The friendship between Spinner Mason and Craig Manning began in Season 2 of Degrassi: The Next Generation when Craig invites Spinner, Marco Del Rossi, and Sean Cameron to his place for crazy antics. In the third season, they formed a band called Downtown Sasquatch with Marco and Jimmy Brooks. They are good friends but had a few conflicts such as when Craig got jealous of Spinner playing around and flirting with his ex-girlfriend Manny Santos. Craig ended their friendship in Eye of the Tiger when he found out that Spinner got Jimmy shot but they reacquainted in Season 5, up until Craig left for Vancouver. They have not interacted much since then.
Friendship History[]
Season 2[]
In Drive, Spinner was one of three friends that Craig invited over when his stepfather Joey Jeremiah went out of town for the weekend. When Craig was caught joyriding in one of the cars from Joey's dealership, Joey angrily sent Spinner, Sean and Marco home and grounded Craig for three weeks.
In Take My Breath Away, Craig confided in Spinner and Jimmy that his date with Manny Santos the previous night had been "bizarre" and that she was so immature that she reminded him of his five-year-old half-sister Angela Jeremiah. Both Jimmy and Spinner thought that was weird.
In Fight for Your Right, Craig saw Spinner looking at a poster asking for help in the cafeteria. He was surprised that Spinner was thinking about applying for the job.
During science class in Tears Are Not Enough (1), Craig told Spinner to shut up as he was trying to listen to Ms. Hatzilakos during science class. When Spinner accused him of being a browner, Marco said, "Someone is just in a bad mood." An irritated Craig responded, "Someone just wants to pass his science exam, alright?"
Season 3[]
In Pride (1), Craig saw that Marco was wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and, since he knew that he had no interest in hockey, jokingly asked him if he had gotten too much sun on the weekend. When Spinner asked Marco what he thought of Andropov's trade to the Redskins and Marco said that it was great as his skating skills would really help the team, Craig laughed. An annoyed Spinner said, "Redskins are football. You have no idea what you're talking about" before storming off. Craig, surprised at the strength of Spinner's reaction, said, "Oh-kay."
The day after Marco came out to Spinner in Pride (2), Marco and Ellie heard Craig say to Jimmy, "Alright, Spin asked us to keep it a secret until heās thought about it more, so you canāt tell anybody, alright?" Marco and Ellie were both concerned that Spinner had told them that he was gay and were relieved to learn from Jimmy that he and Craig had been talking about the fact that Spinner was planning a surprise party for Paige Michalchuk's 16th birthday in several weeks. Marco gave Craig and Jimmy a hug and told them that he would take the secret to his grave. Both Craig and Jimmy were confused.
Later that day, Paige's brother Dylan Michalchuk gave Craig, Jimmy and Spinner four tickets for his hockey game that night and told them that one of them was for Marco. When Craig and Jimmy expressed their excitement for their boys' night, Spinner asked, "Could you two be bigger fags?" He then told them that Marco was not coming as he "doing some gay artsy thing with Ellie." During gym class, Jimmy and Craig expressed their regret to Marco that he would not be joining them, which upset Marco greatly as Spinner was deliberately excluding him. When Spinner hit Marco with the volleyball and Mr. Armstrong told him not to spike, Craig sarcastically said, "Nice going, Spinner." While Jimmy learned about Marco's sexuality from Spinner's homophobic graffiti "Marco is a fag" in the boys' bathroom, it is unclear when exactly Craig found out.
In Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Craig heard Spinner and Paige refer to each other as "honeybee" and "pumpkin bunny" respectively and joked that he needed an insulin shot. As he was having problems with Ashley, he asked Spinner if Paige stopped him when he were in the moment but Spinner told him that he did not know what to do in that situation either.
In Never Gonna Give You Up, Craig was confused as to why Paige wanted to have J.T. Yorke around. Spinner explained that J.T. had helped her out when she had a bad time the previous year and she felt that she owed him. Craig told Spinner that he did not and advised him to get rid of J.T. Later while Spinner distracted him, Craig sneaked a remote control fart machine into J.T.'s locker. When Manny approached him shortly afterwards, they started playing fart noises. Manny thought that it was J.T., told him that he was disgusting and walked away.
In Holiday (1), Spinner spotted Manny and Craig kissing at the ice skating rink, discovering their affair. Spinner was amazed that Craig had two girlfriends and called him a pimp.
In Holiday (2), Craig and Spinner were doing some Christmas shopping in the mall. Spinner criticized Craig for spending $80 on a 1970s Ramones T-Shirt for Ashley before joking, "One girlfriend down, one to go." Craig told him to shut up. Spinner replied, "Yes, Lord Stud."
In Accidents Will Happen (1), Craig and Spinner were messing around with a soccer ball outside of Degrassi.
In Accidents Will Happen (2), Spinner asked Craig if he was on crack as he was so happy that Manny was pregnant with his child. Craig explained that since his parents were dead, he had no family and sought to start a new family with Manny and the baby.
Season 4[]
In Ghost in the Machine (1), Spinner bought his new car from Craig's stepfather Joey's dealership Jeremiah Motors. When Paige asked Spinner what he intended to name it, Craig suggested "Sparky," "Herbie" and "Thomas." Spinner decided to call it "The Love Machine." Craig was not impressed, asking the rhetorical question, "And you're calling me a dork?"
In King of Pain, Spinner and Craig both supported Marco's campaign to become Student Council President.
In Anywhere I Lay My Head, Manny organised with Spinner for Downtown Sasquatch to play at the Spirit Squad car wash while Paige was ill with the flu. Although Craig wanted the band to be "smoking hot" before its first gig, Spinner convinced him that they needed experience before that could happen and Craig agreed to perform. After the performance, Craig saw Manny laughing and hugging Spinner and took a photograph of them together.
In Islands in the Stream, Craig saw Spinner smelling Manny's perfume beside his locker and, after she left, he asked Spinner if he and Paige were still tight. Spinner told him that it was none of his business and neither was Manny anymore. Craig later included the photo of Spinner and Manny with the others that he took at the carnival. Hazel Aden showed it to Paige, leading her to confront Spinner about it.
Later that day, Craig accompanied Spinner, Marco and Jimmy to the cinema to see the Bollywood film Salvador Kovack at Marco's suggestion. Paige was on her first shift working at the concession stand and, like Marco and Jimmy, Craig objected to the condescending manner in which Spinner treated her, scolding him with the sarcastic comment "Nice" before they watched the film. After Spinner accused Craig of being jealous and slapped him in the face, they startled to brawl outside the cinema, with each accusing the other of being jealous of his relationship with Manny. Paige's boss Meeri called security and promptly fired Paige, though she was later rehired.
When Ashley became increasingly involved in Downtown Sasquatch after Jimmy was shot by Rick Murray in Neutron Dance, Spinner objected to her continued presence at rehearsals when she was not an official member of the band. Marco initially believed that Spinner was making too big a deal out of it but realized that he was right when Craig and Ashley completely dominated an interview with Liberty Van Zandt for the Degrassi Grapevine and did not give either of them a chance to speak. Marco and Spinner then issued an ultimatum to Craig: either they went or Ashley did. Craig attempted to tell Ashley that she was out of the band but he instead kissed her. Later that day at The Dot, Craig excitedly told Marco and Spinner that they were back together but they stormed out as he failed to kick her out of the band as he had promised.
At their next rehearsal, Spinner brought Manny into the band to play the tambourine and Marco brought an accordion, angrily telling Craig that it was every man for himself in the band. This forced Craig's hand and he reluctantly told Ashley that she was out of the band before the session in the recording studio. However, while singing "Everything's Dust" which he had written for Ashley to apologize for cheating on her with Manny, Craig realized that Ashley meant more to him than the band and went after her. They kissed and resumed their relationship.
In Voices Carry (1), Spinner and Marco played the demo that they recorded after Craig left featuring Marco's dreadful singing voice. Marco believed that it represented Downtown Sasquatch's first and last single and blamed Craig. Spinner opened his bag and dumped numerous copies of the CD at Craig's feet while Marco ejected the copy in the tape recorder and threw it at Craig.
In Eye of the Tiger, after it became common knowledge that Spinner was responsible for dumping the paint on Rick, Craig and Marco confronted him. Craig told him to stay away from Jimmy while Marco told him that he was no longer invited to Jimmy's welcome back party at Craig's house. However, after getting drunk with Jay Hogart, Spinner showed up anyway. Craig angrily told him to leave. Spinner begged for forgiveness but Jimmy ignored him, telling Craig to continue playing karaoke as they had been doing before Spinner arrived. Spinner left but Marco saw that he took his keys with him and realized that he was going to try and kill himself. He and Craig attempted to stop Spinner from driving away but Jimmy moves himself in front of the car. He told Jimmy that he was not to stop him as he was dead to him already. Craig then confiscated Spinner's keys.
In Goin' Down the Road (2), Spinner found out that Craig was living at Degrassi. Craig told him that Kevin was allowing him to stay in the school during the summer but that no one knew and he wanted to keep it that way. Spinner apologized to him for their arguments concerning Ashley's participation in the band but Craig told him that it was water under the bridge. When Spinner said that Ashley made good contributions, Craig angrily told him that she was a virus who eventually destroyed everything. After writing a song in the boiler room where he was living, Craig rushed up to tell Kevin Smith about it. Kevin was surprised to see him as he thought that he was in London. After finding out that Kevin had no idea that Craig was still at Degrassi, Spinner called Joey, who came to collect him.
Season 5[]
In Venus (1), Craig, along with all of Spinner's old friends, continue to ignore him. It is unknown if Craig ever quite forgave Spinner for his role in the tragic school shooting, although in Goin' Down the Road (2), while off his meds, Craig forgives him.
In Redemption Song, when Craig saw that Spinner's girlfriend Darcy Edwards had left him a message on his locker, he sarcastically said, "Someone left you a card? How sweet."
In High Fidelity (2), Paige showed Spinner a 2004 yearbook featuring photos of himself, Craig, Jimmy and Marco when they were all members of Downtown Sasquatch and he became nostalgic.
Season 6[]
In What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost? (1), Craig and Spinner were seemingly once again on good terms as Spinner attended the welcome home party for Craig at Marco and Ellie's house as well as Craig's gig the next day.
Season 7[]
In Bust a Move (2), it was revealed that Craig was the mystery guest at the Purple Dragon Mystery Concert in Smithdale University. He was glad that so many of his old friends were in the audience, which may have included Spinner. Spinner was underwhelmed by the mystery guest's identity as it was someone whom he could have easily called. He yelled out that he had been Craig's drummer but no one seemed to notice. However, Spinner enjoyed the concert.
Rivalry History[]
In Islands in the Stream, the two get into a fight over Manny. Later that season, Craig was the first to ostracize Spinner after the school shooting and still harbored some resentment toward him in following seasons, despite forgiving him while off his meds.
Trivia[]
- Both have dated Manny Santos and lost their virginities to her: Craig in Should I Stay or Should I Go? and Spinner at some point between Bark at the Moon and Eye of the Tiger. Manny lost her virginity to Craig.
- Both have a passion for music and were founding members of Downtown Sasquatch.
- They were both friends with Marco Del Rossi, Jimmy Brooks and Sean Cameron.
- Spinner was friends with Craig's ex-girlfriend and good friend Ashley Kerwin.
- Neither were seen graduating in the Class of 2006: Spinner was held back in Venus (1) and graduated with the Class of 2007 in We Built This City while Craig dropped out in Together Forever.
- Spinner shares many similarities with Craig's stepfather, Joey Jeremiah.
- Both were introduced as Grade 8 students.
- Both had made a first impression as a bully, but eventually became nicer.
- Both were held back.
- Both had long-running best friends.
- Both have cheated on their girlfriends.
- Both had conflicts with "Bad Boys".
- Both have been involved with the "Good Girl".
- Joey was engaged to Caitlin twice and Spinner married Emma.
- Both were in bands.
- Both have a disorder.
- Joey has dysgraphia and Spinner has ADHD.
- Both had gotten into fights with their rivals.
- Joey with Dwayne Myers and Spinner with Johnny DiMarco.
- Both shared similarities with future character, Drew Torres.
- They were both the romantic interests of Emma Nelson, but only Spinner married her.
- They both cheated on their girlfriends with Manny.
- They both have deceased parents: Spinner's father Mr. Mason died of cancer while Craig's mother Julia Manning-Jeremiah died of undisclosed causes and his father Albert Manning was killed in a car accident.
- They both have younger sisters: Kendra Mason and Angela Jeremiah respectively.
- Like Jimmy, Ellie and Paige Michalchuk, Craig did not have a problem with the fact that Marco was gay after he first came out. This was in stark contrast to Spinner's initial homophobia.
- Craig disliked Spinner's good friend Peter Stone.
- Like Spinner's ex-girlfriend Jane Vaughn, Craig had an abusive father: Craig's father Albert Manning beat him while Jane's father Carlos Valieri sexually molested her.
- They both worked on Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!: Craig wrote a song for it while Spinner was one of the caterers.
- Spinner's enemy Johnny DiMarco was a fan of Craig's music.
- In King of Pain, they both supported their mutual best friend Marco's campaign to become Student Council President.
- They were both members of Archie Simpson's Grade 9 homeroom class 9F from 2002 to 2003.
- Spinner's good friend Terri MacGregor thought that Craig was cute.
- They both went to camp in the summer of 2002.
- Craig disliked Spinner's close friend Jay Hogart because of his involvement in the 2004 school shooting.
- Spinner was the only other member of Downtown Sasquatch whom Craig did not reference in his album Of Two Minds. He thanked Jimmy in the acknowledgements and the others were all the subjects of songs: "She's the Ash" (Ashley), "Thong Girl, Wrong Girl" (Manny), "Red-Headed for Trouble" (Ellie) and "Kissing in the Stairwell" (Marco).
- Craig was involved in a love triangle with Spinner's friend Ashley and his ex-girlfriend Manny.
Quotes[]
- Craig: "Joey is gone for the weekend."
Spinner: "Alright, party!"
Craig: "No party, Spin."
Spinner: "Girls?"
Craig: "No girls."
Spinner: "Booze?"
Craig: "No booze."
Spinner: "Donuts?"
Craig: "That we can do!" - Drive - Spinner: "Well, one girlfriend down, one to go."
Craig: "Spinner, shut up."
Spinner: "Yes, Lord Stud." - Holiday (2) - Spinner: (while giving Craig a milkshake) "There's two extra scoops in there."
Craig: "I won't tell."
Spinner: "Happy birthday, man."
Craig: "Yeah, I gotta get back."
Spinner: "Craig, I'm sorry about what happened, it sucks but you're a great guy and you deserve better than that."
Craig: "Better than what?"
Spinner: "Better than Ashley. Man, I know all about it."
Craig: "All about what? What the hell are you talking about?"
Spinner: "Ellie said that... nothing, it's nothing... nothing." - Venus (1)