Season 1 • Episode 1
Emma, Fin, and Reef make it to Sunset Beach for the summer of their lives at Surfer's Paradise. When they arrive, they find the resort they are working at is a complete "Kooksville" resort, but they meet locals Broseph and Johnny. On their first day at the job, the groms must clean the resort after the owner's daughter, Lauren, throws a wild end-of-the-year school party.
The first day of work is always brutal, but the gang has it worse when Bummer is going to fire the person with the worst evaluation. After they finally get off work, Emma has to clean her clothes after it gets sprayed by a skunk, in addition to being stuck with a mean roommate, Martha McCartney who is fired at the end. Seeing how bad her first day is, Broseph teaches Emma how to surf.
The new employees get stuck with one of the worst things ever, their initiation. It's where the seniors, led by the snobbish Kelly, make them do humiliating things for the whole day. If the groms are able to endure the stuff, the seniors will take them to an secret section of the beach with the best waves, "The Office", which only a select few get to see.
The Hotel Management is anxious over the arrival of a Mr. Stanley Stevens—the well-known hotel reviewer. The groms are put through some difficult tasks in order to cater to his every whim. Meanwhile, El Duderino, the ultimate wave that hits once every 20 years, strikes Sunset Beach, which Reef and Broseph are determined to ride.
After receiving advice from Lo, Emma brings another surfer to "The Office" trying to make Ty jealous which accidentally reveals the secret location to other tourists. The groms become upset with her, so she devises a plan to make them leave. Meanwhile, Reef is stuck teaching a stubborn old man how to surf.
After overhearing Reef using lines from a cheesy 90s surf flick to pick up a cute guest, Fin bribes the Kahuna to run the amazing surf movie,Break Point, at the movies to expose Reef from his scamming ways. Meanwhile the rest of the gang are having problems with two children who keep pulling pranks on them and the guests.
When Reef breaks his pinky toe while surfing, he gets the whole week off. Fin, on the other hand, replaces Reef as the new surf instructor for the week. When Bummer is about to fire Reef since Fin was better at the job, Fin decides to give it back. But Bummer almost fires her, that is, until she saves his life. Meanwhile, George is being humiliated by Lo in front of his crush, so he plans revenge. At the end, Reef and Fin catch a few waves.
When trying to prove who is the better surfer, Fin and Reef get drifted out to sea, and end up on a remote island. Discovering they are the only ones there, Reef and Fin worry about dying on the island. They draw the conclusion that they will never make it back to their real lives, so the two prepare to kiss. At that moment, the rest of the gang shows up, revealing the resort was only 10 minutes down the beach. Meanwhile, Lo snags a vintage surf board tour to impress her dad. When things go wrong, the most valuable board goes missing.
Bummer goes on a blind date and leaves the hotel. The groms decide to go night surfing with the help of floodlights, but, the lights cause a power outage for the entire hotel. Emma is stuck in the elevator with her crush, Ty because of the outage.
Afraid that Emma received a bad evaluation, which would lead to her 3rd strike, Lo and Fin try to track down the paperwork before it reaches Bummer. Broseph gets kicked out of his room by Reef and Johnny, and builds a giant sandcastle to live in. When Reef and Johnny realize how much they miss Broseph, they beg him to return.
Bummer leaves for the weekend and leaves Johnny in charge. But when the groms pressure him to be the "fun" boss, chaos occurs. Meanwhile, Reef develops a Bromance with a pro surfer staying at the resort, who, by rumor, seems to be attracted to Emma.
Reef finds a mini-totem pole which brings him bad luck. Lo gets stuck as a babysitter for the guests' kids, but things go terribly wrong.
Broseph, Reef and Emma go into town for beaver tails (a local pastry), but stay too long and realize they're late for work. They try to take a shortcut through the woods, but end up lost in the woods for the day. So, Johnny does everything he can to cover for Emma's absence. Meanwhile, Fin takes photos of the messiest room in the hotel and posts them online. But when she goes out with a hot guy, she discover he's the one staying in the room.
Lo convinces Reef and Fin to participate in a Tandem surf contest, which she is eager to score a victory to impress her father. When Reef accidentally drops Fin and dislocates her shoulder, Lo forces Broseph to become Reef's partner, with Fin as the coach. Meanwhile, Johnny and Emma pose as a couple in order to film the team Reef and Broseph are up against to see how good they truly are. At the end, Reef makes an attempt at giving Fin flowers. Surprised at the result, Mr. Ridgemount offers to let Lo back in the penthouse. However, Rosie turns up and says that Lo has been running a 'labor camp' at the hotel. Upon hearing this, Mr. Ridgemount changes his mind.
Fin, Reef, Lo and Broseph get trapped in an old hotel room that Bummer claims to be haunted by a young couple who died there a month before. The gang doesn't really believe in hauntings, that's until the ghost shows up. But Fin still tries to convince the groms that ghosts aren't real. Meanwhile, the Kahuna faces off against an undead fish stick that he accidentally brought to life. At the end of the episode it is clear that Reef likes Fin.
Lo is caught in a lie after claiming to date a rock star, who stays at the resort. To save her reputation, Lo keeps up the charade with the oblivious star. When Emma and Fin catch him kissing another girl, they attempt to ruin his life. Meanwhile, Reef tries to start a surf crew. But when both Broseph and Fin are unwilling to participate, he becomes desperate for whoever he can get to join.
When Reef tries to prove that dude surfers are better than girls, Broseph, Emma and Johnny try to vote for their favorite, but it ends in a tie. When Reef finds a Sharpie marker, he paints Ripper's and No Pants Lance's faces, and the punishment ends up dressing as a girl. While surfing, a contest coordinator asks Reef to join the Battle of the Betties, which he joins to beat Fin. He joins as "Sandy Beaches" in disguise, which makes Bummer fall in love with Sandy. Meanwhile, Emma joins the contest, and breaks her board, along with Broseph's. But, when she becomes desperate and works for The Kahuna, he doesn't have money to pay her with, so he gives her a vintage board.
When a band comes to town, but Kahuna isn't around to drive them, the groms and Johnny take the Whale Bus themselves to get them there. Meanwhile, Bummer discovers the groms have ditched work and makes it his personal mission to track them down.
Emma is devastated when her evil boss Kelly asks Ty out. Reef's mom comes to visit and Reef isn't too happy about it. The situation becomes worse when his Mom starts dating Kahuna. Meanwhile, Kelly goes on a date with Ty, only because his dad is rich, which causes a very jealous Emma to try and sabotage everything.
During a prank war with Captain Ron's resort, Captain Ron's "Captain Clam" mascot leaves Captain Ron to work at Surfer's Paradise, apparently due to Ron's crummy treatment. Everyone starts treating him like he's one of them except for a left out Wipeout, who believes the Clam is up to no good. Meanwhile Reef dates a girl from Fin's past to get her jealous, but gets more than he bargained for.
Bummer is having a breakdown, so the groms teach him to be chill and relaxed. But they do too good of a job and Bummer's mellowness gets him fired. Lo gets a lesson from her tough-as-nails Daddy on how to deal with her daycare kids. Meanwhile, Johnny finally scores a date with Emma, but it doesn't go the way he planned.
Reef, Broseph and Johnny list the hotel as a "clothing optional" resort with unexpected results. The girls decide to have an all-girls party in one of the suites, but Lo starts to believe that their night will be ruined when her mom joins the party. Meanwhile, Johnny becomes traumatized after seeing two male hotel guests doing naked yoga and Reef and Broseph try to snap him out of it.
Fin and Reef trick Broseph into being a sponsor so they can get free stuff, meanwhile Emma goes on a date with the human fart machine Ripper.
After the Groms endless pranks begin to affect their jobs (and the guests) Bummer devises a secret plan to pull off the greatest prank ever in hopes of ending the Groms' prank war once and for all. The opening scene of Total Drama Action was seen during this episode; that show's theme song is played on the television in the restaurant.
Broseph gets his hair braided and mysteriously loses his surf stoke. Lo and Emma's plans backfire while getting revenge on Kelly.
The episode begins with Lo and Fin doing their maid duties. Lo is trying to earn enough money to buy a new pair of bikinis in the hotel gift shop. She is interrupted by a phone call from Mr. Ridgemount, asking Lo to his office. He reveals that he should be nicer to his children, so he returns Mrs. Ridgemount's credit card, lets George have a golf cart (which he later crashes) and allowing Lo out of her hotel duties and back in the penthouse. Meanwhile, the groms are annoyed that there are no waves. They soon discover that they must take up new hobbies to fill in their spare time. Reef decides to take up reading, Broseph tries to play table tennis and Fin attempts knitting. When Bummer learns of the event, he is thrilled at first, but is then shocked that no waves means no guests and could go bankrupt.