History Main / ContestWinnerCameo

* ''Videogame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' held an open audition for a potential female party member during it's development. The top four runner-ups were given parts as [=NPCs=] in which they played fictionalized versions of themselves while the winner Eri Kamataki was not only made an OptionalPartyMember but also the central figure of a questline involving the business minigame.

* Some children's shows with a DancingTheme as the ending song, like the ''[[Franchise/PrettyRhythm Pretty Series]]'' and ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', will have dance contests where people can submit themselves dancing to the song for a chance to be shown on TV and win prizes.

* Like the ''Kim Possible'' example, the 2009 ChristmasSpecial ''YesVirginia'' featured a character voiced by and modeled after someone who got in by way of the Make A Wish Foundation.

* Okayado has asked fans of ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' to submit self-portraits along with what type of {{monster girl}}s they'd like to be paired up with. This is the source of all the minor human characters that have been popping up in the manga, especially during the Hot Springs arc.

* There are occasional charity auctions at UK comic conventions to get characters or Mega-City One Blocks in ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' named after you.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SystemShock System Shock 2]]'', the unfortunate Brian Norris was named and designed after the winner of a contest Looking Glass held with the name of ''Get Killed by SHODAN''.

* Parodied in ''{{VideoGame/Deadpool}}'', when Deadpool encounters and kills the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadpool_(video_game)#Marketing contest winner who was supposed]] [[NoFourthWall to appear in this game]]", whose head seems to be crudely pasted onto a generic flying enemy.

* Some children's shows with a DancingTheme as the ending song, like the ''[[Franchise/PrettyRhythm Pretty Series]]'' and ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'', will have dance contests where people can submit themselves dancing to the song for a chance to be shown on TV and win prizes.

* Erik Larsen's comic ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'' featured a contest where the winner would appear in a future issue of the comic. The winner (James Quentin Manning, if you must know) had a two-panel appearance, the second of which composed of his feet as Dragon knocked him the fuck out. To be fair, contest announcement was bluntly honest about this, to the point of showing the two panels pre-storyboarded.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' character Katina Tarask debuted in the TradingCardGame spin-off ''Super Robot Wars Scramble Gather'' as the winner of an original character design contest.

* The kid who plays Creet in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] was the winner of a ''Series/BluePeter'' contest to appear in an episode. [[spoiler:He gets turned into a Toclafane offscreen.]]

* For ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', Magazine/NintendoPower ran a contest in the late 1990 where anyone who met "Warmech" (a foe from the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'') and sent in a photo of themselves posing with it would win the honor of having themselves programmed into a future game. The winner, Chris Houlihan, had his name and a message ("My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, OK?") programmed into ''A Link to the Past'' in a secret area, and it inspired much discussion and strategy over how to get to the room in the first place. It doesn't help that it's where the game sends you if an error occurs in loading the next area, making it tricky to get to on purpose. The Game Boy Advance port has the room, but doesn't use his name.

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' [[http://www.dra-mata.com/images/og2/gather_katina.jpg Katina Tarask]]. She actually makes her debut in a SRW TradingCardGame as a former sniper, piloting a hideous [[HumongousMecha mecha]] codenamed the ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "White Devil"]]''.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': There are a set of stairs near Clayface's cell that lead to a cell where a creepy prisoner is held; He is actually the winner of a [=GameSpot=] contest, and is mentioned on Joker's party list as Luke Oliver.

* Irrational Games ''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]].

* The Hall of Champions in ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' is a place where people who donated at least $200 to the Kickstarter campaign are immortalized on portraits. Higher-level donors, meanwhile, had their own boss characters added to the game (Reize Seatlan, Mr. Hat, The Baz, and Phantom Striker)

** On July 5th, 2017, Connisaur announced a raffle for fans of the game to send in their ideas for characters. On the 15th, three characters (Tenor, Camime, and Charles, all [=NPCs=]) were chosen randomly to receive roles in the game, and they were added in an update on September 4.
** From December 10-20 of the same year, Connie held another YCH raffle, this time for fans to submit their own shopkeeper character, only this time, she added an extra rule: The character's name had to start with W, to fit with the AlphabeticalThemeNaming of the other shopkeepers in the game. The winner was an airplane-like toy named Wemblin, who was added to the game in a later update.

* ''VideoGame/TinkerQuarry'' has had two YCH raffles over the course of its development:
** On July 5th, 2017, Connisaur announced a raffle for fans of the game to send in their ideas for characters. On the 15th, three characters (Tenor, Camime, and Charles) were chosen randomly to receive roles in the game, and they were added in an update on September 4.
** From December 10-20 of the same year, Connie held another YCH raffle, this time for fans to submit their own shopkeeper character, only this time, she added an extra rule: The character's name had to start with W, to fit with the AlphabeticalThemeNaming of the other shopkeepers in the game. The winner was an airplane-like toy named Wemblin, who will be added to the game in a later update.

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' BonusBoss Kurt Zisa is named after a contest winner.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': There are a set of stairs near Clayface's cell that lead to a cell where a creepy prisoner is held; He is actually the winner of a Gamespot contest, and is mentioned on Joker's party list as Luke Oliver.

* Parodied in ''{{VideoGame/Deadpool}}'', when {{SelfDemonstrating/Deadpool}} encounters and kills the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadpool_(video_game)#Marketing contest winner who was supposed]] [[NoFourthWall to appear in this game]]", whose head seems to be crudely pasted onto a generic flying enemy.

[[folder:Toys]]
* A 1986 contest to design a character for ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' was won by an eleven-year-old named Nathan Bitner, with a camera-headed creation called "the Fearless Photog". One of the rewards, in addition to a $100,000 scholarship and other perks, claimed that the winner's character would be released as a toy, but the toy never came to pass. When X-Entertainment posted [[http://x-entertainment.com/updates/2003/05/21/who-was-photog/ a blog entry about Photog]] in 2003, the curious commenters managed to track down and piece together a surprisingly detailed biography of Bitner's life from then on, from being a lead designer for ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (apparently with a large hand in the creation of Cortana), to the flop of his own startup video game company, filing for bankruptcy, and other rumored scandals. After several months of investigation and minor Internet sensation, word of this finally reached Bitner himself, who by then was a medic serving in the U.S. Army. He was pretty surprised by all the fuss. By the way, Fearless Photog finally got released as an action figure in 2012, over 25 years after the contest, as part of a 30th anniversary Masters of the Universe toy line.
[[/folder]]

* The Robot Masters Wind Man and Knight Man from ''VideoGame/MegaMan6'' were designed by ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' readers.
** This is actually something of a tradition with the ''Mega Man'' games. Many Robot Masters were designed not by Capcom, but by Japanese contest winners. The ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' games have been doing it since 2.
*** For ''Battle Network'', Mr. Famous is little more than a Fan-navi vehicle in the games - Gateman, Kendouman and Footman, three of the four Navis he's had from games 2 to 5, are all fan-designed. ''Battle Network 3''[='=]s fan navis are Mistman, Bowlman, and Kingman (the last of which, the first-place winner, has a more prominent place in the story, but is operated by a different NPC, not Famous). Circusman, Elementman, and Judgeman of ''[=BN=] 6'' are also fan creations. Circusman, particularly, is notably terrifying.
*** What's really interesting is that due to the appearances of Elementman and Judgeman, entire chapters of the game revolve around the weather and a trial, respectively. So not only did these contest winners design the bosses, they actually helped shape whole areas of the game along with sections of the story!
*** Laser Man and Video Man from ''Battle Network 4'' are also fan-made, the latter of which also helped create one of the game's scenarios. Wherever Video Man's designer is, [[ThatOneLevel we hope he burns in hell.]]
** Kung Foo Kid and Moon Destroyer from ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce 2'' and ''3'' carry on the tradition.
* Creator/NipponIchi had a contest to pick names for the random name generator for ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}''.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has contests run from time to time where players can submit designs for new gear, hairstyles, clothing, and the like, with winning designs being implemented into the game.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'':
** The Spiral of Death weapon was the (publicly-voted) winner of a weapon design contest.
** The Bancho Ratchet [[AndYourRewardIsClothes skin]] was the winning design for a Japanese skin contest.

* During VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2's Anniversary season, Sega held an item design contest consisting of costumes, weaponry and accessories. The top 3 winners of each category (there were some honorable mentions) got their designs in the game.
* The names of three characters[[note]]Bullion Bill, Chris P. Bacon and Old King Coal[[/note]] in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' were chosen by winners of a contest held by the UK Official Nintendo Magazine.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series is notable for holding multiple contests to design a set of gear to appear in-game. Two of said contests were held by the Japanese magazine Famitsu, with the winning designs - the Traditional Gear (a sushi chef outfit) in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' and the Moist Ghillie Suit (a seaweed-themed ghillie suit) in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' - being made available in-game to all players after an update. Magazine/CoroCoroComic also held one such contest for ''Splatoon 2'', but the winning gear, the Mecha Suit, was [[NoExportForYou only made available to Japanese players]].

* ''Manga/ShugoChara'' has an episode featuring a Chara made by a fan. The character also had plushies made of it.
** There was also a contest during the Party! season where the winner would become the new Dia in the Shugochara Egg! idol unit. The winner was a girl named Nanami Tanabe.
* Creator/StudioGainax once ran a contest for fans of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' to design a new Angel. While the winner's Angel design was not included in an episode, Gainax ''did'' produce [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Diemay.jpg official artwork]] of an Evangelion facing off against it.
* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' hosted two:
** There was a contest for fans to submit art of their own created monsters. The winner was a monster named Sharbon, a bubble blowing monster that was featured in "Scare Tactics Part 2".
** A second contest was made for fans to submit their own Copy Abilities. The four winners were Water, Top, Iron and Baton. These four would be featured in the two-part "Air Ride in Style" special. Three of the four have been incorporated into the games: Water has been recurring since ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', Iron received a spiritual successor in the Metal ability from ''VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad'', and Baton has a counterpart in the Staff ability from ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies''.
* ''Microman'' ran a contest after the toyline's revival in 2000 to design a character, the winner being [[http://www.microforever.com/shakunetsu.htm Shakunetsu]] who actually went from being an exclusive figure to having two later mass releases and a starring role in a couple of the manga.
* The [[FunWithAcronyms GuAIZ]] and [[{{Pun}} Lightning Striker Pack]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' are fan-submitted designs.
** The Elegolea from ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'' was submitted by an amateur designer. That designer was Kanetake Ebikawa, who would go on to design mecha for ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'', ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'', ''Manga/SoukouNoStrain'' and, of course, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''.
** ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' featured three of them: the winner of a custom color contest (a red-and-yellow [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Deathscythe]]), the winner of a ''Gundam Breaker'' contest (a black-and-white kitbash of more than five different MS's), and the winner of a real-world Gunpla building contest (a heavily-modified [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Zssa]]).
* The classmates in ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' manga were named by reader submission.
* The creator of the manga ''Manga/ZodiacPI'' held a contest to create one of the little Zodiac sprites that assist the main character, Lilli. The winner, a Libra sprite, was featured in a full chapter with her own name and personality, and even appeared in several omakes!
* The ''Rallis the Star Bird'' card featured in one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was a fan design.
* A pretty regular feature of ''Manga/KongohBancho'': some of the fan-designed Banchos get to be prominent antagonists (three members of The Five Dark Vows, most notably), while others only turn up to get [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] [[WorfEffect by even tougher villains]].
* The 2011 anime short film (29 mins) ''Mai no Mahō to Katei no Hi'' is the winning story from a contest to create an anime to promote the Toyama Prefectural Family Day (or 'Katei no Hi') (the third Sunday in each month). The contest winner Moeko Shimizu was in fourth grade when she won the contest in 2005.
* Makoto Hanamatsuura, who appears in a bonus chapter of the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manga, was a real person who won a 2 million yen bid at a charity auction benefiting the victims of the Kobe Earthquake in 1995. No word on whether he was happy with his "Tubby Mask" scene.
* ''Franchise/{{Jewelpet}}'' has three pets created by fans of the series: Charotte, Jasper and Sakuran, and they ended up becoming mainstays. The character designers for these pets were ''kids'', and they won exclusive merchandise from Sanrio.
* While it wasn't a contest per se, a live event open for female fans only was held shortly before the second season of ''Manga/YuruYuri'', during which the crowd's cheers was recorded specifically to be used for an all-female in-universe crowd in the last episode.
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul :Re'' held a promotional event called the [[HunterOfMonsters Ghoul Investigator]] Recruitment Campaign, allowing fans to submit a fake employment application. The 20 winners chosen have a character based on them appear during the ''Auction Arc''. Unfortunately for said characters, they're the members of a RedShirtArmy and a bonus page each chapter tracks their often-brutal deaths.

*** ''Idol Time'' also had a contest to design a new mascot to appear in the anime, with the winner being a rainbow-colored turtle.

** A variation appeared in an early issue, where fans were asked to design villains, and the winner's character would fight Dragon in an upcoming issue. The winning character was a mutant dockworker who went by Jimbo da Mighty Lobster.

* Kind of in ''ComicBook/KickAss'', but going a bit beyond it: Dave Lizewski, winner of a charity auction and contest to name the main character, named him after ''himself.'' Which is rather fortunate because he could have named the character anything from [[Film/KungPowEnterTheFist Betty]] to Captain Ass if he wanted to.
* In the ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' comic "Masks," charity auction winner Pete Hottelet (covertly renamed Commander [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Telettoh Telettoh]]) appears, real-world glasses and all.
* Not personal cameos, but the next best thing: The setup of the second ''ComicBook/DialHForHero'' series was that all the (one-shot) superhero forms (and the villains as well) used were all provided by comics fans, who got credit for each. One of them was invented by ''Creator/HarlanEllison''!
* There are occasional charity auctions at UK comic conventions to get characters or Mega-City One Blocks in ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' named after you.

* ''Topolino'', the main Italian Disney comic magazine, did it at least twice:
** Lady Claire, a one-shot character from ''ComicBook/WizardsOfMickey'', was designed after a contest winner.
** More recently, they held a contest for Donald Duck's 80th birthday where readers could send their one-page comics featuring Donald in a bad situation they actually found in their life. The winner appeared in a comic panel where she and Donald exchange greetings.
* 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.
* 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.

* The character of "Horizon" in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium'' appears because of this trope. The author had a small contest on Tumblr and the winner got to create a small side character for inclusion in the fic.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' had two contest winner drawings in the movie--Bubbles' crayon drawing and the family portrait on the wanted poster for Professor Utonium were both by fans.
* In the scene in ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' where RJ and Verne are chased by Nugent the dog through various lawns, there is a man barbecuing who says "Huh?", and a man in a lawn chair who pushes a female companion out of the way with a cry of "Look out!". Both of these men were played by contestants on ''Series/TheApprentice'', and these small cameos were the result of winning a reward challenge.
* In a case that's more than a cameo, the Brazilian and French dubs of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'' had protagonist Melody voiced by a girl who won a TV contest.
* Miranda Ram-Nolte was a terminally ill teenager who got to be a voice actress via Make-A-Wish Foundation. She had two voice roles before she passed away in 2014: ''WesternAnimation/BarbiePrincessCharmSchool'' and ''WesternAnimation/TwinkleToes''.
* For the Australian version of ''{{WesternAnimation/Robots}}'', the voices of the Watches ("Don't buy us; we're fakes!") in the train station were dubbed by six children who had won a competition to appear in the movie. A voice coach trained them to speak with an American accent to blend in with the rest of the movie.

* The janitor who gets killed when he steps between the T-1000 and the T-800 in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' in the back hall of the mall was the winner of an MTV contest.

* In the audio commentary for ''Film/{{UHF}}'', Music/WeirdAlYankovic says that the audience members sitting on either side of "the box" in the "Wheel Of Fish" scene were contest winners.
* Nintendo Power magazine ran a contest for a cameo in the sequel to ''Film/TheMask''. The film proceeded to languish in DevelopmentHell for over a decade, so it was unknown what if anything the winner actually got, before some [[http://www.destructoid.com/meet-the-winner-of-nintendo-power-s-the-mask-ii-contest-287112.phtml detective work]] from the website Destructoid revealed that the winner, Nathan Ryan Runk from Arbutus, Maryland, was eventually given a pile of SNES games and the option to wait indefinitely or settle for a $5000 cash prize. Unsurprisingly, he took the money.

* A somewhat heartwarming example: around the time ''Film/LicenceToKill'' was released, a woman won a contest and was promised a cameo role in the next [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] film. But there was a ''six-and-a-half-year hiatus'' between that film and ''Film/GoldenEye'', the longest break in the series' history. The heartwarming part? The producers remembered, and she got her cameo! She's in a black-and-gold dress, behind Xenia Onatopp in the baccarat scene.

* The fictional card game in ''Film/TheGamersHandsOfFate'' uses a system based on the ''Legend of the Five Rings'' example below. One of the top tournament players actually uses a deck based around the hero card version of himself, and one of the important historical characters in the setting is revealed at the end to have been the avatar of a player as well.
* DC Comics gave away a cameo role in ''Superman'' via a contest requiring clipping letters out of comics to spell a word.

* Creator/DavidWeber has a standing offer to name a character after whoever is the first to catch and point out a typographical error in a published ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book. Most such characters are minor ones who die in their first appearance, so this process is known in the fandom as "winning a RedShirt". Sometimes, the character is not immediately killed off, and thus this is known as "winning a pink handkerchief".

* The ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series had a competition to ask Thursday any three questions after the ''Eyre Affair'' (book 1). A fan of her work appeared in book 2, at the behest of a public relations agent, and asks three questions, none of which gets answered (she's rather busy at the time), but their presence provides a EurekaMoment for her. Separate contests were held in the United States and Britain, and the name of the fan and the questions asked were different in both editions.

* In 2002, chuckpalahniuk.net held a raffle to raise money. The six winners had characters in "Diary" named for them. (Nora Adams and Will Tupper are two of them.)
* Ray Huizenga, a minor character in Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/{{Cell}}'', was named via charity auction.

* In ''Sole Survivor'' by Creator/DeanKoontz the character of Barbara Christman was named after a competition winner. The real Barbara had hoped to be portrayed as a psychotic killer, but instead was written as a flight crash investigator.
** Ditto Linda Paquette, the protagonist's love interest, from ''The Good Guy''.
* Creator/MatthewReilly auctions character names, ranging from a [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]] role spanning a trilogy to a spy killed (by jet engine) in his only scene.
* Sean Tourangeau won a contest to design the ''Luna''-class of starships for the ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'' novel series. The novel with the design in it also established a Dr. Tourangeau as one of the design team in-story, a man who was [[DeathByCameo killed horribly]] when the USS ''Luna'' suffered a core breach.
* Robert Asprin's ''[[Literature/MythAdventures Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections]]'' features a Pervect cabbie who at one point casually mentions bidding for a cameo in a book at an art auction, before adding that [[NoFourthWall if he hadn't won, Skeeve would be talking to someone else]].
* in the mid-to-late 1990s, Michael Stackpole auctioned off a cameo appearance in his ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' novels at the ''GenCon'' charity auction, a few of whom became minor recurring characters.

* Not a contest per se, but Creator/BaenBooks author Creator/JohnRingo offered spots in his list of readers for {{Redshirt}}ing or cameos to those who purchased the now-discontinued [[MemeticMutation OH JOHN RINGO NO]] t-shirts, whose profits went to the Helen Bamberg Foundation.[[note]]The Foundation helps, among other people, women abused by the sex trade, which features prominently in several books of the ''Literature/PaladinOfShadows'' series that spawned the OJRN meme.[[/note]]
* Ian Rankin has done the charity auction version numerous times, and one time had a prank pulled on him. The winner gave his name as Peacock Johnson and asked for his mate "Wee Evil Bob" to be included as well. Rankin enjoyed writing about Elvis-lookalike ArmsDealer Peacock Johnson and his sidekick Wee Evil Bob in the ''Literature/{{Rebus}}'' novel ''A Question of Blood'', and afterwards he tried to contact Johnson to ask if [[BreakoutCharacter he could include them in other novels]]. The website and the email address he had been given didn't exist, and after doing some sleuthing of his own, Rankin discovered he was the target of a practical joke by Stuart David, the former bass player for Music/BelleAndSebastian. Just to twist the knife, David denied him permission to reuse the character, and went on to write [[http://www.barcelonareview.com/73/e_sd.html a story of his own]] where the character [[RecursiveReality seeks out Ian Rankin himself]] to complain about his portrayal in his novel. Rankin has described the whole situation as "[[MindScrew a mindfuck]]".
* 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. Painfully. (And creatively.)
* Dougie Barr, a major character in [[Creator/AnnCleeves Ann Cleeves']] [[{{Series/Shetland}} Shetland]] novel ''Blue Lightning'' was named for a charity auction winner. The character shares his namesake's love of [[{{UsefulNotes/Scotland}} Irn-Bru.]]

* ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' had a contest where kids could suggest a story to be made into an episode. The winner got to appear in the episode that got based on his story, about Punky having to learn CPR so she can later apply it on her friend Cherie (who ended up [[LockedInAFreezer trapped in an old fridge]]) to save her life.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The kid who plays Creet in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] was the winner of a ''Series/BluePeter'' contest to appear in an episode. [[spoiler:He gets turned into a Toclafane offscreen.]]
** The villain from "Love and Monsters" was the product of a design-an-alien-monster fan competition.

** Not a competition winner, as such, but the mineral ''Quantium 40'' (vital in Jumpgate construction, was named following a poll held by JMS among members of the old GENiE boards.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' have done this for several seasons now on Sci Fi. The contest winner has a walk-on cameo appearance in one episode of each show. One winner was the wife of the Ori religious zealot in the Season 9 premiere three-parter.
** The DVD Commentaries for the episode usually reveal the identity of the winner. In "Lost City", it's the woman who enters the Oval Office and shakes Hayes' hand after his meeting with Weir. Later, in "Camelot", director Martin Wood specifically made the contest winner John Noble's wife so "she wouldn't get cut," seeming to imply that other contest winners have had their scenes cut.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' had a contest tied in with the release of their new game [[ColonCancer Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force]] The winners cameoed during the academy scene in the final episode.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' had a couple of Engineering crew who were winners of the USS Enterprise's (the aircraft carrier) Crewman of the Year competition, and a radio contest winner played a female engineer.
** Similarly, the online animated spoof ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Trek Stone Trek]]'' has a feature where fans can submit photos of themselves so that they can be drawn and featured as the show's {{Red Shirt}}s.
** Actually subverted way back at the beginning of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s run, when General Mills held a [[CompetitionCouponMadness contest]] via Cheerios cereal to win a walk-on role on an episode. The subversion came when the winner, another old lady (see the ''SNL'' example), declined the appearance in favor of the alternate cash prize.
* In 1977, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' held a contest for the GuestHost spot on that year's Christmas episode called the "Anyone Can Host" contest, where an average person gets to be an ''SNL'' guest host. The winner of that contest was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old grandmother from New Orleans who happened to be a fan of the show (and still was until she died in the early 1990s). After learning that an old lady won the contest, the ''SNL'' production team tried to get the Music/SexPistols on as the musical guest (as it would drum up more publicity and be hilarious to have a controversial punk band as the musical guest for a show hosted by an old lady), but visa problems caused them to pick Music/ElvisCostello and the Attractions instead. Costello's infamous performance where he stops his planned performance of "Less than Zero" to play "Radio Radio" (a song which was considered too "anti-media" to play on mainstream television at the time) instead has become one of the most iconic in the show's history. Even though Miskel Spillman lives on as ''SNL'''s only non-celebrity to host an episode, her place as the oldest host (which actually once belonged to Ruth Gordon before Spillman usurped it) was usurped years later by another old lady host: Creator/BettyWhite.
* More than a few times, ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' has offered Walk-On roles on various CBS soap operas as part of a prize package. The only one that has been won so far as of this writing was for ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'', where the winner could be seen in a party scene in the episode shown later in the day.
** And on ''Price'' itself… in December 2003, Jackie Amacher won a contest on the ''Oprah Winfrey Show'' and got to call a contestant to "come on down" in one show.
* 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.
* ''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.
* FOX held a [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Hank Hill]] look alike contest on their network at one point where the winner gets to cameo on an episode of ''Series/MADtv''.
* Spoofed in an episode of ''Yes, Dear'' where the actors talk about how they could not find a place to fit him in, so they just had the winner standing there in the last scene, then asked him to move over into HD.

* A while back, around 2003, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} held a competition titled "R U Series/AllThat". The winner, Christina Kirkman, remained in the cast of ''All That'' for its final two seasons. Ryan Coleman, who joined the show's cast midseason, was a finalist in that same competition.
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' held a contest for young Urkel impersonators. The best four impersonators appeared in an episode where Carl dreams that Laura and Steve got married and had children (with another on the way). Some of the runner-up entries were shown as the credits rolled in the same episode.

* Back when ''Remember WENN'' was Creator/{{AMC}}'s only original programming, they ran a contest to win a walk-on role in the following season. AMC ended up futzing with the contest (apparently editing out a scene that was supposed to answer a question), and cancelling the show, thus precluding the prize altogether. [[http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/19980929owen3.asp This article mentions (among others) the walk-on contest.]]
** A similar offer for ''Series/MadMen'' went by without any problems.

* One of the prizes for winning ''Series/WhoWantsToBeASuperhero'' was a cameo appearance on a Sci-Fi Original Movie.
* German TV Quiz ''Wer hat's gesehen?'' (''Who watched it?'') has the top price of winning a cameo on a ''Tatort'' (German police procedural) of the candidate's choice.
* An in-universe example occurs on an episode of ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'', where Cory wins a trip to Hollywood to cameo on a popular sitcom. [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot The episode in question focused on the star of that show as she went through her daily life]] (the concept would later morph into another Disney Channel show: ''Series/HannahMontana''.)

* ''Series/TheGleeProject'' on Oxygen, was a reality show where the winner(s) would get guest starring roles on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. In fact, all of the top four in season one got at least a guest starring role, and all of the top 3 of the second season got one as well.
** Similarly, since the 2000's there has also been a flux of reality shows where the winners would get the lead role(s) in a stage musical. Examples include but are not limited to ''Film/{{Grease}}: You're The One That I Want'', ''[[Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?]]'', ''Theatre/LegallyBlonde: The Search For Elle Woods'', ''[[Theatre/{{Oliver}} I'd Do Anything]]'' and ''[[Film/TheWizardOfOz Over The Rainbow]]''.
** In 2008, Creator/{{ABC}} aired a reality competition themed around ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' where the winner would sing the song that would play over the credits of the then-upcoming ''[=HSM3=]'' ([[LongSongShortScene but was not featured on the soundtrack proper, sadly]]).
* The UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade had two "design a balloon" contests during the TurnOfTheMillennium:
** The first was in 2004 and geared towards children, and was won by a 7 year old from California with a turkey whose feathers were based on international flags. The hosts described the image on air as "join[ing] the dove today as a symbol of world peace."
** The second was in 2011 and coincided with the parade's 85th anniversary. Macy's hid several blank statuettes modelled after their popular elf balloon in their stores, and invited the public to make their own designs in the hopes that one would be selected for a one-off flight down Broadway. The winning design, "Gazer" by university student Keith Lapnig, becomes heartwarming if you know the story behind it[[note]]it was inspired by the company's founder using the stars to guide him back to his homeland after he got lost at sea; this led Macy's to adopt a star as their official logo[[/note]].
** For a few years in TheNineties they had a "Be A Star" campaign where the winners would appear in the parade on several floats in addition to modeling for the company.
** In 1993 the kids who selected the name for the Atlanta 1996 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames mascot (Izzy) appeared in a "rocket car" ahead of the newly-debuted Izzy balloon.
** From 2012-2014 one act performing in the parade was selected by the public through the ''Macy's [=iHeartRadio=] Rising Star'' contest. Megan and Liz were the first winners to perform in the parade; in 2013 it was The Summer Set, and in 2014 it was Before You Exit.
* In 2011, ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' had a "Vanna for a Day" contest, which allowed home viewers to submit videos for a chance to replace LovelyAssistant Vanna White for one episode. The winner was Katie Cantrell, who took Vanna's place for two rounds of an episode. The other four finalists got to sit in the audience.

* In the scene in ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' where RJ and Verne are chased by the dog through various lawns, there is a man barbecuing who says "Huh?", and a man in a lawn chair who pushes a female companion out of the way with a cry of "Look out!". Both of these men were played by contestants on ''Series/TheApprentice'', and these small cameos were the result of winning a reward challenge.

* One ''Franchise/TheSimpsons'' Halloween comic had one of these. Considering that she spends her single panel of screentime [[ItMakesSenseInContext running from Homer, currently driving a clown car named]] [[Film/{{Christine}} Krustine]], with all the problems that implies, she regrets entering the contest in the first place.

* "Fox Kids Magazine" had a contest winner appear in a short "NASCAR Racers" comic that was in the Spring 2001 issue.

** The latter instance at least did not win any contest; she was animated into the episode as her wish from the Make A Wish foundation. The scene, which is a semi-BigLippedAlligatorMoment, has her telling Kim that she's her biggest fan, and asks for her autograph.

** ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' [[note]] in the episode ''Night of the Living Plush''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'' [[note]] with a girl named Esme. Unlike the other examples, the episode never made it past the script stage due to [=WordGirl=]'s cancellation in the same year as a result of most stations dropping the program after ''PBS Kids Go!'' ended.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' [[note]] a boy named Daniel Stark who competed in a skateboarding contest with the gang in the episode ''The Big Day''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' [[note]] in the episode ''Wally T''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' [[note]] a disgusted fish who watches Patrick stick his nose in some pastries in the episode ''No Nose Knows''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'' and one Creator/{{Pixar}} film [[note]] According to an article, a kid who toured Pixar also got to play a role in one of their films. It is unknown which film he got a role in.[[/note]] also featured kids who got Make A Wish requests voicing characters.

** ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' [[note]] in the episode ''Night of the Living Plush''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'' [[note]] with a girl named Esme. Unlike the other examples, the episode never made it past the script stage due to [=WordGirl=]'s cancellation in the same year as a result of most stations dropping the program after ''PBS Kids Go!'' ended.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' [[note]] a boy named Daniel Stark who competed in a skateboarding contest with the gang in the episode ''The Big Day''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' [[note]] in the episode ''Wally T''[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' [[note]] a disgusted fish who watches Patrick stick his nose in some pastries in the episode ''No Nose Knows''[[/note]], and one Creator/{{Pixar}} film [[note]] According to an article, a kid who toured Pixar also got to play a role in one of their films. It is unknown which film he got a role in.[[/note]] also featured kids who got Make A Wish requests voicing characters.

** Marco Soto in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'' and ''Discworld/NightWatch''.

** Dr John "Mossy" Lawn in ''Night Watch'', ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', and ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''.
** Professor Ladislav Pelc in ''Going Postal''.
** Dr John Hix in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' and ''Unseen Academicals''. (The real John Hicks, as Head of Productions and later Chairman of the Discworld Convention, now responds to any complaints with "Skull ring, remember?".)

* Miranda Ram-Nolte (1995-2014), a terminally ill teenager who got to be a voice actress via Make-A-Wish Foundation had two voice roles before she passed away, ''WesternAnimation/BarbiePrincessCharmSchool'' and ''WesternAnimation/TwinkleToes''.