Contest Winner Cameo: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, either to promote a product and generate interest in it, or maybe to maintain interest in it, or maybe just for the hell of it, a company will hold a contest in which the winner will get to make a brief appearance in a future work by that company. Sometimes this contest takes the form of a charity auction.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' had a contest tied in with the release of their new game [[Colon Cancer|Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force]] The winners cameoed during the academy scene in the final episode.

** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Star Trek Enterprise]]'' had a couple of Engineering crew who were winners of the USS Enterprise's (the aircraft carrier) Crewman of the Year competition, and a radio contest winner played a female engineer.

* In 1977, ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' held a contest for the [[Guest Host]] spot on that year's Christmas episode called the "Anyone Can Host" contest. The winner was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old grandmother from New Orleans who happened to be a fan of the show (and still was until she died in the early 1990s). After learning that an old lady won the contest, the ''SNL'' production team tried to get the [[Sex Pistols]] on as the musical guest (as it would drum up more publicity and it would be hilarious to have a controversial punk band as the musical guest for a show hosted by a random old lady), but visa problems caused them to pick [[Elvis Costello]] and the Attractions instead. Costello's infamous performance where he stops his planned performance of "Less than Zero" to play "Radio Radio" (who was considered too "anti-media" to play on mainstream television at the time) instead has become one of the most iconic in the show's history. Barely anyone cares about the old lady whose winning of the contest actually had a (minor at best) [[Overshadowed by Awesome|role at his being there in the first place]]. Even though Miskel Spillman lives on as ''SNL'''s only non-celebrity to host an episode, her place as the oldest host was usurped years later by another old lady host: [[Betty White]].

* More than a few times, ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' has offered Walk-On roles on various CBS soap operas as part of a prize package. The only one that has been won so far was for ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'', where the winner could be seen in a party scene in the episode shown later in the day.

* Konami held contests for various versions of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' and ''[[Video Game Remake|The Twin Snakes]]'' where the (numerous) winners would have mooks named after them. For ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', they held a camouflage designing contest, with winning designs appearing in the game.

** From the same company, during the popularity peak of the ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]'' series, Konami organized the "Tokimeki Teens" marketing program. In there, they selected one idol among a bunch of candidates, and this idol would get [[As Himself|her fictionalized version of herself]] in the ''Drama Series'' games of the series, as well as being able to produce various songs. The winner of this contest was Mie Kuribayashi. Let's just say she quickly fell back in the shadows after the ''Drama Series'' were done.

* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'': in the room were you find Clayface there are a set of stairs that lead to a cell where a creepy prisoner with one arm is being held; this prisoner was the winner of a contest.

** Strangely, the prisoner isn't even really one-armed; using Detective Mode reveals it's just behind his back.

* [[Konami]] held a contest for [[Beatmania]] for a fan to get their music into IIDX RED. Fortunately, the [http://vjarmy.com/wiki/index.php/Inside_Jokes#Kyle_Snyder_.2F_Mirror_Force_.2F_Engulfed_Beam_.2F_You_Can.27t_Escape_Me winner's] music didn't get in.

* In [[System Shock|System Shock 2]], the unfortunate Brian Norris was named and designed after the winner of a contest Looking Glass held with the name of ''Get Killed By SHODAN''.

* Dan Emmerson won a contest for his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_AexmWZZL4&feature=player_embedded Meat Cello] entry and wound up in the second level of ''[[Dead Space 2]]''. The name of the contest, [[Death by Cameo|"Get Dismembered in Dead Space 2"]], gives away what would happen to him.

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' has Nikko, a pazaak player who appears on Onderon during the course of the game. His appearance was based off the likeness of a contest winner named Paul Keeler, who also won a trip to the [[Lucas Arts]] studios in the deal.

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' did one of these at the insistence of the network, which the creators were not happy about. The eventual winner was featured in a scene in the episode "Spelling Applebee's" as a waiter who makes out with Captain Hero then later masturbates into his food.

* Though she in no way won a contest, a girl named Katelyn was animated into a ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode in season 4 as her wish from the Make A Wish foundation: she's tells Kim she's her biggest fan and asks for her autograph.

* ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' had a contest sponsored by Burger King for the role of Carl in their live action episode.

* An episode of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' featured a brief cameo from a contest winner. He stood out because the design of his character's face had a lot more detail than the rest and, after he did his bit ("check to make sure the way is clear" or something) he popped up for a split second to give the audience a thumbs-up.