Crack Defeat

"My purebred racing snail, which cost me seventeen hundred dollars, lost to a rock."

- Squidward, SpongeBob SquarePants

A character is in a competition of some sort, and is clearly the best of the competition (in the eyes of the viewer and the other characters). The character ends up losing, however, to an obviously inferior work. Often used to effect the Status Quo Game Show trope, while still showing how good the character is at what s/he does.

Related to Dark Horse Victory, Ironic Inversion, Dude, Where's My Reward?, Shaggy Dog Story. A common victim of One Judge to Rule Them All.

Live Action TV

 * In the Good Eats episode Scrap Iron Chef, despite much cheating on both sides and Alton being the obvious winner (the judges praised his cooking and called the Scrap Iron Chef's food crap), the Scrap Iron Chef won anyway. This is certainly a jab at the Iron Chef series, where the Iron Chefs always seem to win.
 * Played for laughs in Monty Python's Flying Circus. In the "Summarizing Proust" Competition, the host feels that none of the contestants delivered an award-worthy performance, so he gives it to "the girl with the biggest tits", who wasn't even in the competition.
 * The season finale of Glee. We don't see Aural Intensity's performance, and Vocal Adrenaline does "Bohemian Rhapsody". New Directions did a Journey medley that had people dancing in the aisles, yet they got THIRD PLACE OUT OF THREE. Showing the judges' deliberations helps somewhat; actual talent seems to be not even on the criteria list. One judge even moves his vote off of New Directions just to spite Sue.
 * And one member of New Directions remarks that Aural Intensity's performance is a mash-up of two songs sung by two of the judges. Is it against contest rules to suck up?
 * Vocal Adrenaline's performance was (allowing for differences in taste) quite good, however, it WAS clear that the intent of the episode was that the New Directions should have at least taken second place.
 * This kicks off the plot of a Kamen Rider Double story arc. Shotaro's Joshikousei informants Queen and Elizabeth enter an American Idol-style singing contest, and do well in their first two weeks . In the third week, they come up against a guy whose singing is so terrible it knocks birds out of the sky and causes earthquakes, but the judges absolutely adore him. Naturally the girls are suspicious, so they hire Shotaro to investigate.

Comic Books

 * In one of The Simpsons comic books, the school has a art competition. Everyone turns out something, and some of them are pretty good. The winner, however, is Bart who submitted a blank easel still in its packaging. He claimed that he was 'Drawing a blank', and the art critic who was judging the competition loved it.

Film

 * The Hurricane opens up with Rubin Carter finishing a fight against Joey Giardello and inexplicably losing even though Giardello hardly seems able to stand up. Interestingly, this isn't how the fight actually happened- Giardello sued the filmmakers for libel, angrily claiming that he won the fight fair and square.
 * The whole movie's given a Rose Tinted Narrative, which has a lot to do with it. Who cares about accuracy when you're trying to make Carter and the three Canadians into total saints among a sea of racist bastards?
 * In Hot Dog: The Movie, Harkin Banks is a newcomer to the world of competitive skiing, and delivers clearly the best skiing of anyone. But he is given far worse scores than his snobby rival, Rudi Garmisch, who admittedly delivers excellent skiing, but who is given top scores so he can continue to attract money and fame to the ski lodge.

Webcomics

 * In Bob and George, the robot Ran Cossack's backstory is that Kalinka Cossack built him for a Science Fair. They lost to a giant model volcano.
 * Specifically, he lost to a model volcano because the alternative would be giving the prize to a girl. And we obviously can't give the prize to a girl, right?
 * It's implied that Ran would have won if he'd been judged first--the judges gave the volcano very high ratings before discovering that the competing project was a self-aware robot. The judges' sexism was used as a tiebreaker.
 * In Gastrophobia, Phobia and Klepto have a cooking match to prove who's the better cook. Phobia makes squirrel-bacon applesauce. Klepto invents apple pie. Phobia wins by default because Klepto is just a slave.

Western Animation

 * The Simpsons:
 * "Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington": Lisa's essay on political corruption gets a corrupt politician expelled... but loses to a Vietnamese immigrant's tale of how his family ran a tire shop.
 * Justified Trope because the essay, although excellent, was off-topic for the contest. (She made it to the finals by submitting a different, more upbeat essay.)
 * "Saddlesore Galactica": In the subplot, Lisa's school plays "Living in America" at a state fair band competition; your winner, however, is some school who plays The Stars And Stripes Forever, but has red, white, and blue glow sticks at the end (Lisa believes that those are illegal, and indeed they are). It takes President Clinton himself to overturn this decision, resulting in a Spoof Aesop.
 * "Lisa's Rival": Lisa reluctantly enlists Bart's aid in attempting to defeat her new rival in a diorama competition. However, Ralph Wiggum's 'diorama', which is nothing but a bunch of Star Wars action figures in their original packaging, wins the competition, making this an example of both a Crack Defeat and a Dark Horse Victory.
 * The episode where Lisa is being forced to throw a Spelling Bee... and then accidentally loses anyway was very nearly a Crack Defeat, and was set up to be one, then she lost, but was lauded roundly for coming second. So subverted there.
 * And once again with another episode where Lisa decided to use Bart as a guinea pig for a science project (out of spite for him ruining her original one on a practical joke) dubbed "Is My Brother Dumber Than A Hamster?". When it comes time to show her results at the fair. She's shown up and actually beaten by Bart who simply dresses up a hamster with a tiny scarf and goggles, puts him a model plane and appeals simply for cute factor. (He does later apologize to Lisa though, you have to see the scene on DVD as syndication cuts out that part.)
 * The SpongeBob SquarePants episode 'The Great Snail Race' had Spongebob, Squidward, and Patrick's pet snails (Gary, Snellie, and Rocky respectively) pitting against each other. Snellie, who is a purebred snail, would've won, but she forfeited and comforted an overworked Gary. So the winner? Rocky!
 * It needs to be said that Rocky was an actual rock. How it legitimately got to the finish line was never explained.
 * To be fair, we have seen at least one other rock move under its own power on the show, in the episode Pizza Delivery. Even then, it was presented as something that only Spongebob would be willing to accept without comment.
 * The Weekenders, "Talent Show": In an Ironic Inversion, Lor, The Ditz, is the only member of the gang competing in a local talent show instead of the gang's artistic genius Tish (Tish's snub goes unexplained). Lor's act: Playing guitar and singing "Home on the Range". After all is said and done, Tish is adjusting Lor's 2nd place ribbon backstage, as Lor doesn't understand how Bluke won with his act: throwing hams in the air.
 * Given the way Bluke is portrayed in other episodes, it's not entirely unbelievable to think that the judges just took pity on him.
 * All Grown Up:
 * "Truth or Consequences": Tommy Pickles' entry in a student film competition is chock-full of footage of him and his friends when they were young. However, Kimi comments, after the contest, "You should have won, that 'Mad Cow from Planet Moo' was a snore fest..."
 * "The Science Pair": After Tommy's forfeited his entry in the school science fair, the winner is a project that involves the culturing of mold... played mostly as comic relief.
 * Tiny Toon Adventures: In a film competition (which, among other entries, had a 42-hour "tone poem"), Plucky Duck wins with a five-second film chosen because it was short.
 * After a 42-hour tone poem? That's not a Crack Defeat. That's the most polite response Daffy and Bugs could have given.
 * Also, his reward is to take the course again for skipping it the first time.
 * An episode of Doug had Doug, Skeeter, and Patti (with later help from Connie) trying to write a song for a town anthem competition. Theirs may or may not have been the best entry (and turned out to be more of a poem with accompaniment than a song, thanks to Patti being Hollywood Tone Deaf), but by no account should Fentruck's overly-long and barely-intelligible song, "Bluffington, You Do Not Disgust Me", have won.
 * Seems to be a Running Gag for Tobey on Word Girl, though occasionally justified by having cheated in the first place. Even then, however, the fact that Violet usually wins instead makes the defeat rather cracky.
 * On Futurama, Leela lost a martial arts match after beating up the other competitors because she lacks the 'will of the warrior'. In other words, she's female.
 * In the Phineas and Ferb episode 'Unfair Science Fair', Doof enters a grade school science fair because of a long history of entering them as a child, always with creations remarkable for someone his age (or anyone really), and losing every single time to a baking soda volcano. He later gave up science fairs and tried writing poetry, but, curiously, still lost to a baking soda volcano.
 * The above example also contains a weird double subversion, as the winner of that science fair was a girl with an impressive set of self-made, Doc Ock-style mechanical arms... that she used to build her real project, a baking soda volcano.

Video Games

 * When developing a Fighting Game, beginners being able to beat experts is widely seen as the thing to avoid at all costs, sometimes regardless of how well-made the rest of the game is.
 * In Atelier Annie, you need to win the gold prize in all six challenges to win the competition and get the two best endings. If you fail in this,  wins instead. Where this trope comes into play is that
 * However, Fridge Brilliance if you've gotten the Golden Ending:

Real Life

 * In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Roy Jones Jr. pummeled Park Si Hun in the final, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. But after the bout, the judges gave Park a 3-2 win, and an ill-deserved gold medal. Jones would later go on to become a famous pro boxer.
 * That was more Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
 * 4 years earlier, South Korean officials had gone to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in order to observe the Americans. After a number of controversial decisions went the Americans' way (Of the 38 boxing matches involving Americans that went the full three rounds, 37 ended up being judged as American victories). One Korean Olympic official is quoted as saying "We came here to learn a lot about the Olympic Games, because we are the hosts in 1988, and we've decided there's nothing to learn." Except how to get revenge.
 * It's pretty much an unwritten rule of the Olympics that the host country is not allowed to be embarrassed. Thus all but the most blatant cheating on their behalf (and sometimes even that) will be ignored, and judges will favor them whenever possible.
 * Sometimes, if someone has a really great idea for a TV show/video game/cartoon/line of pencil moisteners, but doesn't have the creative freedom to just make whatever random-ass idea pops into their head, they'll make the accompanying pitches as terrible as they possibly can on purpose, in the hopes that the decision-makers will hate it and choose the one the creator likes. But, as the Executive Meddling page demonstrates, executives are notorious for having terrible taste, so sometimes the gamble doesn't pay off and they're stuck working on a really shitty show which they deliberately designed to be so.
 * In art contests for young children, the winner will often be the worst artist because the judges feel bad for them.

Can be extended to a character fit for a certain job being spurned in favor of someone inferior:

Western Animation

 * King of the Hill: After having a heart attack, the boss of the propane company Hank Hill works at asks Hank to "take care of my dogs", and he thinks that boss is metaphorically telling him to take care of the company, so he accepts the job. Turns out boss literally does mean to take care of his dogs, while some other guy is taking charge of the company and putting "tattleboxes" in the propane delivery trucks, which royally pisses off the drivers and ruins productivity.
 * All Grown Up, "Interview with a Campfire": No-talent Angelica Pickles and talented singer Susie Carmichael are auditioning for the lead in a camp musical. After all is said and done, both Kimi and Lil think Susie had the better audition for the lead role in the play (although we have to take their word for it). However, come play time, she's only in a supporting role.
 * Codename Kids Next Door, "Operation ELECTIONS": Nigel walks out to a presidential podium to make a speech before he finds out that he lost his 4th Grade President election to the Delightful Children. After being told that he in fact did win the election (in a scene where we find out that the Delightfuls weren't even on the ballot), he spends the rest of the episode involved in a war between the elementary school and middle school. At the end though, he finds out that he was lied to, and the real election results gave the win to another student -- minor background character, Eggbert Eggelstein.
 * Who was once shown trying to eat a candy bar while forgetting that he was wearing a space helmet, so that should give some idea about how terrible Eggbert (and the student body who elected him ]) is.
 * Teachers Pet: Ian (the gross kid) somehow manages to squeak past both Scott and Leonard to win class president in an election Decided By One Vote.
 * Straddling on the fence... Rugrats, "Moving Away": Angelica Pickles' mom Charlotte has packed her bags, and is ready to move (with Angelica and hubby Drew) cross-country to New York to be the new Vice President of her company. After Angelica recounts with the rest of the Rugrats on how they met in the first place, Charlotte's plans have hit one major snag: her assistant, Jonathan has taken the job ahead of his apparent superior. "There's no loyalty in this town!"

Video Games

 * In the NES game Punch Out, you better KO your opponent in the title bouts, or else the judges will always vote for the other guy. Mr. Sandman must also be KOed even though he isn't a circuit champion. You can win on points in other matches, though it takes a ludicrous amount.

Usually the dubious decision goes unexplained, but in these examples, there is an excuse for such dubious judging:

Live Action TV

 * The Torkelsons: Dorothy Jane Torkelson is in the finals of a contest whose winner will get to be a foreign exchange student in Paris. Her family situation gets high marks, and the judges do seem to like her... but still loses anyway because the family in France wanted a boy. Thus making the finals completely meaningless since there was only one boy out of the three finalists.
 * Mind you, when Dorothy first meets said finalist, she pretty much says, "There's no way I'll lose to you" before getting concerned at the other finalist.
 * In one episode of That's So Raven, Raven and Chelsea apply for jobs at the department store. Chelsea is clearly completely useless at the job, but is chosen over the more competent Raven. It turns out the manager is racist.
 * Small Wonder: Vicky and her neighbor vie for the title of "Little Miss Shopping Mall", and the other competitor doesn't seem to be of much trouble since she keeps dropping her baton. Vicky seems to have the advantage over her neighbor. But in the end, baton girl wins simply by being the daughter of the shopping mall owners.
 * It has also cut the other way: there isn't much applause for the Bradys' act in a talent show in The Brady Bunch Movie, but they win it anyway because the judges are The Monkees (!).
 * Similar to the above, the Father Ted episode 'A Song For Ireland' sees Ted's hopelessly lame song "My Lovely Horse" (whose melody consists of one note played over and over again) triumph over Father Dick Byrne's obviously superior effort to be nominated as Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest entry... because the Irish organisers are sick of always winning Eurovision because it was getting too expensive to host (Which was true, because at the time, Ireland had just had a three-year winning streak at the ESC.) Needless to say, they don't tell Ted this. Needless to say, Ted doesn't win Eurovision, a rare case of Springtime for Hitler actually working.
 * An episode of Family Matters, the Winslows engage in a rivalry with another couple in a dance competition. Right before the final showdown, the couples reconcile and decide to split the top prize. Unfortunately, they are told that this is illegal ... so first place goes to "the commissioner's kids."
 * Happens all the time on Reality Shows, with the exact justifications depending on the format:
 * Eliminated From the Race (The Amazing Race): A normally-excellent team just has a really bad day and comes in last.
 * Voted Off the Island (Survivor, Big Brother US): Plot and scheme all you want, you still have to please the other competitors so they'll keep you around. Many players have been voted out for being too good and a threat to others' success.
 * One Judge to Rule Them All (The Apprentice, Hells Kitchen): Players have been awesome businessmen, chefs, or whatever; but as soon as they pissed off the judge they didn't have a prayer.

Western Animation

 * Kim Possible, "Hidden Talent": In yet another hybrid of Crack Defeat and Dark Horse Victory, Ron stalls for Kim (who is trying to escape an especially elaborate death trap) in the school talent show with an eclectic (and exhaustive) list of vaudeville acts (e.g., ventriloquism, breaking bricks with his head), and ends up winning first place over Kim and Bonnie's big, flashy acts (Bonnie dances ballet, while KP performs "Say the Word", a song by Christy Romano, her voice actress). Barkin proclaims, "Proving that quantity is indeed better than quality".
 * Playing with this trope is Hey Arnold, "Family Man", where restaurant cook Hyunh (see Celebrity Is Overrated) is concerned that his new boss will pick an inferior cook as his new head chef because he has a large family, and Hyunh only has a daughter (who doesn't even appear in the story).
 * Rocket Power included a sand castle contest. The various entrants spent lots of time and effort on elaborate sand sculptures, but first place went to a little girl who made a tiny sand tower with a bucket. Reason? It was a sand castle contest, and hers was the only one that could be called a "castle".
 * In an episode of Pepper Ann, the eponymous character completely wins over the judges of a beauty pageant with her heartfelt speech about being herself... but another girl wins because the entire pageant was rigged to give her the prize -- she's the daughter of the president of the company that organized it.

Webcomics

 * The Sluggy Freelance arc "Torg Potter and the Sorcerer's Nuts" does this as a direct parody of the "last minute points" scene in the first Harry Potter film/book. House Wunnybun (the equivalent of Slytherin) has won the house cup with 534 points, while House Snackewyrm (the equivalent of Gryffindor) comes in last with minus a billion. At the awards ceremony, headmaster Gandledorf announces that's he's granting his Snackewyrm niece a trillion points for "being so gosh darn cute," making Snackewyrm the winner instead. He later confides to Torg that he just didn't want to mess up his paperwork by treating Wunnybun with respect.

Film

 * In Stick It, one of the gymnasts performs a difficult vault with impeccable skill, but loses points because of a technicality: her bra strap was showing. As she herself points out, the judges were overtly biased against her coach and were exploiting this rule as a covert mean of revenge. This event causes the rebellion that makes up the remainder of the film, and is apparently a problem in real life; in actual gymnastic competitions the complex rules and unnecessary penalties confuse viewers and allow judges to deliberately alter the outcome.
 * One of Dewey Finn's lies in School of Rock has him telling about how he auditioned for an orchestra and ended up getting spurned in favor of a relative of Yo Yo Ma's. Dewey: "A little nepotisssss!"

Literature

 * Obligatory Discworld example: At the end of Maskerade, Agnes's annoying and tone-deaf roommate Christine is the one who looks forward to a brilliant future as a diva while Agnes, who actually did all the singing every time Christine appeared onstage, is shunted off to one side. The stage manager  tells her that yes, she was very good, better than Christine will ever be even after years of training - but Christine is naturally a star, which in the opera world is more important than being talented.
 * Justified in Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept novels, where Stile and Clef compete in a contest to see who's the master musician. Clef's first piece is technically perfect, but doesn't attempt to appeal to the audience at hand. Stile's piece does so, allowing Clef to learn to suit his music to his audience. Although the audience clearly finds Clef's second performance to be the best of the lot, the judges aware the victory to Stile, because Clef's skills benefited more from hearing Stile's piece than vice versa. So, Stile is the master and Clef -- however refined his technique -- is the apprentice under the circumstances.

Video Games

 * In Breath of Fire 2, Petape hits upon the idea of flushing out the impostor pretending to be her brother Tapeta by holding a cooking contest. For all his Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, Tapeta is a superb chef, and Petape suspects rightly that he will easily beat the impostor, especially with the high-quality ingredients the party obtains from the powerful insect monsters lurking in the castle's basement. While the head chef gives high marks to the impostor's dishes, he's positively ecstatic about Tapeta's - but each time, he finds some nit-picky reason to deduct points. This comes to a head when the chef comes to a dessert made using only the most rare and exquisite fly in existence and Petape calls him out. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the impostor has rigged the vote.