The episode opens with Harold, Duncan, and Justin waking up to Chris's trumpet alert, dazed and confused. Beth walks out of the girls' trailer "sleep-twirling" Courtney's PDA. Courtney is horrified and dives to get it after Beth throws it, yelling at her enough to wake her up properly. The castmates find out that they are eating pasta for breakfast, so they can begin "carbo-loading." Chris then states that they will be competing in a sports-themed challenge.
Chris brings the cast to a football field and puts them through a variety of training exercises. First, the Screaming Gaffers must push Chef across the field like a football dummy. Heather refuses to help, but Leshawna forcefully tells her to put effort into it. Duncan sides with Leshawna, which she happily interprets as the first step in repairing the damage done by the spa incident.
'Side with Leshawna'?! (gasps) Are they finally coming around? That'd be like rolling up Christmas, Kwanzaa, Easter, Canada Day, and BOGO Day at the shoe store all into one! Sweet, sweet forgiveness!
”
When Chef badmouths the Gaffers one too many times, Leshawna gets so furious that she charges at Chef with significant force and manages to knock him down all by herself. Next, the Grips have to run through tires, which is made more difficult by the fact that the tires are too small for their feet and have mousetraps planted inside them. For the final exercise, both teams have to crawl through mud under barbed wire. Courtney thinks this is somewhat over-the-top since she has never seen her school sports team do this, but Chris explains that he wanted to reuse some props from the war-themed challenge. With the obstacle course completed, the teams are wondering who won, but Chris tells them that the obstacle course isn't their challenge but rather a simple test to determine their rankings for the real challenges. He explains that the real challenge will be four sporting events, with members of each team facing off based on their seeds.
Okay, so he meant like sport seeding. I knew that. But if there was a gardening challenge, I would seriously kick butt. I mean, nobody can even touch my tomatoes!
”
Harold and Lindsay are ranked fourth, so they are pinned against each other in boxing, using marshmallow gloves. Chris then tells them that, in true boxing style, they will have to fight in slow motion. Despite this, Lindsay fights at a normal speed, but Harold fights in slow motion, awing Leshawna. Lindsay easily blocks Harold's slow-motion jab and takes a bite of his glove, since the marshmallows are real and edible. Courtney begins shouting at Lindsay and doesn't notice that her PDA has fallen out of her pocket.
Beth notices this and decides to borrow it so she can write an email to Brady. However, while browsing the Internet, she finds something that shocks her. Lindsay knocks Harold out after he is distracted by Leshawna's support. However, Harold wins due to his use of slow motion. Chris also docked Lindsay for biting Harold's glove, angering her to the point where she has to be physically restricted.
The next challenge pits Beth against Heather in a game of badminton. Before the challenge, Chris mentions his role in a movie about badminton after Justin refuses to believe that any badminton movies exist, as he believes "that would be seriously lame." Chris begins to tell about how he starred in it, and so he begins to recreate his finest scene, moving Chef, who begins to cry.
Why couldn't the Olympic committee just give the Flipper a break? It was his big dream! [snorts and cries]
”
Heather begins pummeling Beth, and it looks as though all hope is lost for the Grips. The Gaffers start trash-talking Beth, and Leshawna tells her that her "chances of winning are about as real as your boyfriend." Her comment sparks fury in Beth, and she transfers her anger into the game, easily defeating Heather. Leshawna again tells Beth that her boyfriend doesn't exist, and Beth retaliates by revealing that she saw a video on Courtney's PDA of Leshawna saying bad things about all of the other castmates on her way to the spa to her cousin, Leshaniqua, as it was on Total Drama Action's website. They then play the tape, and everyone else is angered by Leshawna's mean comments, except Heather, who says that she does the same thing and wonders why everyone is so angry.
In the next challenge, Duncan is matched up against Courtney in Greco-Roman wrestling (which had to take place in a kiddie ball pit, thanks to Chris).
Oh-oh-oh, she's a fit-in-well quaff little package, alright! But I'm not going there even though I could. Remember what happened to TrentandGwen? (giggles) Ugly!
”
However, Duncan still has trouble with Courtney due to her athleticism and determination. After a lost toddler calls him "Momma," Duncan claims he lost to Courtney due to the distraction, despite his attempts to compete normally. Courtney is seen to be very proud of her victory.
I don't know. The kid called me 'Mama' and it threw me off my A-game. [cameraman laughs] What, am I funny to you? Let me come over there, and you can laugh to my face.
”
Leshawna is put up against Justin in a "slam dunk" challenge, much to Leshawna's dismay.
Play it for the camera? I just wanted to hide under the bleachers 'til the whole thing was over. Think anyone's ever done a slam dunk from under the bleachers? That'd be creative.
”
Justin's slam dunk includes humiliating the Gaffers by butt-bumping Leshawna, dribbling under Duncan's legs (hitting Harold in the chest), and stealing Heather's wig and putting it on the basketball before dunking it. Leshawna returns the wig to its rightful place, on Heather's head. Leshawna's slam dunk is much simpler. She threw the ball at Justin's chest, tossing him onto the trampoline. He bounces and lands in the basket, bruised and scarred. Chris gave the point to Leshawna, and with each team now having scored two points, Chris led them to a tie-breaker.
The tiebreaker is a cheerleading competition, in which each team will come up with someone to cheer for. The Killer Grips began planning immediately, but the Gaffers have more trouble, not deciding who they'd cheer for, despite Harold's suggestion of Norbert Swindlow, inventor of the pom-pom, or Heather's suggestion of herself. When Chris announced "time" and that the Gaffers were up, Leshawna improvises a cheer about the other castmates as a way of apologizing. The apology is well accepted, and she is liked once again. However, the Grips won the challenge, as they cheered for Chris, who is the judge of the challenge.
At the Gilded Chris Ceremony, Chris began to tell the reasons why each of them could be expelled: Leshawna for criticizing everyone, Heather for losing to Beth on the badminton court, and Duncan for losing to Courtney in wrestling. Harold seemed the only one who could be safe from the elimination, and he wanted to give a speech, but Chris told him that no one wanted to listen to him and that he should just take the Gilded Chris Award. Chris called Duncan "Diaper Shark" and gave him the award. Chris starts talking to Leshawna, who fearfully asks "yes" and Chris tells her that he is sorry and to catch the award. This makes Leshawna happy, and Heather is surprised that she was voted.
[Duncan]: I know Leshawna dissed us… [Harold]: Sure, Leshawna called me deluded. [Duncan]: But that cheer, well, pfft. We counted her out, but she showed us she had heart, guts, grit, and a bounce that won't stop. [Harold]: Sounds like a sports movie. The thing is, she didn't totally shoot me down. Okay, she still has a hold on me! I can't help it! I'm a slave to love!
At the end of the episode, Leshawna walks Heather to the Lame-o-sine, telling her she can consider themselves friends. Heather then gives Leshawna her wig from the last episode as a farewell gift, so that Leshawna can use it when her real hair looks "as bad as it does today."
You know, it's really just a total relief to be out of there. And a mill isn't worth wasting another second of my time with those freaks! At least I didn't have to lick anyone's armpit this time! And now I have the time to get a weave and correct this travesty! I mean, the million would have come in handy to get some totally rad extensions, and my dad's so cheap I'll probably end up with pony hair. Maybe I could cut my mom's off while she's sleeping! She's always had nice volume! Now that the dumb game's done, the possibilities are endless!
Coincidentally, the winner of both pairs is the same in both episodes.
This is the first episode to use props from a previous episode; in this instance, the barbed wire.
In the United States, this episode was aired four days earlier than its usual weekly schedule.
Chris referring to Lindsay as "Miss Tyson" references the incorrect name she gave to her boyfriend Tyler in "One Million Bucks, B.C."
Leshawna compares Duncan and Beth, saying that they are like a pair. Coincidentally, both of them turn out to be the final two of Total Drama Action.
Technically, this is the second time Heather is without her hair after being eliminated. In "I Triple Dog Dare You!" she loses her hair, and in this episode, she willingly gives away her wig.
When Heather says in her exclusive clip that she "might end up with pony hair," it foreshadows her having a ponytail during season three.
This is the only time that Heather is voted off normally.
This episode's title is a reference to the 2004 sports drama movie, Million Dollar Baby.
In this episode, Chris is revealed to have starred in a movie about badminton in which he played the main character named "Flipper."
The nickname and the speech about "winning one for the flipper" is a parody of a similar speech done by "George 'The Gipper' Gipp," who was played by future U.S. president Ronald Reagan, in Knute Rockne, All American.
Harold refers to Leshawna as a "Benedict Arnold", the name of a traitor during the American Revolution.
Leshawna refers to BOGO Day, a Payless ShoeSource sales event when she talks about Duncan siding with her.
The music that plays during Harold and Lindsay's boxing match is similar to the music played in the movies of the Rocky franchise, which fits because those movies are also about boxing.
When Chris calls Lindsay "Miss Tyson" after biting Harold's marshmallow, this is an indirect reference to Mike Tyson, the boxer, who was also known for a well-publicized biting incident.
Goofs
At the beginning of the episode, the cast is hit with spaghetti and sauce gets on their pajamas, but seconds later, the stains disappear.
When the Gaffers push Chef in the very first challenge, Duncan's shirt is gray instead of black.
In the same scene, Heather's torso is much thinner and smaller.
There are several instances in the episode where Lindsay's eyes are a much paler, lighter blue than usual.
When Leshawna cheers for Harold, his hand vanishes for a moment.
When Chris is reliving his "famous badminton movie scene", Duncan's nose piercing is missing.
Also, when the scene cuts back to Chris, Chef clearly pops into the scene.
When Duncan asks the person who laughed at him if it is funny to him, his eyebrow piercing, the one on his nose, and one of the earrings on his left ear are all missing.
At the end of the episode, Harold mentions Leshawna calling him "deluded" when it was actually Chris who called him "deluded" during the boxing challenge. Leshawna has never called him deluded on-screen.
At the very end of the episode, when Chris signing off, Chef punches him in the face and then walks past him. When the camera zooms back out Chef is completely gone.
Gallery
"That's it, I'm moving to Canada! Except I'm already there."
—Justin
Beth sleep-twirls Courtney's PDA.
Courtney catches her PDA, after Beth throws it up in the air.
Chris arrives to the trailers with band instruments.
Chef with the contestants' breakfast; spaghetti.
Justin catches his spaghetti.
Lindsay, Heather, and Leshawna with their spaghetti.
The castmates are exhausted after running.
The Gaffers pushing Chef.
The Killer Grips find a certain surprise underneath the tires.
The teams move through the mud as part of the obstacle course.
The screen showing the pairing between each castmates.
Lindsay misinterprets the sports challenge for a gardening challenge.
Lindsay is ready to box against Harold.
Harold gets marshmallow boxing gloves.
Lindsay dodges Harold's slow-motion punch.
Instead of blocking, Lindsay takes a bite of the marshmallow.
Duncan admits he loves the way Courtney spoke during the challenge.
The contestants are disgusted by Chef's outfit.
"Y'all are just jealous".
—Chef Hatchet
"It's not badminton, it's goodminton. Heck, it's greatminton!"
—Chris
Beth is up against Heather for the badminton challenge.
Beth hits the birdie.
Beth's performance during the badminton challenge.
Heather, with the birdie in her wig.
The Grips cheer for Beth after she wins the badminton challenge.
Beth confronts Leshawna.
The video of when Leshawna badmouths the contestants.
Lindsay gets angry after she hears Leshawna insulting her.
Everyone looks angry at Leshawna after they finish watching the video.
Everyone glares at Leshawna after they finish watching the video.
Heather stands up for Leshawna.
"He shoots, he scores!"
—Duncan
Courtney about to shove a dirty diaper into Duncan's mouth.
Courtney kicks Duncan during their wrestling match.
Duncan finds a small child in the ball pit.
Courtney wins in wrestling against Duncan.
"What am I funny to you? Well why don't I come over there and you can laugh to my face?"
—Duncan
Chris introduces basketball as the next challenge.
Justin and Leshawna during Justin's basketball dunk routine.
The Grip girls cheer for Justin during his basketball challenge.
Justin makes a slam dunk.
Leshawna starts her part of the challenge.
Justin gets dunked by Leshawna.
The Screaming Gaffers won the fourth challenge.
Chris introduces the tie-breaking cheerleading challenge.
Leshawna's cheer to Courtney.
Leshawna compares Lindsay and Justin.
"Heather, Heather, queen of mean..".
"…she's got a nice scalp for a groovin' teen!"
—Leshawna
Leshawna compares Duncan and Beth.
"And Harold's the best, he's quite a guy; he's goofy and scrawny, but he's got my eye!"
—Leshawna
The Killer Grips cheer for Chris.
Heather rolls her eyes at Chris.
Heather is eliminated.
Duncan and Harold admit they liked Leshawna's apology.
"I can't help it! I'm a slave to looove..".
—Harold
Heather hands her wig to Leshawna as a goodbye present.
Chris tries to knock Chef out while doing the outro, but fails miserably.