A Dramatic Ridonculous Race

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

With Chris McLean rotting in prison, it seems like the era of Total Drama has come to an end. However, numerous contestants flock to other shows, and some find themselves in yet another race around the world, and they'll make some new friends along the way. Some of them may even find love.

24. Last Tango in Buenos Aires

(Last Tango in Buenos Aires)

Spectacular Webhead 11: I'm not going to spoil anything, so you'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

SuperSonicHeroes: Yeah, I figured that since I'm so close to the end, I might as well go ahead and power through until I'm finished with it. Of course that was the plan I had in mind when I chose to make this a non-elimination round. Just wait, I'm not tapped out on the excitement just yet. I've still got a bit more in store for the last three chapters.

Blagoj Pejov1: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

Frosty Wolf: Yeah, being so young and going to the Olympics is an impressive feat. Maybe it's the makeup Josee wears that makes her look older. I figured some people wouldn't be happy that I chose to have a second non-elimination round in a row, but there is one big reason for that, and I'll be showing it in the next chapter. I liked that the Sisters tried to defend Carrie, but you are right, Bridgette has a better reason to be mad at Devin, given that she and Carrie are sisters in this. And yeah, that line about simmering was a Danny Phantom reference. Good job catching that one.

Magic Detective: Oh trust me, I fully intend to mention that when the time comes, and don't think that Cameron and Lighting will be the only ones either.

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"Last time on the Ridonculous Race: Things got hot, and by hot I mean in a both dramatic and scorching way as our teams headed for Darjeeling, India. Trent found himself wearing the pants as he took charge of his team, with some shining silver results. Devin told the Surfers the truth about his feelings for Carrie, which helped to emphasize the point that sometimes the truth can hurt, a lot more than people think. Maybe next time he should tell Carrie instead of her twin sister, unless he's into that sort of thing. The Axis of Corruption lived up to its name and was quick to fall apart, courtesy of the corruptive touch of the Ice Dancers. In the end this lead to the Ice Dancers coming in last, but lucky for them, not so much for the rest of us, I was forced to make it a non-elimination round. Thank the producers for that, those guys suck. But they also sign my paychecks. We're still down to our final five teams, battling it out in our race around the world for one million dollars. The question still remains, which of them will survive the next set of challenges? There's only one way to find out, and that's to tune in, because it's time for the next exciting installment of… the Ridonculous Race!"

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One intro later…

"And here we are again." once the intro had come to an end, Don started off the new episode in front of the Chill Zone from the day before, now equipped with a Don Box "Welcome back to Darjeeling, India. As is the status quo, the winners from yesterday have the honor of receiving the first travel tip of the day. In this case, that honor goes to the Goths, and the two of them-" he was met with the sound of low growling "Fine, the three of them, couldn't be more excited about it. See the sarcasm is ruined when you interrupt me."

"Keep in mind that Loki doesn't like being ignored." Crimson was the one to pull the tip out of the Don Box, and then she turned to Ennui and Loki "It says that we'll be heading to Argentina this time. Not the worst place we could go to."

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"Argentina is far from the worst place we could think of sending our contestants. But to be more specific, we'll be heading to the capital of the country, Buenos Aires, which just so happens to be a world class city that's well known for its love of football, or soccer depending on what part of the world you're from, theater and various forms of delicious red meat. I was actually able to try some while we were recording this episode, and I have to say it's not bad. Anyway, once our final five teams land in Argentina, they'll find the Don Box located outside the airport that contains their next tip."

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"Once they have their tips in hand, all five of our remaining teams are now racing towards the airport to get seats on the next flight headed for Argentina."

"Looks like the Goths are in the lead right now." Trent glanced over at Leshawna "They're a pretty tough team all things considered. Good thing they're actually not that bad."

"No arguments here, but they ain't the big problem right now." Leshawna gave a scowl "All I want to do is get rid of those goddamn Ice Dancers."

"Just make sure not to get too far in over your head. One wrong move and they could end up getting us kicked off the race for good."

"Trust me, I get that. If we're gonna do this, then we're gonna do it right."

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Meanwhile, with the soon to be lovers…

"So how's your ankle?" Carrie glanced over at Devin as they rode in their own cab "It must have gotten pretty banged up after what happened with the train yesterday."

"No need to worry homie, Bridgette took care of it." Devin gave her a reassuring smile that he tried to play off a charming "Man everything is coming up for us, we're already so close to the finale. I bet that today, nothing is gonna go wrong."

"Oh no, don't say that! Great, now something is guaranteed to go wrong."

"Come on Carrie, just because of one thing I said-" Devin didn't get a chance to finish that sentence, mainly because of their taxi running into an elephant, which then proceeded to sit on what was left of their cab "Uh… Okay, you might have been onto something there." he then looked down and realized that Carrie was clinging to him tightly "Not that it's without any sort of benefits."

"What?"

"Nothing."

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Meanwhile, with the crazy evil team…

"FASTER!" Josee on the other hand, was in the middle of throwing another tantrum "You need to drive this thing faster, faster I say! I swear if the other teams catch an earlier flight, then I'm going to do something bad, and I mean very bad!"

"Which prompts a question I have." Jacques cast a nervous glance over at her "You do know that you can't crash an airplane with your mind right?"

"No Jacques I don't know that! DO YOU?!"

"...I know the answer, but I'm not going to say that." Jacques then turned to the camera, his voice low "See stuff like this is why I usually switch her coffee orders from regular to decaf when she isn't looking."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Nothing!"

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One cab ride later, at the airport…

"GET THE (BLEEP) OUT OF MY WAY!" once they reached the airport, Josee stormed her way inside, only to find a long line waiting in front of her "Well that's just (bleep) perfect, a line up is exactly what I don't want or need right now! WILL YOU HURRY UP AND GET US IN THE SKY, OTHERWISE SOMEONE IS GONNA DIE!"

"She didn't mean anything like that." Jacques let out a nervous chuckle as he noticed the airport security watching them and drawing their gear "She wouldn't really hurt anyone!"

"I'LL CRASH AS MANY PLANES WITH MY MIND AS I HAVE TO SO LONG AS THE OTHER TEAMS ARE ON BOARD!"

"...Oh yeah, this is going to suck." Jacques could only let out a sigh before the two of them got tackled by airport security.

All the while, Trent and Leshawna were at the front of the line, watching that whole scene go down "You know, I'm actually kind of surprised that hasn't happened sooner."

"No kidding, I just figured I was gonna be the one to do it." Leshawna commented dryly, and then she turned back to the ticket clerk in front of them "Don't worry about them, they're with us and she's just crazy, but she wouldn't actually hurt anyone. Probably. Anyway what's got them so worked up is that they're worried they won't get their favorite seats. You know, the ones at the very back of the plane. There a chance you could save those for them?" she was met with a thumbs up from the clerk, as well as two plane tickets "Great, thanks a lot. And I got us our tickets too."

"So it's more or less killing two birds with one stone. Nice." Trent then looked back to where the Ice Dancers were still dealing with security "You know, a part of me does feel kind of bad for them right now." there was a pause, and then the two of them burst out laughing.

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"All five of our remaining teams are now on the same flight headed for Argentina, but one of those teams almost wishes they weren't. The only thing is, I'm pretty sure no one feels remotely sorry for them."

"Oh sacre ceris!" Jacques was left trying to cover his nose in disgust amidst a small wave of green and yellow-colored gas "Suddenly it feels as though the Reality TV Pros had never left the race."

"You can thank those (bleep) Performers for that." Josee let out a violent hiss "They deliberately got the ticket guy into sticking us with the worst seats on the entire plane!"

"As horrible as this is, I'm honestly surprised we got on this plane at all."

"Why?"

"Why do you think? You were screaming about murdering people in the line and we almost got taken away by airport security. Frankly we're lucky we didn't end up in jail because of you, and that's just because Don bailed us out."

"Doesn't feel particularly lucky. For all we know, he probably just did it so he could make fun of us on national TV again."

"International actually, apparently this show is huge in Croatia. Anyway refresh my memory, how long is this flight to Buenos Aires supposed to be again?"

"A full 24 hours. Those Performers are gonna be the first ones to go down."

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Meanwhile, with the other teams…

"Well that's kind of a surprise." Carrie glanced over at Devin and noticed him holding a cup of hot tea in his hands "I don't think I've ever seen you drink tea before."

"Yeah just kind of tense I guess, and I figured, you know… why not tea?" Devin gave a nervous shrug "Just a lot of stuff weighing on me I guess."

"Really? Like what?"

"You know, the race and the million bucks, and the Ice Dancers probably trying to run us over with a bus or something… and some other… personal stuff that's been really freaking me out lately. But it's something I gotta deal with it, and today is the day that happens."

"Oh. Well good for you homie."

"Yeah. Anyway Carrie, there's something I want to tell you. I've actually wanted to tell you this for awhile now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The only thing is that I'm really nervous about it and-" that was when his cup of tea slipped out of his hand and spilled all over his crotch "Hot hot hot hot HOT!"

"Hold on!" acting on instinct, Carrie poured her cup of ice water onto Devin's crotch, which ended up creating a whole other problem.

"Cold cold cold cold COLD!" and then he rushed off towards the bathroom.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

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A few moments of drying off later…

"Well that could've gone better." Devin let out a sigh as he rubbed some paper towels across the wet spot of his pants "It's times like this I'm glad we're not on camera."

"First rule of entering a competition." this was when Jacques made his way over to him "You're always on camera, whether you know it or not. Why do you think Josee and I are always smiling and posing all the time?"

"Becuase you guys like it?"

"No. Well that's part of it, but it's mostly on her part. Frankly I got sick of it after while. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Have you told your mademoiselle of your feelings for her yet?"

"I started to, but then I- Wait, you know about that?"

"I overheard your… conversation… with the Surfers on the roof of the train car during the race in India."

"Oh. Huh."

"So what about it, have you told her yet?"

"Well I started to, but I got nervous and… it kind of led to this." he pointed to the wet patch on his crotch.

"...Uh huh."

"Nothing liek that I mean, it's just that I spilled some hot tea on my crotch and she threw a cup of ice water on it. It's different, but it's not exactly comforting."

"Ah. Fair enough. So are you gonna give up on telling her how you feel?"

"How can I? I mean I love her, and I figured that was gonna be enough to get us our happily ever after, but I never figured it was gonna turn out so messy. These things are so complicated."

"Tell me about it." Jacques grabbed two cups of coffee off a nearby tray, one of which he handed to Devin, and the two of them took their place in a nearby empty seat "Look, here's the thing with all of this-"

"I have to tell Carrie how I feel or the two of us will spend the rest of our lives wondering what might have been. That's what you're thinking right?" Devin glanced over at him "Trust me, I've been telling myself that just about every hour on the hour since I realized how I felt. Carrie has been my best friend literally since the day we met, and she's always been there for me, pushing me to keep going even at my lowest points. Now according to the Surfers, she's been in love with me all this time, and she's been keeping that inside for so long. Now I finally return those feelings, but if I don't tell her, it feels like I'm… betraying my closest friends. I don't know if that really makes sense, but that's what it feels like anyway."

"Love doesn't really make sense a lot of the time. It just exists. Perhaps we're not meant to truly understand it, just feel it and embrace it."

"That's… actually pretty deep. Anyway you don't have to say it Jacques, because I already know for myself. I have to tell her. Not just for my sake, but for hers too."

"Well in that case, all I can do is wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks." Devin took a long sip of his coffee, then looked back at Jacques "You know, you're not that bad of a guy, all things considered. So I have to ask…"

"Why do I go along with Josee being such a psychotic lunatic?" Jacques took a sip of his own coffee "It's a bit of a long story."

"This flight is 24 hours."

"Fair enough." Jacques breathed a sigh, and began his tale "In a lot of ways, our story is fairly similar to what you and Carrie share. The two of us were inseparable growing up, and we had the same dream: to become professional athletes. Eventually we found our way into the world of figure skating, working our way through the ranks. The big problem with that is that over the years, Josee began… different. She grew more desperate to show what she could do, blinded by ambition, by her thirst for fame and recognition, until she… you know…"

"Became what everyone sees her as now?"

"In a certain sense. She continued down that path until the opportunity finally presented itself to us: the chance to represent Canada in the Olympics. The day came, and we skated like we had never skated before… until it happened. I let the pressure get to me, and I ended up dropping her right as we were about to perform our grand finale. That cost us a gold medal, along with the reputation we had spent more than a decade developing. We ended up with silver, but I still believed that we could return home with our heads held high. I've never been more wrong about anything in my life."

"What… happened?"

"We were met with scorn, disdain, and worst of all, the mocking laughter. We gave everything we had for the pride of our country, but evidently that didn't mean anything without complete and total victory. At least, that's what Josee took away from that, and she's been living just about every day with that mindset ever since."

"So… that's why she-"

"Is a complete and utter psychotic lunatic who wants to win at any and all costs and will stop at nothing to ruin the lives of anyone that gets in her way? Yeah, pretty much."

"Wow, that uh… that's a lot. But then why do you go along with it?"

"I ask myself that question a lot more than I think. Two reasons come to mind mainly. One, I was the one who dropped her on her head in the Olympics, which cost us the gold medal."

"So you go along with all of the stuff she does because you feel like you owe her?"

"That's part of it. The other part is that… well, I signed us up for this race because I had hoped that getting her away from the scorn of our homeland, and we sort of saw winning the race as a chance to redeem ourselves. Evidently that hasn't worked out like I planned, and now she's worse than she ever was before. Even if we do win the race and the million dollars, now we'll likely be framed as monsters and cheaters when we return home, and any trace of the friend that I care so much for will likely be gone forever." Jacqued bowed his head in shame, then took a long sip of coffee as he pulled himself to his feet "Well I think that's all of the confession that I need for now. Anyway good luck with telling your best friend you're in love with her, I have to go and make sure that mine doesn't get us arrested again." and so he picked up his cup of coffee and went back to his seat.

"...Wow." Devin was left stunned in silence for a moment, until he finally turned back towards the camera "Suddenly my whole thing with Carrie doesn't seem so bad anymore."

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"After a flight lasting a full 24 hours, our finally five teams finally arrive in Buenos Aires, and the Goths are quick to grab an early lead."

"There's the Don Box." Ennui and Crimson were the first team to reach the Don Box, and the former was quick to push the button and grab a tip "It's an All In called Tango Takedown, likely a dance challenge."

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"As stated by Ennui, this is an All In challenge. In this case, each of our five teams will have to journey to the National Academy of Tango to learn and then performer this Argentinian dance, as famous as it is passionate. But a quick word of warning, make even one mistake and the team will be forced to start from the beginning. However, if they get a thumbs up from the local tango instructor whose name I never bothered to learn, then it's another race by taxi until they reach a local Argentinian ranch, where they'll find the Don Box parked outside and dressed like some kind of cowboy, containing their next tip. You know it's kind of weird, normally I hate it when they dress up the Don Boxes, but this one I love."

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During the cab ride to the academy…

"A tango challenge? Seriously, what's what they're going with?" Josee broke into a smile for the first time "The two of us are Ice Dancers for crying out loud, take away the ice and what are you left with?"

"Dancers." Jacques gave a grin of his own "This one I have a good feeling about."

"How could you not? At this point, they might as well just come over and hand us that million dollars on a gold platter."

"You mean a silver platter?"

"NEVER SILVER!"

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Meanwhile, with the rivals to the antagonists…

"I gotta be honest with you." Trent glanced over at Leshawna "This one challenge has me kind of worried."

"I don't see what the big deal is." Leshawna gave a shrug "You got some fly moves of your own, and I would know. I remember when we did that dance off back on Total Drama Action."

"I remember a lot of things from back then, mostly about me screwing things up with Gwen. I do remember that sure, it just isn't very high on my list."

"You at least remember my nickname right? Le-shakin' It."

"...Yeah, that part is definitely seared into my brain." Trent then looked over at the camera, his voice lowered to a whisper "And not in a good way."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

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Later, at the tango academy…

"We're here!" Devin and Carrie bolted into the academy alongside the other four teams, and the former gave a grin as an idea popped ino his head "We're doing the Tango huh? You know if I'm not mistaken, that's a pretty romantic dance."

"You're reeking of the air of trying too hard again." Ennui told him dryly.

"Sorry man, but when it comes to you, sometimes you just gotta go with it." Devin then walked a short distance away from the group and turned towards one of the cameras "My ex Shelley used to make me take these crazy hard dance lessons, and sure it was a lot of Saturdays that I'm never gonna get back, but we did get pretty good at the tango. There's always a dip included at the end of it, which is the perfect time to make my move. The grand gesture, the confession of love that's so romantic you could only find it in anime, the-"

"Yeah yeah the kiss, we get it." Leshawna cut him off dryly "It's about time. Seriously, what the hell is taking you long?"

"Hey give me a break, it's not that easy. How would you react if you were trying to tell your best friend that you're in love with them?"

"Probably about the same way I did." Geoff told him dryly "And trust me, looking like an idiot in front of the girl you're into is where I'm pretty much an expert."

"Yeah no offense Geoff, but you trying to prove yourself to your dream girl didn't end with you blinding yourself with pepper juice, getting hit in the crotch by a goat and falling off the roof of a moving train."

"Nope, but it did end with me getting a major ego boost in a bad way from hosting the aftermath, getting dumped on international TV and then electrocuted like three times."

"...Oh. Right."

"Yep. Anyway hang tight bro, gotta show em what we're made of." so Geoff made his way out onto the dance floor, and he and Bridgette lined up to take first crack at the challenge "Okay, you ready babe?"

"Ready when you are." Bridgette's gaze hardened with determination "Let's show them what we can do."

"On it, and… Go!" so the two of them started going through the motions, only for this to come to a screeching halt when Bridgette accidentally stepped on one of Geoff's toes, causing him to yelp in pain and earning a thumbs down from the judge.

"Step aside peons, and let the real champions show you how it's done." Josee and Jacques went up next, and with a dazzling display of grace and natural swiftness, they got through the dance with ease, earning a thumbs up and round of applause from the instructor, much to the dismay of the other teams "Good luck catching up, see you at the finish line after we claim the gold that's rightfully ours!" and so they bolted out of the academy.

"...Huh." Crimson and Ennui shared a look "Given the amount of time they spend boasting and sabotaging other teams, it's easy to forget they do have a certain degree of talent."

"It's not that surprising if you think about it." Bridgette glanced over at them "It's a dance-based challenge, and one of the teams has to be professional dancers. I don't like to boast, but if this was a surfing or water-based challenge, Geoff and I probably would've had the easiest time with it."

"The ease of the challenges varies depending on the types." Ennui pointed out "We've faired well in certain areas, but we have strengths and weaknesses, just like everyone else."

"I get that, but it is kind of frustrating, especially since we have to wait for the other teams to go before we get another try."

"Yep, because right now it's our turn." Trent stepped out onto the dance floor and immediately got pulled into the position by Leshawna "Look I know what you're thinking, we don't have the grace or years of experience like the Ice Dancers do, so-"

"So we gotta show them some serious energy. Stand back white boy, I'm gonna show em what I got!" so Leshawna stepped out and started going through her… unique set of dance moves that left the others in a stunned silence.

"...Yeah, that's pretty much what was afraid of." Trent looked around and noticed the other teams looking horrified, and the judge giving them a thumbs down as he looked away "That's about what I expected too. Well at least nobody got hurt."

"And go for the dip!" Leshawna moved into the spin as she hurtled towards Trent… only to end up landing on both him and the instructor.

"Spoke… too soon… ow."

"...Okay, so that happened I guess." Devin and Carrie went next, and the former was quick to take charge of it as they got into position "Alright listen up Carrie, I just need you to maintain eye contact with me and follow my lead."

"Sure thing homie, whatever you say." Carrie gave a slight smile "I'm in your hands."

"Alright, let's do this." so they took a few steps forward and he spun her around, rushed over to get a rose from a nearby vase, and then he caught her in the dip… only to accidentally headbutt her right in the face, knocking her to the ground and earning a thumbs down "Carrie, oh my god I'm so sorry!"

"Ouch." Geoff and the others could only cringe at the sight "Right in the sniffer too, that one's gotta hurt."

"Hang on, I'll get some tissues." Devin was quick to rush off, only to stop when he looked over and noticed one of the Goths holding out a box for him "Oh, thanks."

"That was painful to watch." Ennui told him dryly "And not in a good way."

"I'm really nervous right now, okay? And when I get nervous it ends up making me screw things up, which makes me even more nervous. It's a vicious cycle."

"As we mentioned previously, you reek of the air of trying too hard. Trying to overcompensate for something often results in further mistakes."

"So… I have to slow it down and take it easy, make it feel more natural?"

"If that's how you want to interpret it, then go ahead."

"Yeah… Yeah that sounds good, thanks."

"Don't thank me, just stand back and let us take our turn." so Ennui followed Crimson up to the front, and with a series of swift and graceful movements they managed to complete the challenge with ease, completing it with a dip and earning a thumbs up from the judge, and then the two of them went on their way.

"...Well good for them." Devin breathed a sigh as he looked over at the camera "I just wish that I could get through this as easily."

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Several failed attempts later (by all of the teams)…

"Okay, fifth time is the charm. One, two, three and dip!" after three more failed attempts, Geoff and Bridgette finally managed to finish the challenge without either one of them getting hurt, and this earned a thumbs up from the judge "Yes! Hey babe, you wanna go again? This is actually kind of fun."

"Save it for later, we've gotta go!" so Bridgette grabbed Geoff by the hand, and the two of them took off running out of the studio.

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunners…

"There's the Don Box!" by this point, Jacques and Josee had made their way to the ranch, and the former pulled a tip out of the Don Box just as the Goths pulled up onto the scene "It's another Botch or Watch, this one is called Ride em… Gaucho? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means."

"It's a term for an Argentinian cowboy." was Crimson's input as he team reached the Don Box and pulled out a tip.

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"For this Botch or Watch challenge, whichever member of each team that didn't play the ring toss game with the narwhals in the arctic will get to try their hand at horseback riding, and use a set of traditional boleadoras to tie up the emu designated for their team. Once they've managed to wrap up their emu, they will have to bring it by taxi to the Chill Zone for today's race, which we've located atop Mount Aconcagua in the Andes. But they had better hurry, because the last team to arrive may be cut from the race. I know I've said that a lot and very vaguely throughout the race, but keep in mind that there are 26 legs of this race, and we're on number 24. So call that something to take on board."

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"Back at the National Academy of Tango, the Best Friends may have suffered a minor setback, but they've come way too far to let something as small as a nosebleed stop them. Devin being a nervous wreck and major klutz, on the other hand…"

"Okay, now for the spin and…" Devin pulled Carrie towards him and spun her around… only for her to hit the ground with a loud thud and yelp of pain "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm pretty sure that makes six." Leshawna shared a glance with Trent "Yeah not gonna lie, this is getting kind of hard to watch."

"Any chance any of you guys have more tissues?" Devin was met with various shrugs, and so he rushed off to the nearest bathroom, glancing over at the camera as he did so "Okay seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I can't think of anyone else in the world who had this much trouble trying to tell their best friend they're in love with them. Seriously, what I wouldn't give to have the kind of confidence of the people in Boy Meets World. But it's true, Carrie is the Topanga to my Cory, and I'm the idiot who took so long to realize it. I've gotta figure this out, or us and the race might be done for."

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Meanwhile, with the only other remaining team…

"Okay, let's give this one more shot." Trent lined up once more with Leshawna "We both know the moves, so this time let's try slowing it down a little bit. Sound good?"

"Works for me." Leshawna gave a nod "Now let's show them what we're made of."

"Got it." so the two of them clasped hands together and started going through the dance moves, until they got to the spin.

"Go time, now let's do this!" Leshawana pulled Trent into the spin… only for him to spin too hard and fast and crash into a wall "Sorry! You okay?"

"I've had worse… but ow… and maybe a little less power on the spin…"

"Duly noted. You wanna give it another shot?"

"Not yet, I'm just… gonna lie here for a minute until the pain dies down."

"If it makes you feel any better, we gotta wait until the Best Friends go up again, so you might get some company down there."

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Meanwhile, at the ranch…

"Okay, so refresh my memory." Jacques glanced over at Josee as he pulled out a bottle filled with vegetable oil "Assuming that I agreed with your plan to use vegetable oil to sabotage one of the other teams, why go after the Surfers? I thought the Goths were the ones that you hated the most right now."

"Actually they're second, the Performers are at the top of the list." Josee told him flatly, then gave a devious smirk "But I want to see the looks on their faces when I rip the gold away from their filthy hands."

"Okay, assuming I agree with that, what about the Goths?"

"They're right over there, if you do anything to their emu they'd see it."

"And you have a problem with that?"

"Of course not, but that means their demon bunny would see it too and I have no interest in that thing trying to shove its claws through my throat!"

"...Okay, that one I do agree with. That creature is seriously unsettling."

"Exactly. And before you get into some whole spiel about the Best Friends or the Surfers being the target, I'm just gonna save you the trouble. I took your logical approach into account, and frankly they're one of the… more worthy opponents… that we've faced. I hate having to admit that, but I'm making a point. Now get out there and do it already!"

"Alright alright, I'm going." so with a sigh, Jacques made his way over to the Surfers' emu and squired vegetable oil all over its back, startling it and causing it to shake some all over his uniform before it ran away "There, it's done."

"Oh no how terrible, you accidentally got vegetable oil all over the Surfers' emu. I can only imagine how terrible this will be, I just hope it doesn't make the challenge harder for them. Now let's drop the guilty act and go, we've got work to do."

"And by we you mean me?"

"Yep."

"Just checking." so Jacques moved over towards one of the horses… only to slip on some of the oil and crash to the ground "Ow."

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Meanwhile, at the dance academy…

"Okay easy, just one more second… Now!" pacing himself carefully, Trent caught Leshawna and dipped her, earning a thumbs up from the instructor "Yes, now let's go!" and then the two of them took off running, leaving Carrie and Devin as the only team left to get through the dance challenge.

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During the cabride to the ranch…

"Okay, so far so good." Trent looked out the window as they made their way to the ranch in their cab, only to look over and notice Leshawna brooding "And I'm gonna go ahead and guess that you don't feel the same way."

"More pissy about the Ice Dancers being in the lead than anything else." Leshawna breathed a sigh of frustration "Like hell they're gonna win after all the crap they've pulled."

"Believe me I get it, it's like with Heather back on Total Drama Island. They get what they deserve eventually. It's basically the rule of karma."

"You actually believe in that superstition stuff?"

"I don't really think much about it, I'm just basing it on history. Heather got hers in Total Drama Island, Courtney got hers in Action, Blaineley and Alejandro got theirs in World Tour, and even that one farm boy in Revenge of the Island."

"You actually watched that? I said (bleep) to that (bleep) after they lured us onto that yacht and just dumped us like it was nothing."

"I only watched to see the others make their cameo appearances, then I kind of got hooked on the season from there. Anyway, the point is that if the law of averages is anything to go by, they're gonna get theirs sooner or later. We just have to keep on fighting until that happens, and then we can claim the winnings."

"...You know I never pictured you as the kind of guy to bring up the law of averages or anything like that."

"I get straight A's, I don't know why people forget about that so easily."

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Meanwhile, at the ranch…

"Alright, now let's do this." Geoff pulled out a tip from the Don Box and looked over towards where Bridgette was petting their team's horse "We got another Botch or Watch, this one is on you babe."

"Got it, so which emu do we have to go after?"

"I think it's the one over there." Geoff pointed to where an emu stood a short distance away… and was covered by vegetable oil "Hey babe?"

"Yeah?"

"I know I'm not Einstein or anything when it comes to animals, but are emus supposed to be covered in some kind of tanning oil?"

"No babe, no they are not."

"Oh my, whatever happened to your emu?" Josee let out an evil cackle from where she was placed next to Jacque's horse, earning a series of glares from Geoff and Bridgette.

"And suddenly it makes a lot more sense."

"Why whatever do you mean? What makes you think we did it?"

"Yes, come back when you have some proof of such a claim." and then Jacques slid off the back of his horse because of the oil.

"...That evidence is circumstantial at best. But we had plenty of time to think about such things during the flight here with those seats by the bathroom, and you can't convince me that you two didn't laugh at us back there the whole time."

"It's a little bit of something called Karma, and as long as I have a say in it, there's gonna be a lot more coming your way." Bridgette was quick to mount her horse and take off chasing down her team's emu.

"Nice, I like it what Bridge gets feisty." Geoff gave a grin as he looked at the camera "It's kind of scary, but at the same time it's actually pretty hot too."

It was at this moment that Leshawna and Trent showed up on the scene, and the former pulled out a tip from the Don Box "It's a Botch or Watch, this one is on me."

"So what do you have to do?" asked Trent.

"Catch an emu while I'm riding a horse, this ain't gonna be a problem."

"You sure about that? I'm pretty sure that the closest either of us have come to horseback riding is the challenge in Transylvania, or that one cowboy challenge from Total Drama Action." he cringed at the memories "Not my finest hour, for a few reasons."

"Hey I was in that too, and keep in mind that I've gotten through a mechanical bull and a moose before."

"But taking on the real bull didn't end so well."

"Yeah well this ain't a bull, it's a horse. I've got this. Now charge!" so Leshawna mounted her horse and tried to make it move… except it wouldn't budge "Giddy up?" still nothing "Come on dude, we've gotta go if we're gonna beat them!" nothing "Please?" nothing "Yip yip?" and that got the horse's eyes to snap open as it took off running around wildly.

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Meanwhile, with the sabotage victims…

"Okay, here goes nothing." riding on the back of her horse, Bridgette threw her boleadoras at her team's emu… only for them to slide right off because of the oil, causing the emu to get scared off in the process "Okay, this may be a little bit harder than I thought."

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"While the Surfers find themselves in a slipper situation, and the Performers are beginning to catch up, the Best Friends have yet to make their way out of the academy, given that they're being forced to dance like no one is watching. Because everybody got tired of this gag by this point."

"Oh come on!" by this point, Devin was getting considerably frustrated "We've done this like a dozen times already, so why can I still not get this right?"

"I don't know, but I've got a better question." Carrie looked up at him from where she now lay sprawled out on the ground "Even if we keep getting this wrong, is there a way to get it wrong that doesn't involve hurting me?"

"Look I'm sorry, but I know to do this. I just need you to bare with me for now. Shelly used to make me-"

"I don't care about what Shelley used to do alright?!" Carrie finally ran out of patience as she bolted to her feet "No more following your lead, now we're doing this my way!"

"...Yeah okay, works for me."

"Good, now come on." and so with Carrie taking charge, the two of them slowly made their way through the steps of the Tango, up to the point where she got pulled into the spin.

"Okay, just a little bit more and… now!" Devin managed to dip her just in f time, which earned the two of them a shrug and a thumbs up from the instructor "Yes!" he pumped both of his fists in triumph… only to end up dropping Carrie again.

"OW!"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Again."

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"On the one hand, the Best Friends have finally completed the dance challenge, albeit at the cost of a fair amount of blood loss, and are moving to make up for lost time. On the other hand, some of the teams find themselves struggling with the Botch or Watch."

"Come on, come on…" Bridgette tried once again to wrap up her emu with her boleadoras, only for them to slip off because of the oil "Oh come on!"

"So slippery… must hold on… and it's not working!" Jacques on the other hand was trying to hold onto his horse, but the oil made that pretty much impossible, and he slipped off and hit the ground with a loud thud.

"How do you work this thing?!" as for Leshawna, she was trying to get a grip on the horse now that it was running around like mad… only for that to fail and for her to get sent crashing into the fence, and then through the fence "I imagined that going differently. Also, OW!"

Crimson on the other hand, she just stopped Leshawna's horse with a death glare as she threw her boleadoras at her emu, trapping it with ease "There, now let's go!" and so she and Ennui, with Loki tucked into the latter's shirt, quickly grabbed hold of their emu and rushed off to grab a taxi.

"We're here!" it was at this point that Devin and Carrie finally arrived on the scene and reached the Don Box "So what do we have to- Woah."

"Come on already!" Bridgette threw her boleadoras at the emu, only for it to duck and run away from her "Seriously?!"

"I have you now!" Jacques moved to captura his own emu… only for his boleadoras to get stuck on his face, knocking him off his horse in the process "I hate this stupid oil!"

"Would it kill you to pick up the pace!" Josee snapped at him from the sidelines.

"Hey in case you didn't notice, this plan was your idea!"

"...Okay then, I think I'm on this one." Devin promptly hopped onto the back of his horse, his appearance glistening in the sunlight, akin to a knight in shining armor.

At least, that's how Carrie was quick to interpret things when she laid eyes on him, a dreamy smile spreading across her face "Wow…"

"Carrie? Hey Carrie!"

"Huh?" and then she snapped out of her stupor "Sorry what?"

"Lokk before I get started on the challenge, I just wanna say that I'm really sorry about what happened at the academy, you know with the whole tango thing. And dropping or hurting you about 27 times."

"Oh. Forget about that right now, we have to catch up to the other teams!" she slapped the horse on the ass, only for it to kick her in the face and take off running.

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Meanwhile, at the Chill Zone…

"Looks like we have the winner for today, as the frontrunner team races towards the Chill Zone area." Don looked ahead and watched as the Goths raced onto the Carpet of Complete, with their emu in tow "And just like that we have a winner, first place goes to the Goths."

"Yay." Crimson promptly removed the boleadoras from the emu and let it go free, then turned to where Ennui had his forehead pressed against Loki's "You chose to link with him."

"He had a request he wanted to convey." Ennui told her without looking at her.

"What did he say?"

"Given our victory, he wants to celebrate by tasting some Argentinian red meat. Assuming that it wouldn't violate the rules in any way."

"Don't leave the country." Don told him flatly "And if you wanna try the red meat, I found a little place in the airport when I was filing the instruction videos. Just keep in mind that whatever you guys do is on the show's budget, so don't go crazy with the spending."

"Fair enough." and so the three of them made their way out of the Chill Zone.

"And then there was one." Don turned back towards the camera "That is to say, one team that's now one step closer to our grand prize of one million dollars, while the remaining four teams are still fighting against each other to avoid elimination."

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Meanwihle, at the ranch…

"This isn't working." Bridgette glanced over at Geoff as she stepped down from her horse "The boleadoras won't stay on the emu, the Ice Dancers made it too greasy."

"Hang tight babe, I'm gonna think of something." Geoff assured her "Just keep at it until I get the brain power working."

"Alright, I'll give it another shot." so Bridgette threw her boleadoras at her emu… only for it to slide off, and the emu to blow a raspberry at her.

"Hey watch it bird, nobody makes fun of my girl like that!" so Geoff charged at the emu in a rage… only to send both of them sliding down a nearby slope, much to Bridgette's horror.

"GEOFF!"

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Meanwhile, with the other straggler teams…

"Come on horse, yip yip to the extreme!" Leshawna pulled the reins on her horse as she chased after her team's emu "I guess all it takes to get a grip on you is a little practice, and now we're gonna show em what we're made of!"

"This isn't working!" Jacques on the other hand was struggling with his ow issues, mainly the vegetable oil covering his hands and uniform "My shirt refuses to absorb the oil, it's the only downfall of polyester!" he was met with a raised eyebrow from Leshawna.

"...Seriously?"

"What? Polyester is the only fabric in the world that moves as beautifully as Josee and I do when we perform."

"And again I say, seriously?"

"Oh come on, you try doing a triple lutz while wearing a uniform made of cotton. It's about as probable as the Boruto anime letting up on the filler."

"...Say what?"

"Anime, just take my word for it. Anyway I don't have time to explain anime to you, I need to find something to absorb the oil off my hands or I'll never be able to…" he paused as he looked over at Josee, and with a sigh of resignation he made his decision… he ran his hands through his hair, cleaning them while leaving his hair covered in oil "And now, my hands are dry."

"Oh dear god." Josee let out a gasp from her place on the sidelines "You actually sacrificed your hair just so we could-"

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to get this over with." so Jacques turned towards the emu and threw a single shot at it with his boleadoras, binding its legs in one go "Done."

"YES!" Josee bolted towards Jacques and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug "You're my hero! You're everyone's hero!" and then the oil on his uniform caused her to slip and hit the ground with a thud "Ow."

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Meanwhile, with another straggler team…

"Hold it you ostrich reject!" in one swift movement, Leshawna threw her boleadoras at her emu and managed to bind it, leaving it sitting on the ground as she dismounted her horse with a look of triumph "Nice try birdie, you've got the right to be rotisserie!"

"Do people even eat emus?" Trent shot her a raised eyebrow as he made his way over.

"No idea, but it kinda felt like the right thing to say. Don't really know why. Anyway let's go, we gotta get this thing into a cab and beat the Ice Dancers."

"Got it." so the two of them grabbed hold of their emu and took off running.

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"Now two teams are in a race to claim second place, but in the case of the Surfers, things are still going downhill way too fast too not be funny. And I mean that literally too."

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Geoff and the emu ended up sliding all the way down the slope, until they ended up slamming into a tree "Ow… Hey cool, we're both still alive." then he turned to the emu "Any chance you're gonna wanna do that one more time?" he was met with a glare from the emu "I'm gonna take that as a no. Now how do we get back up to the top?"

"LOOK OUT!" this was when Bridgette suddenly came sliding down the mountain, and ended up slamming into Geoff, sending both of them crashing to the ground.

"Bridge what the hell are you doing down here?"

"Are you kidding? I just saw my boyfriend hurtle down a mountain, how could I not freak out after that? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine babe, really I am." the two of them shared a quick embrace "We're probably gonna be screwed though."

"Don't say that yet, we just have to find a way back up to the top."

"Plus we've gotta carry the bird, and it smells like something that crawled out of Chef's fridge and died." that ended up getting the emu to bolt to its feet and start snarling at them, sending the two of them running away screaming "I didn't know these things were so sensitive! I didn't think I was gonna hurt its feelings or anything!"

"There's also the fact that you hurled it down a mountain!"

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Meanwhile, with the other straggler team…

"Come on, come on!" Devin threw his boleadoras at his team's emu, only for the emu to duck and avoid it, much to his dismay "For crying out loud! Come on Devin, you gotta get your head in the game.

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Meanwhile, at the Chill Zone…

"And here they come now!" Don watched with anticipation as two taxis pulled up not far from the Chill Zone "The next two teams are racing into the Chill Zone area, it's the Performers and the Ice Dancers in a foot race to the finish line! Looks like the Performers have it, no wait it's the Ice Dancers take it, but then the Performers pull ahead of them again! Which one of them is it going to be?"

"Get out… OF OUR WAY!" Josee and Jacques managed to bolt onto the carpet a split second ahead of Trent and Leshawna.

"And just like that the Ice Dancers take it, they really made it… in second place."

"...What?"

"The Goths made it here awhile ago, and now they're off sampling the local cuisine, so that leaves the two of you in second place. Or would be if it wasn't for the fact that you've earned a 20-minute penalty."

"What?! You've gotta be kidding me, what the hell did we do this time?"

"What do you think? Did you really believe we wouldn't notice that you dowsed the Surfers' emu in oil? Or the fact that your partner has it all over his clothes? And his hair?"

"A sacrifice that I had to make." Jacques bowed his head in resignation.

"Anyway just go stand over to the side, I'll let you know when your penalty is up. Or not. I'm fun like that." Don was met with angry snarling as the two of them complied.

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"One team is waiting for their penalty to end, while two are now one step closer to the million dollar prize, while the other two teams are engaged in a last ditch battle to avoid elimination."

"Come on Devin, you can do it!" stuck on the sidelines during the Botch or Watch, Carrie was able to do little more than watch Devin struggle, but that didn't stop her from trying her best to encourage him, until a horrible realization dawned on her "Wait, where did Geoff and Bridgette go? Oh no, don't tell me that we're in last place. Come on Devin, you have to hurry!"

"Alright, enough is enough! I'm ending this right here, and right NOW!" with all of the focus and strength he could muster, Devin threw his boleadoras at his emu as it tried to rush past him, catching it and sending screeching to a halt… right in a large puddle of mud, which also ended up splashing Carrie in the process "Oops. Sorry homie."

"Forget about me!" Carrie spat out some mud "Just grab the bird!"

"I got it!" Devin launched himself forward and grabbed hold of the bird "Yes, thank the great god above it's finally over! Wait, we're not in last place are we?"

"Yeah, I think that means we're done." Carrie let out a sigh of resignation as she wiped away some of the mud "Come on, let's just go and get eliminated already."

"...You know what? No."

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean if we are in last place, then I don't see any point in holding this off any longer than I have already." Devin took a deep breath, and then poured his heart out to her "Carrie, I need to tell you that… I'm in love with you. Like really, really in love with you." that was enough to leave her frozen in shock.

"Wh… What?"

"And I know you're in love with me too. Or, you were before Vegas. I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am that it took me so long to see how great you are, how amazing you are in every sense of the word. You're the most important person in my life, you always have been, and somewhere along the way I guess I lost sight of that. But then in Vegas I almost lost you, and it was kind of the kick in the pants I needed to make me see what I really wanted. I know that I probably don't deserve it after everything I put you through, but if there's any chance at all that you feel the same way about me then-" Devin was cut off by Carrie giving him a sweet smile as she placed her hands in his, and then the two of them closed their eyes and leaned forward, and their lips finally connected, her hands wrapping around his neck and his arms moving around her waist… Unfortunately, this moment was quickly ruined by the sight of Geoff and Bridgette both running past them and screaming in terror as they were chased by their emu "Was that-?"

"Bridgette and Geoff? Yes, that means we're still in the race!" she broke off from the embrace, but still gave Devin a kiss on the cheek "Okay grab the bird, we've gotta go!"

"Right!" so the two of them grabbed hold of their bird and took off running.

"Wait, are they leaving?!" Bridgette and Geoff were quick to take notice of this from where they were perched on a high tree branch "Great, at this rate we're going to lose for sure."

"Not on my watch, just hold the ball things and hang tight babe!" Geoff braced himself, then suddenly leapt out of the tree and down onto the emu's back.

"Geoff are you cray, what the heck are you doing?!"

"I've got goals for us, and we've come way too far to screw it up now!" Geoff tightened his hold on the emu, even as it started biting him on the ass, causing him to scream in pain "Tie the thing up before my butt starts bleeding!"

"I'm on it!" Bridgette leapt down from the tree and threw the boleadoras, trying the emu up… and tying Geoff up along with it "Are you okay?"

"Babe this is nothing compared to getting the crap beaten out of me by beavers, I'm fine. Now let's move it!" and so the two of them bolted until they reached the side of the road, where they found the Best Friends waiting "So are you guys…?"

"Yep, we're official!" Carrie gave a broad smile as she locked hands with Devin.

"As much as I want to rejoice and congratulate you two, we are in a race so…"

"May the best team win."

"And we will, I just got us a ride!" Devin grabbed Carrie by the hand and ushered her into a taxi, which then took off, earning him a peck on the cheek as they took off "There's gonna be another taxi coming up, whatever you do don't let them pass us!"

"Here comes another one, taxi!" Geoff and Bridgette were quick to hail another taxi and hop in, and they took off after the Best Friends "Follow that cab, and no matter what happens don't lose them!"

"The last two teams are on their way to the Chill Zone, and they're going to have to put their friendship and sisterhood aside in order to win. That especially goes if they want to make it before the Ice Dancers' penalty expires."

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At the Chill Zone…

"Okay seriously, this is ridiculous!" Josee was still fuming as she and Jacques stood off to the side of the Carpet of Completion "Surely our penalty has to be up right now."

"You would definitely like that wouldn't you? And here they come." Don's grin only grew wider as he pointed to where two cabs pulled up a short distance away "This is definitely going to be another close one.

"FOR TRUE LOVE!" the Best Friends and the Surfers all disembarked with their emus and started rushing towards the Chill Zone, the tension and anticipation growing higher by the second, just as the buzzer sounded, prompting the Ice Dancers to bolt onto the carpet.

"Your penalty is over, third place goes to the Ice Dancers, and fourth place goes to…" Don took a pause as the last team bolted onto the carpet a split second before the other "The Surfers! Nice work, you're still in this thing!"

"YES!" Geoff pumped a fist in triumph… or he would've if not for the fact that he was still tied to the emu "Hey uh, not to ruin the mood but can one of you guys untie me? I can't really feel anything below my head right now."

"I'm on it." Bridgette quickly removed the boleadoras, allowing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"Thanks babe. Also, ow."
"Speaking of things that hurt…" Don then turend to the best friends, his expression and the mood turning solemn "Devin. Carrie. You've both raced long and hard, and you've overcome a number of difficult obstacles up until now, both physical and emotional. As much as it pains me to say this, and I'm sure pains the fanbase, as the last team to arrive, you've been cut from the competition."

"Yeah, that's about what we expected." Devin breathed a sigh, then gave a small smile as he took notice of Carrie slipping her hand into his "Still, making it to the final five is something to be proud of, right?"

"Absolutely." Carrie gave him a smile of her own and a kiss on the cheek "So I guess this is the part where we say our goodbyes. Thanks for the opportunity to race Don, it was a lot of fun to do this."

"It was a pleasure to have you both." Don gave a nod "Though as touching as the goodbyes are, I'll have to ask you to keep it brief. We are on a schedule, and I do have to close out the episode before long."

"Got it." Devin then turned to where the Goths were coming back onto the scene, a basket of red meat in hand "Hey."

"You were eliminated weren't you?" Ennui and Crimson gave them blank stares.

"Yeah, but Carrie and I are finally together. I wanted to thank you for that, you really were a big help with it."

"What you did was your own, don't put all of these positive emotions on us. It makes us really uncomfortable." the two of them started walking away, but then Ennui stopped and turned back to them "Enjoy the time you share together. It's well earned."

"Thanks. For everything." Devin then turned to the Ice Dancers, Jacques in particular "Part of me wants to say good luck and I hope you do well, but…"

"Obvious reasons, I already know." Jacques breathed a sigh, his voice low enough that Josee couldn't hear him "Honestly, all I really hope for is the chance to end our run in this race with a bit of honor."

"Good luck with that."

"The same with your newfound relationship."

"Thanks. Carrie?"

"One sec." Carrie turned over to Trent and Leshawna, the former in particular "Good luck to the both of you, and… I wanted to say thanks. You said a lot of things I needed to hear."

"I was just speaking from experience." Trent gave a shrug "Just wanted to make sure that you don't make the same mistakes that I did."

"Believe me, I won't. Or I'll try not to at least. But good luck to both of you."

"Take care out there girlfriend." Leshawna pulled Carrie into a tight hug "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have said no to you guys winning if we ended up losing."

"That does mean a lot coming from you." Carrie then turned her attention to the last team, that being the Surfers "So, I guess this is it then."

"Yep, we're gonna miss having you around Car." Geoff pulled her into a quick hug "Just take care of each other, and we'll see you guys when the race is done."

"Got it. And Bridge?" Carrie pulled Bridgette into a tight hug "Make sure to take care with the rest of the race. Devin and I will be rooting for you the whole time."

"No doubt in my mind about that." Bridgette was quick to return the hug "Just make sure to take care of each other until we get back."

"Sure thing. See you at the finish line." Carrie then made her way over to Devin "Well, I guess it's time. Shall we?"

"Let's go home." Devin held out his hand to Carrie, to which she laid her palm in his, and the two of them took their leave of the scene.

"And hat's the end of that." Don looked over at the final four teams, then turned to the camera to sign off "The Best Friends are officially out of the running, and now we're down to four teams still vying for our grand prize of one million dollars. Who's going to win it all? There's only one way to find out, and it's to keep on watching… the Ridonculous Race!"

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Now for the losing team's outro…

"So that's the end of it." by this point, Carrie and Devin sat on the edge of a cliff hand in hand, overlooking the sunset in the skies above Argentina "You know it was a super hard race, but you were my hero the whole time."

"Are you kidding?" Devin let out a chuckle "I would've fallen apart so many times during this race if it wasn't for you. As far as I'm concerned, you were the hero in this whole thing. I meant what I said before Carrie, you're amazing. I love you."

"I love you too Devin, I always will."

"And thank god for that. So we should probably head back to the airport, get ready and book a flight home."

"I know, but… let's stay here for just a little bit longer, and enjoy the moment."

"Yeah… Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me." Devin pulled Carrie closer to him, and the two of them shared a kiss amidst the setting sun.

A/N:

Well here we are everybody, the last chapter before we get to the two part grand finale. This one has been a long time coming. Honestly, it feels like yesterday that I put out the first chapter of this story, but it's been a big part of my life for more than a year, and now that's almost over… it's kind of sad for me. But we're not done with this story yet, and after this I still have From CIT to All Star to do. Expect that to come out sometime in the next few months. I just can't confirm when exactly it's going to be.

On another note, one interaction I think is really worthwhile is the talk between Devin and Jacques on the plane. Aside from giving Devin some extra reassurance regarding his struggles to reveal his feelings for Carrie, it also dives into my take on Jacque's motivations during this race. Just something to take on board.

Oh and for those of you who noticed, I couldn't resist bringing up Leshawna's ever so famous dancing skills from Action and World Tour. Probably not that significant given everything else in this chapter, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyway moving on from that, I think you've all noticed by now, this is where the Best Friends finally ended their run in the face. I knew going into this that they at least had to make it to this episode, for the sake of their character arc playing out the way it was supposed to. Of course they do still go through a fair bit of grief and physical strife, but they get their happy ending, and this time, Devin doesn't get hurled off a cliff. That's the main reason why I chose to make the Darjeeling episode a non-elimination round, since I couldn't get rid of any of the teams just yet, and this way I wouldn't run the risk of having a team eliminated just to bring another one back. But now the Best Friends are out, the last ones to be eliminated before the two part grand finale, and they leave on a high note. Next we go into the first part of the finale, and things are gonna get hectic.

Rankings:

Goths- 1st

Performers- 2nd

Ice Dancers- 3rd

Surfers- 4th

Elimination order:

Best Friends- 5th

Sisters- 6th

Rockers- 7th

Reality TV Pros- 8th

Brains & Brawn- 9th

Father & Son- 10th

Stepbrothers- 11th

Adversity Twins- 12th

Mother & Daughter- 13th

Fashion Bloggers- 14th

Vegans - 15th

Geniuses - 16th

Tennis Rivals 17th

LARPers - 18th