremony.
	+ **Publicity Advantage:** The eliminated players voted for a remaining contestant to gain the Publicity Advantage. This allowed all votes for a player to be revealed at one ceremony, no matter when it's used.
	+ **Vote Steal:** During the *We're Elevatin* Immunity Challenge, an advantage was hidden at the top floor. This advantage allowed a player to steal another player's vote at a ceremony, casting it themselves.
* **Paired Beginnings:** During the premiere, the contestants entered in pairs that were determined by the random number each of their roleplayers chose beforehand. These pairs would also participate in the first reward challenge of the season, where the winners would become the two team captains.
* **Team Distribution:** The 22 players were divided into 2 teams of 11.
* **Shot in the Dark:** By sacrificing one's vote at an elimination ceremony, a player in trouble could choose to invoke this advantage for a one-in-six chance to be immune from the vote. If successful, the play acted as if an Immunity Idol was played.
* **Debut:** Due to a contestant walking from the game, a new contestant entered in their place.
* **Luxury Reward Challenge:** On Day 9, the contestants participated in an individual reward challenge. The winner got to stay in a luxurious fancy trailer.
	+ **Team Swap:** In addition, the winner also got to choose two new team captains. These captains would determine what the two new teams of eight looked like. The winner would not be on a team for the day, and instead join the team that loses a player next round.
* **Joint Ceremony:** As a stipulation of the *Need For Greed* challenge, if no one took the challenge's immunity offer, all teams would attend the ceremony and vote together to eliminate one player.
* **Merge Composition:** The teams merged when there were twelve players remaining.
* **Reunited Worlds:** The eliminated players spent a couple days back on the campsite. There, they would vote for a player to receive an advantage, and also participate in a redemption challenge that would allow one player to return to the game.
* **Double Urns:** In Episode 15, the ceremony showcased two urns. When voting, the players would choose which urn to place their votes in. The players with the highest amount of votes in each urn were both eliminated.
* **No Communication Vote:** In Episode 16, a twist occurred that forced the remaining players to immediately vote at a ceremony, without any planning nor communication.
* **Auto Elimination:** In Episode 18, the poorest performing contestant in the challenge was instantly eliminated.
* **Sole Vote:** In Episode 20, the player who won immunity cast the only vote to eliminate.
	+ **Angel's Choice:** Also in Episode 20, the player voted out was able to choose whether there are two or three players as the finalists.
* **Jury:** The jury consisted of the last ten eliminated players, who voted for one of the final three to win the season.

## Season Summary

The 22 contestants entered the camp in randomized pairs. The next day, these pairs participated in a reward challenge where the winning pair would chose their teammates, resulting in Camp Catacombs (created by Ryker) and Camp DinoMove (created by Zhao-Ying). While DinoMove proved to be a more united group in votes, Catacombs had a lot more split decisions and Shot in the Dark plays. Still, both groups managed to edge each other out in challenges. In addition, the quit of Cynthia triggered an early debut for Barnaby.

Day 9 saw another reward challenge, with the winner (Zhao-Ying) being able to choose two new team captains (Astrid and Jing-Yu) and trigger a team switch while not being put on a team. The swap saw the slow-motioned downfall of players like Astrid and Stripes, both of which narrowly surviving their team's votes before being taken out just short of the eventual merge.

With the teams merged by Day 16, the eliminated players were able to stay at the camp for a couple of days before the upcoming redemption challenge, which saw a victory for Mitch and a thirteen-player merge phase. The early phases of merge saw Barnaby being heavily targeted and slimly surviving back-to-back votes. It also saw the Double Urns twist, which caused a successful Shot in the Dark play from Mitch, a successful idol play from Zhao-Ying and the surprising blindside of Ryker, which resulted in a fallout that led to Farah's leave from the game.

The mid-merge saw the ouster of some perceived weakest links, with Mitch going out after an immediate vote twist, Icarus being eliminated unanimously and Barnaby being instantly eliminated via challenge. After Jing-Yu's target, Coin, won the final five immunity challenge, a betrayal brewed up as Cassiel and the original target, Toby, aided Jing-Yu in shockingly voting out his best friend, Zhao-Ying. Coin would then go on to win the final immunity challenge, using her last sole vote to get rid of Jing-Yu. The 4th placer was also allowed to choose whether there would be another challenge, but Jing-Yu chose to crown Cassiel, Coin and Toby as the finalists.

At the final jury vote, Cassiel was commended for his steady position and overall growth throughout the season, while Toby was complimented for his under-the-radar gameplay. But in the end, Coin's graceful personality earned most of the jury's votes, crowning her the winner of Camp Kickoff by a 7-2-1 jury vote.

## Trivia

* Camp Kickoff is the first season to have a player return for a later season.