Prologue: Auditioning for Hell on Earth Pt. I

After the finale of Pahkitew Island, the famed reality show Total Drama has since put on a drawn-out hiatus, and for a somewhat reasonably reason. The quality of series has been on a gradual decline ever since the first season, which culminated in the much reviled season that is All-Stars and the lackluster season that is Pahkitew. The drop in ratings has became so catastrophic that the most of the producers have opted out of it, leaving only a handful to take care of the then-planned Ridonculous Race and a secret project. This then resulted in nearly all of the previous contestants being laid off, save for a very select few, and all of the staff, including Chris and Chef. While the latter was nonchalant about the whole ordeal, even being considered for the secret project, his metaphorical partner-in-crime, Chris, wasn't so happy. So much so that he has pretty spent half of his days pleading to the remaining producers that they renew another season, but they normally refused it for one reason or another. Until one day that is.

Inside a dimly-lit office, Chris McLean stood in front of a desk and waited for a response from one of the more newer producer. On the other side of the desk was said person, a female. She was a freckled brunette, wearing a simple light indigo jacket, a green turtleneck, a pear of jeans and some black heels. As Chris tapped his feet nonchalantly, the producer stood up from her chair, putting a bunch of papers on the desk.

"So, is the show back on?" Chris ask.

"Yes, Mr. McLean," the producer answered.

"Oh, thank you! I'm so glad that you've giving me another chance to show my handsome face to the world once more!" Chris interrupted with excitation as he hugged the producer from the other size, who was less than amused.

"First off, never touch me again," she threatened, prompting Chris then backs off. "And second, all I said was that there'll be another season. I didn't say that you would be the host." As she finish her sentence, it took a Chris to second to catch on to what the producer's saying and gasp with horror.

"What?!" He yelled, "Bu-But, I'm popular with the fans!"

"Yes, you are popular, but I think it's time to give someone else a chance in the limelight. Maybe, that Don person would-"

"No! Anything but him! That guy is no more than a rip-off! A cheapskate!" Chris shouted as he stared at the Producer, who only groan in response.

"Listen, it's-" the Producer explained as she looked into Chris's puppy-dog like eyes. She sighs, "Ugh, fine. If you want to host this season so badly, than promise me one thing."

"Okay, and that is?"

"Do not harm the contestants. One of our biggest complains from recent seasons was your increasingly malevolent treatment of countless contestants throughout these seasons."

"But that's the point! Don't you realize that acting kindly to them defeats the entire purpose of a reality show that's centered around drama?!" Chris argued.

"Yeah, but isn't the contestants's greatest enemy supposed to be each other, not just some middle-aged man with thinning hair and a superiority complex?"

"You take that back!" Chris retorted, but to no avail. Eventually, after a few moments of tensed silence, Chris said sarcastically, "Fine, I'll do it, your highness."

"Don't ever call me that again," the producer threatened as she hand over the papers to Chris, which contains details on the new season. As Chris walk out of the room, he turn to his assistant, Chef, holding his trusted hatchet.

"Got the gig, Chris?" He asked.

"You bet I did," Chris grinned rather eagerly and the two chuckled sinisterly as if plotting something. Which they probably are.

"So, what does it said?" Chef ask, to which Chris skim over the papers.

"Well, remember that film lot back from season 2? You know the season where basically nothing happens 'cause none of the contestants seem to remembers it nor acknowledge it?" Chris suggested, to which Chef just shrugs. "Yeah, we're going back there," Chris continued.

"Anything else?" Chef ask.

"Well, the producer told me that I can't torture the kids anymore or else I get fired, so there's that."

"Wait, they did what?! But that's, like, your thing, man!"

"I know, right! I just can't believe them! If only there was something I could do something about it," he whined to himself. Chris then begin ponder about what to do with the situation, as did Chef. Then, he began to remember about his whole "thing" with DJ back in season 2, as well as the Owen arc in the same season, and began to thought up something.

"Hey, I got an idea," Chef said, to which Chris look up. "They did said that only you couldn't torture the kids, right?"

"Yeah, why-" Before he could continue, Chris then realizes that the producer specifically said that only they couldn't torture the contestants, and considering that the previous contestants' contracts hasn't expired yet. Beaming in a sinister light, Chris then began to hatch up a devious scheme. "Oh, this is gonna be great!"

"Got anything in mind?" Chef ask, to which Chris reach over to his eye and whisper to his accomplice his plans. "Hmm, it's not bad. But how are they going to come to us, when they don't even trust them after all the crap we've put them through."

"Easy. We could just lie to them like we did when they thought they were going to a five-star resort back in season 1, remember?" Chris suggested. "And besides, they're not going to be the contestants this time around, so we can make them do whatever we want them to do without any repercussion from the higher-ups whatsoever," he smiled sinisterly, chuckling to himself as he walk down the hallway.

"Alright, if you say so, Chris," Chef replied skeptically as he follows Chris outside of the building and into their vehicle to drive off to their destination, which is the film lot.

And now for a little context on the film lot. Ever since the ending of Total Drama Action, Chris has put up the property for sale and was later offered a price he couldn't refuse by a bunch of eccentric scientists, who wish to use the film lot as a place for their "interesting" experiments. Eventually, the RCMP caught up to them after looking through Chris's files in-between the time of his arrest in Revenge of the Island and his release All-Star, and captured the scientists. Because the experiments conducted were considered both dangerous yet revolutionary, the RCMP decided to use the film lot for research and has guarded the film lot from anyone that might try to break in and steal the invention for themselves. So basically, it has become the Canadian equivalent to Area 51. After enough public pressure however, the RCMP decide to lend the producers back the property for the next season but warned them to not let the host, Chris, do anything stupid or else they all go to prison. Unfortunately, they do not know Chris that well.

Author's Note: Hello there, fellow reader and welcome to the new season of Total Drama: Back in Action! If you couldn't probably tell from the prologue/description, this is meant to be in the same vein as Revenge of the Island, since both seasons involves a new cast of contestants starring in a previous location that has clearly seen better days. And obviously, you're all here for the sole fact that it said SYOC and nothing else, which is true. This fanfic is a SYOC, but it wasn't going to be that way. Originally, I was going to include my own characters but after thinking it through, I decided to scrap them. Maybe if I want to, I might write an alternate version of this with my own OCs one day. But anyway, now for the rules.

1. If you want the application, then please leave a review on the prologue above and I'll PM you the application when I get the chance. The review doesn't necessary have to be long, but if you want to, that is fine by me.

2. I will be accepting 20 characters, so roughly ten boys and ten girls.

3. Obviously, I will only be accepting one submission per person, but in the chance your character is too similarly to another character I've already accepted, then feel free to submit a second one. But if your second character still sounds similarly to another character, then sorry. Maybe next time.

And that's pretty much all the rules. I was going to put in a deadline but since this is pretty much first come, first serve, it would be pretty much pointless to do. And for those of you who are worry about the length of the chapters, I'll try to make them at least decently long. How Long? Well, I'm thinking that it should be roughly between 5,000 and 10,000, generally speaking. Some episodes may be longer, others might end up shorter. And as for when I'll upload them, I honestly have no idea. I'm deciding either between just uploading the chapter whenever I'm finish with one or work on them all and then upload them on every Friday. It largely depends on which one I feel more comfortable with but with all that said, good luck on your submission and see y'all in the next chapter.