I’m not really a fan of reality TV shows. I always found them hard to enjoy, as the entertainment factor was generally a result of humans doing stupid things and upsetting each other, or humans doing stupid things and getting seriously injured. Basically, it’s difficult to have high morals and watch these things without feeling like a terrible person. This cartoon is the solution.

Total Drama Island is a reality TV show without the reality. All the contestants are cartoon characters, so you can do basically anything to them and they almost always walk away unharmed. This means that you can enjoy all the dramatic and funny bits, without feeling even a tiny bit guilty.

The plot of this toon in its simplest form is a bunch of teenagers who have to complete challenges and try not to get eliminated so they can win a very large amount of money. You know, the usual stuff. Sound boring? Trust me, it’s not. There’s mutant beavers.

The characters vary in skills and personalities, but all of them are ridiculous in their own ways. They’re originally divided into two teams and you’ll usually find yourself rooting for one of them. It’s difficult to really be attached to any specific character though, as there’s always a chance they’ll be voted off the show.

The animation is alright I guess. It’s not extremely detailed, but you can tell what’s going on and it’s just stylized enough for you to have a good laugh, but not realistic enough to make you gag at the yucky bits. Yes, there are yucky bits, but they’re usually also pretty funny in some way, shape or form.

The overall story for each episode is pretty generic. There’s a challenge the teens need to face. They face it, reluctantly, and there’ll be a lot of gossip, sabotage, blackmail and injury. Then one of the characters will leave the show and the same thing will happen all over again. You’re probably thinking that’s so boring, why would anybody watch that? If you are, I hope you don’t ever watch reality shows because that’s basically all that they are.

This show probably isn’t for everyone. I loved it when I was little and still love it now, although my parents never liked me eating it because they thought it gave me indigestion. It didn’t by the way, I’d just accidentally taken a bite out of the local news and by the time I’d realised, it was already too late. Stay awesome and keep watching cartoons, Toonbiter out!