Total Drama Island/Basic Straining

Basic Straining
Season 1, Episode 12
Airdate	September 16, 2007
Written by
Directed by
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Total Drama Island — Season One

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Basic Straining is the twelfth episode of the first season of Total Drama Island.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Harold emerges from the guys' half of the Killer Bass cabin and demands to know who made s'mores with his underwear. Duncan and Geoff laugh in glee at this question and Courtney recoils in disgust when Harold throws the underwear near where she is standing. Moments later, Chef announces over the PA speakers that he wants all campers at the Dock of Shame at 9:00 a.m. promptly.

At the dock, Chef, dressed and acting as a tough talking Marine, tells the teams that the challenge will be difficult and the campers will drop out until the last remaining wins immunity for his or her team. Insisting that the contestants address him as "Master Chief", Chef tells them when someone wants to quit, they will go to the end of the dock and ring a bell. Chef goes on to say that the first day will not end until at least one person quits and with that, he orders everybody down to the beach.

On the beach, Chef orders the two teams to each hold a canoe over their heads and if he catches anyone removing their hands from a canoe, they will be eliminated. After noting that lunch will not be served until someone drops out, Chef orders the challenge to begin. With Chef and Chris perched atop the canoes, Chef goads the teams at the three hour point. At one point, Geoff uses a fishing line to rip away Harold's underwear, to Harold's consternation. The challenge goes into the night with Chef telling a story about his time in the army and Lindsay declares she can't go any longer. Lindsay heads to the end of the dock and rings the bell to eliminate herself. With that, that part of the challenge is ended and Chef tells the teams to head to the main lodge for food.

At the mess hall, Chef tells the teams they have ten minutes to eat before night training begins and says the food is the leftover garbage from the morning breakfast. Courtney and Heather, for different reasons, balk at eating garbage and Geoff and Duncan give Harold a glass of apple juice, which Harold discovers is actually kitchen grease. Courtney chides them for what they did and hints that she thought Duncan was nice, but Duncan flatly denies that is possible. Later, with music blaring (a variation of the Michael Jackson song "Thriller"), Chef leads the campers in a series of dance moves that go on for some time until Duncan unexpectedly turns off the music and Chef orders him to do twenty push-ups. Gwen requests to use the bathroom and moments later, she is in the communal washroom with a mop and bucket.

Back at the mess hall, Chef tells the teams that their next challenge will be writing a three hundred word essay about how much they like Chef and anyone who falls asleep or fails to finish the essay will be eliminated. Two hours later, Chef gathers up the finished essays and sees that Duncan's essay has the word "very" repeating for five pages and Duncan says it is three hundred words exactly. Chef notes Trent and DJ have fallen asleep and he declares them eliminated. Just after Chef tells the campers to go to bed and be ready for a 5:00 a.m. start, Duncan tries to verbally goad Chef once again and Courtney pulls him aside just as Chef threatens him with 50 laps around the camp.

At 5:00 a.m., Chef tells the campers they will run an obstacle course repeatedly until everyone can complete it in less than one minute. The contestants set out and Harold is forced to drop out after swallowing too much mud and Chef sends him to the infirmary. The campers continue running the course with Leshawna being forced to drop out. Moments later, Chef gives Duncan twenty more pushups for his insolence and Duncan reacts by thanking Chef and kissing him on the nose. A moment or so later, it becomes apparent that Chef has been pushed too far and he orders Duncan to spend the night by himself in the boathouse. Duncan says the punishment is not that big a deal but regrets his words when he is sitting in the boathouse and observes the eerie surroundings.

At the mess hall, Courtney decides she is going to check on Duncan but denies that she likes him when asked by Geoff. At the boathouse, Courtney and Duncan talk for a bit, with Courtney calling Duncan on his need to break the rules and Duncan doing likewise with Courtney on her need to follow the rules, before Duncan convinces Courtney to break some rules and raid Chef's food supply at the production staff's catering tent. The two load up on food with Courtney leaving a large bass in the middle of the remaining desserts. Later, the campers hungrily eat the stolen food and Harold finds a happy face made of peanut butter smeared in his bed. Courtney overeats to the point that, after passing her limit while indulging on a Nanaimo bar, she has to run outside and throw up. Duncan joins her moments later and Courtney admits that she enjoyed being bad for a change and the two kiss moments later. Geoff congratulates Duncan afterwards while a disgruntled Harold, watching from a nearby window, glowers. Seconds later, Chef announces over the speakers that the remaining campers will do their next challenge at seven o'clock the following morning.

The next morning, the six contestants hang upside down from a tree branch and Chef tells them about the various things they will experience as time passes for them. Duncan is the first to drop out and Heather, citing Owen's farting, willingly drops out but Owen falls on her moments later when he falls off. Giggling uncontrollably, Courtney drops out and tells Chef to take a chill pill, which steams Chef. Geoff and Gwen are the last two and with Geoff dropping out, Gwen wins the competition for the Gophers.

At the campfire ceremony, Duncan, DJ, Bridgette and Geoff get marshmallows. The final marshmallow, with Harold and a smug-looking Courtney waiting, goes to Harold. Courtney, screaming that she does not concede and threatening to sue, is dragged to the dock and tossed on the Boat of Losers. Duncan argues with Chris, claiming that there were at least four of the Bass who did not vote her off, while Geoff, DJ, and Bridgette nod in agreement, but Chris doesn't change his mind. Before Courtney leaves, Duncan runs down and tosses her a small wooden skull he carved for her and though she thinks it is a little weird and creepy, Courtney says she loves it and will never forget him. Back at the bonfire, Harold's dark side is revealed when a pre-taped Confessional Can session cuts in and he recalls how he, with memories of the various torments he had endured from Duncan, had broken into the ballot box and secretly replaced the votes with phony ballots bearing Courtney's name on them, so Courtney would be wrongly voted off as a way of paying back Duncan for his actions.