This article focuses on the interactions between Paper and OJ.
Overview
OJ and Paper never really interacted before his first elimination, mostly due to them being on separate teams. This changed once Paper rejoined onto OJ's team, Team Chicken Leg, in Double Digit Desert.
Most of Paper's conflicting actions are due to his evil side taking over, as Evil Paper appears to have a severe dislike towards OJ.
Episodes suggesting a friendship
Paper and OJ in a boat.
In Aquatic Conflict, OJ breaks up his alliance, as he can't stand to work with Bomb anymore due to his betrayal from the previous episode. He decides to form a new alliance, which Paper excitedly asks to join, which OJ agrees to, leaving Bomb in the dust. When MePhone begins the underwater challenge, Paper remarks to OJ that he can't go underwater since he'll get soggy.
OJ says that his physical nature keeps him from swimming as well, so Paper resolves the situation with a boat that he got from Wal-Mart, as apparently "everyone shops there now". They happily get inside the boat and start to track through the water, when Paper notices that OJ seems upset. OJ explains that Bomb's selfish actions from the previous episode are bothering him. Paper says he knows how OJ feels, since Knife betrayed him as well when he was originally eliminated. He says that they have to stick together and that he'll be there for him. Later, outside the boat, Paper instructs OJ to swim, but he is now too diluted to do so, and sinks down into the water. Paper claims he'll win for the two of them. After hearing Marshmallow about to win the challenge, he reverts back to his evil self, and using the fishing hook puts Marshmallow back into the water and grabs the coin she drops in the process, thus winning the challenge.
In Crappy Anniversary, Paper and OJ express their dislikes of MePhone making everything like the first episode in honor of the one year anniversary. They also both get irritated at Marshmallow when she refers to them as idiots due to being tired of the crazy challenges, this one being to do a cool dive off the Crappy Cliff into the safe zone. Although the two of them of course can't normally swim, as part of a new stage in the game with the merge, Paper gets a waterproof bag to put himself in due to him winning the previous challenge, thus giving him an advantage over OJ. However, they both still fail for different reasons, and they are both up for elimination.
In Inanimate Smackdown, OJ attempts to help Paper with his issue, and resolves that the words "Idiotic Island" are the cause. After Paper loses conciousness during the challenge, OJ worries for him and tries to get him to wake up. After Paper wakes up, OJ congratulates him for conquering his evil half, and slaps Bow when she claimed she liked him as 'Mr. Angry Eyes' (which causes Bow to fall into him).
In The Great Escape, Paper and OJ did not interact much, other than semi-working together to round up the eliminated contestants.
In The Tile Divide, Paper apologizes to OJ for his mistake earlier, and their friendship is revived. The two work together in the Tile Terror challenge, and end up getting to the end. Paper decides to give OJ the win, as a gift for acting rude earlier.
In The Penultimate Poll, OJ exclaims to Paper how relieved he was that Paper was safe. When Paper ends up being picked to be eliminated later, OJ appears upset, and later complains about Paper's elimination. He blames Taco, saying that Paper deserved to be in the finale more than her, and says that he will win for Paper.
Episodes suggesting a conflict
In Double Digit Desert, when Paper did rejoin, he killed Balloon, justifying his actions by claiming that he swore when he left Idiotic Island he would kill someone. He then snapped back to normal, stating that he didn't know what came over him, raising OJ's eyebrow. In the crossing the border challenge, Paper attempts to "save" OJ from the many cacti by launching Bomb into them, leading to his explosion that wipes out cacti. OJ claims his actions were uncalled for, and Paper angrily responds for him to just continue on with the challenge. As he turns around, he walks face-first into a cactus, and tells OJ to go on without him. OJ quickly agrees and leaves him behind, causing Paper to become upset as he didn't mean for him actually to leave him stuck.
In Aquatic Conflict, OJ accidentally says "Idiotic Island", which triggers flashbacks about Paper's time spent in the prison, and he becomes evil with no control over his actions. He yells at OJ to "get the hell out of the boat" and throws him into the water. After he hears the splash OJ makes, he switches back to normal, unsure of what happened and where OJ is. He retrieves OJ off screen and places him back into the boat, although he is now notably filled with water and coughing frequently. Paper apologizes, stating that he doesn't know what's going on with him. OJ comments that between his and Bomb's crazy antics, he feels like he's in a mental hospital, but redirects his attention on winning the challenge.
In The Tile Divide, Paper and OJ were sitting on a bench together. OJ was still empty of his orange juice, and continued to complain. Paper however, had a orange juice box, but was completely unaware of OJ's condition, thus causing OJ to become furious and storm off. Later, OJ confronts Paper after he attempts to help Taco with her lemon problem, and begins to yell at him for not helping. Although OJ was angry, Paper admits to his mistake and apologizes to OJ, patching up their friendship.
Trivia
- Double Digit Desert and The Tile Divide are the only episodes where Paper causes problems with OJ without his evil side interfering.