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Zonk: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== Game Shows ==
* ''[[Let's Make a Deal]]'': The trope namer, the show was famous for offering such booby prizes: animals, absurd amounts of food, old and broken motor vehicles, etc. If the Zonk was an animal, it was usually a goat (or goats) or a cow, although the 2009 revival has also offered other farm animals, and even an actual "Zonkey" (part zebra, part donkey). The practice was discontinued in the middle of the first season when PETA (naturally) complained about it.
** You can buy most of those food-type Zonks at Sam's Club nowadays.
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** One such gag prize was a brick wall. The contestant surely wouldn't want a brick wall, would he? Oh yes, he would, and the producers were forced to build a brick wall around the contestant's house for several thousand 1960s dollars. Since then, such gifts have been described more carefully (usually as something like "3 feet of brick wall").
* The [[Chuck Barris]] versions of ''[[Treasure Hunt US|Treasure Hunt]]'' hosted by Geoff Edwards called these prizes "Klunks", which Edwards named himself.
* This caused significant problems in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', when Bart opted for the gag prize over the cash sum; not only did the radio station not actually have the gag prize available to give away, but when they did eventually get it, the beast caused untold carnage lasting for approximately the duration of the episode. ("Bart Gets an Elephant", of course.)▼
* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' has a game called Any Number, where the contestant has to guess numbers from 0 to 9 to fill in the five-digit price of a car. The other numbers show up in a smaller three-digit prize, and the "piggy bank", a literal cash value of dollars and cents formed from the remaining digits (thus having a maximum possible value of $9.87), dubbed at golden-road.net as "That damned piggy bank".
* In the UK game show ''3-2-1'', the Zonk was a dustbin, tying in with the show's animatronic mascot, Dusty Bin. Host Ted Rogers would actually warn, "Remember, all you win is a brand-new dustbin!", so the contestants wouldn't think they were actually getting a state-of-the-art robot worth far more than any other prize on the show.
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* Bidders on ''[[Storage Wars]]'' can end up being Zonked if they spend a lot of money on a locker that ends up containing nothing but worthless garbage.
** In at least once, the auctioneers were the ones who got Zonked. In the episode where the auctioneer's wife was filling in, she talked up a certain locker, only for it to contain nothing but useless trash (and not even very much, at that).
* Subverted in the [[Looney Tunes]] cartoon "The Million Hare". Daffy barely beats Bugs in a race to a radio station only to be told that his prize wasn't a million bucks, but "The Million Box": A crate containing a million little boxes. Daffy "graciously" gives the prize to Bugs, only to find out that each of the little boxes contained a $1 bill.▼
* The Banker on ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'' occasionally included items in the price he was willing to pay for a contestant's case. Some were worthwhile, but others were clearly meant to insult the player and prompt a "No Deal."
== Western Animation ==
▲* This caused significant problems in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', when Bart opted for the gag prize over the cash sum; not only did the radio station not actually have the gag prize available to give away, but when they did eventually get it, the beast caused untold carnage lasting for approximately the duration of the episode. ("Bart Gets an Elephant", of course.)
▲* Subverted in the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon "The Million Hare". Daffy barely beats Bugs in a race to a radio station only to be told that his prize wasn't a million bucks, but "The Million Box": A crate containing a million little boxes. Daffy "graciously" gives the prize to Bugs, only to find out that each of the little boxes contained a $1 bill.
{{reflist}}
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