#PLEASE ask me about Beth pulling a Rachel Berry because I fully believe she could. Or something along those lines at least.

[total-drama-brainrot]

Total drama except Harold is outwardly a bitch instead of hiding his distain for others until they personally attack him or are just too damn annoying

Or, more interestingly, he pulls a rachel Berry and sucks up to Chris and/or chef for half the season so that he can get anybody he wants eliminated with some fake tears and a sob story painting them as some violent irredeemable monster (does it work? Meeeeeeh)

Did we watch the same Total Drama? Harold is outwardly a hater.

He's not exactly quiet about his dislike for certain people, and he's very open about his opinions on near-enough everything. Harold literally gets the whole cast thrown out of a jet at one point because he won't shut up and stop being a little bitch - it's an integral part of his character, and an even more crucial aspect of his autistic charm and loserboy swag.

Him pulling a Rachel Berry, however, is a very different interpretation of him. Both as a character in his own right, and the archetypes he plays into.

(I did have to google who Rachel Berry is, as I haven't watched Glee - assuming this is the character you were referring to.)

Because he's supposed to be, in-universe, kind of an unlikable wet noodle. Having him endear himself to Chris, Chef and (assumedly) the audience at large so he can sway the competition in his favour would be A Task, and not an easy one at that.

Because he's (in-universe) not charismatic in the slightest, despite living under the impression that he is. Remember; Harold sees himself as a cool guy with a lot of cool talents - to the point that he quite often comes across as egotistical - whilst everyone around him sees him as a deluded dweeb. He's not quite self-aware enough to play into his dorky charm or tone down the more annoying aspects of his personality to be more generally likable, since he's entirely unaware (or just uncaring) about how he's percieved by others.

Harold is unapologetically himself. Oftentimes to his own detriment.

You'd have to completely scrap that part of his character, or at the very least change it considerably, to have him commit himself to sucking up to Chris and Chef. Because there's no way canon Harold would ever do that; not only would it be "an insult to someone of his multi-talented caliber" (or some other explaination along those lines that's equally as nerdy), but it'd also mean he'd be acknowledging that he needs to use underhanded tactics like flattery to give himself a fighting chance upper hand in the competition. Canon Harold is very self-assured, and likely wouldn't believe he'd need the advantage of favouritism to win.

Plus, even if he did decide to try this line of action, I can't really imagine it playing out much differently than Sierra's brief stint as Chris' favourite competitor; that is to say, it's end with him being seen as more of a nuisance than he is in canon. Harold has a chronic case of foot-in-mouth disease, and his frequent faux pas would do more to enrage Chris than any level of sucking up could possibly hope to fix. Just look at his first interaction with Leshawna. She was forgiving enough to see past his awkwardness. Chris wouldn't be.

Harold's annoyingness and awkwardness and weirdness is so constitutional to his character that I can't personally see him ever having enough social literacy to pull of a scheme like that.

Now, Beth on the other hand-