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Prize Letdown: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.UndesirablePrize 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.UndesirablePrize, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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Sometimes the prize itself isn't bad, but the circumstances can render it this. For example, a lot of people might like a Jet-Ski or a boat, but if you live in Kansas or Arizona, that can be a little underwhelming. Similarly trips to places such as New York aren't quite as exciting if you actually live there.
{{examples
== Game Shows ==
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* Over the years, ''[[Bullseye UK]]'' has offered such wonderful prizes as a standard touch-tone telephone, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teasmade teasmade], a Betamax video player, "his and hers" matching shell suits, and even a remote-control toy cat! Not to mention the "star prizes", which often included items that were unlikely to be used by the contestants (usually a speedboat won by a couple living in landlocked Wolverhampton) or difficult to share among friends, such as a fitted kitchen or a car.
** Parodied in ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', where a contestant wins "Tonight's star prize — the entire Norwich City Council!". She complains that she's already got one.
** And due to the BBC not being allowed to waste licence-payer money on ''good'' prizes unless its on ''[[Going for Gold]]'' (they've relaxed the rules a bit nowadays), ''[[Blankety Blank]]'' (the British version of ''[[Match Game]]'') was also known for having loads of questionable items as bonus round prizes. It quickly became a [[Running Gag]] for host Les Dawson to [[Lampshade]] this with [[Self
{{quote| '''Les Dawson:''' This is the only quiz show I know that gets fire-salvaged prizes.}}
* On an early-1970s episode of ''[[Concentration]]'', during a period when home viewers would win prizes based on the first letter of their surname, a viewer in Oklahoma won a motorboat. Bob Clayton was less than impressed.<ref> [[Subverted Trope|Shortly afterwards, the show was flooded with brochures of Oklahoma lakes.]] In fact, most Okie lakes are man-made in response to the Dust Bowl.</ref>
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*** Every time a trip is offered to somewhere that just so happens to be the contestant's hometown or close to it. While they usually throw in a luxury hotel and a few touristy things, winning a trip to something you live an hour away from would be kind of dull, all things considered. Still, it was on the show's dime.
*** Trips to other locations in California, including one to Hollywood ''where the show tapes.'' (Worth noting that ''Price'' is not one of the game shows that flies in contestants, it pulls them onstage from an audience that got there on their own.)
* Among the numerous [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|problems]] with the American ''[[Sale of the Century|Temptation: The New $ale of the Century]]'' was its fondness for offering designer women's clothing, perfume, women's jewelry, etc. as prizes (in place of the "unisex" vacations, household appliances, furniture, etc. which its predecessors offered), which few male contestants would be interested in. One particularly bad offender was a prize package which included backstage passes to a ''[[Mr. Fanservice|Chippendales]]'' show, although the contestant who won it was female.
* A grand prize of ''[[Nick Arcade]]'' was a trip to Universal Studios, where the show was recorded. If you enjoyed the place, you got a couple of extra days to stay; otherwise, you might have been let down.
** Nick was notorious for this. All of their game shows usually had prizes which included a year supply of canned ravioli and moon boots.
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