A/N:I've had some ideas for this episode before I ever finished Island and I'm happy to say they all made it in. I hope you have fun with this.

With respect to the reviewers:

Crosshot:Glad you liked Geoff. Thing about Scott is that he's lot more fun when he's scheming. And Yeah Ennui and Crimson's deadpan conversation was fun to write.

Gucci Mane Laflare: Glad you think I did a good job. I'm glad I can write Noimson as cute, and of course a lot of the fun of a shuffled rewrite is how different certain episodes are without certain actions. And I can't take credit for the Lightning joke. Eva does it in the original, and it's just as funny there.

The recap begins with focus on the sun high in the sky, the focus shifts down to show the western town set, and then a tumble weed rolls through and catches alight burning to ash. Then Chris' legs stepped into view in a bowlegged stance, The horse from the previous episode is shown farting, then Amber is shown climbing up the ladder, followed by a pov shot underneath the ladder, then a distance shot showing the entire set up, with the horse fall down below. "Last week the dry desert heat baked our favorite partners like roadkill on the blacktop. But crispy bottoms or not, they still had to mount their ancient steed, From a hundred foot platform!" He chuckled.

The Gaffers are shown chasing after the Grips with lassos. Alejandro ropes Ella, Amy chases after Sammy, and Harold tries to get Duncan but ends up failing. Then Noah is shown getting caught by Crimson, followed by the two talking outside the showers, Alejandro being revealed watching, Alejandro talking to Amber and Topher and Crimson's goodbye with Noah. "But that wasn't all, the calf roping contest had the teams lasso each other. When Crimson caught Noah, sparks flew, but not for long, as Alejandro overheard her revealing his alliance to Noah. He then used said alliance to eliminate her, but not before a far too lengthy goodbye with Noah."

The gaffers are all shown captured by the grips, followed by Chris hand holding a silver pocket watch as it struck noon, and finally Chris in front of the two trailers to close out the recap. "Killer Grips won the west and only twelve remain. Can the Grips keep up their winning streak? See for yourself, next on Total Drama Action!"

(intro)

{A standing light pops up on a set with skyscrapers in the background. A hanging light swoops in front of a set with houses in the background, then a camera pops out of a sewer with a rat on it, and another camera pops out of a hole in a tree scaring the raccoon inside. A masculine hand raises up a clapboard and sets it off.}

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;

{The camera's point of view shows a film lot with the two trailers, city background, water tower, and fake hill. Chris drives by in a golf cart, and the camera flies through to the warehouses as crew members push a couple backdrops through, follows by the costume rack. )

You guys are on my mind!

{The camera goes up the fake hill and down into a small pool where Jo is swimming, a shark is behind her. Jo notices it and turns around to punch it in the nose.)

Ya asked me what I wanted to be,

And now I think the answer is plain to see!

(The camera moves out of the water to show Scott on a surfboard held up by machinery. He desperately tries to dodge several seagulls being shot at him. One finally hits him and he falls over.)

I wanna be...famous!

(The camera moves left to show Duncan as the one shooting the gulls from a gull cannon with Gwen right beside, laughing along with him. Duncan turns and Gwen looks at her feet, rubbing her left arm nervously. The camera moves on to show the sastchwawanakwa in a pink dress, matching boa, and straw hat. The door slides open and the camera goes through)

I wanna live close to the sun!

(A beach set is shown with Alejandro and Amber lounging on a beach chair together, a shark sits in a beach chair to either side of them wearing sunglasses.)

Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!

(Topher is shown in the make-up confessional having it applied. A hand sprays something in his eye accidentally)

Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;

(Trent and Amy are standing on rock pillars with padded poles. Amy hits Trent several times before he hits her back sending some of her hair down.)

I'll get there one day.

(The hair lands in a pot of sludge Chef is cooking. He shrugs and turns to Sammy who looks nervous but determinedly back at him.)

'Cause I wanna be...famous!

(Harold and Ellody are shown standing in front of a set of screens in the security room. Harold presses a random button and causes an explosion. )

(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

(We focus in on one screen where a grizzly bear is growling towards Ella. The princess wannabe smiles at him sweetly, the bear smiles back and the two dance. )

I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (N a-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

(They dance their way past the lame-o-sine and the back window lowers to show Noah and Crimson inside. The camera continues through the window as camera flashes go off. Chris is shown standing at a podium in a powder blue tux. He opens an envelope.)

I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

(The scene moves out to show Chef is in a sparkly hot pink dress and matching Chef's hat, along with sliver earrings and necklace. Chris looks a little weirded out. The camera moves back through a large screen then pans down to Geoff and Kitty sitting on a couch about to make out.)

*The sound of the theme being whistled goes through the air *

(They notice the camera and decide not to kiss, the scene moves back to show a small studio with two couches to either side of the one the couple is sitting at. The rest of the cast in sitting on them as the large screen above flashes to the Total Drama action logo. )

(end of intro)

The episode proper begins with a shot of the sun rising in the sky, the focus shifts down to the boy's trailer, then goes inside. Where all four boys are shown sleeping. An air horn goes off, causing Duncan to shoot awake and bump his head on the ceiling. He groaned as Harold was shown wiping drool from his lips, Topher is shown stretching, and Noah is shown groaning. Duncan jumped off his bunk first. "Whiz dibs, I called it" He exclaimed. His hand is shown pulling on the door handle but it doesn't move. He keeps pulling. He turns to the others. "A little help?"

"I say we use Harold as a battering ram." Noah smirked.

"I'm game." Duncan smirked back.

:"Hey!" Harold scowled.

(confessional)

Harold: I don't know why Noah dislikes me so much. I mean we're both nerds! We should be sticking together!

Static

Noah: Harold is obnoxious, and he thinks we're friends. Dude can't take a hint

Static

Alejandro stepped in. "Gentleman please, there must be a better way to get out than causing one of us grievous bodily harm?"

"I'm not sure Gentleman is the right way to describe some of us." Topher smirked, looking at Duncan, Harold, and Noah.

"With my mad skills we'll be out in no time!" Harold declared. Noah is shown rolling his eyes while Duncan shook his head, then the focus shifted outside of the trailers, over to the girl's trailer and inside where Ella is desperately trying to open the door. The focus moves over to a very anxious Gwen. "They've gotta open the door, right?! I have claustrophobia."

"Whatever gothie, think about the real injustice here. How am I supposed to brush my hair and apply my makeup if we're stuck in here?!" Amy snapped.

"Not that you have much hair to brush anymore." Amber smirked.

Amy looked like she was about to snap at Amber when Ellody intervened. "We must put aside our personal feelings towards each other and work together to accomplish our goal. Which is currently getting out of here."

Gwen looked up at the ceiling to the trailer and the focus shifted up to show a panel at the top that could be opened for fresh air. "Up there! Maybe one of us can squeeze through!"

"Okay, Samey you do it!" Amy ordered. There was no response to the order. Everyone looked around to see the younger twin was absent.

"Huh? Where is Sammy?" Ella wondered.

(confessional)

Amy: This is just like Samey! Never there when you need her, always there when you just want her to leave you alone!

Static

"it doesn't matter where Sammy is. We need to figure out who to hoist up there." Ellody said.

"Amy's a cheerleader right? So she's flexible and used to balancing on top of other people." Amber said. Everyone turned to Amy.

The older twin huffed. "Fine, if you're all too pathetic." Then she muttered. "Stupid Samey, where is she?"

/

The focus is on the crafts and service tent. It cuts inside to show Sammy is in the kitchen with Chef. She looks incredibly nervous."So uh, what did you want to talk about Chef?"

"Look kid, that Alejandro is playing you like a fiddle. He's just gonna use you til he don't need you anymore and get you voted out. I meanwhile would be willing to help you win if you agree to split the prize money fifty-fifty." Chef said.

Sammy's eyes widened in horror. "Wait, are you suggesting I make an illegal alliance with you?!"

Chef got in her face. "I'm not suggesting it. You are making an illegal alliance with me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

Sammy swallowed. "Can I think about it?"

"Fine, but don't make me wait too long." The cook growled.

/

Meanwhile back in the guy's trailer it seems they had the same idea as the girls. Alejandro is at the bottom of the stack, followed by Duncan, Topher, and Harold. Noah was working to climb to the top. He was on Topher's shoulders and was working his way up Harold. He stepped on his shoulder and was currently trying to get the other foot on the second. He hit Harold's face instead.

"Ow! Watch the face, the ladies would never forgive you for marring my visage!" The nerd complained.

"Actually I think they'd thank me." Noah remarked

"Noah I've been trying to befriend you all season, you'd think you'd be nicer!" Harold said.

"That's the problem Harold, you assume I want to be friends with you!." Noah snapped, finally getting his foot on Harold's shoulder and moving to stand.

"You don't?" The nerd frowned.

"As much as I'm enjoying the drama, can we hurry it up here?!" Topher asked.

"Indeed, I fear Duncan will not support your weight much longer." Alejandro said.

"Hey, I'm fine." Duncan snapped.

Noah reached the panel, only for Topher to lose balance and send the whole pile crashing to the floor. Topher ended up on top of Alejandro , Harold ended up with his butt in the air, and Noah ended up with his face on Duncan's chest, which was bare due to him being in his boxers. Sunlight spread over the scene indicating a door had been opened. A chuckle can be heard before Chris' familiar voice said. "Hope you all enjoyed your first taste of the gulag."

The boys quickly moved to right themselves. Topher chuckled nervously, a blush on his face as he got off Alejandro. "Sorry." He muttered, helping the Spaniard to his feet. Noah shot up as quickly as possible as did Duncan.

"We will never speak of this again." Noah said.

"Agreed." The punk nodded.

The focus shifted outside of the trailer as all the boys joined the girls, and Chris in the main area. The host himself was dress in a full police uniform, hat, boots, shirt, pants, badge, and name tag. He also wore a pair of sunglasses.

"Your day's about to get a whole lot worse, Because today… is prison flick day!" The host announced cheerfully, as a prison set is shown, complete with barbed wire brick fence and stand-in prisoners.

Ella, Amy, Harold, Amber, and Topher are all shown groaning. The focus shifted to Noah and Duncan. "Fantastic." The nerd deadpanned. He turned to Duncan. "At least you'll be good at this challenge."

"It was only juvie so don't get too reliant on me." The punk replied.

Chris launched into his speech, more excited than usual. "Ah, prison. The confinement. The claustrophobia. The vile, nasty food. And you're always looking over your shoulder 'cause Mr. Killer Dude wants to cut ya for taking the last tater tot! And no matter how hard you try, digging out spoonfuls of dirt, year after year, there's no escape! " He calmed down. "Unless you get voted off, of course."

(confessional)

Harold: Talk about overkill. This place is plenty prison-like already. Not that I'm complaining. I mean, I should probably be locked up for the ladies' sake anyways.

Static

Chris is shown standing between two hanging cages, to his direct right is a cloth covered cart. Behind him is a backdrop of several barred cells. The teams both stood before a long table each, covered in cooking materials.

"Lock down, people! Let's get this challenge started! Teams, take a prisoner from the competition!" Chris said. Chef arrived next to him in his military uniform. "And Chef — I mean… warden, lock 'em up."

The focus shifted to the Grips. "We should lock up Samey!" Amy decided.

"No! We don't know what the challenge is but I'm not locking my girlfriend up." Trent snapped.

"Actually I think we can figure out the challenge." Noah said.

"How do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"Look at the tables. They're covered in plates, bowls, measuring cups, pots and pans. So the challenge is cooking related and if there's one thing I know about prison flicks it's that the food is always nasty." The cynic explained.

"So we need someone who'll puke easily!" Duncan smirked. "I think we know the guy."

The focus shifted over to the Gaffers.

"Who do we send in?" Amber asked.

"From observation of the table behind us, I deduce the challenge will relate to cooking." Ellody said.

"Good eye, and we know someone on the other team with a weak stomach, don't we?" Alejandro smirked.

"Yes we do," Topher smirked back.

"Choices? Gaffers?" Chris asked.

"Trent." Harold said. Sammy looked at the floor guilty.

"Grips?" The host said.

Noah smirked. "Alejandro." The Spainard's eyes widened in horror.

Chris made his way to the cart. "You know I was hoping for a big reveal, but you clearly figured it out already." The host smirked. "Today's first game is…" He pulled the cloth off of the cart revealing it to be filled with disgusting food. Green rotted chicken, half eaten cakes, orange mush, rats, and roaches. "Each team of prison chefs whips up the foulest, nastiest, most barf inducing slop this side of Alcatraz. "

As the host spoke Noah was shown high fiving Duncan, and Alejandro was shown looking sick already.,

"Alejandro and Trent, have to stomach as much as they can. Last one to power-hurl, wins! The host concluded.

As Chef moved to put Trent in his cell the guitarist protested. "Dude I can't go to prison I'll break!"

"That's what they all say." Chris smirked.

(Confessional)

Alejandro: Truly I was hoping the other team hadn't realized the nature of this challenge. Anything else and they wouldn't have chosen me. My body is going to hate me for this, but I can't look weak to my team.

Static

The focus moved down one of the tables to reveal all of the dishes now have some kind of gross food in them. From Chef's paste, to maggots, weird red mush with what looked like hair growing out of it, and at the end of the table a large bowl. The focus shifted to Trent. "I'm fine." He covered his mouth and swallowed. "Totally fine."

"This reward had better be worth the damage done to my body." Alejandro said from his cage, also looking ill already."

"Have I ever let you down?" The host asked. "Wait, scratch that. Anyway, the winning team gets this!" He held up a golden shovel.

"Why would we ever need a shovel?" Ella asked.

(confessional)

Harold: Everybody knows more wars have been won with a shovel than a sword. Give a man a" hole, and what does he have? Nothing. But give a man a shovel, and he can dig a hole to contain the nothing.

Static

"Prisoners ready?" Chris asked holding up both his arms. "And… colonate!" He finished moving his arms down in a signal to begin.

Topher grabbed the roaches off the plate next to the bowl and threw them in, followed by Harold throwing in some weird pink goop, then he threw in some horse lips. Ellody threw in some rat tails, and Amber spat in it. All the while Chris commentated. "Topher goes right for the roaches! Harold tops it off with some slimy anchovy paste, and oh! Here come the horse lips, with a few rat tails and spit for garnish!"

Meanwhile at the Grips table Duncan had thrown in a whole bunch of maggots, Gwen added some of the red mush, Noah was crushing it all in the bowl. "A whole lot of maggots are going into the Grips concoction." Chris noted.

"Why aren't you helping?" Noah looked at Ella who was doing nothing.

"My friends, I won't stop you from pursuing victory, but I cannot bring myself to do this." Ella told him.

"It's Alejandro, he deserves it." Gwen told her.

"Hey, lay off her!" Amy glared as she came to the table with a hairbrush. "This has all of Samey's hair in it!"

As Amy began to take the hair out and sprinkle it on top of the rest of the sludge Chris began to commentate again. "And what's this?" He began to sing. "On top of some maggots, all covered in hair, and Al has to eat it, cause life just ain't fair."

"Time's up!" Chris announced. " And jailbirds, hope your appetites are primed!"

Noah brought the Grips concoction to Alejandro, smirking as he looked at his horrified face. "Hope you're hungry Al."

Harold was presenting the Gaffer's concoction to Trent. "We have the braised horse lips with the goat brains fricassee and the fish gut reduction, topped off of course with the toenail clippings. Bon appétit."

Trent swallowed. "Oh is that all? That's nothing."

"Are you maggots ready?! One minute to down that chow! And… dig in!" Chris ordered.

Both boys stared at their dishes in disgust, but eventually they both moved the spoons towards their lips. Alejandro's enter first and he gulped it down. A gagging sound indicated that his body was trying to reject it.

(Confessional)

Alejandro: It took more willpower than I can tell you to keep that disgusting slop down. Let alone swallowing the barf that almost immediately filled my mouth. But I forced myself to. I just kept imagining Jose taunting me, and my spite was enough to keep me going, for a time.

Static

Trent's entered his mouth and he immediately gagged. From his spot in the Gaffers Topher smirked. "Wow Trent, you're doing great. I was sure those live roaches would have tickled your gag reflex by now."

Trent swallowed. "Oh yeah, well," He gagged. "Extra protein never hurts."

Alejandro managed to take another bite and swallow his barf. He shuddered. That was when Trent coughed, a small bit of digested sludge came out, along with one of the live roaches Topher had just mentioned.

Alejandro had just taken another bite and was in the process of swallowing his barf for a third time, but the sight of the roach wiggling around in filth was enough to make him hesitate for a moment. A moment too long as he threw up on the floor next to Chris.

"Trent keeps it down for the Killer Grips and wins the reward!" Chris announced. The Grips all cheered, with Duncan holding the golden shovel. Trent threw up immediately after.

Alejandro got out of his cage looking upset. "Oh don't worry Alejandro, I'm sure your team won't blame you for their second loss in a row." Chris smirked.

Sammy approached Alejandro. "Hey for the record, I don't blame you. You did your best."

Alejandro smiled. "Thank you Senorita, that means a lot from you."

Sammy looked nervous. "Alejandro I-" Her eyes widened as the focus shifted to show Chef watching her from the shadows expectantly. "I- need to go for a walk. To clear my head. Yeah."

Alejandro watched her with suspicion as she walked away. The focus followed her to the shadows. "What do you want, Chef?"

"See that right there is what I'm talking about." The cook said.

"What?": Sammy frowned.

"He failed the team, failed you and you aren't even gonna give him a talking to? Girl you're being way too soft! A leader needs to be strong." Chef barked. "And I can teach you that, if you agree to my terms."

"Alejandro's already teaching me to lead." the nice twin argued.

"Teaching you to lead or leading for you?" The cook asked.

"He's helping." Sammy whispered.

"Helping himself!. Think of all the things he did last season. You really think you can trust him?" Chef snapped.

"Well he hasn't done anything bad since we started to work together." She told him.

"That you know of! Guy like that, it's only a matter of time. After all he can't win unless you lose. I'm just saying, you'd know where you stand with me." With that Chef walked away as Sammy looked at the floor anxiously.

(Confessional)

Sammy: Sure Alejandro did some bad things last season, but he really seems to want to help me. Not only that but Chef's alliance is illegal! I want no part of it, but I'm not sure I can find it in me to tell Chef that.

Static

/

The two teams are now standing before a laundry cart each, with a fake prison behind them. Chris stands before him and begins his explanation. "Elimination challenge! Here we go! No get-out-of-jail-free cards here, people. This is Escape from Total Drama Pen."

The focus shifted to one of the laundry carts, it then showed a bunch of fighting dummies in police hats swinging batons, then a line of swinging sacks with fake heads on them, water to either side of a small catwalk, then the dummy prisoners from earlier, each with sharp blade embedded in their wooden hands, "Each team must hop in their laundry carts while one member pushes through the obstacle course to you reach the wall, get digging." The focus briefly moved to a finish line with two fake boxcars behind it. "First team to reach the boxcar to freedom wins immunity. "

"Convicts, select a pusher." Chris instructed.

"Obviously Duncan. There's no doubt in my mind Alejandro will push for the Gaffers. They'd have to be stupid to choose anyone else." Noah said.

"Plus he probably weighs the most." Gwen taunted.

Duncan smirked back. "You saying I'm heavy?"

"Duh, everyone knows muscle weighs more than fat." the goth winked.

"Ugh will you two stop flirting?" Amy groaned as she climbed into the laundry cart.

"I think it's really cute." Ella smiled as she joined her. Trent climbed in next.

Gwen's eyes widened. "What no! You totally read that wrong. Duncan's just a friend!" She protested.

"Methinks the girl protests too much." Noah chuckled as he headed towards the cart.

Gwen smirked and pushed him in before following herself.

Meanwhile with the Gaffers.

"I mean it's obvious Alejandro should push." Amber said with a blush.

"Making your boyfriend do manual labor now?" Topher smirked.

"Nonsense amigo, I would be honored to push the team." Alejandro smirked back.

"If you're sure." Sammy said.

"Of course, I must make up for losing the first part of the challenge." The Spaniard replied.

Harold climbed into the cart and offered a hand to Ellody. "M'lady."

"That's most gracious of you Harold." The genius smiled, accepting his hand.

/

At this point everyone but each team's respective pusher was in the laundry carts. Chris stood before them. "This is it, teams. On your marks, get set, Escape!"

The two boys took off immediately. Alejandro was just starting to pull ahead as they entered the fake prisoners. Duncan smirked and rammed his cart into Alejandro's sending the Spainard into one of the dummies briefly. Duncan laughed.

"Duncan, I wouldn't have expected you to stoop so low." He called.

"What can I say? I'm a delinquent." The punk called back.

Alejandro had gotten back on track now as was catching up with Duncan just as he was about to enter the swinging bag portion of the course. "Indeed I suppose I should consider it an honor you consider me such a threat." He smirked.

Duncan's eyes narrowed. "Please, you? I just like to fight dirty."

"Very well then, allow me to return the favor." Alejandro said as he rammed right into Duncan's laundry cart, which was now on the catwalk with the swinging bags, this distracted Duncan long enough that a bag swung into the Gaffer's cart, sending it into one of the water pools to either side. As Alejandro continued to drive his cart through, he called back "Good luck amigo! You'll need it!"

Duncan started to push the cart through the water to get out. Ella frowned. "You know Duncan, perhaps if you'd been nicer to Alejandro he wouldn't have done that."

"Are you serious right now!" The punk snapped.

"Kindness costs nothing." Ella whispered.

"It's Alejandro, he'd have done it anyway!" Gwen argued.

"Maybe, but must we stoop down to his level?" The princess wannabe asked.

"I've got news for you princess, you might live in a world full of magic and unicorns, but the rest of us live in the real world. " Noah said.

"And In the real world that kind of kindness gets taken advantage of." Duncan told her, as he finally got the cart back on track. He started to run at Alejandro, who was halfway through the police dummies.

"But-" Ella began.

"Seriously, princess now's not the time for your idealist nonsense." Noah cut her off.

"Leave her alone!" Amy snapped.

"Oh that's rich coming from you! Did you ever listen when people told you to leave Sammy alone?!" Trent asked.

At this point Duncan was running full tilt, not even looking where he was going. "Hey Al, thought you'd lost me?!" He caught up with Alejandro and began ramming his cart into the Grips again.

"You are persistent amigo. Like a fly that won't stop buzzing in my ear." Alejandro smirked, pushing his cart back.

"Yeah, well you're as hard to keep down as a roach!" Duncan smirked.

"If you're done flirting with your boyfriend," Noah snarked.

"Don't even start." Duncan cut him off.

"We're about to hit the wall." The cynic finished. Duncan and Alejandro both looked to see the wall was practically in front of them. Both worked to skid to a stop, just barely avoiding crashing into it.

"Everyone get digging!" Sammy told her team as they climbed out of the cart with a spoon in each of their hands.

"She's right, vamos!" Alejandro added.

With the Grips Duncan had grabbed hold of the shovel and started to dig. Ella was frowning from a spot next to Noah. "I still think all that fighting was mean."

"Just stay out of the way." The cynic deadpanned.

/

Chris and Chef are shown waiting at the finish line, with Chef leaning against the brown boxcar and Chris sitting on the rim of the inside. "So, you ever seen that prison flick? The one with the guy in it?" He host asked, nudging his co-host with an elbow. "You know, the guy with the face?" Chef shook his head. Chris swung his legs back and forth a moment, " So, you doing anything after work? We could always rent a…" Chef pursed his lips and looked away. Chris trialed his hand along the edge of his seat nervously. "or not. I was…. busy… anyway… " He muttered, rubbing his hand on his chest then scratching the back of his head. "Very busy, just throwing it out there."

/

With the Gaffers they are digging a tunnel with spoons. Sammy groaned. "I can hear them digging way ahead of us!"

"We'll just have to dig faster!" Harold said.

"Trying to find looser dirt, it'll make digging through it easier." Ellody suggested.

Topher dug a little more and hit his spoon against one of his nails, it broke. "A hangnail!"

"Forget about your vanity for five seconds and help!" Amber snapped.

Alejandro gently placed his hand on the bookworm's shoulder. "Calm yourself chica." He turned to Topher. "I feel your pain amigo, but you are handsome enough that one hangnail shouldn't ruin your confidence."

Topher swallowed. "If you say so." He chuckled, moving to dig again.

Alejandro smirked at Amber. "Flattery will get you everywhere." He explained. Amber sighed and nodded looking put out.

/

With the Grips they were having a much easier time. "With Duncan's strength and that shovel we'll be to the finish line in no time." Trent smiled.

"Don't get too confident we haven't won yet." Noah said.

"Yeah, but all Samey's team has are spoons. We've basically won already." Amy smirked.

Gwen sighed. "And there's karma's cue."

As Duncan went to shovel another bit of dirt, the shovel got stuck on something. Duncan pushed down on the handle with all his strength, and the shovel broke in half.

"Should have known Chris would give us a faulty shovel." Trent sighed.

"Worry not friends! Together we can dig our way out! Even with our bare hands, and if we sing, it won't even feel like we're working!" Ella cheered, She began to dig in the dirt ahead of them.

"Just singing while we work," Ella hummed. "And cheerfully together we can dig our way out,"

Gwen sighed, Noah groaned, and Duncan rolled his eyes.

(Confessional)

Noah:Okay, between not participating in part one of the challenge, trying to be all pacifist during the obstacle course and the singing I don't know how much more I can take of Ella. At least last season she had Jo keeping her focused.

Static

/

The Grips are shown in their tunnel again. Sammy's eyes widened. "Hey, I don't hear them digging anymore!"

"I wonder what happened?" Ellody pondered.

"Who cares! Now's our chance to catch up!" Harold said.

/

Back with the Gaffer's Amy is digging in front with Ella. They pause as they see a small hole ahead of them. "Why's there a hole already here?" Amy asked.

"Might have been dug by some animal." Noah suggested.

The mean twin leaned closer to the hole. A small creature with orange brown fur, a white belly and face, small red nose, whiskers and rodent teeth poked its head out. Amy screamed and hid behind Ella. "It's a giant rat!"

Ella chuckled. "Actually I think it's a prairie dog." She began to listen to the creature as it spoke.

"Ella, we don't have time for this." Gwen complained.

Ella turned to the rest of the team and beamed. "Good news everyone! This prairie dog knows a shortcut! Follow me!" With that the princess followed the rodent into its hole. "There's a big tunnel through here!"

The rest of the Grips shrugged and began to make the entrance to the tunnel larger.

(confessional)

Duncan: Well what else were we gonna do? Dig with our hands? It was our best shot.

Static

The Grips are all traveling through a wide tunnel that had already been dug with Ella in the lead. . "Any clue how much longer this shortcut is?" Trent asked.

"Not much further! The prairie dog say the exit is right there!" The Princess wannabe exclaimed point to the smooth bottom of a rock.

"Thank goodness! Get me out of here!" Gwen said. The focus moved outside where we see Gwen's pale arms move the boulder over. When her head pokes out of the hole she gasps. "They beat us here?" The focus shifted over to the Gaffers at the finish line cheering.

"So we lost?" Trent frowned as he stepped out of the hole.

Ella came next looking anxious, this grew on her face when Noah poked his head out next to hers. "Nice shortcut." He deadpanned.

/

Inside the crafts and service tent the focus is placed on the Gaffer table. Harold is talking to Ellody. "It was like so cool how you figured out what the eating challenge would be before we even saw the food."

"Thank you Harold, but I'm certain you could have figured it out if you tried to." The Genius smiled.

"I mean obviously, but I don't really expect people to have the same observation skills I do." Harold smirked.

"I'm pleased you have exceeded your expectations then." Ellody nodded.

The focus shifted to Topher, Amber, Alejandro, and Sammy. Topher is filing the nail he broke earlier desperately. "You think that looks okay?" Topher asked the Spaniard.

"It looks just fine amigo. Why if I didn't know any better I'd say you never broke it in the first place." Alejandro smirked. Topher smirked back and returned to his nails, Alejandro looked over at Amber and winked. The bookworm smiled back weakly.

Alejandro turned to Sammy and frowned. The focus shifted to show the twin was moving to sneak into the kitchen. As she's about to open the door she screams and turns around. The focus moved out to show Alejandro had tapped her on the shoulder. "Why are you trying to sneak into the kitchen?"

Sammy gulped, then looked around nervously. "I was uh, just thinking about getting seconds, but I changed my mind!" She blurted out. "I have to go now!" Alejandro's eyes narrowed as she watched her walk away.

On the Grips table, things were much more tense. "I can't wait to vote you off." Trent told Amy.

"If anyone is leaving its you!" Amy scoffed.

"Please, everyone hates you, you're as good as voted out." The guitarist glared. Ella looked on in concern.

The focus shifted down to Noah and Duncan as the former whispered to the latter. "I think we should vote off Ella."

"Why not Amy?" Duncan replied.

"The reasons are threefold. If we keep Amy she's a perfect hate shield. So long as she's here Trent probably won't vote for anyone else. Two, her rivalry with Sammy is easy to take advantage of. Three, you saw how she was today. If she can't stomach this, who knows what else she'll have trouble with." Noah explained.

Duncan nodded. "You have a point. I'll consider it."

Noah smirked. "That's all I ask."

/

The stage with the two giant Chris statues is shown as spotlights wave in front of it. A series of clips featuring Chris from last season ,several of them just him talking, roll over the screen in two parallel lines, a vertical line of clips include one where Chris is dress as a pirate rolls down between them, as two more clips, one of Chris in a helicopter and one of him with a clapboard, move out to either side, the focus zooms out to show a giant gilded Chris as fireworks go for in the background.

The Grips are shown in the bleachers, Noah, Trent, and Duncan on top. Gwen, Ella, and Amy on bottom. They are all holding voting devices and the noise indicates they've just voted. The focus shifted to the stage, where Chris standing behind the podium in his powder blue tux. "Time's up! I'll tally the votes!" Chris lifted up his device and read off names. "Duncan, Noah, Gwen, and…Trent." The four contestants mentioned are shown catching their awards. "Another award and another day to compete. "

The host held the final chocolate statuette in his hand. "Tonight's… final Gilded Chris and another chance at the million goes to…" Amy was shown looking at Ella anxiously, clearly torn. Ella meanwhile smiled back at Amy. Both faces were shown closely.

…"Amy."

The blonde didn't even catch her award as it was thrown to her.

(Confessional)

Amy: What?! Why is Ella going home?! How could they?

Static

Trent: How did this happen? Amy should be going home. Did she rig the votes against Ella?

Static

Duncan: I thought about it, and Noah made some pretty good points. Besides if she gets too annoying, voting her out should be easy. On top that, I don't have to hear her complain about trying to win.

Static

Noah: Actually my reasons for getting rid of Amy were fourfold. The fourth reason? Without her only ally, Amy's gonna be pretty desperate. Maybe even desperate enough to work with me. Not that Duncan needs to know that.

Static

Handcuffs are slapped on Ella's wrists. "Dead girl walking!" Chef barked as he began to lead her down the red carpet of shame. Amy stepped in front of him. "No wait. Take me! I should be leaving!"

"Sure, whatever." Chef shrugged, about to clap the handcuffs on Amy instead. Ella grabbed them back and put them on her wrist.

"No Amy, I was voted out fair and square. Try to make a friend while I'm gone." Ella smiled, hugging a crying Amy.

(Confessional)

Ella: I overheard Noah talking to Duncan earlier. It was clear to me that the only way I could possibly save Amy from elimination, was to vote for myself. I'll miss competing with her, but I want to give her a chance to change without me.

Static

Chris is shown back at his podium to wrap up the episode. "Folks are getting feisty. Voting yourself off may be selfless, but it definitely loses you a million bucks. Check. You. Later."

(Bonus clip)

Ella is humming happily as she sits in the limo. "You know, I might wish to have lasted longer, but I'm glad Amy got to stay. If she can just learn to be a bit nicer, I know she can become a better person. Besides, I'll get to see Dawn at some point. I've missed her." Ella's eyes light up as someone says something off screen. "An aftermath show?! That sounds positively delightful! I can't wait to see my friends!"

A/N: And so we say goodbye to Ella. Just like Crimson I didn't have much ideas for her, and more importantly, she has to leave for Amy's plot to start. Of course this also shows off Noah's more scheming side which is always fun.

Moving on, Chef has made his move. I thought it would be fun to have him attempt what he tried with DJ with Sammy. The difference here is that Sammy has Alejandro, and if Chef thinks Alejandro won't figure out what he's trying to do, he has another thing coming.

Speaking of Alejandro, there's trouble in paradise for him and Amber. Seeds have been sown, let's see how they sprout. The first quarter was all about showing how stupid those teen drama sequels that introduce a new rival for the protagonist are by subverting the trope and having everything the rival tries fail. Now we're moving on to stage two. Alejandro's starting to use Topher's crush to his advantage.