History Main / AssumedWin

* The animated {{Beetlejuice}} had an episode where Lydia's rival Claire Brewster is running for school president, so Beetlejuice--as his drag alter ego, Betty Juice--enters the race as well. They both lose to a virtual unknown.

* ''WinxClub'', "Dark Sky": Bloom has come to Sky's millenium party, expecting to hear Sky announce her as his girlfriend (as he had promised in the previous episode). Bloom starts to walk up while he's making his speech, but then it ends with him introducing Diaspro instead of her. It turns out that Diaspro has secretly given Sky a potion [[LovePotion to make him love her instead]].

* In the ''{{Recess}}'' episode 'Principal For A Day." When the faculty draws a sudents name out of a box to be principal for a day Randall stands up thinking he won (because he stuffed the box). The actual winner is TJ.

* However, the king of all real life examples of this trope came from the 1948 presidential election, when the Chicago Tribune, forced to print earlier due to an ongoing strike against the Taft-Hartley act, used incomplete poll data to generate their headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman". HarrySTruman famously posed with the incorrect newspaper, but we can assume that Thomas E. Dewey was not so enchanted.

* {{WWE}}: as they were announcing the new #1 contender for the WWE Championship, John Cena stood up, assuming he won (justified as he had by far won the fan poll), only for Kurt Angle to say "John... Bradshaw Layfield!"

* ''FamilyGuy'': The CelebrityStar (the local news anchor) who was supposed to play Anna in a community production of "King and I" has just quit. Peter's all "We don't need her, we had who we needed all along", and the person who'd originally been cast sees this as Peter giving her the job back and says "Thank you, I'll take the role"... but then it turns out that Peter is playing a robot named A.N.N.A. instead. (Personal note kicker: The contributor for this entry lives in Thailand, and the episode was shown there unedited.)
** Also, in the episode of ''FamilyGuy'', where Joe becomes champion of the Special Olympics, and starts neglecting Peter, who helped him, Joe starts naming people who helped him, at an awards ceremony. Many times, Joe starts off by saying something that describes Peter, but ends up calling someone completely different.

* Played for laughs in ''{{Futurama}}'' when Leela wins an intergalactic beauty pageant despite having nothing to do with the pageant only to find that the announcer, Zapp Brannigan, simply yelled her name in surprise while he was trying to open the winning envelope. "What are you people, idiots?"

* Not a winner trope per se, but in one ''KimPossible'' episode they were going to have an exchange student sent to Japan. Did the Japan fanboy who stood up get the place? No, it was [[ThisLoserIsYou Ron Stoppable]], who essentially got ADayInTheLimelight.
** The eponymous KimPossible had this happen to herself, after [[AlphaBitch Bonnie]] was implied to have rigged the homecoming Queen vote in her favour, or at least knew about it beforehand.

** Then came the game itself... Friaca opened the scoring for Brazil just after half time, and the mostly Brazilian crowd went wild. Uruguay's Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised twenty minutes later; the crowd spirit was dampened, but only temporarily as a draw still favoured Brazil. But then Alcides Ghiggia put Uruguay in front in the 79th minute, and the crowd went completely silent. Uruguay held on to win the match. Several Brazilian spectators either suffered heart attacks or jumped to their deaths from the top of the stadium, Rimet had to throw away his prepared speech and awkwardly hand over the trophy to Uruguayan captain Obdulio Varela with no ceremony, the winners' medals were melted down, and "Brazil the Victors" was never performed. The match is nicknamed the "Maracanazo", or "Maracanã Blow", in Latin America.[[hottip:*: The term is also used to refer to other underdog victories against Brazil in the Maracanã.]]

* ''WinxClub'', "Dark Sky": Bloom has come to Sky's millenium party, expecting to hear Sky announce her as his girlfiend (as he had promised in the previous episode). Bloom starts to walk up while he's making his speech, but then it ends with him introducing Diaspro instead of her. It turns out that Diaspro has secretly given Sky a potion [[LovePotion to make him love her instead]].

** After that, Haman decides to carry out [[DisproportionateRetribution genocide]] for all the Jews in the kingdom. ([[spoiler: It doesn't happen.]])Nasty guy though, eh?

This guy's in a sort of competition -- let's say he ran for school president. When they start to announce the winner, he automatically assumes that he won; he'll stand up, get this smug look on his face and he might even start giving his acceptance speech. But he didn't win... it was his rival, [[DarkHorseVictory some random underdog]], a write-in vote, or a tie, or a mix and match of those things.

* In ''New Moan'', a parody of Twilight, [[PunnyName Heffa Lump]] (the book's version of Bella) assumes she's won an award at the end of the book and gets up to accept it. The principal of the school gives her one just to get her off the stage so they can get on with the real awards.

** At the same prom Buffy picked up the "class protector" award, Xander fully expected the ClassClown award. To his disgust, it went to a guy in a TackyTuxedo and balloon hat. "Anybody can be a prop class clown!"

* On ''{{The Muppet Show}}'', Fozzie once was beaten to the title of "Best Comic Bear", by an unknown bear never ever seen before.

* ''KickinIt'': The Wasabi Warriors once entered a dance contest. When the winner of individual category was to be announced, an arrogant cheater was readying himself to accept it. Then one of the warriors was announced the winner.
* An clip on ''AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' was taken during a high school ceremony of some sort, perhaps homecoming; one girl was crowned as queen before the announcers realised, oops, the girl next to her had actually won.

** Also, in the episode of ''{{Family Guy}}'', where Joe becomes champion of the Special Olympics, and starts neglecting Peter, who helped him, Joe starts naming people who helped him, at an awards ceremony. Many times, Joe starts off by saying something that describes Peter, but ends up calling someone completely different.

* BugsBunny in the [[LooneyTunes 1943 cartoon]] ''What's Cookin', Doc?'' He's so sure he's going to win the Academy Award that he's already up on stage next to the host (whose shadow we see as he delivers his spiel), who, to Bugs' shock, announces the winner is James Cagney. Also, in the later cartoon ''This Is a Life?'', DaffyDuck thinks the weekly testimonial will be about him when it turns out to be about Bugs.

[[folder:RealLife]]

* During the 1934 Academy Awards, both Frank Capra and Frank Lloyd were up for the award for Best Director (Capra for ''Lady for a Day'', Lloyd for ''Calvacade''). When the announcer said "Come up and get it, Frank", both Lloyd and Capra went up to accept the Oscar. Much to Capra's chagrin, ''Lloyd'' was the real winner. (''[[Film/TheOscar The Oscar]]'', see above, may be a reference to this.)

* ''OmShantiOm'': During the parody Filmfare award ceremony, Abhishek Bachchan gets up from his seat fully expecting to win Best Actor... and then the presentors say Om's name. Oops.

** Then came the game itself... Friaca opened the scoring for Brazil just after half time, and the mostly Brazilian crowd went wild. Uruguay's Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised twenty minutes later; the crowd spirit was dampened, but only temporarily as a draw still favoured Brazil. But then Alcides Ghiggia put Uruguay in front in the 79th minute, and the crowd went completely silent. Uruguay held on to win the match. Several Brazilian spectators either suffered heart attacks or jumped to their deaths from the top of the stadium, Rimet had to throw away his prepared speech and awkwardly hand over the trophy to Uruguayan captain Obdulio Varela with no ceremony, the winners' medals were melted down, and "Brazil the Victors" was never performed. The match is nicknamed the "Maracanazo", or "Maracanã Blow", in Latin America (the term is also used to refer to other underdog victories against Brazil in the Maracanã).

* In ''New Moan'', a parody of Twilight, [[PunnyName Heffa Lump]] (the book's version of Bella) assumes she's won an award at the end of the book and gets up to accept it. The principle of the school gives her one just to get her off the stage so they can get on with the real awards.

* This happened in the final round of the 1950 {{FIFA World Cup}} in Brazil. Going into their final match against each other in the final round robin group of four, Uruguay and Brazil had both beaten Sweden (Uruguay by a score of 3-2, Brazil by a score of 7-1), but Uruguay had only managed a 2-2 draw with Spain whereas Brazil had beaten them 6-1. If Brazil merely avoided losing the match, they would win the World Cup, and the fact that they had beaten Sweden and Spain so comprehensively led the public and the press to treat the result of the match as a ''fait accompli'' in Brazil's favour. An impromptu carnival was held in Rio de Janeiro, with revellers holding signs already proclaiming Brazil the champions, and somewhere on the scale of 200,000 people packed into the Maracana Stadium to watch the match. FIFA president Jules Rimet had a Portuguese-language speech prepared to read to the crowd during the trophy presentation, the Brazilian Football Confederation had struck 22 gold medals for the players (at the time, individual players did not receive winner's medals from FIFA), and a victory song called "Brazil the Victors" had been written to be performed after the win. Then came the game itself... Brazil attacked relentlessly during the first half, and opened the scoring just after half time through Friaca. The mostly Brazilian crowd went wild. However, Uruguay equalised twenty minutes later through Juan Alberto Schiaffino; the crowd spirit was dampened, but only temporarily as a draw still favoured Brazil. But then Alcides Ghiggia put Uruguay in front in the 79th minute, and the crowd went completely silent. Uruguay held out to win the match, in defiance of all expectations. Several Brazilian spectators either suffered heart attacks or jumped to their deaths from the top of the stadium, Rimet had to throw away his prepared speech and awkwardly hand over the trophy to Uruguayan captain Obdulio Varela with no ceremony, the winners' medals had to be melted down, and "Brazil the Victors" was never performed. The match is nicknamed the "Maracanazo", or "Maracanã Blow", in Latin America (the term is also used to refer to other underdog victories against Brazil in the Maracanã).

* The 2006 Country Music Awards saw Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood both nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. As the nominations were being announced, a camera was trained on all five finalists, including Hill and Underwood. Then, as Underwood was announced the winner, Hill smiled and raised her arms, then apparently screamed "What?" and stormed away. All of this was caught on live television just before the nominee camera shots were pulled away. Faith Hill and her management insisted the act was a joke, but left many unconvinced. Her career nosedived not long after, but YourMileageMayVary on whether or not it was the cause.

* At the end of ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' by AAMilne, Christopher Robin throws a party to reward Pooh for his heroism during a recent flood. Due to the vagueness of his award speech (''"This party'' [...] ''is a party because of what someone did, and we all know who it was, and it's his party, because of what he did, and I've got a present for him and here it is."'') there is some confusion over who the guest of honour is, and Eeyore launches into an acceptance speech before things are straightened out.\

* Played for laughs in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "The Mansion Family", in which Homer is the only person who does not earn a Springfield Pride Award. He gasps in anticipation when it is said the next winner "brings laughter and joy to the children of Springfield", even though he is not known for anything like that. He still stands up and adjusts his tie when it is said the winner has a "red nose" and "baggy pants" and it is not until the winner's name is announced that he realises he has not won.

* Parodied in ''AzumangaDaioh''. Yukari is announcing the highest scoring person in the class and, despite being the second-lowest scoring person in the class with no chance whatsoever, Tomo stands up just before the announcement. Similarly, earlier, when Chiyo is about to be called forward during the grad ceremony to be recognized for having the highest grades in the school, Yomi has to, repeatedly and with her usual growing irritation, tell Tomo "It's not you!"

* At the end of ''{{Winnie-the-Pooh}}'' by [=~A. A. Milne~=], Christopher Robin throws a party to reward Pooh for his heroism during a recent flood. Due to the vagueness of his award speech (''"This party'' [...] ''is a party because of what someone did, and we all know who it was, and it's his party, because of what he did, and I've got a present for him and here it is."'') there is some confusion over who the guest of honour is, and Eeyore launches into an acceptance speech before things are straightened out.\

* Inverted in an Airdrie, Canada, high school. A student, convinced he would not win a cash award for attendance, declined to attend the draw and stayed in class instead. Then the teacher got a call over the school phone network, and sent the student down to the stadium--the student had won a $1,000 draw.

* ''KickinIt'': The Wasabi Warriors once entered a dance contest. When the winner of individual category was to be announced, an arrogant cheater was readying himself to accept it. Then one of the warriors was announced the winner.

* When ''TheDailyShow'' gave out its Employee of the Year award for 1999, StephenColbert launched into his acceptance speech the second he was named as a nominee. The award goes to a researcher instead; Colbert throws his notes across the room and storms off.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "Homecoming": Buffy and Cordelia spend the episode competing for the title of Homecoming Queen. At the Homecoming, it turns out there's a tie. Buffy and Cordelia immediately assume that it's the obvious heartwarming ending -- but instead, it's a double DarkHorseVictory. Subverted in the later episode "The Prom", when Buffy's fellow classmates recognize her heroism, though she had expected to be eternally subject to DudeWheresMyReward.

* Nigel Uno suffers this indignity ''twice'' in the ''Codename: KidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation Elections", first when the 4th grade secretary announces the Delightfuls as winners of the presidential election he was running for (he had already prepared a speech which referenced some previous episodes' events, and was walking out to the podium as soon as the secretary said "And now, meet your new president"), and then at the end when he's told (while he's making his speech) that Eggbert Eggelstein won (even though the secretary had told him earlier that Nigel did win: it turns out he only said that so Nigel could break him out of detention).

* Bugs Bunny in the [[LooneyTunes 1943 cartoon]] ''What's Cookin', Doc?'' He's so sure he's going to win the Academy Award that he's already up on stage next to the host (whose shadow we see as he delivers his spiel), who, to Bugs' shock, announces the winner is James Cagney. Also, the later cartoon ''This Is A Life?'', where Daffy thinks the weekly testimonial will be about him when it turns out to be about Bugs.

* An apocryphal RealLife story: after an 1883 chess tournament, a toast was proposed "to the best player in the world." Both Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort stood up to thank him. In 1886, Steinitz defeated Zukertort to become the first World Champion.
* During the 1934 Academy Awards, both Frank Capra and Frank Lloyd were up for the award for Best Director (Capra for ''Lady For A Day'', Lloyd for ''Calvacade''). When the announcer said "Come up and get it, Frank", both Lloyd and Capra went up to accept the Oscar. Much to Capra's chagrin, ''Lloyd'' was the real winner. (''[[Film/TheOscar The Oscar]]'', see above, may be a reference to this.)

* Inverted in an Airdrie, Canada high school. A student, convinced he would not win a cash award for attendance, declined to attend the draw and stayed in class instead. Then the teacher got a call over the school phone network, and sent the student down to the stadium--the student had won a $1,000 draw.

* ''FamilyGuy'': The CelebrityStar (the local news anchor) who was supposed to play Anna in a community production of "King and I" has just quit. Peter's all "We don't need her, we had who we needed all along", and the person who'd originally been cast sees this as Peter giving her the job back and says "Thank you, I'll take the role"... but then it turns out that Peter is playing a robot named Anna instead. (Personal note kicker: The contributor for this entry lives in Thailand, and the episode was shown there unedited.)

* Played for laughs in ''TheSimpsons'' episode ''Mansion Family'' where Homer is the only person who does not earn a Springfield Pride Award. He gasps in anticipation when it is said the next winner "brings laughter and joy to the children of Springfield", even though he is not known for anything like that. He still stands up and adjusts his tie when it is said the winner has a "red nose" and "baggy pants" and it is not until the winner's name is announced that he realises he has not won.
** An earlier episode sees Bart running for class president, and declaring where his ''victory party'' will be held at the moment the polls are opened. Unfortunately, everyone's so busy celebrating that they forget to vote, leading to his competitor's moment of triumph with a parody of the 'Dewey beats Truman!' headline mentioned above.
*** One more example, when Miss Krabbaple has been nominated for a teacher's award, she is saying how this couldn't be possible without the support of just one person. This is in front of a group of people outside the school, and Principal Skinner walks up to the podium to acknowledge this, smiling, but once Bart's name is announced, he keeps walking and grinning to avoid embarrassment.
** The episode "Deep Space Homer" expecting the "Worker of the Week" award because every other worker already got it - but instead, it goes to an inanimate carbon rod.

* From ''JemAndTheHolograms'', "Hollywood Jem: Part 2 - And The Winner Is..." has Kimber Benton assuming Jerrica "Jem" Benton is going to win an Oscar for "Starbright", but an actress that had given Jem a hard time wins the award--and her speech is an apology for how bad she treated Jem.

This guy's in a sort of competition -- let's say he ran for school president. When they start to announce the winner, he automatically assumes that he won; he'll stand up, get this smug look on his face and he might even start giving his acceptance speech. But he didn't win... it was his rival, [[DarkHorseVictory some random underdog]], a write-in vote, or a tie, or a mix and match of those things. The comparable Real Life example is the AwardSnub.

* In one of the ''BabySittersClub'' books, the members of the titular club each coach a regular babysitting charge to appear in a children's beauty contest. The rivalry between the girls is so intense that they can no longer babysit together, but all lose to a heavily made up child beauty queen with several other titles to her name.

* In one episode of ''{{Frasier}}'', the titular character has been nominated for an award for his radio show. Initially determined to win, he talks to another character who is due to retire later that year, and so will never again have an opportunity to win the award (having never won it before). Frasier realises that if he does win, he'll be racked with guilt for having prevented the other guy from winning, and so starts to hope that the other guy wins it instead. When it is announced that it is a tie, he is suddenly hopeful, thinking that they could share the award, but the tie turns out to actually be between two previously unseen characters.

* On an episode of ''LizzieMcGuire'', the titular character and [[AlphaBitch Claire]] are in the running for an election. As the results are announced, both of them stand up only for the winner to be the nerdy [[DarkHorseVictory Tudgeman]].

** The titular KimPossible had this happen to herself, after [[AlphaBitch Bonnie]] was implied to have rigged the homecoming Queen vote in her favour, or at least knew about it beforehand.