History Main / ContestWinnerCameo

* 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''.

* Season 1 of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' had a contest where the winner would show up, get killed, turned into a zombie, and killed again. The winner of this was [[spoiler:Brie]] in the game. There's also [[https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Notable_Zombies_(Video_Game)#Contest_Winners four zombies]] based on other contest winners.

* During the development of ''Videogame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', SEGA held an open audition for a potential female party member. 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 the business minigame questline.

* Magazine/NintendoPower ran a contest in the late 1990 where anyone who met the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' BonusBoss Warmech 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 ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' in a secret room, and it inspired much discussion and strategy over how to get to the room in the first place. It doesn't help that the "secret area" is actually, in programming terms, an error handler function which the game sends you to if an error occurs in loading an area to prevent a GameBreakingBug, making it tricky to get to on purpose. With Nintendo Power being a firmly American magazine, none of the translations in other languages use his name. The Game Boy Advance remake has the room, but also doesn't use his name in English.

* The ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' BonusBoss Kurt Zisa is named after a contest winner.

* 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.)

*** Much to {{showrunner}} David Mirkin's chagrin, the terms of the promotion forced him to declare a winner out of a batch of one thousand random samples, all incorrect. As he notes in the season 7 DVDCommentary, they just picked a woman who guessed that Smithers did it, paid her off, and no one even noticed.
** Also the episode "Million Dollar Maybe" was part of The Simpsons "Best. Character. Ever." contest. The winning character "Ricardo Bomba" was shown for less then 30 seconds before crashing his car, which also explodes.
** Another ''Simpsons'' contest they had was the "Create-A-Couch-Gag" contest where the winner gets their {{couch gag}} animated onto the last episode of the season. The winner in America was a woman named Cheryl Brown, and her couch gag had five dandelions on the couch, and the screen filling with tiny airborne Homers, Marges, Barts, Lisas, and Maggies when the TV sneezes. In Canada, the winning CouchGag was a simple one where The Simpsons share the couch with a Canadian loon, John A. [=MacDonald=], a hockey player, and a Canadian beaver.

** 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.

* The girl Marcie who narrated the opening to the Romeo and Juliet play in the WesternAnimation/HeyArnold episode “School Play” was voiced by a girl who had won a contest to appear on the show.

[[folder:Music Video]]

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

* Winners of the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' Invitational tournament get to make their own card, the image of which is based on their appearance. Such cards tend to be [[FanNickname nicknamed]] after the person that designed it.

* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' did this twice. The first time, the contest winner had his spleen ripped out by John Tesh after he 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}}).

* Felix the Fish, the mascot of Big Fish Games, was concealed in one of the HiddenObjectGame scenes of ''VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles: Ravenhearst.'' Finding and clicking on him opened a screen which enabled the player to enter a contest, the winner of whom got to have his or her likeness included in a later MCF game. (Humorously, the contest ended in March 2007 - but they never removed the contest from the game. This means that if you buy the game even now, Felix is in there and clicking on him will still bring up that screen.)

** Another ''Simpsons'' contest they had was the "Create-A-Couch-Gag" contest where the winner gets his or her {{couch gag}} animated onto the last episode of the season. The winner in America was a woman named Cheryl Brown, and her couch gag had five dandelions on the couch, and the screen filling with tiny airborne Homers, Marges, Barts, Lisas, and Maggies when the TV sneezes. In Canada, the winning CouchGag was a simple one where The Simpsons share the couch with a Canadian loon, John A. [=MacDonald=], a hockey player, and a Canadian beaver.

Compare OfficialFanSubmittedContent. Also compare {{Tuckerization}}, where characters are based on real people who haven't won anything.

* 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''.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' had Josh and Katlyn in Season 4.
** Both did not win any contests; they were animated into an episode as a wish from the Make A Wish foundation. Josh appeared in the episode "Grande Size Me", and Katelin appeared in "Clean Slate." Katlyn's scene, which is a semi-BigLippedAlligatorMoment, has her telling Kim that she's her biggest fan, and asks for her autograph.

* Like the ''Kim Possible'' example, the 2009 ChristmasSpecial ''Yes, Virginia'' featured a character voiced by and modeled after someone who got in by way of the Make A Wish Foundation.
** ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' [[note]] in the episode ''Night of the Living Plush''[[/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/WordGirl'' almost had this with a girl named Esme, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but the episode never made it past the script stage]] as [=WordGirl=] was cancelled that year thanks to most stations dropping it after ''PBS Kids Go!'' ended.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has two examples, both Make-A-Wish participants.
** In "Trade Ya!", the disabled pony with a wheelchair on his hind legs, Stellar Eclipse, is played by Sylvain-Nicholas [=LeVasseur=]-Portelance, who has spinal muscular atrophy.
** In "Top Bolt", Angel Wings is voiced by Alexis "Lexi" Heule, who has congenital heart disease and connective tissue disorder.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Tour de Ferb", there is a Fireside Girl with light brown hair who was designed after the winner of a Radio Disney contest.

** In "Phineas' Birthday Clip-o-Rama" Make-A-Wish kid Tabitha Comstock voices the girl at the party who says, "You're the best!" after everyone wishes Phineas a happy birthday.

* Averted in the ''Film/ResidentEvil'' movie: when ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' was released, Capcom held a contest where the winner would get a walk-on role in the upcoming movie. However, after that, the movie underwent a massive retooling, and thus the role was axed.

** James wasn't really a fan of the comic, he just entered because ''his'' friend had entered.

* Cameron and Lucas, two characters in the starting village of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' are named after Cameron Rapmund and Łukasz Kawarski, the winner and runner-up of the official ''Fallout'' trivia challenge. In the unpatched game, they are called Dumar and Standing Fist.
* {{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.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* ''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 biggest backer of the Kickstarter for ''Webcomic/TheNonadventuresOfWonderella'' got to go on a date with the title character. It ... [[http://nonadventures.com/2015/08/15/expiration-date/ didn't go well]].

* ''WebAnimation/WereAlive'' auctioned off a cameo role on eBay to help pay for tickets to the Audie Awards. The winner showed up as Dr. Guin in Chapter 29-3.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'''s GrandFinale movie "[[Recap/DariaTVM2 Is It College Yet?]]" included some new backgrounders who were this. ("Alien Victory" and "Winner" on [[http://www.thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=44144 this list]].)

* Magazine/NintendoPower ran a contest in the late 1990 where anyone who met the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' BonusBoss Warmech 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 ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' in a secret room, and it inspired much discussion and strategy over how to get to the room in the first place. It doesn't help that the "secret area" is actually, in programming terms, an error handler function which the game sends you to if an error occurs in loading an area to prevent a GameBreakingBug, making it tricky to get to on purpose. With Nintendo Power being a firmly American magazine, none of the translations in other languages use his name. The Game Boy Advance port has the room, but also doesn't use his name in English.

* Some of the additional voices in the Latin Spanish dub of ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' were done by members of the Parra family, a family from Hermosillo, Mexico who won a contest organized by Disney. Family members César Parra and César Parra Jr. would later create their own dubbing studio, [=SDV=] Servicios de Voz, based out of Hermosillo.