The screen showed a video titled "Q&A with the finalists of Total Drama Action," uploaded on Metube by the official channel of Celebrity Manhunt. It was paused on the first frame, which showed smiling Emma and Damien with an unamused MK sitting between them. While Damien was still rocking the same look as always, the two girls had different fits.

Emma's was still quite similar, with a pink sweater replacing her old orange one. Her hair now being in a bun instead of a ponytail, held up by a hairband that matched with the rest of her outfit. The short girl sported a completely new look, consisting of an oversized red sweater with baggy jeans and a matching bucket hat, that replaced her iconic beanie. From beneath her sweater, a white collar was peeking in.

A cursor hovered over the video, to turn on the "full-screen" mode, before unpausing it. Immediately, with a bright smile on her face, Emma waved at the camera, visibly turning on her "kid-friendly influencer" mode.

Emma: Hi! I'm Emma, and you can know me from MY channel "1 Girl and a Suburban House" or from Total Drama. Today, I am here with Damien-!

The boy sent a charming, although slightly awkward, smile.

Damien: Yo!

Emma: -And MK!

The dark-haired girl slightly raised her hand and formed a feeble smile on her face, which disappeared almost instantly.

MK: Present.

Emma: As you guys know, Total Drama Action got quite a few nominations for this year's Gemmie Awards! Because of that, we have been invited by the lovely people at Celebrity Manhunt, to film this fun, little Q&A for you!

The girl spoke with a level of enthusiasm and energy that only a content creator like her could have. An attempt to match her energy was made by Damien, who immediately chimed in, as the girl finished her piece.

Damien: And don't forget! Tune in on Saturday-!

MK: Friday.

Damien: Tune in on Friday, to watch the big finale of Total Drama Action, when one of us will take the big prize home!

MK: As if everyone and their mothers haven't seen the leaks. - The other two groaned in annoyance, as the girl just shrugged. - Why are you booing me and not Julia, who revealed like half of the boot order?

Emma: MK, can you stop for a moment with this negative energy? Just try to enjoy yourself for like 10 minutes to record this video.

MK: I'm enjoying annoying you two, not gonna lie.

MK grinned smugly, as irritated Emma just threw her hands in defeat. That exchange was quickly followed by a transition to the Celebrity Manhunt logo. After a few seconds, the video went back to the trio, MK now having an obviously fake smile plastered on her face. The voice of a producer could be heard from behind the camera, asking the finalists their first question.

Producer: We will start with something fun - Marry, Kiss, Kill. Wayne, Axel, and Nichelle.

Emma opened her mouth, ready to say something, but before she could, MK made a dramatically depressed face at the camera.

MK: B-B-But how could we pick who to kill? They're all our friends, and we all looove them sooo dearly! Sigh, I guess, if I have to pick, then Axel, but I adore and respect her.

The third placer made a heart with her hands that she put on her chest. Damien rolled his eyes, visibly over the short girl, while Emma managed to keep a bright, "professional" smile on her face.

Emma: Yeah, what MK said! - The short girl broke her character for a moment, as she was now the one rolling her eyes. - Obviously, there was some conflict and arguments during the filming, but it was all due to stress, and none of us had any ill will towards each other! It's a hard decision, but… I will pick Wayne.

Her castmates were surprised by this decision, as they turned their heads to stare at her.

Damien: Wayne?! Really?

The blonde girl nodded.

Emma: It's a hard decision! Me and him already made four videos of us reading "Waymma" fanfics, and we agreed we're not doing another. I am not giving shippers any more material to work with, I'm sorry.

The boy nodded, following along with the girl's way of thinking. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck while thinking about his choice.

Damien: Dang, yeah, it is tough… She's my homie, but I've got to pick Axel. You guys should know that she recently, publicly came out as a lesbian, so it wouldn't feel right to marry or kiss her in this hypothetical scenario.

MK: So you're suggesting it's okay to kill her in this scenario?

She smirked at the boy, all while an expression of pure annoyance formed on his face.

Damien: Can you not question my stupid decisions for this stupid game?

Feeling the atmosphere slowly becoming tense, Emma loudly cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the others.

Emma: Uh… Well… I would pick to kiss Axel and marry Nichelle. Nichelle is famous, pretty, kind, and rich, so yeah!

MK nodded before making an exaggerated, cute face at the camera.

MK: Yeah! Both of them are sooo amazing, fantastic, and beautiful, and… Amazing-

Damien: Someone ran out of nice things to say.

The boy muttered, gaining a chuckle from Emma and a passive-aggressive smile from MK, who eventually continued with her monologue.

MK: …As I was saying, I agree with Emma. I too would marry Nichelle, because of everything that Emma said, and, because Nich is also my best friend, and unlike certain people, I wouldn't kill my bestie just, because some people write fanfics about us.

She looked in the other girl's direction, but the blonde refused to give her any reaction. Instead, she just opted for a polite smile before turning to Damien.

Emma: And your choice?

Damien: …Yeah, I agree. Kiss Wayne, Marry Nichelle. She will be very happy knowing we all said that. - The boy nudged MK, much to the girl's confusion. - Especially that you did, right?

For a moment, MK looked agitated, but she quickly calmed herself down and took a lesson from Emma's book, just sending a seemingly polite yet threatening smile to the boy.

MK: … Can we get to the next question, please?

Although the request was clearly directed at the producer, the girl said it without breaking eye contact with Damien, who himself just chuckled. This was all enough, however, for Emma to loudly groan with annoyance.

Emma: Okay, enough! Can you guys stop antagonizing each other for a moment?!

Damien: But-

Emma: I don't care! - The girl threw her hands, clearly frustrated with her co-stars. - Let's finish this stupid video and go back to only sending each other "Merry Christmas" messages or whatever. Also! - She dramatically turned towards MK. - Stop. With this fake positivity.

MK: Bu-

Emma: I know what I said! - The blonde girl yelled, interrupting MK's protest. - Don't be a Debbie Downer and don't increase my blood sugar level, okay? Thank you.

The influencer sighed, calming herself down, while both MK and Damien just sat in silence for a few seconds before the boy spoke out.

Damien: You're going to cut out this part, right?

Producer: Oh yeah, don't worry! - The boy sighed with relief. - Okay, now let's start with the actual questions! MK, this one is specifically for you: Nichelle's last movie FLOPPED big time.

The short girl chuckled awkwardly, visibly uncomfortable, as she shifted in her seat.

MK: Oh, well-

Producer: It didn't even make 1/4th of the initial budget! Rumors are circulating that it put a big dent in her bank account, causing memes like the viral "Nichelle Poor". Many even gossip that you were the one who convinced her to not only star in it but also finance it. Any words on that?

Emma slightly giggled, her amusement quickly fading as she noticed the shorter girl staring daggers at her. MK herself took a moment before answering the question.

MK: Well… I'm just an assistant! I bring her coffee, schedule dentist appointments, and stuff like that. I can't-

Producer: But you're also her friend, right? Or well, if to believe the other rumors-

Before the rest of the sentence could have been finished, Damien loudly cleared his throat.

Damien: Ekhem, next question, please?

Producer: … Alright. - She said with disappointment. Damien looked over at MK, who sent him a smile of gratitude. - So Damien, how does it feel to know that most viewers do not care about your relationship with Priya? Most of them even continue "shipping" you with Lauren, and you're the only couple this season who didn't get the nomination for the "best showmance" category?

A hint of pettiness could be heard in the woman's voice, the question clearly being this detailed to Damien's interruption of MK's question. Despite this, the boy gave no strong reaction other than just a shrug.

Damien: What can I say? Me and Priya got together in the mid-season break, and our drama around me losing the idol wasn't all that compared to Julia and Wayne. I guess our love just wasn't for cameras.

Producer: Awww, how sweet! Moving on. Emma-

Emma: No, I did not get back with Chase. No, I do not have a boyfriend. Yes, I am focusing on my channel and the university. Thank you.

The blonde girl sent a wide smile to the camera, clearly as a way to hide her already being over the interview. This was seemingly picked up by the producer, whose silent sigh must have been caught by one of the offscreen microphones.

Producer: Alright, we're almost done! Just two more questions. Firstly, since we were on the topic of rumors and couples: Are Julia and Wayne still together?

Immediately, Emma groaned loudly with annoyance.

Emma: Oh, for God's sake! - She paused for a moment, locking eyes with the camera. The blonde girl then chuckled nervously, remembering she was recording. - I mean… Haha…

Damien: Emma just wanted to say that we all get that question a lot.

The camera zoomed in on MK, who showed off her private messages on Instagram. As she scrolled down, around 70% of them were about the blonde couple, 25% were about Nichelle's last move, and the remaining 5% were requesting feet pics.

MK: Get a job.

The blonde influencer scoffed at the other girl's snark before putting on a fake smile on her face.

Emma: Don't get us wrong! We all love interacting with the fans, and I bet that Wayne and Julia- … I bet that Wayne appreciates all the concern. The truth is just that they're both busy! College, brand deals, their MeTube channels, Wayne's streaming, not to mention they both live on opposite sides of Canada!

Damien nodded along to everything that his castmate had said.

Damien: When Julia said that "she hadn't seen Wayne for months" she just meant in person!

They still talk in the group chat, and probably in DMs too! - Both of the girls nudged him with their elbows at the word "probably". - Uh, I meant, definitely in DMs!

MK: Also, maybe they just want to be private with their relationship, huh? I mean, if it ends up being a train wreck like Emma and Chase, why would they want to broadcast it to the world?

The dark-haired girl looked over at Emma, who was clearly unamused with the comparison.

Emma: When we're done, meet me at the parking lot.

Damien: Okay, that's enough of that! Last question.

Producer: Just when it was getting interesting - The woman quietly mumbled under her breath. - Alright, the final question then: Is there going to be season 3?

The trio all looked at each other before collectively shrugging.

MK: Who knows? Ask Chris.

Emma: I don't believe anyone got the offer. I know there are talks online about "All Finalists" or "All Stars 2", but if so, no one from our cast got the invite.

There was a quick, barely noticeable cut, after which all the finalists had huge put-on smiles on their faces.

Damien: Whatever the next season will be, I bet Chris will announce it during the Gemmie Awards! So once again, let it work as a reminder to tune in on Saturday!

Emma: And vote Total Drama Action for the "Best Cast" AND the "Best Season"!

MK: Also, some of us got other nominations, like "Best TV Personality", "Best Showmance", and also "Best Episode" and "Most Iconic Moment", so also vote in those categories!

Emma: And with that, thank you for watching, and we will see you on... Friday. NOT Saturday.

Damien: Dang it.

Suddenly, a loud keyboard tap could be heard, and the video paused with a cursor appearing on the screen. It then proceeded to leave a "thumbs down" under the video, before the screen began fading. After this quick transition, it was now showing a pretty girl with an unamused expression. Just one look at her was enough to see that she was a so-called "e-girl" with bright pink stripes in her black hair, red cat ear-shaped headphones, and a blush on her cheeks in the shape of hearts.

With a few clicks on her mouse, she allowed the messages from her chat to show up on the screen. Among them, many were asking about why she didn't say a word during the entire video, which got noticed by the streamer.

E-Girl: "Why were you so silent?" What was I supposed to say? You guys made me watch a dumb video, with dumb people from a dumb show. Actually, mods ban everyone who sent me this video.

The girl said in a completely emotionless voice before looking at her second monitor. A slight smile formed on her face as she saw many of her viewers complaining about this unfair decision. Soon after, however, her attention was grabbed by a text-to-speech donation of 5$.

Becky-Please-Sit-On-Me254 Said: Becky, please sit on me.

While the girl's viewers seemed to find this request hilarious, her expression made it clear that she didn't share the same sentiment.

Becky: Personally banning you for that one. Let it be the first and only time a woman has interacted with-

Becky was suddenly interrupted by another text-to-speech message donation, although this one was for a whole 100$.

BeautifulWindow08 Said: Becky, you're my favorite streamer! Usually, I love your dryness and complete lack of energy, but I'm slightly disappointed RN. TD is my fav show and-

With one tap of her keyboard, the message stopped, sparking a lot of confusion from the girl's stream chat.

Becky: I got bored. Too long of a message. - This statement resulted in the chat's messages becoming a lot angrier, with many asking for "justice for beautifulwindow". The girl just eye-rolled at the requests. - I just found the show boring and the people on it annoying. Maybe if they died or something, it would be more fun.

Even though most of the responses from the viewers were an appropriate variation of "WHAT", a disturbingly high number of messages agreed with the girl. Becky herself seemed to be somewhat entertained by this before groaning in annoyance at the sound of a notification from her phone.

Becky: God, all of those brands are so annoying. Can't even leave me alone during a stream. - She grabbed her phone, and took a quick glance at it, before once again turning towards the camera - Hey chat, ever wondered how all of those boring emails that propose to sponsor streamers sound like? Let me read this one for you: "Hi Becky! We, the team of the hit reality TV show Total Drama, are big fans of yours, and we would like to offer you a spot on our next season-"

As she finally stopped reading the mail, she spared a few seconds blankly looking at the camera, her face still stuck in the same slightly irritated state it always seems to be in. Meanwhile, the girl's chat exploded with excitement, confusion, doubt about whether it was real, and requests for the girl to start a DonlyFans account.

This… Took way longer than it should have ;( Im sorry guys, the burnout won /3 But currently, I am very motivated to write, and I hope I manage to write the Celebrity Manhunt special this month (despite my final exams being in may…).

I will start off with this teaser - As you can assume, Becky will be one of the 3 newbies in Total Drama World Tour 2024! For now, all you need to know about her is that she's a failed K-pop star who got canceled and now works as a streamer, spending most of her time absolutely hating on all of her audience and life itself. All 3 newbies will get cast via a different method - Becky's is a recruitment, so a process where someone is personally reached out by the producers to be on the show. I will post her design on twitter (more about that in a bit!)

As I mentioned last time, I reread the entire fic and I have thoughts on it… Most of which I forgot, cause it was 2 months ago. But, I gotta say that I'm still happy about how it turned out! I don't think I ever really cringed, basically, everyone was in character and I made myself laugh a few times. It's true that usually authors are their own biggest critics, so the fact that I still like it, is a huge win for me! My favs were probably Lauren and Emma? Emma seemed to be a bit controversial here, which I get! But I've seen a lot of love for my portrayal of SG, which I'm happy about! To be honest, I wouldn't change much about the fic, but if there was one thing, then it would be Lauren's placement. Zombie's ep should have been Axel boot in hindsight :/ Scary Girl in the final 5… how great would that be?

Honestly, I remember not liking writing Axel and Caleb, but I really enjoyed both on my reread! Axel's bossy demeanor slowly softing and her allies-enemies-allies-friends relationship with Damien was actually fun! And I think Caleb was a pretty good "normal guy" and his friendship with Emma was pretty sweet! On the other hand… Damien was slightly boring :/ I think he really shined with his interactions with others, but I feel like on his own he wasn't as good.

Now Ig we will see who reads or not, but at the end of the interview portion of the chapter, MK mentioned TDA23 being nominated in a few categories: Best TV Personality, Best Episode, and Most Iconic Moment, and I would like you guys to choose those! Don't count the final episode, since in this canon it didn't air yet in-universe, so no moment from it nor the episode/chapter itself could be nominated. The most popular picks will be mentioned in the special (and may even affect a few character interactions!). Note that this will include opinions from both and ao3.

Also just to be clear, this is the last update to this story. The special and WT24 will be separated. Just making it 100% clear to not confuse anyone! Don't want someone waiting for an update on this story that will never come.

Okay, now my short thoughts on the rematch: I liked it! It's the middle of the pack season. I think they fumbled the bag with some plotlines and the boot order was horrendous, but when I look individually at the episode, all of them were great! Julia carried. I might make a few references to it, but I'm not planning on adapting any plotline from it. I had the boot order and most of the storylines planned on months before rematch released. Like, I think Ripaxel is pretty cool and I like Prileb, but I wont retcon Axel being a lesbian here, or have Priya and Damien break up, just to have those couples. Maybe I could like adapt Normal Girl plotline and make it more than one ep thing (not really a spoiler. Ep1 of WT24 will be non-elim just like in actual WT) and workour Lauren's friendship with Julia into it, but eh.

As I mentioned I have Twitter now! I will be putting teasers, commissioned art for WT24, and designs/redesigns there! I try to not make many posts that aren't related to my writing (and none that aren't related to TD at all). You can already see some sneak peeks for WT24 there, like the redesign for MK (which was described in this chapter!) and Nichelle. Most of the characters are going to have small changes to them (like Emma now wearing a pink sweater instead of orange), but a few will have full-on redesigns. That's just a small way for me to show the passage of time. You can find me there until the same name as here KIABB88 (my nickname there is "New York" with a Julia pfp), so if you want to, feel free to follow me there!

I want to also mention that since doesnt allow to post images (as far as I know), ao3 has a few extras graphics. It's a confessional count, voting table and an edgic (if you dont know what that means, just dont care). If youre really interested in any of those, then feel free to check those out there!

Now to answer some of the reviews:

Samota - I originally just planned on Axel having a secret that she's a lesbian, but some people instead assumed she was transgender and tbh, I'm considering to also confirm that in WT24! I think it could be really cool!

Guest - I like Ripaxel and Prileb! Prileb I lowkey prefer to Primien, but dw, Priya and Damien won't break up here! Ripaxel is pretty fun and it made me like Ripper, but also obviously my headcanon of Axel being a lesbian no longer works. Also there's someone else I ship Ripper with...

Guest 2 - Oh don't worry about that, that was just a throwaway line. It can be whatever you want it to be.

Lastly, this is my 3rd time doing this, but really thank all of you for reading this! If you enjoyed this fic, I hope you will also enjoy the follow-up! It really means a lot to know that people are actually reading all of this, and it makes really happy!