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{{examples}}
== Used straight ==
===
* In one of ''[[The Simpsons (Comic Book)|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 [[Historical Hero Upgrade|total saints]] among a sea of [[Historical Villain Upgrade|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.▼
* 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.
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** Debatable, but Tornado's defeat against Diotior in The Fifth Wars counts; having spent half the fight shoving the Irish machine around the arena, Diotior suddenly found the confidence to release the pit, and eventually the strength to push Tornado (who at that point had lost drive on one side) into the open pit.
===
* 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, {{spoiler|Julian}} wins instead. Where this trope comes into play is that {{spoiler|whenever you win a gold prize, you run into Julian in a cutscene whining about how he only got the silver this time. So if you win 5 out of 6, Julian wins the prize despite only getting one Gold to your five.}}▼
▲* In one of ''[[The Simpsons (Comic Book)|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.
** However, [[Fridge Brilliance]] if you've gotten the [[Golden Ending]]: {{spoiler|maybe he managed to synthesize the Cosmic Conis?}}▼
▲=== 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 [[Historical Hero Upgrade|total saints]] among a sea of [[Historical Villain Upgrade|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?
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=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[The Simpsons (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.
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* 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, [[Rule of Funny|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, [[Spider-Man|Doc Ock-style]] [[Artificial Limb|mechanical arms]]... that she used to build her ''real'' project, [[Mundane Utility|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, {{spoiler|Julian}} wins instead. Where this trope comes into play is that {{spoiler|whenever you win a gold prize, you run into Julian in a cutscene whining about how he only got the silver this time. So if you win 5 out of 6, Julian wins the prize despite only getting one Gold to your five.}}
▲** However, [[Fridge Brilliance]] if you've gotten the [[Golden Ending]]: {{spoiler|maybe he managed to synthesize the Cosmic Conis?}}
=== 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.
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== Character passed over for a job ==
=== 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.▼
=== 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 Our Word for It|take their word for it]]). However, come play time, she's only in a supporting role.
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* 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.
== Either/both, with excuse==
===
* 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 [[Truth in Television|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!"▼
** {{spoiler|By film's end, Dewey suffers what he feels is a Crack Defeat at a band contest, at the hands of the very band that kicked him out at the film's start. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Until his band gets a call for an encore.]]}}▼
=== Literature ===▼
* Obligatory ''[[Discworld]]'' example: At the end of ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|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 {{spoiler|Walter Plinge}} 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.▼
** Also noteworthy in that both the audience response ''and'' the AI computer analysis had Clef as the winner. However, they only get to submit ''advisory'' opinions; the judges' vote is binding.▼
* ''[[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 [[Shaggy Dog Story|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, "[[Tempting Fate|There's no way I'll lose to you]]" before getting concerned at the other finalist.
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** [[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 (trope)|The Apprentice]]'', ''[[Hell's
=== 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 [[Let's Meet the Meat|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 [[Foreign Queasine|the most rare and exquisite fly in existence]] and Petape calls him out. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the impostor has rigged the vote.▼
* 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 (novel)|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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20090723212855/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020923 "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.▼
=== 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).
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* 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.
* In ''Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks'', the Rainbooms advance to the final round of the Battle of the Bands despite ''completely tanking'' their semi-finals performance, being unfairly advanced over the objectively superior performance done by Trixie and the Illusions. Justified in that this is part of the villains' Xanatos Gambit—the Dazzlings gain power from negative emotions and discord, and set up the Battle of the Bands in the first place to power-up off of the strife and competitiveness it would produce among the school. By having the contest be unfairly rigged in such a blatant manner, they guaranteed the entire audience would be ragingly pissed off and powering them up to the maximum, while at the same time driving the mind-controlled Trixie far enough over the edge that she'd sabotage the Rainbooms and take them out of the final round entirely. (Of course our heroines escaped for the final act and won, but the Dazzlings made a ''very'' respectable effort.)
▲=== 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 (novel)|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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20090723212855/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020923 "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 [[Truth in Television|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!"
▲** {{spoiler|By film's end, Dewey suffers what he feels is a Crack Defeat at a band contest, at the hands of the very band that kicked him out at the film's start. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Until his band gets a call for an encore.]]}}
▲=== Literature ===
▲* Obligatory ''[[Discworld]]'' example: At the end of ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|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 {{spoiler|Walter Plinge}} 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.
▲** Also noteworthy in that both the audience response ''and'' the AI computer analysis had Clef as the winner. However, they only get to submit ''advisory'' opinions; the judges' vote is binding.
▲=== 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 [[Let's Meet the Meat|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 [[Foreign Queasine|the most rare and exquisite fly in existence]] and Petape calls him out. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the impostor has rigged the vote.
{{reflist}}
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