History Main / DarkHorseVictory

* Played for laughs and zig-zagged in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', when Fighter competes in a Drownball tournament, where the goal is to drown.[[labelnote:*]][[LampshadeHanging Where does the ball come in?]][[/labelnote]] Fighter is a favorite to win, as he competes wearing [[TwentyFourHourArmor heavy plate armor]]. Despite this, he fails to drown, thus making his performance the worst of all the competitors. However, since that makes him the only surviving participant, he's made the winner of the tournament by default.

* And in 1880, the Republican Convention deadlocked between James Blaine and Ulysses S. Grant, with John Sherman also having support, leading to Blaine's nominator UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield being nominated, then elected President.

* Creator/FoodNetwork had their annual ''Holiday Baking Championship''. Eight bakers, one grand prize of $50,000. There were bakery owners, executive pastry chefs from high-end resorts...and one home baker. The home baker was a short, scrawny guy who managed a cafeteria in middle-of-nowhere [[DeepSouth Kentucky]], had a mile-thick accent to match, and ''no'' formal culinary education, relying on recipes he learned from his grandma, mother, and aunts. He became the first home baker to take home the prize.

* Dateline: August 2021.The Atlanta Braves had been sputtering throughout the season and lost two key players to injury and one to a domestic violence charge. They were six games under .500 languishing in fourth place in the National League East when suddenly, the teams ahead (Philadelphia, the Mets and Washington) started running on fumes while the Braves had acquired a can of spinach between them. They clinched a postseason berth then won the East pennant where they had the lowest win-loss record of such a team since 2006 and thus had less than a 15% chance of going to the World Series much less winning it. They obviously didn't get the memo, as the Braves went on to beat Milwaukee in the divisional series, the Dodgers in the league championship, and finally Houston in the World Series giving the Braves their first world title since 1995.

* The 1972 Democratic nomination initially saw 1968 vice-presidential nominee Edmund Muskie as the frontrunner, with former vice president/1968 presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey also picking up momentum, and George Wallace doing well in the Southern (and even Michigan) primaries after his third-party run as a segregationist candidate in 1968. However, the anti-[[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam War]] candidate UsefulNotes/GeorgeMcGovern built up a grassroots campaign and managed to secure the nomination. President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon proceeded to bury [=McGovern=] in the general election.
** This result was less "good fortune" for Nixon than "exactly what we were planning": Muskie's downfall especially was orchestrated by the Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President. The tactics they used to influence the Democratic primaries fall somewhere between distasteful and illegal; some CRP members used the charming sobriquet "ratfucking" to describe their role in the primaries.

* An almost perfect example of this happened in the 2004 Iowa Democratic caucus: the analysts were certain that the race for the state was between Dick Gephardt (who won the caucuses in 1988) and Howard Dean (who had been leading in the polls in Iowa for months), and the pair got engaged in a vicious negative campaign for much of December. Come January and the caucuses, and ''two'' dark horses swept in: UsefulNotes/JohnKerry won, and John Edwards came in second. Dean and Gephardt were turned into also-rans, and quickly eliminated from the field thereafter. Kerry and Edwards went on to be nominated for president and VP respectively.

* [[{{Pun}} Nobody expected the Spanish national team]], who [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut are used to underperforming]], to win a [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]] any time soon. Their weapons were fear and surprise and a ruthlessly efficient defense.
** Just to prove RealLife is just as surreal as fiction, the only person who thought Spain would win was [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/09/psychic-octopus-paul-picks-spain Paul the Psychic Octopus]], clearly the Dark Horse of world cup pundits.
** The CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys of 1998. France failed to make the World Cup in 90 and 94 and got into the 98 tournament only by hosting it. They shocked the world with one of the most dominating defenses ever (one non-PK goal for the entire tournament) and capped off their improbable win with a 3-0 win over supposedly invincible Brazil in the final.
** For other continental soccer/football championships -- we have Iraq winning the 2007 Asian Cup (not only during the War, but also overcoming multiple continental giants like newly admitted Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia) and Zambia taking home the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations after a long penalty shootout against the Ivory Coast and a victory against Ghana in the semifinals. The last of these doubles as a [[Heartwarming/RealLifeSports CMOH]], seeing that the match was played just inland from the spot where the plane carrying the Zambia national team to a World Cup qualifier crashed in 1993, killing all on board.

* The 1968 Olympics in Mexico City featured a number of firsts, the first Olympics in Latin America, a number of broken records for pole vault, long jump, triple jump, etc. But one thing that Mexicans are likely to remember is Felipe "el tibio" Muñoz Kapamas, the first, and so far, only Mexican athlete to ever win a gold medal in an Olympic swimming event. El Tibio, "The Timid One", got his nickname for his then-odd habit of refusing to swim in a nonheated pool and became famous for edging out both the Soviet and U.S. favorite and winning the 200m breaststroke.

* Eric Moussambani Malonga, from Equatorial Guinea, appeared at the 2000 Sydney Olympics as part of a wildcard draw that allowed developing countries in to the games without meeting the minimum requirements. In his heat for the 100 meter free-style (and the first time Malonga had ever swam in a full-length pool), Malonga swam the course in 1'57'', the worst time for the event in Olympic history. However, since his two competitors false-started, Malonga was determined to have won his heat, and became a minor celebrity afterward.

** The Sony [=PlayStation=]. Most doubted that it would be a winner, as Sony was a newcomer to the gaming market. But they had a lot of know-how from producing Unix workstations, which they adapted into a simple yet powerful 3D-centric console; also, they provided the best development tools, and offered third-parties advantageous publishing deals. Meanwhile, Sega's Saturn was an overcomplicated beast that pointlessly clung to 2D, and the Nintendo 64 was hindered by the higher cost and limited storage of cartridges.

* A priceless [[SuperBowlSpecial Super Bowl]] Coke commercial where Macy Balloons of [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Stewie]] and WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}} are fighting (aka bumping into each other) in order to get that balloon of a coke bottle. Eventually, the bottle starts to float away, both characters turn and see a round shape on the horizon. It's actually [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]], [[ThrowTheDogABone who then wins the prize.]]
* The Dan vs. Dave Olympic campaign by Reebok was derailed by this trope. More below in "Sport". The Aesop? Don't count your athletes until they've qualified.

** In "Show Off" a dachshund wins the dog show after Killer and Sebastian the poodle both got disqualified (the former being distracted with a wind up mouse toy, the latter with roast beef and he ends up attacking a judge for it)

* An episode of the cartoon SpinOff of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' had the eponymous character [[GenderBender disguised as]] [[PunnyName "Betty Juice"]] compete against [[AlphaBitch Claire Brewster]] for class president. Even after some literal mud-slinging, BOTH characters lose to some unknown classmate.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' involving a writing contest entered by, among others, Sagwa and the daughter of a magistrate the Foolish Magistrate has a recurring prank war with, ultimately concludes with this trope. After the officials spend the entire episode messing up the contest, both Sagwa and the girl lose to an old guy...who had won the contest 48 years in a row prior to this one.

* ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'' did this when the school had a contest for the students to do presentations on social tolerance. In spite of all her efforts, including a multi-cultural interview show and parachut stunts, Natella doesn't win. And Keisha, in spite of throwing a gypsy boxing match, doesn't win either. The prize is awarded to the giner-haired Kylie, who didn't compete at all.
* ''Every Which Way But Lose'', in the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': both Francine and "Carlotta Monterey" (Hayley) are beaten by "Emmy Lou Sugarbean" (Roger) in the baking competition at Langley County Fair.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Zoidberg rigs the Oscars to ensure this will happen twice in a two-minute span: first by listing Calculon among the nominees, and then by announcing the winner, "instead of any of those guys," is his uncle.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' crack chibi-short ‘School Time Shipping’ ends this way. Basically the entire young male cast (minus Sokka) are trying to convince Katara to go to the school dance with them. Aang, Jet, Haru and Zuko all try their hardest -- but Katara admits she’s already going with someone else. [[CrackPairing The Blue Spirit!]] Zuko says “I didn’t see that coming” which is fitting, since the Blue Spirit is ''his'' alter ego!
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Played with this trope during the Running of the Leaves in "Fall-Weather Friends". After a lot of trickery in an attempt to get ahead of each other, Applejack and Rainbow Dash finished at the same time [[spoiler:in last place]]. Then after they got over that shock, [[spoiler:resident SquishyWizard Twilight Sparkle walked up to them to reveal that she won... fifth place, a result that pleased her since it was her first race ([[AwesomenessByAnalysis she's read a lot about running and knew how to pace herself while most of the others ran themselves ragged]].). The actual winner of the race was an unnamed pony]].
** The winners of the eponymous competition in "The Sisterhooves Social" are Berryshine/Berry Punch and an unnamed filly (nicknamed "Piña Colada"), with Rarity and Sweetie Belle coming in second.
** In "Sparkle's Seven" the crown of the Sibling Supreme is a reward given in a SiblingRivalry contest between Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor ever since they were young. Shining Armor challenged Twilight to one last contest to determine who keeps the crown and the title permanently. If she can find a way to get past all the defenses to the castle and steal the crown then she wins, but if she gets caught then he wins. The winner ends up being [[spoiler:''Spike'', who always wanted to be considered part of their rivalry himself but felt ignored by them. He managed to steal the crown himself by [[ChessMaster manipulating events from the beginning]] and getting help from [[TheMole Luna behind the scenes]], basically teaching their older siblings a lesson about listening to them.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan,'' gorgeous [[FunPersonified Mary Jane]] gets set up with [[TheHero Peter]] for his school's Fall Formal. Peter is, unsurprisingly, [[TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife called off on superhero business]], but M.J. sticks around and winds up being elected Homecoming Queen, even though she doesn't attend that school.

* In [[MultipleEndings one of the endings]] of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' [[spoiler: the [[DumbIsGood Surfers]], who had previously lost but came back thanks to one of the other pairs leaving thanks to injury, first beat [[BigBad the Ice Dancers]] for a place in the final two and then beat their (the Ice Dancers') arch-rivals, [[ActionGirl the Police Cadets]] to win. Most of the fanbase was expecting them to come third with the final being between the Ice Dancers and the Cadets seeing as the latter two's rivalry had been built up all season.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island (2023)'': The second season's final episodes hyped up an epic [[spoiler:Caleb vs Julia]] finale. The one who wins ends up being [[spoiler:Wayne, who was also in the finale but got ignored by the other two in favor of each other, and managed to come back from an early last place and reach the finish line first.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': In "Race to the Finish", both Dr. Claw and Gadget are disqualified (the former for cheating and leaving the grounds, the latter for being on police duty), resulting in the #17 car taking first place.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detention}}'', "The Man with the Golden Brain": The smartest kids in detention (twin sisters, to boot) were disqualified from a SpellingBee as one of them has butted into the other's turn.
* Used twice in ''WesternAnimation/The7D'', both times with Hildy Gloom and Snazzy Shazam.
** In "Sleepytime," Hildy and Snazzy are in the running for Best Sleeping Spell, but the presenter gives the award to himself for putting most of the audience to sleep with his "spellbinding" performance.
** In "Hildyrella", the winner of the Ultimate Supreme Sorceress Pageant is not any of the finalists, but Hildy's fairy godmother.
* Two examples related to ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'':
** In [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981 the 1980s cartoon show]] special "The Smurfic Games", Hefty, Handy, and Clumsy are in a three-way tie when competing in the games, and so the final game, the Smurfathlon, is to determine who will be the winner. Hefty and Handy both end up ahead of Clumsy, but because Handy was swept off the track by an avalanche created by Gargamel reciting an incantation to activate the ArtifactOfDoom and Hefty goes to dig his friend out, Clumsy passes by the both of them and ends up as the winner, which nobody expected. Neither Hefty nor Handy had a problem with Clumsy winning since they both came to learn that winning isn't as important as friendship.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfsTheLegendOfSmurfyHollow'', Gutsy accidentally causes Brainy to be captured by Gargamel by scaring him away from a secret patch of smurfberries in Smurfy Hollow and ends up as the winner of the Smurfberry Hunt, but after Gutsy began to feel guilty for what he did to Brainy, he makes it up to Brainy by offering him the medal. However, neither Brainy nor Gutsy are willing to accept it, and so as they argue over who should get the medal, it slips out of their hands and lands around Lazy's neck, thus declaring him as the official winner.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "The Stanchurian Candidate", when the mayor dies Stan competes for the position against Bud Gleeful (under orders from his son [[EnfantTerrible Gideon]]) and recurring character Tyler Cutebiker. While Stan ultimately wins, he's disqualified due to [[LongList his extensive criminal record]] and the fact that he and Bud never actually bothered to turn in any of the necessary paperwork. The position goes to Tyler by default.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PeterPanAndThePirates'', the Lost Boys and the pirates compete in a race. Through most of the episode, the main focus is on either the competition between Peter and Captain Hook, or the twins, who have been fighting for the entire episode. In the end, Michael, who had been tailing dead last on a tricycle for the entire race wins, partly thanks to the twins who decide to bury their differences and fix up his tricycle after it crashes.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': The ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' nod episode had five of the racers jockeying for position to cross the finish line, only for the winner to be the police officer who had stopped the van of Mandark's hippie parents and took off out of control in it after activating a jet propulsion tank.
* ''[[Creator/{{Terrytoons}} The Adventures of Lariat Sam]]'' story arc "The Great Race For Office Space" had Badlands Meeney running for sheriff of Bent Saddle. Sam runs against him, and they both become competitors in a horse race to decide the outcome. Sam rides his steed Tippytoes while Badlands rides his minion Bushwhack in a horse costume. Sam wins the race but he defers the sheriff position to Tippytoes, who went above and beyond to win. Badlands waxes philosophical:
-->'''Bushwhack:''' Don't feel bad, Badlands. I would have voted for you.\\
'''Badlands:''' That woulda made three, Bushwhack. Your one and my two.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheEpicTalesOfCaptainUnderpants'' has the second season finale end this way. Over the course of two episodes, George, Harold, and Melvin have been competing in an obstacle course that will give the winner the highest grade of the year and a scholarship to Eliteanati Academy. At the end, the three have reached a temporary truce and are ready to end the game...only for [[TheAce Erica]] to come in and snag the win at the last second.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Scrooge's major plot in season 2 involves a bet made with Glomgold; whoever has more money at the end of the year gets the loser's company. The winner of the bet is ''Louie'', who manages to trick Glomgold into handing the resources of both companies (as well as those of the villains Glomgold recruited) over to him. Ultimately, StatusQuoIsGod; Louie gives Scrooge back his company in the next episode, and Glomgold gets his own company back later on.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee'': In "Citizen June", June runs for class president against incumbent Melissa O'Malley. When June's hero duties prevent her from being able to give a speech, her friend Ophelia manages to save the occasion by giving a speech about how horrible Melissa is. This wins over so many people that Ophelia ends up winning the election for class president via write-in votes, despite not running. She, along with everyone else, is shocked by this.
* ''WesternAnimation/KampKoral'': In "[[Recap/KampKoralS1E15HillFuSunsOutFunsOut Hill-Fu]]", Sandy is able to curb-stomp all the competitors in the karate tournament. Prior to the battle, [=SpongeBob=] learns Hill-Fu from Nobby so he can stand a chance. After a big battle, [[spoiler:he and Sandy end up tying, and agree to share the badge... and then Nobby appears, karate-chops them both, and claims the badge for him and Narlene.]]
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' involved Peggy, Nancy and Minh all running for the same seat on the school board, in hopes of restoring the after school programs that had been cut for budgetary reasons. They spend so much time undercutting each other that the seat is won by a ((TheFundmentalist fundamental]] [[MoralGuardians moral guardian]] who [[ShaggyDogStory plans on cutting the after school program anyway]], along with geometry, biology and all "offensive" encyclopedias.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocoyo}}'': Sleepy Bird manages to win a race that was only supposed be between Pocoyo and Elly. Granted, the two managed to break their own vehicles and were so busy combining their broken parts that she slowly passed by them unnoticed.

** In ''FanFic/TotalDramaLegacy'', one challenge is a go-kart racing challenge. Throughout the race, arch-rivals Storm and Emilia are neck and neck throughout the whole go-kart race, even engaging in a ChaseFight. However, during the third lap, [[NiceJobBreakingItRivals the two of them are too busy fighting each other to realize that Link has just sped ahead of both of them]], and Link ends up winning the race.

** In ''[[VideoGame/DisneysMagicalQuest The Great Circus Mystery]]'' episode, Pat and Dan find out that the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis versions of the game have equal advantages over the other, with the SNES version having better graphics, the Genesis version having a better presentation, and each version having an exclusive level. They get a call from Mike to help them settle their dispute. Mike cites the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version as being the best one, having all of the elements of the SNES and Genesis versions, as well as a save feature in place of the passwords, an improved character select screen, a language select, and an improved ending.

* [[spoiler:Dana Cardinal]] from ''[[Podcast/WelcometoNightVale Welcome to Night Vale]]'' wins the mayoral election, beating out the Faceless Old Woman and Hiram [=McDaniels=], despite not having run for the position in the first place.

** The Best Multiplayer Game and Best Shooter categories at the 2015 was primarily filled with games from big western publishers known for their work on teen and adult-oriented multiplayer and shooter spaces, namely ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}: The Taken King'', ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'', and ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'' (only in the shooter space for the latter title). So who ended up being the winner for both categories? None other than '''Creator/{{Nintendo}}'''[='=]s new IP ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', a colorful third-person multiplayer shooter based around squid kids who used ink as ammo, was oriented to audiences of all ages, and was released as an exclusive for the floundering UsefulNotes/WiiU, which was by that point a known failure in the console space for Nintendo. Yet against all odds, ''Splatoon'' ended up taking home those two awards that night.

** Two years after Draven, another case of rallying deciding a contest was ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}'' winning a Best Game Ever contest. [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6182-did-the-best-game-ever-contest-convince-you-to-try-undertale There was some backlash]] and trolling, but thankfully less than with Draven.

* Individual honor example: As the 1991 UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague season came to a close; it was widely expected that the league rushing title would go to either Buffalo Bills running back Thurman Thomas or Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders[[note]]interestingly, both players had been college teammates at Oklahoma State, with Sanders serving as Thomas' backup before Thurman graduated[[/note]], with the rushing championship expected to be settled in the regular-season finale pitting Thomas' Bills and Sanders' Lions. Instead, Buffalo (having clinched the AFC East division, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs) elected to rest their starters; thus Thurman didn't play at all in the game, while Sanders finished with 108 yards and a touchdown as the Lions defeated Buffalo 17-14 in overtime[[note]]Unlike Buffalo, the Lions still had something to play for as Detroit needed a win and a loss by the Chicago Bears to the San Francisco 49ers -- themselves out of the playoffs despite a 10-6 record due to the NFC playoff picture being especially crowded that season and having lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Atlanta Falcons -- on the following evening's ''Series/MondayNightFootball'' game -- to clinch the NFC Central title and the 2nd NFC first-round bye. The 49ers would [[CurbStompBattle throttle]] Chicago 52-14 the next night.[[/note]]. The winner of the rushing crown? Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who raced for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Cowboys defeated Atlanta 31-27; giving Smith a [[http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1991/leaders.htm 15-yard advantage]] over Sanders with 1563 yards to Sanders' 1548 in what marked the first of four rushing titles in a five-year span for Emmitt; while Thurman came in a distant third with 1407 yards.

* The lead up to the 2016 Republican primaries looked like it was going to be a [[http://theweek.com/articles/451640/over-jeb-bush-gop-nominee-2016 Jeb Bush coronation]]: he had raised by far the most money, had name recognition and his family's political machine behind him (his [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush father]] and [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush brother]] were most famous as the last two GOP presidents), and led in most polls. If there was going to be an upset, most pundits predicted it would come from newer party faces like Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz, while many viewed the candidacy of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, a real estate mogul and television host who had never held prior office, as a publicity stunt. [[DivideAndConquer Early on, the establishment vote was split so many ways among so many candidates, most of whom agreed on the major issues]]; Trump was able to dominate the field with a minority of the vote mainly by [[TooQuirkyToLose espousing ideas that most party members disagreed with in substance, style, or both, but could rally a plurality of the party larger than any other single candidate's base.]] It also helped that Trump also got a deafening amount of media coverage,[[note]]Estimates have ranged from $2–5 billion worth of "earned media."[[/note]] more than all his competition combined. Jeb Bush did poorly in the early primaries and quickly became an also-ran. Later it become [[DoubleSubversion a more traditional version of this trope with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz]], who became Trump's main opponents. Many pundits noted that Cruz and Rubio often spent more time either attacking each other, or appealing to each other's voters, than they did addressing either Trump or his base;[[note]]Rubio became the ''de facto'' establishmentarian after Bush's withdrawal, while Cruz was blindsided from behind by Trump, see his entry under [[DidntSeeThatComing/RealLife Didn't See That Coming]].[[/note]] [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg also, John Kasich stuck around.]]