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| Elena | |
| The Emmys | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair | Brown with blonde highlights |
| Eyes | Brown |
| Episode Eliminated | "Fire Insults at Will" |
| Place | 16th |
| Relationship | Sebastian (one-sided on her side) |
| Family | Adoptive mother, father, and sister Evelyn |
| Friends | None |
| Enemies | Practically everybody, though especially Gabe and Minerva |
Elena Harks thinks that everybody should love her, and her inflated ego won't let anybody forget it. The Socialite will do anything to eliminate the competition ... well, except mess up her hair.
Biography[]
The Harks family is just as infamous for their international hotel chain, Harks Hotels, as they are for their media scandals. When they were younger, Elliott Harks frequented the headlines for throwing around his money on ludicrous business deals, and Estelle Harks was the queen of the celebrity party circuit. Now that they are older, their two daughters have had the title of socialites passed down to them. Their biological daughter Evelyn is content with just dating and dumping various stars, but their adoptive daughter Elena wants her name in every tabloid possible. Since Elena is the younger daughter, she isn’t the heiress to the family fortune and business (because celebrities and royalty clearly follow the same standards), so ever since she was a little girl, Elena had decided to construct her own reputation rather than ride on her parents’ coattails. Using her money and name to get into every major event in Los Angeles, Elena makes sure that every tabloid knows her name by dressing to kill, spreading every nasty rumor that she hears, and having the best hair in California. You can easily find Elena at every club, party, awards ceremony, grand opening, and charity event, as she will always be the girl in the middle of the room throwing shade about everyone around her. Elena Harks may not be a household name yet, but she is well on her way to making it to the top of the social ladder.
Elena thinks that appearing on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment will be the perfect publicity stunt to finally make her an A-lister. And if she doesn’t get accepted? Well, she’ll just pay off the producers and become the host.
During For Your Entertainment...[]
In ...Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Elena mocked Josh because of his fear of cameras and said she wouldn't change her attitude when she was criticized. When Irina complimented her sunglasses, Elena recognized her immediately because she was her sister's biggest fan. Victor arrived and attempted to flirt with them both. She was unimpressed with The Hotel and was mad that she was not called first when her team was announced. Elena was very rude to Helen D'Angelo during their interview due to her homophobia. She began ranting about how "disgusting" she found Helen and had to be escorted off stage by security.
When her roommate Monique attempted to make a shower schedule in The Bachelor Isn't Interested, Elena protested that she needed more time to do her hair. She insulted Monique in the process, though the designer agreed to her conditions in order to avoid drama. The next morning, Elena burst into the cafeteria screaming because somebody (who was revealed to be Zack) had pranked her in the shower. During the archery part of the challenge, Elena missed her shot but overheard Sebastian talking to Donna about what she believed was an alliance. When she was left alone with Sebastian and Victor she tried to convince the gambler to take her into his alliance by flirting with him and making fun of Donna. She was irritated by Victor interrupting to ask about his poem and was furious when Sebastian not only turned her down, but wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that he had an alliance. Elena read Victor's poem aloud to Chris. After the elimination, she was still mad about the earlier events and decided to create her own alliance. Gabe overheard her saying that the beautiful and the rich should come out on top, and she asked him if he would be interested in joining her.
Elena explained to Gabe that they were going to vote off Minerva in Video Killed the Reality Star. When she realized that Gabe wasn't listening, she insulted him and explained that she had a threat dangling over Minerva's head. They were interrupted by a toy driving around the room, which Elena eventually figured out was controlled by Zack and Risty. She dragged Gabe to her room to continue their conversation, kicking Monique out so they wouldn't have any listeners. The next morning, Elena and Gabe surrounded Minerva and made her sit with them so she couldn't tell Robert that she believed they were after her. During the challenge, she was picked to be an extra. She questioned why she should listen to Zack and got into a fight with Risty. Elena spent most of the challenge glaring at Minerva off set. Eventually, she and Gabe antagonized Minerva to the point of her cracking and saying that she was lying to the team. Minerva revealed to Risty that Elena, fueled by her pride and homophobia, had threatened her several times after the first challenge. Elena had almost half of the team's support when voting for Minerva at the elimination, but Risty ruined her plan by casting the deciding vote for Zack.
Because of her negative reputation, in Safest Catch The Oscars decided that it was Elena that planted the video in their room, though Allison proved that this was impossible. During the challenge, Gabe bumped into Elena, and she criticized his lack of bathing suit. They argued until Sebastian interrupted them, and Elena shoved Gabe into the cold ocean. She then confronted Sebastian about his alliance again, which he denied existed. She thought that he implied that she was dumb and tried to prove she was a good choice for an alliance-mate, though Sebastian found a flaw in her reasoning. He told her to talk to him when she did something useful, infuriating her again. She took her anger out on Gabe and admitted that she knew their alliance would fall apart soon, which was why she needed to impress Sebastian.
After Gabe bragged about his nonexistant musical talent in Sing Your Heart Out, Elena mocked him, and they started a fight. Gabe began to criticize her attitude, but Risty intervened before the argument could escalate. Elena teased and hit Gabe every time he missed his line during practice, though when they finally reached her line she had interpreted the song lyrics as an insult and didn't sing. After Wes's voice was sabotaged, Elena was unhappy when Gabe was given more lines. They began to argue again, insulting each other's voices, hair, appearances, money, and reputations. When Gabe suggested that the people Elena calls friends actually hate her but wanted the fame that comes with being around her, the socialite was extremely offended. She went quiet and actually backed out of the fight. This didn't last long, though, as on stage the socialite and jerk continued their fight, though it was physically this time. Elena and Gabe emerged from the quarrel beaten and bruised, only seperated because Risty got involved. Elena and Gabe were in the bottom two for ruining their team's image during the group round, though they were both saved because of Camille's arrest.
Elena competed against Gabe and Avery in the first round of the challenge in We All Fall Down. She whined about getting her hair wet and flipped out when Gabe made a snide comment. Elena and Gabe attempted to knock each other out of the challenge. Though Elena got to the end of the course first, Gabe grabbed her by the hair and yanked her into the water. He claimed the last spot in the next round, eliminating her from the challenge. She complained about her elimination from the sidelines. At the end of the challenge, Isaac insulted Elena. When he mocked her for being adopted, she threw a bunch of sports balls at him. She accidentally hit Risty, eliminating her own teammate and losing the challenge for their team. As Sebastian's alliance was planning to vote her off, Elena burst into the room in tears. She claimed that Gabe had stolen her cherished picture of her birth parents and begged them to help her vote him off. When the gossip and jerk were in the bottom two again, Elena received the last star. She then revealed in the confessional that it was all just a lie to get back at Gabe and earn the trust of Sebastian's alliance.
Elena hoped that Sebastian would protect her through Fire Insults at Will and stayed grouped up with him, Minerva, and Risty. She mentioned in the confessional that this was her opportunity to finally talk to him alone. Any time her group was getting ready to shoot somebody from their hiding place, Elena would blow their cover by screaming about them trying to leave her behind. As they were walking through the woods, Elena said to Minerva that the loudmouth was just there as bait. She bragged about her step up on Sebastian's alliance, mentioning that the gambler was "pulling the strings" in the game. She then said that if she had more power she would start by voting off Minerva and all her friends. Risty interrupted and sent her up to walk with Sebastian.
Elena offered Sebastian a partnership with her that he was in charge of, relieving him of his current faulty alliance. Sebastian didn't give her a definite reply. Elena was shot out of the challenge by Allison. She was in the bottom two yet again, though it was Wes who received the final silver star. Elena was outraged at her elimination because Sebastian had lied to her, pretending to accept her alliance offer. In the confessional, Sebastian revealed that Minerva had begged him to finally vote Elena off, promising him anything in return. The socialite left the film studio in a screaming rage.
Elena had a cameo appearance as a zombie in Thirteen. She had been hiding in a mud puddle and grabbed Minerva's ankles as she was running. She and a few other zombies seized the loudmouth and dragged her underground. She was one of the zombies to frighten Sebastian in the final scene of the challenge.
Audition Tape[]
The video started by showing a room packed wall-to-wall with skimpily dressed people, multicolored strobe lights shining down on them as they grinded against each other. The camera vibrated with the deep, thumping bass line of the remixed pop song blasting from the giant speakers set up around the edges of the room. A girl with beautiful hair draped in gold jewelry approached the camera, shooing away the girls who were hanging off her arms.
“Can you hear me?!” Her shout was just barely audible over the beat. The camera bobbed up and down in a nod, and she gave it a million dollar grin. “Great! Welcome to The Pretty Kitty, downtown L.A.’s hottest club. You should already know this, but I'm Elena Harks. Yes, that Elena Harks, second in line to the Harks Hotels throne.” Elena flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why would somebody as privileged as me want to be on something as lowly as a reality TV show, you ask? Can you say publicity stunt? Duh. Here, come with me.”
Elena guided the camera through the crowd, pointing to a few stars along the way. “Over there is Whitney Steers and her ex Devin Federer making a scene about child custody. And there’s Sauly P from The Shore trying to catch Kooki as she falls off the bar. Oh, and have you ever wanted to meet Jack Drillenhaul? Well, this is your chance, because here’s the Brokeheart Hill cowboy himself.”
Elena approached a man and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and a smile spread across his handsome features. “Elena! Great to see you!”
“Say hi to the desperate fans, Jack.” Elena said, pointing out the camera as Jack wound his arms around her waist. They started dancing to the music, and Elena grinned at the camera over the actor’s shoulder. “If you want star power and a ratings boots, then you’re going to want to put me on the show.” She gave the camera one final wink before turning to giggle into her dancing partner’s ear.
Trivia[]
- Elena was the seventh contestant eliminated and the third from her team. She received three silver stars.
- Elena was voted Featured Character in November 2011 for the theme of "Antagonists". She is the first (and so far only) TDI: FYE character to have won this title.
- The Harks family being famous because of their hotel chain is inspired by the Hiltons. Elena's character was created before Dakota was revealed to be a Paris Hilton parody.
- Elena was not planned to be such a prominent character in the story. This was changed when the readers reacted positively to her in the first few chapters.
- In the original version of the story, Elena placed 20th. She had barely any storylines because Avery took over for both characters.
- Elena's character can seem a bit overly exaggerated and stereotypical at times. This is because a lot of her lines had been changed to avoid her personality conflicting with Avery. One of the main differences that I think distinguished their personalities is that Avery was meant to be a lot more relatable than Elena is.
- Elena's favorite celebrity is Renata Rostropovich, Irina's famous model sister.
- The fact that Elena was adopted was added into her biography at the last minute.
- Though Elena's hair is accused of being extensions many times in the story, I really have no idea if it's real or not.
- Elena's crush on Sebastian was unplanned and just occured naturally as I was writing the scene with the two of them in The Bachelor Isn't Interested.
- Elena and Gabe were originally not supposed to act harshly towards each other until their alliance officially broke, but it was a lot more fun to write them bickering.
- Elena unknowingly caused her own elimination by mentioning that Sebastian was "pulling the strings" to Minerva. When Elena had finally pushed Minerva over the edge, the loudmouth remembered this statement and decided to go to Sebastian for help.
- If Elena had made it to Flashing Lights, she would have excelled at the challenge because she knows many of the RealityGossip employees. Unfortunately, she never had a chance of making it to this episode.
- Elena's redesigned image is very different from her original design, as I was just tired of the old one. I really wanted to make her hair as expensive-looking as I could, and she ended up getting a facial makeover in the process.
- Elena's new outfits were influenced by the style often given to modern portrayals of Cleopatra. I used the gold jewelry to play up her "heiress" side, as well as to make her color scheme stand out a bit more.
Gallery[]
