Holy crap, we gotta get these Gen 1 boomers outta here ASAP. Come on Shazmine, you're our best bet, chop chop.

Anyway, that aside another fun challenge as per usual. It was an interesting way to remix the original animal trapping challenge into a team effort, and I think it allowed most of the characters to shine in one way or another. Lightning brute forcing all the riddles with Noah was entertaining (imagine liking fun characters, wow), the thing with Shawn and Izzy was another one of your good shitposty scenes, and you set up a great way to make it feel like Beardo was done only for the fakeout. Good stuff overall. I do think Naturalist Owen was starting to dip more into annoying territory than funny, but maybe that was just the eating poop gag not landing the mark.

On to the elimination, while I am a bit bummed to see Sammy go it's nice to see the "Beardo is the obvious next boot" expectation be defied and this definitely shakes things up. I've been enjoying the Duncan and Beardo friendship and Sammy hasn't really been doing much of note ever since the focus shifted to Noah shenanigans, so I guess it's not too surprising to see her get backstabbed. And on the bright side, she hopefully slides into the new most likely returnee slot with Scott. I'd obviously like to see both return, but it's probably more likely that it'll only be one.

Moving more to the Gwen and Duncan thing specifically, I'm waiting to see where it goes for now. If this truly means things between them have been tanked, that would actually be a fascinating twist since you seemed to be pushing the implication that they'll get back together so hard earlier on. So them ending the season on negative turns would be a cool twist for sure. But knowing how much you like the ship and knowing they still haven't resolved shit like the fake boyfriend lie makes me doubtful that they'll stay mad. Can't help but feel like it's a way to prolong them not being a couple, meaning they're both going deep into the game and it's hard for me to get jazzed about that since I don't really care about Gwuncan, lol. I really don't want these two both making it to like the final 5 together, but you already knew that. Similarly, when characters in comp fics make deals like Gwen did it's always iffy to me. It's usually with flat out antagonists like Heather and Al, and I get that it's a way to help protect characters like that, but literally every time the other person uses "I gotta stick to my morals and keep up my end of the deal," as their justification because every single time they look worse by sticking with the deal than they would by just telling the antagonist to eat dirt. Don't get me wrong, it absolutely makes sense for Duncan to target Sammy and try to save his bud, but if you're in Gwen's shoes the hell is he gonna do if you don't go through with it? You have Sammy and Bridgette on your side, he can cry about it. So I guess I'd lean more towards Duncan's side for this debate, though in Chef's words he's still a douche.

Honestly not sure what to expect from the remaining 3 pre-merge boots at this point. Bridgette is back in the danger zone again alongside Jo, assuming Beardo doesn't like sacrifice himself or something, which only leaves the Ozzy vs Shazmine duel. And I'm starting to doubt that Jasmine will get to beat Izzy in that tie breaker scenario, though I'm hopeful since boomers gotta go. But past that then Shawn/Owen would be the next obvious boot depending on which girlfriend is gone, so I guess we should expect those PCP shenanigans. These team sizes really starting to take their toll. I'd almost be rooting for a team swap where it's turned into two teams instead, but that seems unlikely since we had a swap so recently. It is, if anything, becoming very unpredictable, so kudos for that. Looking forward to the next one!

AHHHH I LOVE THIS FIC! I just binge read through all of the chapters, and to say I adore the characterisation, internal conflicts , and drama you've written would be an understatement. You've made me care about so many characters that I was previously indifferent towards, and I am grateful you haven't lessened anyone into one dimensional roles.

- I would like to see the Gwen/Duncan scene. While I agree that it isn’t needed— i just love what you are doing with them and want to see as much as possible

- Team Duncan man. Totally Justified. Neither is innocent— and I expect Duncan to catch a lot of shit for it— it was either Bridgette or Sammy and he had reason to dislike Sammy. I mean if Sammy or Bridgette had messed up the challenge instead and there was no Gwen/Duncan partnership would the girls hesitate to eliminate Beardo or Duncan? Probably not

- Not a snowball’s shot in hell the behave

**Also think it is funny how Bridgette (unless Gwen renegs on the deal to force a tie) is yet again in a situation where if her team loses it is over.

** I think because Jo and Bridgette are such obvious eliminations if their team loses (unless you think of some totally wild shit— which would be awesome and not unexpected from you) that the Oddballs will lose this next challenge. Resulting in a Jasmine vs Izzy faceoff. That would be crazy and I have no idea who would go home.

** Read this whole story today! Glad I did! This is a freaking masterpiece! I hope when the merge hits that Dawn, Sammy/Scott (or both), and Zoey return. Some combo of those 4.

** Last note— Love Duncan, Beardo Gwen, Sammy, Noah, and Lightning in this. Everybody else too! But those 6 really standout. Truly this is an amazing story. I’m hoping for a Noah redemption arc at some point!

** I would love a Beardo victory in the end I think. His reason for wanting the money is so gripping. I would also want Duncan in there, but don’t think you would do a former winner. So I think a Beardo-Noah face-off in the finale would be my dream scenario

Okay, gonna preface this and say that I didn't really care that it was Sammy to go instead of Beardo. I figured Duncan would twist Gwen's arm the next time they had to vote, and that Gwen would have to wrestle with voting with her friends, or following Duncan's instructions. Despite not agreeing with her decision, though, I'm definitely Team Gwen. I think Sammy was right to feel betrayed and kick up a fuss about that, and Duncan dismissing her was pretty hypocritical considering the absolute meltdown he had over Gwen's betrayal - yeah, it's logical Duncan would want Sammy gone, that part isn't where I find flaw with him. Him being so dismissive about Sammy's reaction and not really picking up on what she was saying regarding his own almost-elimination is what frustrated me. Eugh, down in my rankings he goes. Gwen ain't looking so hot after betraying Sammy, but at the end of the day I can understand her logic. But yeah, no problems with Duncan voting Sammy to save Beardo, big problems how he reacted to her reaction. Boo Duncan.

Jasmine not appreciating Ozzy? Well I don't appreciate Shazmine boo, stay in your lane or you'll be shown the door. I will say I'm not sure Owen and Izzy will stick around with their lovey-dovey shenanigans, though, and now it seems like you've wrapped up Izzy's arc, so I foresee her going sometime soon, unfortunately.

Bridgette stays being the iconic queen of this fic despite not being front and centre. We do have to give the girl credit. She and Izzy be carrying :')

I can't remember how I ranked them last time, but I'll go again and say:
11th: Noah, 10th: Lightning, 09th: Duncan, 08th: Jasmine, 07th: Shawn, 06th: Jo, 05th: Owen, 04th: Beardo, 03rd: Gwen, 02nd: Izzy, 01st: Bridgette.

Just as in canon, about one in every 30 of Lightning's 'funny' moments lands with me, and that I can appreciate, but he's still bottom-tier oops. Hoping for Jo and Lightning to team up to oust Noah, but Lightning's idiocy thwarts that. He can go, and then Noah. Simple. Guess I'm not edgy enough to appreciate these antagonists x

I honestly don't mind whether you open the next chapter with that scene or not - I think we can gather how they stand with each other, and why, but if you feel it might add something for the readers, go ahead! I'm sure it'll be good either way.

What else to say... The challenge was fun enough, did seem a bit rushed when it came to actually finding the animals though o:! That's understandable though, because I could imagine a canon episode playing out something like this anyway. It just seemed rather first-half-heavy, which I'm not gonna complain about since all my favs (Bridgette, Izzy, Gwen, Sammy) were playing that part.

I think that's about all I have to comment on, really! Good chapter, understandable elimination, not much to complain about! Except certain characters though;). Looking forward to seeing who goes next on Total Drama-

After the drama from the last chapter, this was a nice refreshing change of pace. I really enjoyed this one. Not sure if this rest day is better than the last, but both are great regardless. Beardo and Duncan is not a friendship I even would've thought could work, but you make it work. Kudos.
It was nice to see Bridgette in a new light too. Not much else to say though?
As for the questions:
I'll say Owen, Sammy and Lightning.
Jasmine, Shawn and Duncan seem like they'll make the merge
Beardo.
Solid chapter. Keep it up!

WOW! I did not expect Sammy to go here. Not at all! You got me good.

Team Duncan, I think he’s not only justified with getting revenge against Sam and especially protecting his friend, but also smart, since otherwise he’d be on a team of 3 gal pals. Even if he still got Gwen to vote with him again, it’d be a tiebreaker with him and likely Sammy, best to get rid of the possibility of that happening and him losing. So yeah I say it was both justified and smart, also I’d like to see the conversation because without it I do find Gwen to be overreacting honestly.

hmmmm, yknow what? i almost expected this. not based on what happened it the past, but I had it in my mind that other than interacting with Scott and indirectly eliminating Sky, Sammy hadn't really done much yet i was down to see more of a villain emerge from her. might've over estimated her, based on your author's note.

aight so onto the chapter itself! Ozzy solidifying themselves as a couple again is cute, but you've got some of my least favourite TD ships on the same team so i guess i'm not that all attached? i do think that if they do face elimination, someone (and i'm thinking Jasmine) will try and split up their votes, so it'll be a 2-1-1 instead of a 2-2. interesting stuff.

Jo taking charge of her team and with the mentality she'd lead them to the merge is exactly what i expected from her, go Jo. my favourite Alpha member at the current moment, but i do like her team's dynamic. careful Noah, you bathe in a tub of lies… least he has the decency to celebrate Owen and Izzy coming back together.

the challenge was good, and i found it funny how on the odd number teams, their biggest group was the riddlers. i like the Bridgette/Gwen/Sammy dynamic (while it lasted), and Lightning/Noah was fine too. Shawn/Izzy felt like a revisit to the previous challenge, but now i'm interested if it'll affect Shawn when it comes to voting…

okay, so onto the drama of this chapter: the elimination shock. did I think Beardo would go home, yes. Did i think it would be that simple, no. i kinda expected something between Duncan inviting Gwen for a talk, then the elimination ceremony but that's just me. I think it has the same amount of impact, but idk maybe i'm wrong.

Duncan and Gwen are… eyeroll worthy atm. Duncan thinks Gwen has a boyfriend so he doesn't stand a chance getting back together, which i assume is why he was fine with screwing her over. Bridgette didn't do much, but she's always been passive (ily girl) and Beardo… escapes another day.

I really liked how Sammy stood up for herself, and then to Gwen and Duncan. love it when they don't go out so easily, and even if she probably didn't make a splash, it's good to see characters get called out for their wrong moves. can't wait for that inevitable Lightning vs Noah showdown. GASP what if he goes next when he teams up with Jo O:

looking forward to the next! pls don't eliminate a fav next time D;

Ugh, my favourite is out.
Even I don't think Scott x Sammy is a good idea, it mean Tophmey doesn't exist, so it's a win

It would be good to see the conversation between Duncan and Gwen, I think. I was surprised it wasn't shown at the end of this chapter.

Getting Sammy out is a pretty fair move. She did target him before, and if Beardo went home then his only ally would've been Gwen, who as far as he knows could turn on him whenever. Now he's guaranteed a tiebreaker at the very least. he was also sticking up for his friend, which earns him some points.

Owen is going to level the entire building. Everyone else will probably do... okay.

Well that might have been the worst prediction I've ever made for anything ever lmao. The ONE person I locked down on making the merge goes home. You can't write this shit. So yeah, you got me good, man. Totally blindsided over here. Still in shock. Not sure how to feel. But hey, we still get returnees at the merge and Sammy has some potential to come back, so maybe my prediction is right in the end. Maybe not, but whatever, I'm just laughing at how YOU must have been laughing when I made that confident of a prediction last night. Just... wow. XD

I'd love to see that flashback! I feel like that's super important to understanding just how things went down because honestly? The way it went down in the chapter left a lot of details out and just felt a little random imo. Give me the full context and it'll be great.

I don't think either side of Gwuncan is really handling it well. They have their reasons for doing things and neither one is in the right here. I like Gwen more than Duncan though, that's for sure. But I'm glad Beardo didn't go home when it seemed pretty obvious he was done, so I can't say I hate Duncan either lol

As for the rest of the chapter, Owen and Izzy kinda got on my nerves a little bit with their humor. I get what you were going for but a lot of it didn't land for me. The edgy bird, big bird, eating raccoon shit... not my brand of humor lol. I'd love to see Oddball send one of them home next though, because we're 13 eps in and not one Island character is gone yet. Izzy and Owen have their fun moments for sure, but I feel like they're at the end of their story and can leave whenever without leaving a gaping hole in the plot.

The Alphas were so much fun though. Lightning/Noah is such a fun alliance and Jo was on point. Those three would be iconic if they all worked together at a merge. But I have a feeling Noah's going to be cut sooner rather than later so I'm not getting my hopes up for that trio to dominate.

Nuclear on the other hand lives up to their team name again. Gwuncan is a hot mess. Beardo is scraping by on luck. Bridgette's just kinda there. Yeah. They're a disaster and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing them lose as long as Beardo keeps cockroaching by.

Great work as always! You got me GOOD with that boot and I'm hopefully making better predictions next time. XD

Liked that there is finally more drama going on between Duncan and Gwen since those moments are my favorite parts of the story. Am also really hoping for more of it to come and am anxious to see if Gwen eventually backstabs Duncan(again) or sticks to her deal with him. Also maybe if you incorporate the flashback into the next chapter it could help set up or provide some context to some future arguments with Duncan and Gwen later on. Definitely one of the best Total Drama fics on this site and is a must read. :)

Finally the new update is out! I enjoyed this chapter, as usual! That being said, there were some things I wasn’t expecting, but I’ll get to those eventually. I actually had a lot more to say than I expected, so here it is...

I have to say that I quite enjoy seeing Owen and Izzy back together because like I said before, they have always had a lot of cute moments together and their interactions are a lot of fun!

I also continue to enjoy the way you write Noah, especially with his remaining two teammates in Jo and Lightning. You definitely know how to nail his character! I’m predicting possibly Jo for Alpha’s next boot, but we’ll see what happens.

The challenge was fun too, and a very cool callback to the WGW challenge! One thing I noticed though, was in an earlier chapter, Sammy said in a confessional that she has supported Gwuncan for a while, but in this chapter she said that Courtney/Duncan was the best TDI couple. I was left a bit confused to be honest lol. Still though, it was a fun read-through and Lightning’s strategy surprised me but was pretty awesome!

But now the big part, the elimination. Gonna be honest... even though you have some valid reasoning for it, I’m still pretty disappointed. I loved the way you wrote Sammy in this chapter and in pretty much the whole story so far, and it wasn’t even because of that one strategic moment in chapter 7. I just liked seeing her in an environment where she didn’t have to be around Amy and make new connections with her team. Though at the same time, I know she goes far in a lot of stories due to her sympathetic qualities, I still kind of wished she could have stuck around longer. There goes one of my merge predictions, LOL.

Also, I’m gonna be honest, I was kind of expecting and hoping for Duncan to be the next Nuclear boot. Don’t get me wrong, I love his character too and understand why he’s a big fan favorite, plus with all of his development/drama with Gwen, it shouldn’t be too big a surprise he’s still here. But that means we are SEVEN eliminations in and STILL no boot from gen 1. There are now more gen 1 competitors left in the game than there are gens 2 and 3 combined. I get that the gen 1 characters are the most popular, have unresolved drama, and are probably the easiest to develop as a result, but MAN I’m still somewhat surprised that not one of them has gotten the boot yet. ESPECIALLY Duncan, who looks like he has a shot at merging YET AGAIN despite doing it in every season he’s competed in. I dunno how to feel about it honestly, LOL.

At first, it would have seemed that Beardo would have been an obvious choice to eliminate, but then when it came down to the final two, I had the sinking feeling you were probably gonna pull another red herring on me, and that you did indeed. I know she has a good possibility of making a return with all of the plot potential she still has, but now she has met up with Scott again, and clearly he’s planning something. If this has to do with what I think, I’m gonna be honest, I’m feeling a bit nervous for Sammy. I know you said that she wouldn’t become a big scheming antagonist or anything like that, but I find it hard to believe that Sammy’s moment from chapter 7 is gonna be just a one-off thing because you’re definitely making it sound like it’s gonna get expanded on in some way, shape or form. Also, it sounds like they both still have somewhat of a thing for each other, and even though they’ve had some interesting development and all so far, I’d honestly really rather not see them become a thing. I’m just not feeling or buying the chemistry. If I were in Sammy’s position, I wouldn’t give in to whatever Scott is planning on knowing his past and I’d like to think she’s better than giving in to something like that regardless of what her feelings are on him. I know you won’t spoil anything, but I’m still curious to maybe get a possible hint on what to expect in the future...

In addition, for most of those reasons, I’m probably in the minority here, but I’d kind of rather see someone else make a return. Sky is probably the 2nd most likely because I know Brick quit on his own due to college and Anne Maria and Rodney would add nothing to the plot, so really it comes down to those two and honestly, Scott makes the most sense. Because of all of this, in addition to your big hint in your chapter 5 AN, I’m preparing myself for that, so we’ll see. At least I now have TWO aftermath interviews that I’m super curious to find out about in the future.

I’m very curious to see a flashback of Gwen and Duncan’s conversation to open up the next chapter. Between Gwen and Duncan... it’s tough. I might be leaning a bit towards Gwen here. I know that Duncan was trying to keep Beardo around and trying to vote off the person who voted him off the first time. HOWEVER, even though Sammy was the one who ended up orchestrating Duncan’s elimination, it was Gwen’s idea that she got Sammy to help her with. As a result, I do feel like Duncan forced her into a really tough situation, but I feel she could have also voted for Sammy out of sheer fear of how Duncan would react or do if he didn’t vote for her. I knew she was gonna get pissed at Duncan, but not even I was expecting her to go as far as call him an asshole, honestly. Wouldn’t think of someone like Gwen to go that far with insults, lol. Even though Duncan was playing the game, I have a bit more sympathy for Gwen as a result, but I do love the fact that you’re writing out the situation in a way where people could take either side and feel similarly on both sides.

I’m curious to see how that Oddball double date turns out! I’m loving he vibe from that team so far. I think that Shawn is possibly going next. Even though that may not sound accurate considering Owen and Jasmine are both on that team as well, I think you might have more surprise eliminations up your sleeve... lol.

Anyway, I enjoyed this chapter as always! Even though I’m slightly disappointed with the elimination and what it could possibly mean going forward, I’m always looking forward to everything that you have to offer next! See you then!

Scott/Sammy is such an odd pairing and I really can't wait to see more of them in the future.

Hot damn. That elimination ceremony was something. And it definitely put the drama back in Team Nuclear. Really nice callback to Duncan's deal with Gwen all the way back in Chapter 5.

I'd love to see a flashback about Duncan telling Gwen who to vote for. As for who I side with, it's kinda tough. Duncan basically pressured Gwen into a situation she didn't like, but at the same time, he was playing the game, saving a friend, and was getting understandable payback on the person who nearly got him eliminated.

Also, wow. I never realized it before, but Team Nuclear haven't gotten first in a single challenge yet, have they?