User blog comment:TDIwriter/Two Years of TDIwriter/@comment-1153194-20110219225420/@comment-1874924-20110220022208

The way, I see it, hot-button traits such as ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. are irrelevant unless made unambiguously clear in the episodes or in other official materials (such as the text bios on the show's website). If it takes "Word of God" confirmation--especially if done after the fact--to establish such traits, that's a cop-out; and I, for one, am inclined to ignore it.

I think it likely that Katie isn't just tanned, for the simply reason that she and Sadie do pretty much everything together. If Katie just has a tan, then where's Sadie's? (I have previously stated this position elsewhere.)

Sadie an Asian? At the risk of sounding confrontational, I say, "get real, guys." She's even paler than Heather, and lacks Heather's almond eyes. In fact, I doubt that Sadie even has naturally black hair. (In my TDI remake, I postulate that Sadie dyes her hair to match Katie's. That actually becomes relevant to the story at one point.)

Noah and Courtney are the most ethnically ambiguous characters of the lot. “Word of God” has it that Courtney is Hispanic and Noah is Indian, but I’m afraid I need convincing. People with skin that dark usually have black or off-black hair; and while I’m prepared to believe that Courtney colors her hair, Noah doesn’t seem like the sort who would care enough about his appearance to do that. For the same reason, though, Noah seems unlikely to have an “enhanced” tan, and he also doesn’t seem like the sort who would spend enough time in the sun to have a significant natural tan. Miss CIT, on the other hand, seems likely to have the sort of lifestyle that would support a natural tan.

I could well believe that Justin is of Hawaiian extraction, although there probably aren’t a lot of Hawaiians living in Canada; but he, too, is ethnically ambiguous. His black hair does suggest that his bronzed skin isn’t just a tan, but beyond that, it’s all guesswork. (I will say, though, that I think he’s much too dark to be Greek, as TAU suggested.)

D.J.’s text bio on the show’s website explicitly states that he’s Jamaican. Game, set, match. LeShawna’s ethnicity is likewise pretty cut and dried, with the visually obvious aspects reinforced by her behavior (calling D.J. a “brother”, among other things), fashion sense (her weave hairstyle, mentioned on a couple of occasions) and even her “distinctively black” name (i.e. a name that is encountered far more often among blacks than among other ethnic groups). And, oh, yeah, her text bio also says she’s of African descent, if memory serves.

As for the Season 3 newcomers, the TDWT promos indicated that Alejandro is Latino (“A new Latin ladies’ man”). I doubt that he’s actually a Spaniard, as most Spaniards are significantly fairer than he. Sierra’s name suggests Hispanic descent.

Anway, those are my thoughts on the matter. Take them for what they’re worth.