Total Drama Timeline
The Total Drama series is rather vague as to when certain things take place within the series. Because of this and the newest season coming out some people are confused as to how much time has passed. In order to inform the masses I have come up with this timeline to explain based on what I know, logic and a little guesswork. If you disagree, that's fine, I can't prove I'm right but I think I'm pretty close.
Total Drama Island aired in July of 2007 in Canada. It didn't air for another year in the USA and other countries but officially the series came out in 07 so for this timeline I'm going to judge that as the beginning.
In the beginning of July the twenty-two contestants arrive on the island to compete for ten grand. Age wise all twenty two are sixteen years old as Chris confirmed in episode one. How long between challenges or how long the entire season lasts is rather vague. Going off how many challenges there are, some time in between and that it's supposed to take up "their whole summer" TDI lasts about two months.
A few days after the final episode (perhaps a full week) they compete to win a million dollars (the drama special) but no one wins. Because of this Chris reels them in for another season thanks to a clause in their contracts. This would be Total Drama Action. After the special they go home for a short amount of time before reporting to the movie studio for the next season.
The amount of time between season 1 and 2 is probably only about a week. Some people might think it takes place a whole year later but this isn't true for a few reasons; the biggest being Heather is still completely bald. If it had been a year she could have grown all (or at least most) of her hair back.
While TDA starts in the summer it is unknown if it goes into fall. It's possible they were home-schooled during part of season 2. While it has the same amount of episodes I believe TDA is shorter than TDI. TDA only lasts one month and they have a challenge almost every day (or night depending on the episode). So while it might be the end of summer/beginning of school it's too close to matter.
When this finishes the contestants are free for a while. The celebrity manhunt's TDA reunion special mostly likely occurs during early February 2008. A reasonable amount of time seems to have passed (like six months) but not a whole year and a half or anything. Heather is shown with most of her hair grown back but a reasonable amount still missing.
The entire reunion special turns out to be another ploy of Chris' to get another season which starts shortly. A few days or a week later the contestants all get off a bus and start season 3 along with two new contestants Sierra and Alejandro. While unconfirmed both are probably the same age as the other contestants.
The reason I think it started in February is TDWT probably lasts about two months just like TDI. Near the end of world tour it is shown to be Cody's birthday (April 1st). There are a few challenges after that and season three ends with a winner and a bit of a cliffhanger that is never (completely) resolved.
Then we have season four, revenge of the island. Season four would take place in July 2008 a whole year after TDI started. The original contestants are now seventeen and the new contestants would be sixteen. While only briefly the original contestants are shown and very little (nothing) seems to have changed as Alejandro is shown in his robot costume and Ezekiel is still feral (and somehow alive). Heather however is shown to have grown her hair back to season one length.
There may one day be a season five though it is unconfirmed as of yet. While it took us years to get to this point in the show it is probably only a single year. Hopefully this may have managed to provide a little help to anyone that needed it.
TDI-TDA-TDWT-TDROTI
(Summer 07) (Summer/fall 07) (Winter/spring 08) (Summer 08)