Characters / Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race

The host of The Ridonculous Race. Though often egotistical and more than a little narcissistic, Don cares a lot about following the rules and doesn't hesitate to hand out penalties to those who break them. A firm believer in fair play, devious contestants skilled at avoiding elimination frustrate him to no end.

• Aside Comment: Don frequently speaks to the viewers, discussing the latest developments and expressing his opinions on various storylines and events. He also throws in a bitcon of Audience Participation in "Maori or Less".
  "The last team to arrive — say it with me — may be cut from the competition! ... Why didn't any of you say it?"
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: He clearly enjoys doing this to the contestants, especially in non-elimination rounds.
• Butt-Monkey: Let's just say that being the host doesn't make Don immune to misfortune.
• Cloudcuckoolander: His descriptions of the locations the racers visit usually contain legit facts mixed with odd ones that usually only pertain to him.
• Companion Cube: Chilly Billy, the snowman. He was killed by a pissed-off Josee leaving him saddened.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of his off-script dialogue is this.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He called production about the safety of cleaning the skyscrapers' windows in Dubai.
  • In "How Deep Is Your Love", he was disgusted by how low the Ice Dancers sunk and tells them they deserved their penalty. In "Darjeel With It", he even flat out tells them he wants to see them get eliminated... And then gets really excited in the very next episode when they're in the lead. But when the finale comes, he gleefully announces their elimination.
  • He was shocked when Devin was pushed off a cliff in Buenos Aires.
• Foil: To Chris. Both are Narcissists who like to troll some of the contestants at times. However, whereas Chris is a Sadist who tortures the contestants for his own amusement, Don shows genuine concern for their safety and is always fair to them. In addition, Chris bends the rules whenever he can and lets players slide on technicalities while Don prefers contestants who follow the rules and treats the rules as Exact Words.
• Good Counterpart: As cited above, he is this to Chris. Both are narcissistic and like to troll some of the contestants at times. Unlike Chris, however, Don does occasionally show legitimate concern for their safety, and is always fair to them. Don is also lacking in Chris' sadistic qualities. This is best demonstrated when Don calls the producers about how dangerous a challenge is, in direct contrast to how Chris tends to get calls from those same producers telling him to dial it back. Furthermore, while Chris prefers contestants who are outlandish and devious, Don seems to prefer the more normal contestants who follow the rules.
  • Ironicly, both hosts now share the same voice actor since Total Drama Island (2023) due to Christian Potenza being recast with Terry McGurrin.
• Hates Being Touched: He was really annoyed when Geoff and Brody made him part of a group hug after they came in first in Alberta.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Like Chris, he’s a narcissist and enjoys messing with the cast, but unlike Chris, he’s pretty amiable with the cast, gives plenty of Pet the Dog moments and only punishes players that break the rules rather than when he feels like it to make the players suffer (like Chris does).
• Laser-Guided Karma: Gets a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Laurie for tricking her and Miles into eating meat for what turned out to be a non-elimination leg. He has a black eye for the entirety of the next episode.
• Meaningful Name: His name is Don, and he's the host of the Ridonculous Race.
• Mr. Exposition: Like Chris McLean. His job as the host requires him to review a lot of what goes on in the show.
• Mr. Fanservice: We've already seen him in a speedo in "Mediterranean Homesick Blues" and his Modesty Towel fell off after being in the sauna in "I Love Ridonc & Roll".
• Narcissist: He is clearly one, though he is not as narcissistic as Chris:
  • His official reveal was an ego stroking article made up of "facts" supplied by Don himself.
  • The Don Boxes, the show's clue dispensers, are shaped like him.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Phil Keoghan.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Somehow, Don is able to be present at the teams' current location, and be on-location to present the area of the next leg at the beginning of each episode. It's implied that this is all post-production Manipulative Editing in-universe, especially given the vague amount of time elapsed between or even during a given episode.
• Rules Lawyer:
  • He gives out time penalties to teams whenever they fail to follow their instructions exactly and he eliminated the Tennis Rivals on the technicality that Gerry's foot wasn't all the way in the Chill Zone.
  • He threatened to kick out Geoff and Brody when he thought they were trying to cheat in Indonesia.
  • He acknowledges that the Ice Dancers are probably cheating but doesn't care enough to look into it. However, as their cheating becomes more blatant, Don's time penalties become longer.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: After a crab pulls on his Speedo.
• The Stoic: When Geoff and Brody want him to join their hug in "Little Bull on the Prairie", he claims that he 'doesn't do emotion'.
• Troll: He does this to the Ice Dancers when they come in first place in New Zealand.
  Don: Ice Dancers, congratulations, you reached first place with skill and good sportsmanship.
  Josee & Jacques: What?
  Don: Ha ha ha, no. Your victory is highly suspect, but I don't care enough to investigate.
• Twinkle Smile: Sports one after recapping the events of the previous episodes at the beginning of the current episodes and says "This is The Ridonculous Race".

• Breaking Old Trends: Instead of two halves between all contestants going to one of two teams, all contestants are divided into tag teams of two, with each tag team serving as its own group. This also means that no merge ever happens, and the contestants are less individualistic and more cooperative, at least with each other, for necessity.
• Butt-Monkey: All contestants were injured or humiliated at least once. Some like Dwayne, Devin, and Jacques recieve it more than others.
• Can't Live Without You: Downplayed. Because the main gimmick of the season are tag teams for the participants, if one half of the pairing ends up being incapacitated, or fails a given challenge, then both halves will be affected/disqualified.
• Dysfunction Junction: It'd be easier to count the teams that don't have some sort of issue among them. Whether it's something major like Josee and Jacques' obssession with being first place, or more common stuff like Ryan and Stephanie's on-and-off relationship, most teams have some sort of problem among them.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Virtually every girl shown. The only exceptions are MacArthur and Tammy.
• Those Two Guys: All the teams are this by default, thanks to the tag team gimmick. Some members do interact with other teams sometimes, but most of them stick to their own partners most of the time.