Romulus

Romulus, labeled The Machivaellian Schemer, was a semi-finalist in Total Drama: Battle of the Sexes and was a member of the team The Hunky Heartthrobs. He was created by FanFiction.Net user, ToxicSmiling.

Personality
Serving as the season's de facto antagonist, Romulus befittingly embodies the cold, callous nature of corrupted, upscale business. Manipulative and cunning, he mentally places himself atop a pedestal over others and uses them as pawns to further his own means, sometimes simply for no purpose other than for his own enjoyment. He strategically masquerades as a cooperative, if somewhat overzealous, team-player to the masses, playing a part whilst he picks off his competition one by one.

For all his character flaws, Romulus is not a force to be taken lightly. Quick-thinking and driven to success, his intelligence has saved his skin on multiple occasions, and he has shown himself a born leader when the situation presents itself.

Total Drama: Battle of the Sexes
Arriving on a more luxurious speedboat than the other contestants, Romulus gets right to making friends the second he comes to the island. He later escorts Rosalie off of the boat, earning himself a kiss on the cheek and foreshadowing their future alliance and mutual attraction.

The two would continue to flirt casually, and Romulus would continue to pose as an amiable team-player until Episode Six, in which Romulus was voted team captain and subsequently solidifies his relationship with Rosalie. Though he initially confesses that he only wants her to manipulate her into doing his bidding, Rosalie immediately confronts him on it. To his surprise, she admits that she's all for being his minion, so long as they don't try anything against each other whilst their alliance stands. Impressed over the revelation of the Debutante's dark side, Romulus accepts her offer for partnership, beginning an alliance that would eventually carry them both to the final seven.

In the first episode following a hiatus that removed the first three episodes from syndication, Romulus reveals his budding hatred for Dutch and his desire to see him eliminated. The two continue to squabble absently for the remainder of the challenge. It is later revealed that Romulus' biggest fear is that his father doesn't love him, shedding a scrap of light on their strained and shallow relationship. Broken down and begging a fabricated video of his father to believe in him, it takes the urging of all his teammates to bring him back. At the end if the challenge, he sees to it that Dutch is eliminated, just as he'd said he would.

After Chris' temporary departure, Romulus continues his conquest alongside Rosalie by orchestrating the eliminations of Cherry and Titus. In the following episode, he narrowly escapes elimination thanks to his weak stomach; the challenge had been a reprise of Total Drama Island's Brunch of Disgustingness.

His facade as a nice guy is shattered in The Thwarts Tournament, as the entire challenge is between the eliminated contestants. Romulus spends a great deal of the challenge as a nervous wreck, petrified at the prospect of his strategy being ruined at the development. At the end of the day, after Dutch's elimination is revoked, Romulus admits to having orchestrated the previous eliminations to weed out his strongest competition. As the remaining contestants are understandably taken aback, Rosalie feigns heartbreak at the revelation. In a moment of uncharacteristic selflessness, Romulus lies and claims that he manipulated her so as to protect her reputation.

Rosalie, however, reveals she isn't quite finished with him in Finder's Weepers, Loser's Keepers, in which she uses a last-ditch ploy to keep him safe for one week. While Romulus does relatively well for himself in the beginning, he later abandons the challenge to escape the rampage of the returning HaskSok warriors. While he eventually eludes them, he is only able to avoid elimination through Rosalie's ploy to turn Feline into a pariah. Once this ploy succeeds, the two jovially reveal their longstanding partnership to the competition, leaving the stunned cast mates to bid Feline farewell.

In the next episode, Romulus breaks off his alliance with Rosalie in spite of his apparent attraction to her. He declares that - as his current biggest threat - she must be eliminated and spends the duration of the challenge reworking the obstacle course as to confuse and lead her her down the wrong path. Rosalie falls for his plot, and is eliminated when she loses the challenge. Rosalie takes her loss in stride, and the two part on good terms with Rosalie smugly promising to even the score between them next time they meet. Romulus tells her that he will be looking forward to it as she departs.

Romulus plays a small role in Blasts from the Past!, only appearing sporadically and fighting with Dutch. Romulus shows no pity for his second partner when he is ejected from the island, and moves on to the final three alongside Jennifer and Corey. In this episode, Rosalie reveals that she is still pulling for Romulus to win, simply because he's the only one whose "done anything." Thanks to Rosalie's final trick, Dutch is eliminated in his place. In this episode, Romulus is recognized by Jacob as the most evil villain in Total Drama history.

The Machiavellian Schemer meets his final downfall in 'The Pen-Ultimate Warrior' when the final leg of the challenge involves trivia about fallen contestants, something Romulus had previously thought unnecessary. Unable to keep up with Corey, who had made as many friends as Romulus had enemies, he loses the challenge. Having spent the challenge, and (as subsequently revealed) the entire competition, vying for his distant father's affection, Romulus breaks down at the reality of his failure. In what can only be conceived as both a confession and a final ploy for manipulation, Romulus tearfully claims to be fully aware of people's abhorrence of him, but states that lawful villainy is all he's ever known. While he manages to convince Jennifer of his plight, Corey (who can choose to eliminate him) remains unconvinced.

Romulus is subsequently eliminated and dragged away, but not before learning that his father has cut him off from his family's wealth. Crushed and horrified, Romulus finally boards the Helicopter of Shame, screaming the entire way.

Sporting a more modest ensemble to reflect his new destitution, Romulus makes his latest appearance in the finale, in which he assists Jennifer alongside Josiah. Throughout the challenge, it becomes obvious  that Romulus's flawless demeanor is long gone. He is removed from the challenge when Josiah heaves him off of the volcano to use as shark bait. Fuming and terrified, Romulus swims back to shore with the sharks in pursuit. He is last seen amongst the crowd of contestants after either Corey or Jennifer has claimed the million. In both endings, Romulus stands next to Rosalie, the two of them scowling dejectedly at the celebration. The two decline when they're offered a chance to join in, choosing to storm off instead.

In Jennifer's ending, Romulus personifies the reason the Corey doesn't want to win: the Oddball is afraid of becoming just like him (Romulus) once he won such a large sum of money. While the other contestants reassure Corey, Romulus is shown brokenly watching the scene on the monitor, his hand rested against Rosalie's.

In An Egg-cellent Challenge, the second episode of the second series, Finnegan references Romulus in a confessional, citing his fatal flaw of revealing his evil nature too early.