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Chris McLean

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Chris McLean
Gender Male
Hair color Black with dark gray highlights
Friends Chef Hatchet, Owen, Beth, Lindsay,
Enemies The rest of the Contestants (though he has an admitted soft spot for Owen and Eva)
Fear Not getting a paycheck, Lawyers, Getting Sued
Nicknames Steve the Yeti (called so by himself), Chris the Creep (called so by Beth), Kyle, Chip (Called so by Lindsay) Grandpa (Called so by Duncan)
Voice actor Christian Potenza
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Chris McLean is the host of Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action. He hosted every Total Drama Island episode except Are We There Yeti?, and has hosted every single episode of Total Drama Action so far except for the aftermaths and Mutiny on the Soundstage (partly).

Biography

Total Drama Island

Chris displays his sadistic tendencies by setting off a dynamite explosion. (Who Can You Trust?)

Chris is a famous celebrity that everyone on the show (except for Lindsay) knows well. His previous television appearances include hosting a figure skating TV show (stated by Trent in the first episode) and a badminton movie (mentioned in Million Dollar Babies and seen in Get a Clue). Chris is known to be unabashedly sarcastic, egotistical, and a self-admitted sadist. He is apparently rich enough to have a yacht (mentioned by Duncan in the Sand Witch Project). Chris is 25 years old.

Aside of being the show's host, Chris is also the show's writer, background designer, director, and executive producer. In X-Treme Torture, it is also revealed (by himself) that he is training to get his pilots' license while he is flying a rickety death plane held together by duct tape. He, along with his "sidekick" Chef Hatchet and the camera crew, is not a contestant of the show. He makes it clear that he really enjoys torturing the campers, taking delight in pointing out how life-threatening the current challenge is and matching them up depending on their hatred for each other. Chris really does not care what the campers do or what happens on the show as long as it is legal... and he gets paid.

He has ego-maniacal tendencies, which are shown in Paintball Deer Hunter, when he is introducing the show and closes with asking if his teeth could get any whiter. He also pauses the tape in X-Treme Torture and is embarrassed about how he looks (even though he looks the same as always and Geoff was in a much worse situation at the time). He also seems to be irresponsible and careless, as he mentioned to Trent once that when he thinks he has forgotten something, he usually ignores the thought until it goes away. Throughout the series he mentions all of the interns dying or being in the hospital. He loves to torture the campers, but hates being forced to take the hits himself, an example of this is shown in Hide and Be Sneaky when he is hit by Chef's Water Gun and is blasted back a long distance, and clearly not happy about it. When wayward accidents come his way, he shouts angrily at other campers to not hit his face.

Chris in one of his many costumes.
Chris gets threatened by Duncan for the final marshmallow.
Despite the fact that he loves torturing the campers, he has shown that he can be completely dissatisfied with certain results. When Heather managed to avoid being eliminated and Justin was kicked off instead, Chris stated that he felt the result was completely unfair, whereas he usually makes some snotty remarks at the campers when they leave; similarly, when Heather publicly humiliated Gwen by reading her diary on public television, even Chris was shocked that Heather would stoop that low. In Paintball Deer Hunter, he pitied Cody after Heather manages to get him voted off because he was severely mauled by a Bear to the point where he was unable to move on his own. In Who Can You Trust?, he allowed Katie to board the Boat of Losers to be reunited with Sadie. He also has shown that despite his harsh challenges, he does care for the camper's lives (as he rushed to save Gwen from the psycho killer because he was worried about lawsuits, though tried to see a positive in it in regard to the show's ratings). He also seemed concerned that Owen kept doing so many dares in I Triple Dog Dare You! (that may have eventually killed him),
Chris gets thrown into the water.
and he is shown to be disturbed in that same episode by the lengths that Gwen, Owen, and Heather were willing to go in order to win; after seeing Owen eat dog food and enjoy it, Chris vomits, and, while in the outhouse, declares, "Okay, that was so gross! Is there nothing these freaks won't do?!" In Brunch of Disgustingness, he allowed the campers to do an alternate eating round when they all refused to eat dolphin hot dogs (though the alternative challenge turned out to be much grosser than dolphin hot dogs).

At the end of the season, Chris is subdued by Owen, Duncan, Geoff and Chef (all the things Chris made chef do) tossed off the Dock of Shame (ruining his hair) in retribution for all of the dangerous things he forced them to do. Chris reveals at the end of the season that the campers can win one million dollars and so can Owen (if he gives up the money he has now). However Chris' plan winds up causing a fourteen-way tie, so he is forced to perform the tie-breaker known as season two (Total Drama Action).

Total Drama Action

Chris prepares for another episode of Total Drama Action.

Upon returning to host the new season, Chris continues to do what he does best: humiliate the campers - now "castmates" - through some strange and awkward challenges. He also had some upgraded facial expressions as the animators thought that it was difficult to portray much emotion through his dot eyes. Chris starts up a large number of challenges based off of movie genres for the new season. He once again has Chef dress up in humiliating outfits, however throughout season two he starts to lose control as Chef begins to rebel against him (mainly because Chris never sends him his paycheck). Chris actually operates a number of challenges himself from the safety of his control room (though he is not afraid to get himself involved if he feels a challenge is not up to his cruel standards). Once again Chris is an egomaniac and nearly all the props and awards of the season are modeled after himself. Chris is far more sadistic in this season and seems to care little, if anything, for the contestants (as he brings Gwen up to his viewing room and makes her watch Trent be eliminated just to make her feel bad). Chris has also worn many costumes this season, more than the previous season. He has a habit throughout the season of dressing up in various outfits and opening the challenges up with some strange stunt that comes at unexpected times (annoying all the cast mates as the challenge begins).


Chris in his cowboy outfit in 3:10 to Crazytown.

Upon the immediate start of the season, Chris starts up his new set of challenges, each of which is based off a movie genre. Beginning in Alien Resurr-eggtion, Chris starts to lose control of Chef, who is angry that his boss never pays him. Unknown to Chris, Chef forms an illegal alliance with DJ in Riot on the Set. Confident of his new alliance, Chef starts to defy Chris (even freighting him in the process). Starting in 3:10 to Crazytown, Chris really starts to get behind his challenges as he dons his first of many costumes, a cowboy costume. In this same episode, Chris starts to have legal problems as his lawyers (and some of the castmates) start to warn him that his challenges are getting too violent and he has to start toning them down. While Chris does not like to do so, he does simply to avoid trouble and keep the contestants calm. Despite the tone down, he still finds ways to make the cast mate's lives miserable, as he shows Gwen footage of Trent's elimination. When she asks if he only did this to make her feel bad, he says "yes."


Chris, disguised as Steve the Yeti.

Chris does not appear in person in The Aftermath: I, but instead he talks live over the television set dressed as Steve the Yeti. He apparently was not informed of Total Drama Action Aftermath's production, as he angrily questions Geoff and Bridgette and why they have a show now and told them they stink. He's caught in the act by Chef.

In The Chefshank Redemption, Chris dons a police uniform and puts the cast mates through a series of prison related challenges. While the cast is competing, Chris tries to get back on Chef's good side (though he does it in an awkward way that shocks Chef). During the third part of the challenge, Chris allows Izzy to return to the show because in Riot on Set, she had been eliminated as "E-Scope", not Izzy. Therefore, he considered E-Scope's elimination as a technicality and brought Izzy back after she abandoned this nickname. Chris then pulls a sick prank in One Flu Over the Cuckoos, where he puts itching powder on the cast's pizza and makes them study all night. Then by setting some fake symptoms, he fools them all into thinking they have a deadly disease. LeShawna however is able to figure everything out and wins the challenge.

Chris finally finds out about Chef's alliance with DJ in The Sand Which Project, where the guilty DJ reveals it to everyone. Chris puts Chef through some meetings as punishment. In Masters of Disasters, Chris actually shows concern for the cast as the second challenge goes horribly wrong. The cast is supposed to escape from a flooding submarine, but the top door was booby trapped and no one can figure out how to open the bottom hatch as water fills the subs. Horrified that the cast may drown (which would end Chris's pay check and the show and his "luxurious lifestyle") Chris begs for Chef's help, to which the cook refuses to budge. Fortunately, Harold is able to use straws to make a snorkel and crack the code and open the hatch, thus ending the challenge and saving everyone. Chris offers the Gaffers a reward to the top of a volcano, but angered about what happened, they refuse to take it and choose chips instead. Chris lets the injured (but out of hospital) Owen join them as long as he doesn't sue.

In Ocean's Eight - Or Nine, Courtney eventually won her lawsuit against the show and Chris had no choice but to re-admit her, albeit begrudgingly. Chris is not happy with the result however and even mocks Courtney when she loses the challenge. At the award ceremony, he warned the Killer Grips that Courtney's lawsuit had given her invincibility for the one episode and that he couldn't handle any more lawsuits (as Courtney's hit his financial interests hard and his massage budget got sliced in half). Unfortunately, all the Grips still voted for Courtney, meaning only Courtney's vote for Owen counted. Owen was eliminated, but Chris allowed him to give a good bye speech (possibly to annoy Courtney since her lawyers couldn't stop it). Chris has now greatly buckled down and is determined to avoid more lawsuits.


Chris with a loin cloth, in One Million Bucks, B.C.

In One Million Bucks, B.C., Chris is continually forced to adhere to the terms of Courtney's contract, which included gourmet meals, a private bathroom, special linens, among other things. However, he takes advantage of this by sharing this knowledge with the other campers, making them angry at Courtney for entitling herself to what Chris called "special treatment". This only fueled everyone's growing dislike for Courtney. For the entire caveman challenge, Chris wore a loincloth which earned him a lot of laughs, especially from Duncan. He had a lot of fun blowing the prehistoric blow horn used to signal the events.

In Million Dollar Babies, Chris really gets into the challenge's theme. He would create an echo when announcing who would be the boxers and telling them to go slow-mo for the challenge. Later he revealed that he was in a badminton movie once and even reenacted a scene from it which made Chef cry. During the cheer leading tie breaker, Chris gave the Grips victory because their cheer was about him. In the beginning and in the end of the episode, Chris wonders about the relationship between Courtney and Duncan.


Chris as Batman in Super Hero-ld.

In Dial M for Merger, Chris puts the cast mates through a number of spy related challenges. Chris plays the role of the big villain, wearing an eyepatch and petting a white cat (similar to Ernst Blofeld from James Bond). He also sports a Russian accent, though it is greatly criticized by the cast mates. Chris spends most of the episode at a safe distance from the cast, as most of their challenges involve explosives. He communicates mainly through screens to them. At the end of the episode he rewards the winners (Courtney and Lindsay) with a cheese factory tour. The two however refuse to take it (but do so later).

In Super Hero-ld, Chris gets a bit upset when his challenge opening stunt gets messed up. He's so mad to the point when Courtney asks if he'll tell her what the challenge is he starts waving his arms and says "When... I... feel like it." After he calms down, Chris has all the cast mates design their own super hero costumes and powers (though he is greatly upset with a majority of them). Lindsay designs a costume and becomes Wonder Woman, being reminded by Courtney that Wonder Woman already exists. Chris however admits he loved Wonder Woman as a kid and awards Lindsay the victory for the first challenge (though he may have done this simply to annoy Courtney). Despite this, Courtney wins the second challenge and invincibility.

Chris was announced as "Sir Chris" in The Princess Pride. He was annoyed with Beth when she revealed the theme before he did. Chris did the challenges differently by explaining the rules as if it were a fairy tale and from an armchair. During the episode Chris tried selling Princess Courtney CDs and dolls. Courtney's lawyers wanted 80% of the profits from Princess Courtney dolls, so Chris changed them to Beth dolls and gave her a contract that stated she gets 0% of the profits. Later he did a fake out and said that Duncan was voted off in order to get a reaction from Courtney. In the end Chris and Chef Hatchet played with Beth dolls when they could not sell them.

Chris with his rubber prop in Get a Clue.

In Get a Clue, Chris gives the first set of instructions from a message hidden in a flash drive. When released from the safe Chris reveals he dislikes the taste of black licorice. He gets annoyed with Courtney when she started to demand a prize so Chris gave her cheese puffs. Later Chris was found dead and the cast mates tried to figure out what was going on. He later walked in with the copy of his fake dead body, which he explained as being made of rubber. He dubbed Lindsay the winner of the challenge and allowed her and Duncan to watch his badminton zombie movie. He is shown to be narcissistic in this episode when he compliments his rubber copy as he watches the movie with it.

Following in Rock n' Rule, Chris announces that the next challenge is a rock biography flick explaining the normal rock life. Chris then gets mad at Owen arriving off-key. He then reluctantly explains the challenge,and later watches an angry Courtney hit Duncan in his "Kiwis", once again. Finally at the end of the episode,he signs off by saying TDA has said Good-bye to it's most foxy player.

In Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen, Chris, back at Camp Wawanakwa, appeared as a karate instructor, and he was "floating" doing karate moves, but he had wires. He explains that Owen wouldn't participate, because he wants him to sabotage the teams two times this episode.

Then, in 2008: A Space Owen, first Chris appears with his hair messed up, with the cavemen suit, and explains the challenge, and gives everyone some stuff from home.

In Top Dog, Chris appears with his parrot for the challenge, but when it bites him, he disappears from the screen and punches are heard, he returns and the parrot isnt there. Then he tells the cast they're animals, and smiles. He then whispers to Owen his plans to attack the cast. When Beth got first to the deadline, when Chris and her are waiting, Chris grows a beard. At the end, he tells Courtney she was voted off by Duncan and Beth, and he fired Owen, because he was caught by Beth and Courtney. Then he announces Beth and Duncan as the final two, and throws them.


Chris's suprise.

Chris once again dons his pirate costume in Mutiny on the Soundstage. He later gets into a fight with Chef over whose job was harder. Beth saw Chris cry over Chef but states it was the onions. Chris took Beth's advice about being nice and let Chef have a raise and a vacation.

In The Aftermath IV, Chris and Chef have left the set and are ready to go on vacation believing the season is over. However while in the airport, Chris discovers that Geoff and Bridgette have got some secretly recorded footage of him. Desperate to stop them from airing it, he and Chef rush back to the studio. While stuck in traffic, Chris angrily states to Chef that he wants a third season and that footage could get the show canceled. Chris tries to give the driver directions to the studio, but winds up at Camp Wawanaka. He does manage to finally make it back to the set and upon return shows footage that reveals Beth's dark greedy side and Duncan's nice caring side. Chris allows the past cast mates to ask Duncan and Beth questions, but regrets it later when their questions are boring and/or not questions at all. In the end, he has everybody vote in the old bathroom stall from The Sand Witch Project, since the budget was gone. He counts the votes and gives Duncan the million dollars.

Camp TV

While Chris was in Camp TV, he was never meant to appear. He was supposed to be the unseen host of the show. His name was mentioned in the promo when Geoff says "Hey Chris, I love that guy." It's unknown if he was referring to the host or a fellow camper, but it is most likely the host since no listed camper from Camp TV has an altered name.

Trivia

Chris's upgraded expressions
  • Chris bears a comical resemblance to Jeff Probst, the host of the American version of Survivor.
  • Chris appears in almost every episode of the series with very few exceptions. This makes him the most featured character on the show.
  • Chris is 25 years old; this is confirmed by the Total Drama Blog.
  • Like other characters, Chris has upgraded facial expressions for Total Drama Action, first seen in Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island and used during various parts of Total Drama Action.
  • Chris is one of the few characters with a confirmed last name.
  • Chris tends to endorse products during the show:
  • Chris has had many changes in wardrobe:
  • He seems to be right-handed.
  • He has displayed the most eccentricities out of any character:
    • He wears an inexplicable pirate outfit in Search and Do Not Destroy, despite the fact that the campers were not even looking for the chests, but rather the keys that open them.
    • He refers to breakfast as "brekkie" on multiple occasions. He also uses several phrases that are not commonly used by adults.
  • He has faked his own death twice in Total Drama Action, the first in The Sand Witch Project, and the second in Get A Clue.
  • In The Aftermath: I, Chris (using the name Steve The Yeti) is upset, signifying that he didn't know about the aftermath show. However in Best. Game. Ever., on week six, Chris calmly says that the week is for the aftermath episode, and is fully aware of it, though this may be an error on the part of game programmers of the US version.
  • Chris is the second character to make some sort of Star Wars reference when he wears a rebel pilot uniform while flying a plane in X-Treme Torture.
  • Chris is one of six characters with dots for eyes.
  • Chris had starred in a movie before about Badminton, in which he played a character named "Flipper."
  • Chris is the only character with 5 o'clock shadow.
  • Chris seems to be disliked by animals.
  • Although Chris is enemies with the contestants, he appears to be on good terms with Owen and Cody, as he is the only on who calls him the 'Codester' or the 'Codemiester' (other than Cody himself),and he brings back Owen in Total Drama Action.
    • Also, despite him being enemies with the contestants, in Dial M for Merger Chris says he likes Courtney (because she's "nasty"). However, in One Million Bucks B.C., he told the castmates about "Courtney's Rules" with a sign of pleasure in his voice, hinting he was doing this to get revenge on Courtney and to make sure with the others having a strong dislike of her, she will be eliminated faster and possibly as payback for causing his "massage budget" to be cut in half.
  • In Super Hero-ld, Chris reveals he was a fan of Wonder Woman, when he was a kid.
  • Chris has written an autobiography, which he gives to Courtney in Rock n' Rule.
    • Both Chris and Chef have wrote autobiographies, however Chris' was more successful, as he got his published. Chef has failed to do so.
  • Chris is one of six characters to sing solo, the others are Lindsay, Heather, Owen, Courtney, and Trent.
  • Chris is revealed to own several cars in Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen. He may also own a yacht as revealed in The Sand Witch Project.
  • Chris is the first person to sing in Total Drama Action, during the award ceremony in Alien Ressur-eggtion.
  • Chris' alliance with Owen is similar to DJ's alliance with Chef.
  • Although is name is spelled McLean (Mick-lean), it is pronounced as McLane (Mick-lane) several times throughout the series.
  • In Get a Clue, he is revealed to dislike black licorice.
  • Chris is one of the five characters to have abs. The others being Chef, Geoff, Justin, and DJ.

Gallery

Total Drama Island

Total Drama Action

Costumes

See Also



Preceded by:
None
Host of the Total Drama Series

Not So Happy Campers - Part 1 - Camp Castaways

Succeeded by:
Chef Hatchet
Preceded by:
Chef Hatchet
Host of the Total Drama Series

I Triple Dog Dare You! - TBA

Succeeded by:
TBA