History Main / ContestWinnerCameo

* In ''VideoGame/BattleTech'', Website/{{Kickstarter}} backers of a certain tier or higher were rewarded with the opportunity to design a hirable pilot and characterize them.

* When Susan Boyle was recording her album ''The Gift'', she started a contest called "Susan's Search", in which members of the public were invited to upload a video of themselves singing "Silent Night" to her Website/YouTube channel. The winner, New York paramedic Amber Stassi, got to sing with Boyle on a version of "Do You Hear What I Hear".

* The rampaging Drone from the ''Toys/HeroFactory'' TV mini series was designed by a member of the Website/BZPower forums for the official Toys/{{Bionicle}} Building Contest #53. It appeared in a flashback in episode 3, and later, rebuilt as a monument, in episode 4.

* Several {{NPC}}s in ''VideoGame/FableII'' are named for people that won lots at the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' UsefulNotes/{{ChildsPlay|Charity}} charity auction.

* Several {{NPC}}s in ''VideoGame/FableII'' are named for people that won lots at the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' UsefulNotes/ChildsPlay charity auction.

** The ''Franchise/MegaMan'' series is well known for having fans create and name Robot Masters, but only two were by fans from outside of Japan, both in ''VideoGame/MegaMan6'': Wind Man, by Michael Leader; and Knight Man, by Daniel Vallee. Both won a design contest in ''Nintendo Power''. When Capcom decided not to publish the game in North America (due to it being the very end of the NES' lifetime), Nintendo published it themselves so the game winners could see their own Robot Masters.

* Konami held contests for various versions of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and ''[[VideoGameRemake The Twin Snakes]]'' where the (numerous) winners would have mooks named after them by way of dog tags you can steal from them. For ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', they held a camouflage designing contest, with winning designs appearing in the game.
** From the same company, during the popularity peak of the ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' series, Konami organized the "Tokimeki Teens" marketing program. In there, they selected one idol among a bunch of candidates, and this idol would get [[AsHimself 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.

* ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' held a contest to get a fan's name in the game. The winner was a fellow named Payton Lane Easter who is now the proud owner of a [[http://irrationalgames.com/files/2011/05/paytonlaneeaster_finalasset.jpg robot horse company]].
** They also held a [[http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/news/bioshock-infinite-casting-at-pax-east-2012-the-results contest at PAX East 2012]] to find people's ''faces'' to add to the game.

* ''Rush'd'' is a reality contest on the ''Series/{{Greek}}'' website where the winner gets a walk-on role. The first winner appeared as a judge in the ZBZ "Mr. Purr-fect" competition.
* In another game show example, ''Series/HighRollers'' during 1978 offered a prize where a contestant could appear on "Project UFO" if they rolled a certain combination with the dice. The prize wasn't awarded, however.

* Creator/{{Konami}} held a contest for ''VideoGame/{{Beatmania}}'' for a fan to get their music into [=IIDX=] [=RED=]. This led to a [[http://vjarmy.com/wiki/index.php/Inside_Jokes#Kyle_Snyder_.2F_Mirror_Force_.2F_Engulfed_Beam_.2F_You_Can.27t_Escape_Me meme]] in the fandom.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': Lizink's Wig of Foppery, [[spoiler:which Bailiff Killick Hardtack is compelled to wear after losing his case against Guybrush]] in Chapter 4, is named after the [[http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-498 screen name of Liz Johnston]], [[http://pc.ign.com/articles/102/1027699p1.html a native of British Columbia]], {{Canada|Eh}}, and Telltale Games' winner of the "How Has Guybrush Wronged You Competition" in the "Game Designer for a Day" contest ([[http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-474 which started on July 14, 2009, a week after the release of Chapter 1]]); her winning line, "He dug up my perfectly good X!", appears in Hardtack's accusation against Guybrush. Not only that, but her name also appears on the list of "Designer for a Day Finalists" in the end credits of Chapter 4.

* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' did this twice. The first time, the contest winner had their spleen ripped out by John Tesh after they requested it, feeling that it would be an honor. The second time, the contest winner's soul was sold to the Devil by the hosts in exchange for the Music/BackstreetBoys and *Music/{{NSYNC}}, who fans had requested to fight each other (both having been killed in previous matches -- the Backstreet Boys by the Music/BeastieBoys, and *NSYNC by Music/{{KISS}}).

** Two fans won a contest to get characters in an episode named after them. Unfortunately, the episode was "[=ExoGenesis=]", widely considered one of the show's worst.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3D0]] version of ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' included two new songs by Finnish contest winner Riku Nuottajärvi.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' once had a contest winner appear on the show... only to get murdered on-stage by Creator/SethGreen. But hey, least he also got a UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 out of the deal, too.

* Actor John Bell, better known for his roles as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit'' and Young Ian Murray in ''Series/{{Outlander}}'', made his career debut as Creet in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] by winning a ''Series/BluePeter'' contest to appear in an episode. [[spoiler:He gets turned into a Toclafane offscreen.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' once had a contest where the winner would do the voice for an alien who would be killed by Rick.

* Occasionally when he needs money, Creator/TimDorsey will auction off the opportunity to have a minor character in one of his books be named after the winner. This being Tim Dorsey, all these characters tend to die.

* The short-lived Sega themed magazine ''Sega Visions'' gave a cameo in an entire strip (the size of two pages) of their recurring comic "Niles Nemo in Sega-Land" to a contest winner. The strip involved the winner, Kuanray Huang, and Niles meeting VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog... and then waking up to discover it had all been a pizza-fueled dream.

* An issue of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' from the 1970s featured a one-panel cameo of Stan Lee and two contest winners talking about how great Franchise/SpiderMan is.

* One ''Franchise/TheSimpsons'' Halloween comic had one of these. She spent her single panel of screentime [[ItMakesSenseInContext running from a crazed Homer driving a clown car named]] [[Film/{{Christine}} Krustine]] and thinking about how she regretted entering the contest in the first place.

* After the success of ''Film/Scream1996'', MTV held a contest in which the winner would get a role in ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''. The winner ended up playing the movie theater employee who hands out Ghostface masks to Jada Pinkett-Smith and Omar Epps in the beginning of the movie. The young woman even got to speak some dialogue in the film (a rarity for these kinds of contests).

* After the success of ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'', MTV held a contest in which the winner would get a role in ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''. The winner ended up playing the movie theater employee who hands out Ghostface masks to Jada Pinkett-Smith and Omar Epps in the beginning of the movie. The young woman even got to speak some dialogue in the film (a rarity for these kinds of contests).

* Connecticon '07 auctioned off a guest spot in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive''. Randy [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07302007.shtml put the winner in]] and hung perhaps the [[LampshadeHanging world's biggest lampshade]] on the practice.

* Just as much of a "cameo" as Kick-Ass's real name above is, the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' character Erek King was named after a fan. He made several more appearances as the Animorphs' "inside man" after #10, when he was introduced, and was a crucial part of the BatmanGambit [[spoiler:that won the war. After that, his disgust with Jake's methods led him to bleed the power from the weapons; their inability to attack led to Rachel's death.]]

* There are a few instances in the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' series where they held contests/auctions where the winner would get a character named after them in a book. The most notable example was Jack Archer, protagonist of the ''Invasion of the Body Squuezers'' two parter.

* Creator/PeterDavid's ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' novel series has a minor character, Commander (later Captain) Alexandra Garbeck, who was named after a a contest winner.

* DC Comics gave away a cameo role in ''Film/{{Superman}}'' via a contest requiring clipping letters out of comics to spell a word.

* [[http://www.animeexpressway.com/rugrats/rrat10a.htm According to this article]], Embassy Suites held a contest where the winner would star in a three-minute ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' short. It is unknown if the short was ever made or who the winner was.

* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreMasterOfArena''s EX Arena includes an arena featuring designs from the winners of various ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreProjectPhantasma'' tournaments as well as a "Guest" arena featuring selected reader-submitted designs from Japanese game magazines.