Lightning

Rudolph "Lightning" Jackson, labeled The Athletic Overachiever, was a camper and one of the finalists of in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island as a member of the Toxic Rats. He later returned as a contestant for Total Drama All-Stars as a member of the Villainous Vultures.

Personality

Lightning is an ultra-competitive jock who values winning above everything else. He is vain and egotistical to a ridiculous extent, constantly referring to himself in the third person and often shown kissing his biceps. He is also quite selfish and always puts his own interests above everyone else's. Such an example is when he betrays Cameron on the agreement they make in Eat, Puke and Be Wary, because he was slowing him down. Another is when he was more focused on winning in the finale than rescuing the others from the dangerous mutant animals, which had accidentally been unleashed into the stadium. Unlike Tyler, Lightning is actually very strong and athletic, showing he can somewhat back up his boasting. Despite his athletic prowess, he isn't very smart. In Evil Dread, he is adamant about digging wherever he wants, even shoveling up Lake Wawanakwa to find pieces located on the beach. Lightning also possesses an inability to recognize the genders of contestants like Jo and Cameron, even if they tell him otherwise. His extreme lack of intelligence has made him very easy to manipulate for cunning players like Jo and Scott.

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island

LightningArrive — Lightning makes his debut onto Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.

In Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!, Lightning first appears on the yacht with the other contestants. When Chris introduces him, he pushes Mike and Zoey out of the way, kissing his muscles. Later, when Cameron is drowning in the lake, Lightning saves him and calls him a "little girl" in the process, causing Cameron to protest. After all the contestants are on land, Chris warns them not to disturb the wildlife during the run through the forest and Lightning mocks him, stating he didn't want to upset the "bunnies." Jo wins the race and apologizes to Lightning for losing to a girl, but he denies losing and also thinks that Jo is a male. Chris places him on the Toxic Rats, despite Lightning's suggestions for a team name (such as the "Lightning Squad"). He tries to climb the tree to cut down his team's totem pole during the challenge, but fails to do so. He attempts to defend his failings in the confessional by claiming that tree climbing is not a recognized sport and that if Chris was trying to make him give up, he could think again. His team cuts down their totem pole using B's method, and when his team arrives at the cabins, he celebrates being in first place and refers to his team as "Team Lightning." When his team loses, he asks Chris where he's going to sleep and is upset when they get the same kind of cabin as the other team. Along with the rest of his team, he was annoyed by Staci and presumably voted her off that night.

In Truth or Laser Shark, he is awakened by Scott, who tells him he was out kissing one of the female contestants, which he believes. When Chris tells the contestants it is time for the challenge Lightning complains he hasn't had his DPA (Daily Protein Allotment) yet. When Scott tries to leave the challenge, Lightning stops him telling him he isn't leaving until the team wins. Lightning then begins to complain in the confessional about Chris not letting him be on a team by himself and that he is used to carrying his team back home, but at least they knew how to play the game, unlike his new teammates. Lightning is the first on his team to have to run with the mutant rat in second part of the challenge and quickly manages to give it to Dawn. When he and his team lose he complains that he is on a team of losers, Sam then tells him that winning isn't everything and he begins to chase after Sam. When Scott is telling Dawn, Sam, and Lightning why Dakota should be voted off, Lightning says that all of them deserve to be kicked off based on their performance in the challenge. Despite openly insulting several of his teammates, Lightning gets the first marshmallow of the campfire ceremony that night.

In Ice Ice Baby, Lightning complains about his food, wondering if there is any protein in it. He then eats it, only to start choking until Dawn saves him. He then thanks her for doing so, once again calling her "creepy girl", but finds out that she didn't meant to save him but a scrab that caused him to nearlly choke. During the challenge, he kicked down a bunch of rocks that knocked Mike, Zoey, and Cameron off the cliff. Eventually, he was hit by an ice cube thrown down at him by Chef, where he crashed into Scott before both fell to the ground. Then, he along with everyone else but Scott, agree to use B's machine to arrive to the top, succeding and winning the first challenge. In the capture-the-flag challenge, he and Sam were selected by Scott to head out and attempt to retrieve the enemy's flag. While they were running along, Sam fell through the ice into the frozen lake below, instantly emerging in a block of ice. Lightning said that he would get him out after they won, but he was knocked out by a snowball. He didn't wake up until much later, after the Rats already lost the challenge. When Sam was thawed out of his ice block due to Scott redirecting B's giant mirror, he fell on top of Lightning. Lightning, waking up thinking that they still had a chance, tried to run off to the Maggots' fort, only to fall through the same hole and be similarly frozen in a block of ice. Despite Scott's attempts to convince him to vote off B, Lightning was offended by Sam mocking him in the challenge so he voted off Sam, but with Dawn and Sam's votes, Scott succeeded in eliminating B.

In Finders Creepers, Lightning reaches for the clue, springing a bear trap that was set around it. He gives the clue to Dawn and tells her to read it even with the trap still stuck to him. When the Toxic Rats make it to the tree, Lightning reaches inside it to grab the key. He is then attacked by a mutant tree squid, which throws him on the ground. When the squid starts to attack Sam, Lightning punches it in the eye and grabs the key. The spider captures him and he drops the key. Lightning is saved from the spider at the end of the episode with the rest of the contestants.

In Backstabbers Ahoy!, Lightning is annoyed by Brick when he was having a dream about winning the super bowl, until the latter's alarm woke him up. He was distressed when he noticed that his protein powder was gone and tried to eat more food at breakfast to make up the missing protein, only to be thrown out the window by a mutant raccoon. During the first part of the challenge, Lightning took over Sam's job of pumping air to Brick due to being too slow, but over did it. He was the team's boat driver until he was unconscious due to venom from the seagull Jo shot at him, and was angry with Dawn after thinking she "stole" his protein powder. He most likely voted her off that night.

In Runaway Model, Lightning is discussing his team with his newest team member, Brick. He insults Sam about how he plays video games instead of a physical activity. He is surprised by Sam's hand-eye coordination, and winces when Sam gets hurt by the mouse traps. He still doesn't realize that Jo is a girl when she tells Anne Maria. He is also agitated when Chris tells them the challenge. In the woods, Lightning kicks a shell, only to have a mutated turtle come out from under it and attack him. Lightning suggests catching Sasquatchanakwa, and is impressed when Brick crafts the Detonating Duffel Bag, claiming it's how real men get dressed. He tosses Sam the striped duffel bag, who runs to the entrance of the cave and chucks it in. He runs from Sasquatchanakwa, and jumps off the stage before he is able to attack him. He sets up an attack against the Yeti with Brick and Scott, which fails miserably. He is surprised when Sam was able to climb up the scaffold with ease, and encourages him to go on. He is upset when Chris announces that the Maggots won the challenge. Lightning receives the first marshmallow of the night, and doesn't seem fazed when Sam is voted off, telling Brick to not say goodbye. He, again, thinks Jo is a boy, as he is ecstatic about the Rats still having only male members, and asks "What girl?" when Chris mentions it.

In A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, Lightning is watching Brick work out and decides to show him how to bench-press a log. He grabs it and lifts it with one hand and makes small talk with Brick, once again confusing Jo for a boy. After Cameron tells them there is no breakfast, Lightning tells him he needs meat, which he is unable to spell. He hears Chef outside, telling them to go to the freezer, which he does, telling him it's a good idea. While Chef takes them to the mines, he tries to chew on a 'meat-sicle', ultimately failing. He, again, confuses Jo for a boy. He is the first in the mine and cheers, which causes an avalanche of rocks to fall on himself and his team mates, which Jo scolds him for. He is frightened about losing. He lands on Brick, which causes the fireflies to escape, and runs away with Jo to catch them again. He gets attacked by them, which Jo uses for a brilliant opportunity to catch them, sticking the jar on Lightning's head. He makes small talk with Jo. She mentions that she isn't sure if firefly bites are lethal, and, once again, Lightning mistakes her for a male. He realizes that Jo's badge is orange. He complains he does not want to die, as he has never kissed a Super Bowl ring. Jo replies that she has never kissed a guy, in which Lightning tells her that he doesn't judge her sexuality, mistaking her for a boy again. He asks why Brick hasn't shown up to Jo. Jo explains to him how Brick has become 'large and in-charge', and says that he will eliminate Lightning next. Lightning asks if she wants to make a guys alliance to vote Brick off, which Jo reluctantly agrees to. He then meets up with Brick while Jo scolds him. They are then captured by the mutant gophers and are taken to Ezekiel. In Ezekiel's lair, Jo removes Lightning's fireflies which angers the gophers and make them drop his team down. Lightning successfully grabs the Rat's idol and is about to run to the mine carts, however, Ezekiel is in his path, knocking Lightning down. He ties the bombs to Ezekiel and kicks him away. He exits the mine safely. At the elimination ceremony, Lightning receives the final marshmallow, which gets lodged in his throat. He joins in with Jo scolding Brick when he is eliminated.

In The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean, Lightning dreams about winning the Super Bowl, before Jo rudely dumps him into the water. He is determined as the team captain, going to lengths such as trying to fight an octopus, and getting hit with a sign. When he sees Dakota pummel the mutant crocodiles, he comments that she was doing a good job, but he could do it too. When Jo pushes him to actually do it, he offers "Sha-friends?" to it. He soon came back to Jo, beaten and bruised.

GCA6 — Fang helping Lightning in Grand Chef Auto.

In Grand Chef Auto, Lightning forms an alliance with Jo shortly after Chris announces the merge. He is the first one to find a key in the first part of the challenge. When the second part of the challenge starts, he and Jo are quickly captured by Chef. Jo tells Lightning to bend the bars of their cell so they can escape, which he does. She then pushes him to Fang, betraying him. Lightning tells Fang that he'll take him to Scott if he doesn't eat him. Later in the challenge, Lightning is the first and only one to tag Mt. Chrismore, upsetting Chris. He proclaims that he wants Jo eliminated, but since he did not officially win the challenge, Lightning does not get to choose who is eliminated.

In Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon, Lightning is excited when Chris announces the challenge will be an aerial obstacle course. In his excitement, he shouts "Sha-bam!", and accidentally punches Scott. He is still angry at Jo about leaving him to a shark in the previous episode, as he reveals in the confessional. Lightning chooses a helicopter from the bag of aerial vehicles, which he is happy about. He asks Cameron for help in building his helicopter until Jo tells him to get his own nerd. While looking for a fan to use, Lightning spots parts Jo would need to build her hot air balloon. He hides the parts behind a motorcycle and giant fan, until he realizes that these would be great parts for his helicopter and starts to build. Later, Lightning unsuccessfully throws an egg at the zeppelin, gaining only mocking laughter from Heather. Seeing Jo heading for the blimp, he throws an egg at her, but hits Cameron's rocket instead. This causes the rocket to turn around and hit Lightning's hovercopter, which spins out of control. After he successfully manages to enter the blimp, Lightning tells Heather to hand over the million. Heather starts to fake-cry and pretends that she is about to hand him the case, only to beat him up with it. Lightning proceeds to question her sanity. After recovering, he wrestles Heather for the case, and the blimp starts to crash. While falling through the air, Lightning manages to catch the case, which Chris promptly takes from him. At the elimination ceremony, Lightning finally finds out that Jo is a female, a fact that surprises and shocks him.

TDRI EPW (9) — Lightning accidentally help Cameron to win invincibility.

Lightning mostly keeps to himself in Eat, Puke and Be Wary, because he wanted to focus more on his athletic skills. During the cooking challenge, he manages to get a mutant maggot covered in a "cream" sauce to stay on his plate. DJ refused to eat it, and when Chef made the campers eat what they made themselves it made Lightning sick. During the second challenge, Lightning becomes annoyed when he cannot remove the tracking collar because it keeps electrocuting him. Cameron tells Lightning that he could remove the tracking collars if Lightning helps him. However, Lightning betrays Cameron and runs off on his own. He does not notice that Cameron just latches onto his back towards the end of the challenge while he was not looking. Lightning accidentally lets Cameron win when he backs up to the goal.

In The Enchanted Franken-Forest, Lightning is seen by himself in this challenge as Zoey and Cameron team up to take him down. In the Mutant Forest of Terror, Lightning races off to find the flower before anyone else, without anyone's help. He manages to get lost and hurt numerous times (and even trip on Ezekiel) by not understanding or having the whole map. Eventually, he makes it to the bog where Larry and flower, are at. But Zoey and Cameron had also made it. Lightning tries to work fast as he attempts to get the flower, but fails. He tries again with a vine, and just makes it before Larry closes his mouth. He then is chased by the mutated flytrap to the finish line. After a few moments of the flower being tossed around from each camper, Lightning finally has it again, leaving the other two to be in the danger of Larry. Lightning then makes it over the finish line, winning immunity and the vote that determines who goes home. At elimination, he votes out Zoey so he can take on the weaker opponent, Cameron.

TDRI Alt — Lightning refuse to share his winnings to the other contestants in his ending.

In Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown, Lightning is seen taunting Cameron multiple times now that he gets to battle him in the finale. During his video chat with his father, he said he'd bet all his champion rings that his son would win. Lightning then becomes worried with the big stress now on him. At the battle arena, he gets quick to work on building his armor for the challenge, with the help of Jo giving him advice on what to use. He finally finishes with his armor being scraps of metal, a pot for a helmet, and a mannequin leg with spikes. He then makes fun of Cameron as he doesn't seem to have anything, until he reveals his robotic suit. The two then fight with the occasional mutant animal getting in the way. But when Lightning tries to defend himself from

Total drama revenge of the island episode 13 youtube 020 1 0012 — Lightning is upset that he didn't win.

Cameron's blasts, he hits one towards Chris' throne and remote. The remote then malfunctions causing all the mutant creatures to appear. When Cameron's friends are in trouble, he tries to help them. But Lightning uses this to his advantage and hits him while he tries to save them. Eventually, Cameron can't take anymore and drains his battery to give off a magnetic charge towards Lightning. Everyone is stunned on what just happened as Cameron no longer has power to fight. Lightning then tries to attack until all his metal starts to rumble on his body. Cameron then tells him he turned him into a giant magnet, causing everything metal in the arena to surround him. An actual lightning then strikes him, causing everything to fly off of him and his hair to turn white. He then falls down, with Cameron falling soon after. After three seconds, Cameron then is announced the winner of the fourth season. In Lightning's ending, Lightning is paralyzed after getting struck, while Cameron finally gives out and falls, with Lightning falling soon after. Chris then announces he won, with Jo being the only one who seems to be happy. At the dock, he is tossed the million dollar case, he then says he plans on using the money to buy a stadium for football season. But Chris warns him otherwise showing his X-rays. Lightning doesn't listen and takes one more step, only for him to fall down and injure his leg.

Total Drama All-Stars

Lightning is revealed to be a contestant in Heroes vs. Villains, and attempts to show off how to do a dive, but is kicked out of the plane by Chef. He is later placed on the Villainous Vultures. During the challenge, Lightning enthusiastically dives off the cliff first, and on his landing, his fist collides with Fang, knocking him out of his path. He grabs a key, and quickly hops into his team's respective carriage, as Jo pushes it in the direction of the hotel. During this, Jo proposes that the two strongest villains team up, and have each other's back. At the hotel, his key does not work, which angers him. His team later wins the challenge thanks to a returning Alejandro. At the elimination ceremony, Lightning volunteers to have the special prize, which is revealed to be spending a night at Boney Island with the dangerous wildlife, much to his dismay. However, he is also allowed to search for the McLean-Brand Chris Head, and Chef escorts him away.

In Evil Dread, Jo starts a campaign to eliminate Lightning, arguing that he is too strong of a contestant. At Boney Island, Lightning catches a fish, but throws up before returning to Camp Wawanakwa. Ultimately, he fails to find the idol, but believes that he can continue the competition without it. Throughout the challenge, he spends most of his time admiring his muscles as well as boasting about his greatness. Lightning digs up the most puzzle pieces but miscounts the amount found, angering Jo and the rest of the Vultures, and destroys the puzzle which ends up costing his team the challenge. At the elimination ceremony, he and Jo reach the bottom two, and he was shocked upon his elimination. He is flushed away before being able to curse at Jo. In the exclusive clip, the Flush of Shame sends Lightning to France, though he believes he is in Germany. A nearby mime tries to warn him to swim away but Lightning is unable to understand him and mistakenly thinks that the mime wanted Lightning to show him his muscles. As he is about to flex, a swan boat carrying Blaineley and Bruno rams him from behind.

Jo-lightning-leechball — *"HA! I told you you'd regret it! I win! Sha-woo!"*
- Lightning

Despite being eliminated in the previous episode, Lightning is mentioned several times by Heather and Jo in Saving Private Leechball. While Heather is angry that voting Lightning off was a bad idea, Jo denies it, stating that he was useless. During the challenge however, Jo begins to have second thoughts after finding out that she is the last member of her team standing. To her surprise, Lightning has left her a pre-recorded message for Jo before he left, taunting her that eliminating him was a bad idea.

Lightning is mentioned in Zeek And Ye Shall Find by Cameron who realizes he can no longer trust anyone and is now a lone wolf, making him the "new Lightning".

Appearances

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island

4x01 - Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!
4x02 - Truth or Laser Shark
4x03 - Ice Ice Baby
4x04 - Finders Creepers
4x05 - Backstabbers Ahoy!
4x06 - Runaway Model
4x07 - A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
4x08 - The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean
4x09 - Grand Chef Auto
4x10 - Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon
4x11 - Eat, Puke and Be Wary
4x12 - The Enchanted Franken-Forest
4x13 - Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown

Total Drama All-Stars

5.1x01 - Heroes vs. Villains
5.1x02 - Evil Dread
5.1x03 - Saving Private Leechball (video)
5.1x13 - The Final Wreck-ening (inside a balloon, no lines)

Total Drama Reloaded

Lightning Original — Lightning's original design.

Lightning's design was almost completely unchanged in body shape and design. The only clear difference is that his shirt was originally light blue and had no designs on it, but has changed to being dark blue with several yellow and white stripes on the sleeves and in the middle of the shirt. He also didn't have his Lightning bolt necklace until his confirmed design. His hair was shorter, his earring was a darker color, and his legs appeared to be shorter than his current design. Also, in the original character lineup, his name was actually spelled "Lightening."

Audition tape

View this video for Lightning's audition tape.

LightningAudition — Lightning simultaneously encourages himself and warns Chris that he is not about to surrender.

Both Lightning and Cameron's audition tapes contain reused audio from their first confessionals, with Lightning's being a combination of two of his confessionals. However, Lightning's in particular is rather strange because he speaks as if he is already on the show. Throughout the clip, he is sitting on a tackling dummy in a football field. He says that Chris should have let him be a team of one, and that he's used to carrying his teams back home, but they know how to play the game. He adds that his fellow contestants are "a bunch of losers" and that if Chris is trying to make him look bad, he can think again. He says he never gives up or surrenders, and ends his tape exclaiming, "Sha-Lightning!"

Trivia

Lightning is the second contestant overall (and the first male contestant) in Total Drama to win in the United States but not in Canada, the first being Heather.
- In addition, Lightning is the only contestant to only win in one country. In this case, the United States.
Segments of Lightning's speech in his audition tape is an extract of a confessional he did in Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! and another in Truth or Laser Shark.
- This explains why, in his audition tape, he speaks as if he's already on the show.
Lightning is the first male runner-up of a season in Canada.
- He's also one of only two male runner-ups in Canada, with the only other being Shawn.
Lightning is one of the few characters who possess more than one main design, with his original design with black hair, and his later design with white hair. Other characters include: Heather, Ezekiel, Mike, Dakota, Sierra and Scarlett.
Lightning has trouble telling the difference between some contestants' genders.
- He called Cameron a girl in Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! and Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown.
- It becomes a running gag for Lightning to think Jo is a male throughout the season, until her elimination in Up, Up And Away In My Pitiful Balloon.
Both Lindsay and Lightning seem to favor food with certain nutrient contents, as Lightning prefers food with protein, and Lindsay prefers food that her dietitian recommends (as revealed in Not So Happy Campers Part 2).
Lightning's favorite movie,"The Splat and the Curious", is a reference to the 2001 street racing action film, Fast and the Furious.
Lightning is one of five contestants who are known by their nicknames, the others being DJ, Blaineley, B, and Samey.
Lightning is the second newcomer to have a conflict with one of the veterans with the first being Cameron who had a conflict with Izzy.
Lightning is the second contestant in Total Drama history to win the reward of choosing who will be eliminated next, as he did so in The Enchanted Franken-Forest, with the first being Scott.
Counting Owen's ending, Lightning is the only contestant to become the highest ranking member of his team in a season, and then become the lowest ranking member of his team in the next.
- However, in Gwen's ending, he is the second person, as in her ending, Gwen was the highest ranking member of her team but the lowest in Total Drama Action.
Lightning is the only member of the Toxic Rats who made it to the merge that did not change teams.
Lightning had a friend nicknamed Thunderbolt but they stopped being friends because they were tired of people yelling "Mamma Mia." Their names and "Mamma Mia" is a reference to the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
Lightning is one of the nine contestants whose full name has been revealed (Rudolph Jackson, with "Lightning" being a nickname), the others being DJ, Harold, Cameron, Cody, Alejandro, Blaineley, Brick, and Dakota.
- Lightning is the only one whose full name has been revealed by a staff member, not via the show.
According to Lightning's Total Drama: Revenge of the Island biography, his favorite colors are yellow and blue.
- Also stated in his biography, Lightning's favorite food is protein shakes.
Lightning, Chef Hatchet, Justin, Cameron, B, and Leonard are the only males to have prominent lips.