History Main / RealityShowGenreBlindness

** Don’t expect your allies to stick with you past the 2/3 mark or so, especially if you’re a stronger team. In season 10,[[note]] Which is considered to be the point where there had been enough seasons to be able to study the game[[/note]] physically fit brothers with Master’s degrees, Erwin & Godwin, were in an alliance with two other teams (couple David & Mary and friends Lyn & Karlyn) who weren’t as fit or smart. Once they got to the top five, David & Mary had been eliminated, leaving just two of the teams. Lyn & Karlyn, who made up for not being a physical threat by understanding the game very well, were willing to throw the boys under the bus and had fully expected them to be willing to do the same thing but they weren’t. The guys finished the task well ahead of them but [[WhatAnIdiot waited around on them to finish]] despite the fact they were fighting for last place. The guys made a wrong turn into the area of the finish line and Lyn & Karlyn passed them up and they got eliminated.

* Many a {{Bridezilla}} has expressed surprise at how bad the show makes them look. One Bridezilla even said the producers asked her to insult her husband on national TV, then [[WhatAnIdiot couldn't figure out why strangers on the street hated her]].

* Season 7 of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'' featured Penny Davidi who ''lives'' on this trope (as far as fans of Creator/FoodNetwork are concerned)...for all the [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong reasons]]. The prize for winning (or doing exceptionally well) on this show is having your own series on Food Network and eventually becoming a star. In order to win (or perhaps do very well), you would have to be able to cook very well under time pressure, have skills to work the audience and be able to hold and develop a sizable fanbase. The problem with Penny? She has the cooking chops, but she has the '''wrong''' TV chops. What does she do? She eagerly begins deploying ''Survivor''-style (or ''The Apprentice''-style) tactics to eliminate the other contestants, openly [[HannibalLecture brags about it to the other contestants]] and to the ConfessionCam in the most sickeningly SmugSnake way possible, and in general is the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the show's history and [[WhatAnIdiot thinks she can slide through anyway]] because "I have a plan to win." But then, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her plan to use blatantly cutthroat tactics only served to alienate the audience more and more with each passing week until the judges couldn't ignore her smugness anymore and eliminated her from the competition.]] ''Food Network Star'' may be a reality show, but it's not the same kind of reality show as ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', and not knowing the difference can backfire on you in a major way.
** Outside of ''Food Network Star'', she has continued to show Reality Show Genre Blindness. She went on to compete on ''Series/{{Chopped}}: All Stars''. She didn't need to show any of her characteristic smugness, but she did, [[WhatAnIdiot even though she keeps complaining on the ConfessionCam "This is not who I am."]] Unfortunately, for fans of Food Network, she ended up winning against GentleGiant Vic and going on to the finale. Once again, her arrogance cost her the ''Chopped: All Stars''. On that level of competition, you'd have to be ''better than an Series/IronChef'' and have to be practically flawless in order to win. She made 2-3 major errors on her dish, which got her eliminated 3rd place.

* Anybody who watches ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' on a regular basis would know that in "reorder the digits" games like Safe Crackers or Ten Chances, if there's a lone "0" digit in a price, it's almost always the last digit. After all, manufacturers tend to price their products at round numbers ([[AndNinetyNineCents or something in ending in 99 cents]], which ''Price'' rounds to the nearest dollar). Yet far too many WhatAnIdiot moments occur when a contestant puts the 0 in the ''second-to-last'' slot (such as $607).

** Part of the reason Russell Hantz got so far in ''Samoa'' was that almost all the other players appeared to be completely GenreBlind — Galu not voting off their outsider when they had the chance, Shambo voting personally, Galu deciding to vote off their own teammate with a hidden Immunity Idol instead of [[FanNickname Pagonging]] the four players left, players practically being shown a map ''to the hidden Immunity Idol'' for the first time ''ever'' and ''not even bothering to look for it'', never learning to keep an eye on the Idol-hunting Russell, John changing his vote, etc. (Note we said "''almost''" — Natalie saw the dumb people voting the smart out, so she used ObfuscatingStupidity instead and ended up with the big bucks. Not only to his dismay but to the [[FanNickname Hantz Nation]].)

* ''Series/GuysGroceryGames'' has a RunningGag in which Guy Fieri will work '3", "2", "1", and "go" into his banter before a round and keep on talking, making them waste about half a minute. Surprisingly, almost ''nobody'' has learned to just go the second he says "go", or listen for him to say "3", "2", or "1" in differing contexts.

%%NOTE: Examples on this page are sorted alphabetically. Please add new examples in theirr appropriate position

Actually, generating Genre Blindness is often baked into the DNA of reality shows. First, contestants are selected for personality traits that will cause them to act emotionally and impulsively. Once on the show, it is standard practice to isolate contestants from their friends and family and place them in high-stress situations with little sleep for weeks or months on end. Several contestants across several different reality shows have also reported that the producers are more than happy to ensure that there is plenty of alcohol to go around on the set, setting up great conditions for a lot of AlcoholInducedIdiocy. If all else fails, producers will use ManipulativeEditing, goad the "appropriate" reactions out of the contestants, or even outright telling them how to act. (Supposedly, on ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', the contestants have been told that any time they mention a previous season/contestants, it won't be aired on film, and on the American ''Series/BigBrother 2'', contestants were told not to mention the first ''Big Brother''.)

* ''Moonshiners'', a Series/DiscoveryChannel series about a loosely-affiliated group of distillers creating moonshine in the Tennessee backwoods, has plenty of moments centered around this trope:

* On ''Series/WifeSwap'' and its derivatives, the families always seem to be shocked by how different the other family is from theirs (in fact, the producers tend to deliberately pick radically-different families). Sometimes they appear to be utterly flabbergasted by the notion that "rule change" will alter their household in ways they don't like, and at times a particularly controlling husband will even insist that nothing is going to change in his house. Didn't these people know what they were getting into when they auditioned for the show? They only could've figured it out from watching any episode. Of course, these people are chosen precisely because of their curiously insular views.
** Heck, some haven't even watched ''Wife Swap'' and '''still''' know what anyone signing up will be put through just from the regular postings on some fandom message boards. (The producers have tried several times to get someone from a specific fandom activity on their show. The first couple people they asked read the information packet and said "no freaking way".)

* This also happened with ''Series/HotelHell''. One would expect that, after the first season, they would at least ''try'' to get ready for Ramsay's arrival, but once again they are always embarrassed and shocked when it turns out that Ramsay notices dust everywhere.

*** Eliminating contestants for undercooking meat on a reality show about cooking, however, is understandable and justified. Ever get so sick from food poisoning that you puked interesting colors? More often than not, it was because the cook wasn't carefully watching the meat he was supposed to be dutifully cooking, so of course Ramsay is going to come down hard on contestants for undercooked meat. Potentially poisoning your customers is a much bigger problem than serving them food that simply tastes bad.

* People on ''Series/JudgeJudy'' apparently just seem to love this, not realizing they're on syndicated television for all to see. Judy herself will often [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this and mention that 10 million people are watching them embarrass themselves on TV.

* Most of the nuts who audition for ''Series/AmericanIdol'' fall right into this. Many of the others are actually GenreSavvy enough to know that the '''really''' awful auditions get on TV, so they deliberately up their awfulness.
** The producers actually deliberately let some bad people through, even encouraging them, so they can have the audience laugh at their SoBadItsGood performance.
*** Some have attended auditions and reported seeing good singer after good singer get cut while a few good ones and ''several'' moderately bad to hideous ones made it through. Not only that, but contestants have to make it through quite a few rounds before actually getting to the audition you see on TV, which means that these horrible singers are passing through round after round while good singers who just aren't entertaining enough get cut. They probably end up thinking they've got talent ''because'' they're getting through each round.
** Before people can get to the main auditions, they must go through local auditions first. Local auditioners are explicitly instructed to only let through the ''best'' and the ''worst'' contestants. Average singers would be boring, while horrible contestants are amusing.
* ''Series/TheBachelor'' is especially bad about this, because more than any of the others, this show is exactly the same every time. Yet somehow the late dumpees always end up shocked — ''shocked!'' — that the guy who told them he might be falling for them, and with whom they really thought they had a "connection", and who slept with them in the Fantasy Suite, picked one of the other 24 women he was seeing while also seeing them.
** The blindness has become even more JustForFun/{{egregious}} as the show has been on for years, and yet only one couple has seemed to find true love (Trista and Ryan from Season 1 of ''The Bachelorette''). Two other couples are together, but one had reports of domestic violence. The show might as well be called ''The Public Breakup Machine'', yet every contestant talks about the experience as if they're going to meet their one and only and live happily ever after.
*** The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} of all -- one season of ''The Bachelorette'' has a girl ''who was on it before'' and who ended up dumped soon after the show ended, so she went on it ''again'' to "find her true love". The ads for the season all but say this, saying that the engagement was broken off when "reality set in".
** And you ''really'' should not expect any Bachelor to be squeaky-clean. Ever.
** Generally speaking, when the partner takes you on a nice safe date, he/she actually cares about you. When the partner has you (ahem) swim with sharks or go bungee jumping, the TV station wants cheap ratings, and the partner isn't saying no. The risk does not make it worth it, and they usually get dumped after this. Also, the first to arrive always thinks they're the one the bachelor/bachelorette really loves, but in fact, they're the ones to get ditched (often for no good reason).
** Inevitably, during the hometown episode at least one contestant's family will express concerns about the Bachelor/ette seeing other people. It's understandable that they might want to check how likely their particular family member is to get the proposal over the others, but often these doubts are more about other people being involved ''at all''. What show did they think this was, again? (Of course, the producers probably encourage them to ask certain questions off-camera--reality TV often ''does'' have predefined "story" beats, no matter what it tries to tell you. And this is always a good one for putting the Bachelor/ette on the spot.)
* People who come on ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow'' because their partner has "something to tell them", and are told they have been seeing someone else. This always comes as a complete shock.
** It's fairly evident that there's little-to-no actual "reality" happening on ''Jerry Springer''. But then again, there's not a lot on all these other shows, either.
*** Parodied in ''Website/TheOnion'' in a sidebar article: "Jenny Jones Guest Has Secret, Man-Sized Adam's Apple".
** This went horribly, horribly wrong on ''Jenny Jones'' — a man was brought in to meet his secret admirer on the air, which was another man. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Scott_Amedure The guy murdered his admirer shortly afterwards]]. For what it's worth, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity her show's ratings spiked for quite some time after the news broke]].
** In ''Sinbad's Guide to Life'', Sinbad talks about how a lot of guys in talk shows tend to be GenreBlind:
--->'''Sinbad:''' ''Men, if you get invited to go on one of those shows, and they put you in the SoundProofBooth -- don't come out! Don't sit down in that chair next to your woman! Are you stupid enough to think they're gonna cheer you on? No, they want to dog you -- that's why you're on the show! That girl you thought nobody knew about is waiting for you behind the curtain. BOOM! Here she comes! That's why they put you in the soundproof booth, stupid!''
* On ''Series/{{Maury}}'':
** With a handful of exceptions, it's usually a much better idea for the alleged fathers to keep their mouths shut and not make waves every time they walk out on stage so that they don't come off looking like uneducated fools. Instead, most come out on stage swearing and insulting the audience, claiming that the child looks nothing like them (regardless of whether it is or isn't theirs) and usually end up chasing the heartbroken mother backstage to further antagonize them, regardless of the result.
** Mothers always [[TemptingFate tempt fate]] just before the paternity results are read, despite knowing that most of the time it backfires and they're forced to run backstage to save face from the jeering crowd.
** Even repeat mothers looking for the true father(s) of their children are often seen acting hopeful and "110 percent" sure the alleged father is the real one, despite the same allegations not working multiple times before.
** Guests who have severe phobias are freaked out and run through the set/backstage when the inevitable plate of items they are so intensely afraid of are brought out and/or shown on screen, yet they still act like they've only been brought on to discuss their fears and nothing else.
** Rebellious teens act unrepentant and play up their promiscuous and arrogant behaviour, despite it being a staple of the show that everybody (including, often, a drill instructor who takes them to boot camp and forces them to shape up) will call them out on it.
** In the "men who abuse women" episodes, you'd expect the guys to realize that at the end they'll probably see their wives and girlfriends "dead".
** When men get put in a room with a "sexy decoy", they always cheat. ''Maury'' always has cameras on in the rooms and the decoys are obviously to bait the men, yet they take the bait.
* Like ''Jerry Springer'', ''Series/TheJeremyKyleShow'' ran through a long list of guests who were utterly unprepared for the format or public nature of the program, which led to long-running jokes that the show was the "trashiest U.K. talk show".
** It's generally ''not'' a good idea to pick a fight with "Security Steve", the giant security guard who is standing just by the stage and won't hesitate to intervene, ''especially'' in cases where a man tries to attack his girlfriend on-stage. Turns into an in-show case of SchmuckBait when the guests try to attack Kyle himself, who reminds them of what the show is called and dares them to try it again and see how Steve will react.
** According to ITV (the TV station that aired the show) in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIHM5e5Yo8E an official inquiry]] called after the show was cancelled, they stated their official policy with guests who aren't happy with the material is to "leave the stage". The statement ignores that guests who tried this over the years quickly discovered that the backstage area was a nigh-incomprehensible maze, filled with confusing corridors and a monotonous office layout that quickly tripped up fleeing participants. Made even worse that Kyle would constantly call them out on their behavior ("Are you going to make me do a runner?") and would chase them backstage to antagonize them some more. Participants continually did this throughout the show's run, unaware that it almost never works.
** Like other reality shows, it's generally not a good idea to rush onto the stage ranting and screaming, as it's an easy way to have Kyle tell you to "sit down and shut up" and rally the audience against you. Made even worse when some of the participants' relatives are in the crowd, who will often pipe up to criticize one or more of the guests (and sometimes even get into fights with them).
** Without fail, every participant in a lie detector test comes on expecting that the results will absolve them, and when asked by Kyle how sure they are of the results, they will always claim they are innocent. This happens even after the first question inevitably reveals that they've kissed someone else, and persists even if Kyle asks them against answering the first question whether they want to change their opinion. As seasons wore on, some participants in the test pre-emptively revealed information (like confessing to kissing someone) in an attempt to throw off the test, and in some cases, participants used drugs or drank the night before so that the test results would be revealed as "inconclusive". The lie detector may have proved a factor in the cancellation of the show, as a guest committed suicide one week after participating in an episode where it was claimed by the lie detector that he'd cheated on his girlfriend.
* You'd think that the people being chosen to compete in ''Throwdown With Bobby Flay'' would have a clue that the Creator/FoodNetwork wouldn't just randomly give them a TV show on their network out of the blue, even if it ''is'' allegedly a special... but some of them do.
** Subverted in one episode where Food Network actually '''was''' doing a regular special, and a couple of brothers assumed that it was a Throwdown. So Food Network turned it into one. Only instead of Bobby doing the work of bringing in the ''expert'' judges, he forced the brothers to find two judges because "They declared a Throwdown."
** During an ice cream Throwdown, Flay said "I'm Bobby Flay, and I challenge you to a Throwdown!" and the contestant replied "You're ''who?!"''
** Part of this comes from a misconception on the part of some viewers. If you pay closer attention to the lead-in, the person is told they're being part of an ''[[JediTruth episode]]'' of a Food Network show, not that they're getting their own series. Food Network does have a lot of shows that feature such chefs (''Series/DinersDriveInsAndDives'' being a good example), so being told you're going to be part of a special/episode of a new series is hardly unbelievable.
* Referenced right near the beginning of the reality TV pastiche ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', where Heather remarks to Lindsay "Haven't you ever seen shows like this?" in "Not-So-Happy Campers, Part 2". Of course, if [[AlphaBitch Heather]] had paid a little more attention to such shows herself, she would've realized being a manipulative bitch wouldn't win her the grand prize...and it doesn't.
** [[ManipulativeBastard Alejandro]] follows a similar game plan with a similar fault. In his defense, it would take a good deal of MediumAwareness to realize that the fans of the show vote for the winner. However, his current strategy of [[Series/{{Survivor}} Russell Hantz-like scheming]] and elimination of a bunch of well-liked contestants (male and female) due to his charms means that nearly any other character would likely go up against him and win — even [[TheScrappy Sierra]].
** Heather does wise up to the social aspect of the show by the end of the third season. [[spoiler:When ''World Tour'' comes down to her, Alejandro, and Cody, she realizes that as the popular one Cody would have the advantage, while Alejandro is the only one potentially less popular than herself. She distracts Cody while he and Alejandro duel for 2nd place so that Alejandro would win by eliminating Cody, making him even less popular. But she has forgotten the main rule of ''Total Drama'' — [[JerkAss Chris]] is in control, and he decides that the winner will be chosen by a challenge.]]
* The British show ''How To Look Good Naked'' invariably puts up large photographs of their current subject in their underwear in a public area. Yet the subject is always shocked and embarrassed by this.
** The first season of the American version had a segment in which the subject was asked which of two photographs showed a woman with a better body, with the big reveal being that they were the same woman. This was dropped for Season 2, as anyone who'd seen the show would say "Well, they're the same woman."
* At least partly justified on ''Series/{{Intervention}}'' — the "interviewees" for the "documentary" are usually so stoned that they don't see what's coming, or to remember seeing previous episodes on television. (And that's if the person isn't already homeless or hasn't already sold the TV for drug money.)
* There is ''always'' at least one ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'' contestant on every cycle who claims that "ImNotHereToMakeFriends" and generally acts in a hostile and self-absorbed manner towards the others. All of this despite the fact that ''none'' of the past contestants have had their progress hurt by making friends in the house, the "bitch" of the group never seems to win, and the winner of each cycle always seems to have made at least one close friend, usually having had amiable relationships with most of the contestants.
** Let's not forget the girls who go in knowing that they will eventually get makeovers and there is a possibility of their hair getting cut short. Cue some girls being shocked, throwing tantrums, and one even quitting. (This is possibly due to arrogance. Some girls believe they already have what it takes to be a model and that they have the right look before entering the competition. And in the past Tyra has left some girls with minimal makeovers like a trim or a slightly lighter or darker dye job. And she has given other girls extensions.)
* Anderson Cooper actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this in ''Series/TheMole'' ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlltgR5fEjs&feature=PlayList&p=6A29F101255613A3&index=27 Season 2, Episode 6]]), explaining to a few players who didn't quite understand that they are never being told the truth:
-->'''Anderson Cooper''': Don't you guys know how this game works? If you say you don't like to cook, you know you're going to end up cooking. You say you like to cook, you don't get to cook.
** Repeated in Season 5, when players were asked to break up into "a smart team", and "a dumb team". The big reveal was that the dumb players were dumb ''for picking the dumb team'' because it required them to do a harder task. This was actually fairly late into the season. Anderson's comment actually doesn't hold true all of the time, especially in season one. In a lot of games, the contestants were allowed to choose their roles (albeit in vague terms before knowing the parameters of the challenge).
-->'''Jon Kelley''': You should ''know this'' by now!
** That might be justified because The Mole pulled an inversion of this trick in Season One. In that case, the "Stupid Team" got to go with Anderson Cooper directly to the hotel because they were too "stupid" to find the hotel. The other two teams (Resourceful and Smart People) had the harder task of following the clues to find the hotel.
* Some have stopped believing in ''Date My Mom'' as Reality TV. ''Every single time'' the daughter/son says to her/his mother what ''not'' to tell the date, the mother ends up saying it anyway '''without even being pressed on it'''! This might be a case of "[[IgnoreTheDisability don't think about the white elephant]]".
* This is pretty much what killed ''Series/JoeMillionaire''. There are only so many times (turns out it's just two, and even then they had to go to Europe the second time) that you have a guy pretending to be a millionaire and the girls believing it.
* This probably also would have killed the reality DeconstructiveParody show ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow'', but they stopped at two seasons (each with a completely different reality show formula being deconstructed). Even so, one of the stars of Season 2 figured out the hoax and had to be replaced.
* Jamie of ''Series/TopChef: New York'' averted this during her season's Restaurant Wars. Knowing that whomever's made executive chef for that challenge has basically a 50/50 shot of being eliminated, she intentionally lost the challenge that would decide who got to be executive chef of each team.
** Yes, but the show plays the Trope straight with the season finale. Every year there's a twist. Every year, the final chefs are surprised by it. You'd think they never watched the show before.
*** Which is finally averted in Season 6 as Brian, Michael, and Kevin all expected to have to make an extra dish long before it was announced they would have to do so.
*** In general, the "cheftestants" are getting increasingly GenreSavvy. (Everyone in Season 6 seemed to assume that they'd be forced to make dessert in at least one challenge too, which is something many previous contestants had been unprepared for.) It's probably hard to find people who are simultaneously nationally-ranked chefs ''and'' TooDumbToLive...
* You'd really think that every political figure would make it their business to know what ''Series/TheDailyShow'' correspondents and Creator/StephenColbert look like. Ali G pulled it off for years, but he never had the same size audience.
** If not the political figures, at least someone on their staff or in their immediate family...
** ''The Daily Show'' is so big, most people they interview just run with it.
*** In a January 2010 "Written By" interview, a ''Daily Show'' writer said that many interview subjects know what they're in for and figure as long as they get a few licks for their cause in, [[ColbertBump they're coming out ahead thanks to publicity]]. And with ''Daily Show'' and ''Colbert'' wielding legitimate clout, they almost certainly are.
** Most, if not all, attendees are expecting to be mocked, and it's not a particularly unusual setup — Presidents have been sitting in for Correspondents' Association Dinners for over 30 years now and even adding jokes themselves. You'd think they'd have better material for ''The Daily Show'', given the speechwriters ''otherwise''...
** According to Rob Corddry in an NPR interview, guests are told what to expect and frequently try to play along with the correspondents and be funny, only to be told off-camera, "You're very funny, but this is all going to be edited out. Act like this is a real interview."
* On ''Series/TheColony'', a show about a 10-week experiment where several people are placed in a simulated AfterTheEnd environment, the volunteers are often portrayed as taking the setting completely seriously. Many of these scenes are obviously coached or outright scripted (especially obvious in the last episode), but some may not be, and the experts that occasionally comment on the show bring up cases such as the StanfordPrisonExperiment where volunteers begin treating the experiment as real. FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize the show is supposed to be a simulation, and actually acting like it's just a reality show would be [[{{Metagame}} Metagaming]], and no fun for anyone.

* While most contestants on ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' have watched the various versions of the show, there are still contestants who show a fundamental lack of knowledge for a franchise that's two decades old.
** There are three things that show up every season and have since the beginning: DrivingStick, a swimming task, and a thrill task. There are still teams who come on the show without being able to do the first two well and unprepared for the third :
*** In season 14, sisters Kisha and Jen got put behind because the detour in a non-elimination leg involved two swimming tasks and neither knew how to swim. They couldn't make up the time the next leg and got eliminated. Notably when they came back for the 18th season (which they won), they knew how to swim and did several water tasks just fine.
*** Mika in Season 15, Leg 6 is a prime example of two of these —thrill task and swimming. She stopped dead in her tracks upon facing a waterslide because she was afraid of both water and heights. She refused to do it ''even after the last place team arrived and threatened to pass them'', eventually quitting the task to come in last place.
*** Stick shift was a problem in season 17, when the contestants had to drive in the UK, at least one person said "Uh oh, Stick shift!" Turns out the [[http://www.cbs.com/cbs_casting/amazing_race/Application_Form.pdf Season 17 contestant application form]] actually asked contestants "Can you drive a car with: (a) manual transmission; (b) automatic transmission (check all that apply)" and "What is your swimming ability? / Excellent / Medium / Poor / I can't swim." This means the producers are '''intentionally''' invoking this.
*** A team got put out in fourth place by a matter of minutes in season 27 (!) because one of the partners wasn't a good enough swimmer and spent several hours trying to do the obligatory swimming task.
** Don’t expect your allies to stick with you past the 2/3 mark or so, especially if you’re a stronger team. In season 10,[[note]] Which is considered to be the point where there had been enough seasons to be able to study the game[[/note]] physically fit brothers with Master’s degrees, Erwin & Godwin, were in an alliance with two other teams (couple David & Mary and friends Lyn & Karlyn) who weren’t as fit or smart. Once they got to the top five, David & Mary had been eliminated, leaving just two of the teams. Lyn & Karlyn, who made up for not being a physical threat by understanding the game very well, were willing to throw the boys under the bus and had fully expected them to be willing to do the same thing but they weren’t. The guys finished the task well ahead of them but [[WhatAnIdiot waited around on them to finish]] despite the fact they were fighting for last place. The guys made a wrong turn into the area of the finish line and Lyn & Karlyn passed them up and they got eliminated.
** Not to mention the contestants who take taxis when they're supposed to walk, leave something they're supposed to bring with them behind, or basically forget in any way the most basic rule of the Race — "[[ReadTheFreakingManual Read the entire clue, do exactly what it says.]]" Season 17 alone saw ''five'' 30-minute time penalties for taking a cab or having one guide them when they weren't allowed to.
** Taking a risk on a connecting flight with less than an hour layover or where you have to make multiple connections for a minimal lead is way too big of a gamble. As late as season 21, the top team made the former mistake and got over 12 hours behind everyone else because they ended up missing their connection which would have given them only an hour lead on the other flight. They got so far behind in leg 7 that they missed equalizers and it took them three legs to catch up with the pack and got eliminated. In season 23, Chester and Ephriam made the latter mistake. Their booking agent made a mistake and they tried to rush her to fix it, she got so flustered that she suggested the two stop layover instead of the one layover. They weren't in last place and a later team did get on the one layover flight. They missed their second connection and got a MercyKill once they finally got to the destination.
** Vicki in Season 17 ''didn't even know how the Fast Forward works'', even though it's worked the same way since Season 1 [[note]](except when paired with an Intersection)[[/note]]. She wanted to go for it because she was "pretty sure everybody did the Fast Forward". Once a team claims the Fast Forward, it's off the table for everybody else. Secondly, when Nick & Vicki got to the Fast Forward and saw the "Fast Forward Taken" sign, Vicki wondered if they're supposed to wait around.
** For the love of God, don't pick a task that's dependent on the weather. In season 27, engaged couple Justin and Diana who were super fans of the race [[note]] they got on the show after his proposal based on the show went viral[[/note]] took a huge risk when they got to the fast forward (which most teams consider too big of a risk, even if it's not dependent on the weather) first to do a hang gliding task in the very first episode. They wasted precious time and money taking a taxi to the location, only to find out it was too windy to do the challenge and had to go back. The only reason they were spared from elimination was that another team had a complete meltdown.
** Sometimes teams are given the chance of either taking a taxi or the metro. 9 times out of 10, it’s smarter to take the taxi because it’s a straight shot. The only time it’d make sense to take the train is if you’re traveling at rush hour on a weekday. In season 21, the teams got to Istanbul on a Sunday morning with no traffic on the road so most teams went with the taxi. Jaymes & James and Rob & Kelley decided to take the train to the last stop on the line. The guys got to talking to a guy on the train who pointed out that since they were there on a weekend morning that they should just get off and take a taxi. They listened but Rob & Kelley decided to stay because they “weren’t followers”. Anyone who watches the show should know that splitting off from the only team who you definitively know where they are is suicide. Rob & Kelley got to their destination in last place and couldn’t make up the time and got eliminated. Front runners Matt & Redmond made this mistake in season 29 and got eliminated in Seoul on the penultimate leg.
** In season 29, Shamir didn’t come prepared to do a rappelling challenge (there’s always one) and had a complete meltdown because of how uncomfortable the harness was. The host, Phil, straight up told him on the mat at the end of the episode that all the other guys did it with minimal complaining because they knew it was coming and had learned beforehand how to sit and land properly to not make it hurt.
* People from the American ''Series/BigBrother'' don't seem to have watched the show that often and expect to somehow win. Justified in Season 2 — they didn't ''know'' what they would be facing, which is part of why Dr. Will was so revered and why Monica got so far. But that still doesn't excuse the rather ignorant mistakes, and it is in fact mind-boggling to see people make the ''same mistakes'' every '''single''' season.
** Perhaps the biggest is "Let's get rid of our own alliance before cleaning out the other side, especially when they're on the block!". This is perhaps one of the ''dumbest'' things you can do in Big Brother unless the situation is like the Final Four of ''Big Brother 6'' (the one member of her alliance remaining, Janelle, had won Head of Household and was exempt from nomination). Only ''once'' has the "Let's remove our own alliance before finishing off the other side" move worked, and ''that'' was because of the most GuideDangIt Final Four Head Of Household question ever (the one involving the guinea pigs being the third preexisting relationship; had Sharon gotten it right, she would've won). Yet every other time? Janelle had ''no'' shot at the Final Two short of winning the final Head Of Household because Will & Boogie weren't planning on taking her, especially since Boogie was going to pick Erika. Zach was ''right there'' on the block with a huge "Evict me, I'm a floater!" sign on his face, but because they evicted Amber, he flipped the game around on the little Julie Chens. Then, Jeff decided to blindside Russel before removing Kevin and Natalie who had a 50% chance of winning the next Head Of Household over Jordan and Michelle because he thought that Russel would be a bigger threat than Kevin and Natalie. Except that the ''same'' mistake was made at least three times before, and not ''once'' did it work without suspected ExecutiveMeddling.
** In general, people tend to make ballsy moves or do stuff to put a target on their back...and are surprised when they're nominated for eviction. Or they are surprised that people who ''don't'' try to make ballsy moves (Especially for the first couple weeks) wind up going further.
*** Pretty much all you have to do in order to survive week one is not be stupid. Nobody knows each other yet, and the Head of Household ''will'' look for any reason to nominate someone. The logical thing to do is lay low and keep quiet for just one week. And yet year after year, you have people who decide week 1, when nobody has any set-in-stone loyalties, is the perfect time to try and take control of the house and draw tons of attention to yourself. Every single year this person goes home, and yet ''people keep trying it''.
** Anybody who volunteers to go on the block is guilty of this. It doesn't matter if you have the votes. It doesn't matter if the HoH is your strongest ally in the house. It doesn't matter if it's part of a brilliant plan to get the biggest threat out of the house. Putting yourself in a situation where you are one of two people eligible to be evicted is ''never'' a smart idea. If anything, when people find out you asked to be nominated they'll want to evict you ''more''. There's a reason people always say "Pawns go home."
** In more recent years, there have been several events that have become OnceASeason, and yet people still don't prepare for them. Starting with Season 15, every season has had a competition where the evicted houseguests are eligible to return to the house. Maybe you should try not to screw anyone over while evicting them until after this happens so that you don't have someone returning to the house hell-bent on getting their revenge against you. Subverted in season 17 in which Johnny Mac's immediate return appeared to not really cause any waves.
** Matt had a strange case of this despite also being a large fan of the show, he knew both not to throw any challenges ''and'' that his alliance was starting to turn on him. Yet he threw the HOH competition, didn't warn Britney about the Brigade to try and save himself, and instead threw his only ally under the bus. He should have realized this wasn't ending well for him. His wife seemed to lampshade this because she said that he didn't have that much common sense.
** In the thirteenth season, there was an ''immediate'' split between the six returning players and the eight new players. So far, nobody has thought to ''count the votes''. Porsche can't vote, Keith can't vote, and Daniele, Jeff, Jordan, and Rachel only makes four - meanwhile, the other ''six''? The only reason they got what they wanted was that Shelly and Kalia flipped and voted out Keith.
*** ''Brendon'' even continues this. While trying to get Daniele on his side, he tells her that if one of them (Brendon or Rachel) goes to the final two, they'd win. This is the exact opposite thinking you want to encourage people thinking because thinking you can beat them is typically why you get evicted in the first place.
*** ''Jeff'' is even guilty of this. He's complained that "nobody has been doing anything" and has been complaining about himself being targeted - when he ''already'' has a huge target on his back by being a returning player and a ratings machine (Smart people know [[ExecutiveMeddling producers have the power to slant the show and place safeguards up for ratings machines.]]) Nobody's been "doing anything" Because they're not trying to get themselves targeted, of course. Given how they keep talking about people were "Floaters" who "are bad at the game", one could only wonder if they would start accusing Dr. Will of having poor gameplay (with his zero competition wins in ''both'' his seasons) despite that he was taken further ''because'' he was thought of as being easily beaten and worthless.
*** Adam and Shelly apparently thought that aligning with unbreakable pairs who had known each other outside of the game and would ''never'' vote against each other unless they wanted to commit gameplay suicide would bring them to the finals over pairs that were easily swayed and not as iron-bound. Shelly at ''least'' realized that the pairs ''had'' to be split up but Adam apparently thought he'd be brought to the final two no matter what.
** Much like Survivor, evicted players have to ''like'' you or at least ''respect'' you. This has resulted in several cases of someone who played a "dirty game" winning simply because they came ''clean'' about it ''and'' took time to bond on a personal level with members of the jury.
* Whenever the advertising task comes around in the UK version of ''Series/TheApprentice'', one of the teams will pour all their effort into a TV advert that looks slick and polished [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain but says absolutely nothing about the product]]. The other team will put together an advert that looks sloppy and amateurish but says enough about the product to allow them to win the task.
** Subverted somewhat in Season 3, where the winning team's advert was [[StylisticSuck deliberately produced in a cheap-looking way]] to go with the theme of their product, although the opposing team fell into the usual trap and produced a slick but meaningless advert.
** Averted for once in Season 5, where the losing team's advert just outright sucked.
** Also, there's always at least someone who tries to bring back their enemies/rivals into the boardroom rather than the people who actually caused them to lose the task. This isn't being VotedOffTheIsland people, it's Sir Alan Sugar who chooses which contestant gets the boot. And so the people who actually messed up get off scot-free, the project manager guilty of bringing back people they don't like usually ends up fired and everyone finds out the hard way that this isn't like the ''X-Factor'' or ''Survivor''.
* Just about all the time in the British ''Series/BigBrother'', there'd be one or two people punished a season for discussing nominations, which is against the rules.
* ''Space Cadets'', where prospective contestants went through a long (televised) audition process in order to try to determine which were the most gullible, most suggestible, and had the lowest knowledge of the genre. (Strangely, though, the actors that were mixed in with the contestants occasionally forgot they were on a reality TV show as well...)

* ''Series/UndercoverBoss''. Similar to ''Joe Millionaire'', you'd assume that after Season 2 that people would pick up on the presence of cameras following around this new employee and begin to put on their absolute ''best'' behaviour. The producers have gotten out ahead of this one; the employees are now told that they're participating in a reality show to see if the "contestant" (actually the boss) has what it takes to make it in the organization. Presumably they'll think up a new cover story for Season 3.
** It's possible that they could have gotten some clever concealment. What they might have been able to do in the episode about an indoor resort/water park was hide the cameramen in a crowd and disguise them as customers filming their family vacation. (Ask anyone who works at a resort; people do this ''all the time''.) Heck, depending on the crowds they could ''easily'' do that for a lot of the ones where they follow somebody into a resort of some kind.
** Later episodes seem to have the cover story thought up on a case-by-case basis; for example, a waste treatment company had the CEO go undercover as an employee from a company closed for pollution codes violations being the subject of a documentary on him working as various "clean" industries.
* Inverted on a FOX reality/talent show where the contestants were "dared" to do something like recite a scene of a Shakespeare play with no errors or learn to play or sing a song in key by a certain timeframe. Naturally, they never ''fully'' expect what the dare was going to be since it was ''rarely'' the same and often wasn't a hobby they did.
* Gillian [=McKeith=] in ''Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere'', seems amazingly genre-blind, apparently unaware that the contestant who makes the most fuss about the Bushtucker Trials will inevitably be voted by the public to do every single one (and that anyone who goes on this show risks being covered in snakes, insects, etc. at some point). Not to mention the news that the next trial is called "school dinners" — as disgusting food challenges are one of the most famous parts of the show, the rest of her team make the obvious (and correct) guess that this challenge would be an eating one. [=McKeith=] suggested that maybe she'd be asked to ''plan'' a school dinner.
** In the 2013 series, contestant Matthew Wright actually listed a whole bunch of things he didn't like about the jungle's wildlife, and what scared him/grossed him out. You know, in front of a prime-time audience wanting to see someone humiliated. Guess who's now pretty much stuck doing the trials for the next few weeks?
* Fictional, but averted in ''Sims Big Brother''. Most of the characters actually seem to know ''very well'' what they're doing or how the game works. The closest example would have to be Keri, who didn't ''really'' know what she was getting into, but this actually became CharacterDevelopment as she became ''scarily'' competent later on.
** For that matter, a lot of Machinima based on reality TV shows aren't full of outright stupid players because they're all made up by fans of those shows.
* Many a {{Bridezilla}} has expressed surprise at how bad the show makes them look. One Bridezilla even said the producers asked her to insult her husband on national TV, then [[WhatAnIdiot couldn't figure out why strangers on the street hated her]].
* ''Series/LagunaBeach'' and its spinoffs are a very interesting case. The first two seasons of the series had the conversations between the cast become increasingly scripted (due in part to ManipulativeEditing and staged scenes), and the best moments were often found in the off-script and spontaneous improper behaviour - lead cast member Kristin Cavalieri was a major cause of this; she danced on a pole while drunk in Cabo, continually whined to her father to buy her a new car and had a relationship with just about every male character on the show. She was far from the only one - Jason Wahler cheated on several girlfriends, with the evidence of his guilt caught on camera. After this, you would figure that future cast members would be on their best behaviour for the cameras - however, Kendra and Cami in season 3, Chrissy's father and Allie in season 4 (and several others) make complete fools of themselves because they're apparently unaware that their actions are being broadcast on national television.
* Most of the brides in ''My Fair Wedding With David Tutera'' who complain about him changing up their original wedding ideas, when they know that's the entire point of the show.
* [[spoiler: Cameron]] left ''Series/TheGleeProject'' because he couldn't kiss a girl while acting because it felt like he was cheating on his girlfriend. It sounded like he had no idea what "acting" means.
* On ''Series/TimeCommanders'', it was a given that each week's contestants have no experience with neither video games nor with battle tactics. This was first ''partially'' subverted with a team of four "experienced" video game players - though none of them had any experience with anything remotely like ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar''. On another occasion, they brought in a team of four military officers - who were promptly given a much more challenging scenario to beat. [[IDontKnowMortalKombat Both these teams lost]].
* It looks like many people who go to ''Series/TheSteveWilkosShow'' have never seen an episode. Many don't realize that if you're not a "victim" then you'll probably get yelled at horribly and you won't be able to sit down on stage.
* ZigZagged in ''The Glass House'' - while the contestants were all well aware that they needed to be popular amongst the fans if they wanted to stay in the game, some contestants were more Genre-Blind than others, while others managed to piece together a strategy. The way the game works is that the house is broken into two teams each week, with the team captains being people who received the least popularity votes that week. If the team captain loses, they and one player from their team are sent to Limbo where the players vote to eliminate one of them. Some of the players like Gene figured out that since you pick your teams, you have to find a balance between trying to pick people who can win at the competition versus people you can beat in Limbo.
** Alex meanwhile asked the viewers whether or not he should be the best villain they've ever seen, and they answered with "Yes". He decided to be a complete JerkAss, wanting to be the person who the viewers LoveToHate. Unfortunately, he went too overboard with his act and we just hated him instead. Apollo went into the game without a strategy and made little effort to garner the viewers' attention. By week two, he wound up with the least votes next to Ashley and was a team captain.
** Amusingly enough, the ''viewers'' became more Genre-Savvy. The first ''Series/BigBrother'' had all the "interesting" houseguests who'd make drama voted out first, while the viewers complained the people left were boring. In The Glass House, Alex was voted out for being a drama whore by people who knew that if Alex remained in the house, the house would remain united against him, and that the lack of a common target would cause cracks to split in the house.
* ''Beadle's About''. People apparently don't look around or assume that some outrageous accident is possibly being filmed. Averted at one point when someone spotted that the parking lot she parked in had apparently become a showroom and every other car was replaced by identical cars. She simply looked at this and said, "Is this ''Beadle's About''?"
* S7 of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'' featured Penny Davidi who ''lives'' on this trope (as far as fans of Creator/FoodNetwork are concerned)...for all the [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong reasons]]. The prize for winning (or doing exceptionally well) on this show is having your own series on Food Network and eventually becoming a star. In order to win (or perhaps do very well), you would have to be able to cook very well under time pressure, have skills to work the audience and be able to hold and develop a sizable fanbase. The problem with Penny? She has the cooking chops, but she has the '''wrong''' TV chops. What does she do? She eagerly begins deploying ''Survivor''-style (or ''The Apprentice''-style) tactics to eliminate the other contestants, openly [[HannibalLecture brags about it to the other contestants]] and to the ConfessionCam in the most sickeningly SmugSnake way possible, and in general is the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the show's history and [[WhatAnIdiot thinks she can slide through anyway]] because "I have a plan to win." But then, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her plan to use blatantly cutthroat tactics only served to alienate the audience more and more with each passing week until the judges couldn't ignore her smugness anymore and eliminated her from the competition.]] ''Food Network Star'' may be a reality show, but it's not the same kind of reality show as ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', and not knowing the difference can backfire on you in a major way.
** Outside of ''Food Network Star'', she has continued to show Reality Show Genre Blindness. She went on to compete on ''Series/{{Chopped}}: All Stars''. She didn't need to show any of her characteristic smugness, but she did, [[WhatAnIdiot even though she keeps complaining on the ConfessionCam "This is not who I am."]] Unfortunately, for fans of Food Network, she ended up winning against GentleGiant Vic and going on to the finale. Once again, her arrogance cost her the ''Chopped: All Stars''. On that level of competition, you'd have to be ''better than an Series/IronChef'' and have to be practically flawless in order to win. She made 2-3 major errors on her dish, which got her eliminated 3rd place.
** And then she takes this UpToEleven on a meta-level. She starts going on a rant against Amanda Freitag over some saffron (which the other judges said was too much as well) and she promises to conquer Food Network for not giving her what she needs. Someone who places 7th on ''Food Network Star'', 3rd in ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' and is shown to be an overall {{Jerkass}} bitch is ''not'' someone who deserves to get a show on Food Network.
* Though it's not a game show, a huge proportion of the mothers who appear on ''Series/ToddlersAndTiaras'' seem to think that they're doing their daughters a favour by inviting camera crews into their homes to film the lead-up to the pageant. This usually ends in one of two ways: ManipulativeEditing being played in the daughter's favour, and presenting the mother as an over-bearing ControlFreak, or flipping the situation, and portraying the girls as horrific little [[SpoiledBrat Spoiled Brats]] and the mothers as their helpless slaves. You almost wish there was a follow-up episode that captured the reaction of mothers and daughters actually ''watching'' the show.
* There's no specific strategy or anything, but in ''WebVideo/SexHouse'' one of Derek's early traits is being aware that ''somebody'' out there was the one to set situations up, which leads to him wondering why they only cast one gay guy and protesting by drawing Mohammed on his head (meaning they have to censor him).
** Later, [[BrainlessBeauty Jay and Tara]] get [[HiddenDepths surprisingly]] philosophical and realise that the reason they're so compatible is that the producers ''knew'' they would be, and choose not to have sex as an expression of individuality.
* On ''Series/RestaurantImpossible'', nearly every owner gets defensive when Chef Robert tells them that their menu selection and/or quality is terrible. Even in the first season of this show, the restaurant is in deep trouble, and being open to any possible cause should be why you invited Chef Robert in.
** This is true of the similar ''Series/BarRescue'' as well.
* On ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'', contestants are often unprepared for events that happen at least once every season, such as the Snatch Game (a ''Series/MatchGame'' parody where they impersonate their favorite celebrities). By this point, any queen who gets on the show and says they "don't do impersonations" is likely to be torn down (with just cause) by her fellow contestants.
** A common trap queens fall into when it comes to Snatch Game is the fact that the impersonation doesn't have to be particularly accurate, it just has to be funny. Justified for Season 2, where the queens didn't realize what was being expected of them, and the bottom queens were those who prioritized accuracy over comedy, and even criticized Snatch Game winner Tatianna's impression of Britney Spears for being "too ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''".
** The bottom two contestants of every episode have to "lip-sync for their lives" in order to determine who is eliminated. Although the queens are told in advance what each episode's song will be, some queens ''still'' don't bother learning the words, indicating either genre blindness or naked hubris. Needless to say, the ones who clearly don't know the words are eliminated. The inverse sometimes happens, with queens who just stand there and mouth the words with no form of choreography, which also leads to almost guaranteed elimination.
** During a lip-sync, if something comes off, it should be to reveal something else under it. Otherwise, keep your hair, shoes, and clothes ''on'' - contestants who shuck off their heels or whose wigs fall off almost always lose the lip sync. And yet, we still see bald, barefoot, and half-naked queens, whether on purpose or by accident. Mind you, Ru has slightly more respect for queens who dance through an ''accidental'' WardrobeMalfunction than the ones who do it on purpose in a failed attempt at being dramatic.
--> Aja, on seeing Bebe removing her wig: I don't see no flowers, I don't see no glitter, I don't see no gag...You ain't no Sasha Velour, bitch, keep your wig on!
** Another example is the sewing challenges. There will always be at least one or more challenge per season that involves creating a look from scratch, plus the makeover challenge. This has been a ''Drag Race'' staple since day one. And yet, queens still complain because they don't know how to sew. Even worse are the queens who will explain that they can't sew and expect sympathy from the judges when they are called out on their awful outfit. As Ross Matthews said, "You don't make your first dress when you're on Drag Race. You make your first dress when you find out you're going to be on Drag Race."
** After 9 seasons of critiques, Ru and the judges have made it clear what they are looking for in a winner. And yet season after season girls will go on the runway and stand in front of the judges and make the exact same mistakes, including:
*** Wearing skimpy or revealing clothing and expecting the judges to be impressed by their naturally-feminine physique. Especially now that "Stop relying on that body" is essentially a Michelle Visage soundbite.
*** Wearing what is essentially the exact same outfit week after week without changing up their style at all. Every season a queen will be asked to show the judges versatility (though Season 6 winner Bianca was infamously able to get away with wearing a boatneck gown every week, possibly because of the judges' preference for floor-length dresses and the fact that each one was executed flawlessly plus she always performed well in the challenges).
*** Playing up a "character" while in drag or trying to distance their drag persona from their real selves. The judges have made it clear that they want to see vulnerability from the queens and get to know who they actually are as a person.
*** Wearing a basic outfit. If you go out there wearing boots and a swimsuit with a belt around the waist, a jumpsuit with a corset, or God forbid, something you '''''[[FelonyMisdemeanor bought off the rack]]''''' without altering in any way, Ru and Michelle ''will'' call you out on it.
** In short, the four pillars of ''Drag Race'' are designing, comedy, singing, and dancing. A queen must have solid skill in at least three out of four if she wants to get far in the competition. Yet you still get a queen who'll whine about a challenge not being her style even though it's clear by this point what [=RuPaul=] is looking for. Stated point-blank by season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio in the commentary for Season 7's premiere episode that if they cannot do any of the four ''in some way'', they have zero business being there in the first place.
** In over half the seasons, Rupaul brings back either a queen who was eliminated earlier in the season, a queen from an earlier season, or in some cases, both. In fact, at this point, it's no longer even a surprise to bring back ''everyone'' who's been eliminated that season and make them compete for the chance to return! Yet as late as All-Stars 4, some queens still express surprise and displeasure at this "twist" (despite the fact that no queen has ever won a season on which she left and returned).
** A rather specific example happens with Season 11's Silky Nutmeg Ganache, who made it clear in the season premier that she was gunning for a SpinOff, and she would showboat for attention and shout her catchphrase ("ATTITUDE CHECK!"[[note]]The expected response is "FUCK YOU, FAT BITCH!", but after the third time (that we saw), Silky was just met with annoyed silence[[/note]]) every five minutes. This has only succeeded in making her overbearing and obnoxious, to the other queens ''and'' viewers. What makes this genre blindness is that this exact scenario happened in Season 6 with Laganja Estranga, who also tried to invoke herself as a FountainOfMemes by spouting would-be catchphrases and acting in a loud bombastic manner, which simply made her come off as fake and annoying.
* Defied in ''WebVideo/StripSearch'',[[note]]About ''comic'' strips. GetYourMindOutOfTheGutter.[[/note]] where the contestants focused on winning by ''being the best artist'' rather than any reality-show politicking. The only one who tried to use an ounce of strategy was Amy, and even she gave it up due to stress after an incident where the judges declared "ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem" and created a ShockingElimination.[[note]]They sent ''two'' contestants home and reinstated a previously-eliminated contestant in their place, on the grounds that they considered her a much better artist than the two that had been up for elimination.[[/note]] Tavis even pointed out to Amy as she was struggling to cope with this development that the show's real benefit to the artists is making professional contacts with each other and the crew and gaming the system to win the prize could get in the way of that.
** Though played straight in another instance. An early challenge involved a tour of Seattle, and afterward the artists were given a quiz about the things they saw on the tour. Most of the artists weren't expecting it but commented to the ConfessionCam that they really should have seen it coming.
* ''Series/TheUltimateFighter'' has had numerous fighters show up in poor conditioning or unable to "make weight" (weigh in at the proper weight for their weight class). A lot of fighters also got in trouble for bad behavior. TUF is a LongRunner and many contestants from the show became UFC superstars, contenders, and even champions, so every fighter worth his or her shorts should know what will be required of them. Earlier seasons had their fair share of bad behavior, failures to make weight, or athletes in poor shape, but even as late as Season 18, two fighters failed to make weight and were summarily bounced from the competition.
* Each episode of ''Series/PropertyBrothers'' begins with the hosts showing the couple a house that is hundreds of thousands of dollars above their price range. The couple always falls in love with the house and is shocked that it's so unaffordable. The Scotts then leverage that shock into acceptance of their plan to renovate a much cheaper house instead.
* In ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'', the water tank challenge is included in every single season. Only three people (not counting Andrew) have ever thought to bring a change of clothes to the set: Eric in Season 2, and Michael and Yolanda in ''Ever.'' And every person in ''Ever'' was a ''returning participant!''
* In ''{{Series/Jachtseizoen}}'', nearly every contestant who has tried to take the train was caught immediately afterwards. Taking the train is a death sentence because StukTV can just look up the routes and timetables online, drive ahead, and catch you at the next station, and there is no way to escape while on a train. Even if this weren't immediately obvious, you would think that contestants would watch the previous seasons and realize that taking the train almost never works.
* The number of oblivious celebrities who go on ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' thinking it’s a real talk show is downright staggering, almost disturbing at times. Generally speaking, the smarter/more self-aware guests usually either figure out what’s up and play along (like Music/TylerTheCreator and [[Series/TheTomGreenShow Tom Green]] did) or openly call Eric out on-camera (like Creator/EricBalfour and Creator/LanceReddick). Everybody else is either terrified (or infuriated) into fleeing the stage or, even worse, will try to ignore the ElephantInTheRoom and keep the interview going “normally”, which usually just makes Eric and Hannibal act even crazier. The example is muddled a bit by the fact that the show goes out of its way to confuse, annoy, shock, or terrify guests, so even if they figure out what’s going on they’re often unprepared for just how nuts things get. That being said, if there’s one rule this show abides by, it's that something weird ''will'' happen, it’s just a question of what. If you don’t realize that, you’re playing right into their hands.

* Spectacularly averted by Michael Larson, who managed to memorize the "random" game board patterns on ''Series/PressYourLuck'', won $110,237 ($255,540 in 2016 money) and made that particular game last so long that it had to be split into two episodes. This was enough of an OldShame that CBS [[MissingEpisode didn't let those episodes be re-aired for 19 years]], and they only saw the light of day again as part of a documentary about the scandal.
* Anybody who watches ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' on a regular basis would know that in "reorder the digits" games like Safe Crackers or Ten Chances, if there's a lone "0" digit in a price, it's almost always the last digit. After all, manufacturers tend to price their products at round numbers ([[AndNinetyNineCents or something in ending in 99 cents]], which ''Price'' rounds to the nearest dollar). Yet far too many WhatAnIdiot moments occur when a contestant puts the 0 in the ''second-to-last'' slot (such as $607).

* ''Series/TheCrystalMaze'', good god the Crystal Maze! It was a common thing for viewers to start yelling at their TV screens when stupid contestants couldn't spot the obvious solutions to puzzles or just started doing stuff not even related to the puzzle. Granted, it's harder when you're on a time limit, you have five other people trying to give you advice and a bald chap playing the harmonica but sometimes it really did get ridiculous. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U68PUwXUoQ this set of outtakes from the show.]] Note how even the production team starts insulting and laughing at them!
* ''Series/GuysGroceryGames'' has a RunningGag in which Guy Fieri will work '3", "2", "1", and "go" into his banter before a round and keep on talking, making them waste about half a minute. Surprisingly, almost ''nobody'' has learned to just go the second he says "go", or listen for him to say "3", "2", or "1" in differing contexts.
** Subverted in one episode with child chefs as contestants, in which the kids just went the second he said "go" - interrupting him and confusing him in the process.
* Justified in ''Series/CashCab''. During the first and some of the second seasons, the contestants didn't know what the heck was going on. However, during later seasons, several contestants actually cheered when they realised they were in the Cash Cab.
* ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' contestants generally make a lot of mistakes:
** Since you generally have between 20-30 minutes per round, making rice is almost ''always'' the kiss of death because it's nigh impossible to do this without a rice cooker - which ''Chopped'' does not have.
** Polenta is another very risky ingredient. However, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures if it's a box ingredient, it's often pre-prepared]].
** When you have a large ingredient such as a thick piece of meat or a cornish game hen, some contestants attempt to cook the whole thing - when they have only 30 minutes or less. Generally speaking, you have to cut the meat.
** Contestants often mislabel their dishes. They [[AntiFrustrationFeatures generally go easy on people who are not professionals]] such as children, celebrities, or non-chefs, but most contestants are culinary school graduates.
** The ice cream machine is another troublesome piece of equipment. Some contestants instantly think to use an ice cream component as part of their dessert round, but never realise that they should think of a backup in case their opponent gets there first since only one person can really make ice cream.
*** What's worse, some people actually don't know ''how'' to use the ice cream machine.

* On ''Series/WifeSwap'' and its derivatives, the families always seem to be shocked by how different the other family is from theirs (in fact, the producers tend to deliberately pick radically-different families). Sometimes they appear to be utterly flabbergasted by the notion that "rule change" will alter their household in ways they don't like, and at times a particularly controlling husband will even insist that nothing is going to change in his house. Didn't these people know what they were getting into when they auditioned for the show? They only could've figured it out from watching any episode. Of course, these people are chosen precisely because of their curiously insular views.
** Heck, some haven't even watched ''Wife Swap'' and '''still''' know what anyone signing up will be put through just from the regular postings on some fandom message boards. (The producers have tried several times to get someone from a specific fandom activity on their show. The first couple people they asked read the information packet and said "no freaking way".)

* This also happened with ''Series/HotelHell''. One would expect that, after the first season, they would at least ''try'' to get ready for Ramsay's arrival, but once again they are always embarrassed and shocked when it turns out that Ramsay notices dust everywhere.

*** Eliminating contestants for undercooking meat on a reality show about cooking, however, is understandable and justified. Ever get so sick from food poisoning that you puked interesting colors? More often than not, it was because the cook wasn't carefully watching the meat he was supposed to be dutifully cooking, so of course Ramsay is going to come down hard on contestants for undercooked meat. Potentially poisoning your customers is a much bigger problem than serving them food that simply tastes bad.

* People on ''Series/JudgeJudy'' apparently just seem to love this, not realizing they're on syndicated television for all to see. Judy herself will often [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this and mention that 10 million people are watching them embarrass themselves on TV.

* Most of the nuts who audition for ''Series/AmericanIdol'' fall right into this. Many of the others are actually GenreSavvy enough to know that the '''really''' awful auditions get on TV, so they deliberately up their awfulness.
** The producers actually deliberately let some bad people through, even encouraging them, so they can have the audience laugh at their SoBadItsGood performance.
*** Some have attended auditions and reported seeing good singer after good singer get cut while a few good ones and ''several'' moderately bad to hideous ones made it through. Not only that, but contestants have to make it through quite a few rounds before actually getting to the audition you see on TV, which means that these horrible singers are passing through round after round while good singers who just aren't entertaining enough get cut. They probably end up thinking they've got talent ''because'' they're getting through each round.
** Before people can get to the main auditions, they must go through local auditions first. Local auditioners are explicitly instructed to only let through the ''best'' and the ''worst'' contestants. Average singers would be boring, while horrible contestants are amusing.
* ''Series/TheBachelor'' is especially bad about this, because more than any of the others, this show is exactly the same every time. Yet somehow the late dumpees always end up shocked — ''shocked!'' — that the guy who told them he might be falling for them, and with whom they really thought they had a "connection", and who slept with them in the Fantasy Suite, picked one of the other 24 women he was seeing while also seeing them.
** The blindness has become even more JustForFun/{{egregious}} as the show has been on for years, and yet only one couple has seemed to find true love (Trista and Ryan from Season 1 of ''The Bachelorette''). Two other couples are together, but one had reports of domestic violence. The show might as well be called ''The Public Breakup Machine'', yet every contestant talks about the experience as if they're going to meet their one and only and live happily ever after.
*** The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} of all -- one season of ''The Bachelorette'' has a girl ''who was on it before'' and who ended up dumped soon after the show ended, so she went on it ''again'' to "find her true love". The ads for the season all but say this, saying that the engagement was broken off when "reality set in".
** And you ''really'' should not expect any Bachelor to be squeaky-clean. Ever.
** Generally speaking, when the partner takes you on a nice safe date, he/she actually cares about you. When the partner has you (ahem) swim with sharks or go bungee jumping, the TV station wants cheap ratings, and the partner isn't saying no. The risk does not make it worth it, and they usually get dumped after this. Also, the first to arrive always thinks they're the one the bachelor/bachelorette really loves, but in fact, they're the ones to get ditched (often for no good reason).
** Inevitably, during the hometown episode at least one contestant's family will express concerns about the Bachelor/ette seeing other people. It's understandable that they might want to check how likely their particular family member is to get the proposal over the others, but often these doubts are more about other people being involved ''at all''. What show did they think this was, again? (Of course, the producers probably encourage them to ask certain questions off-camera--reality TV often ''does'' have predefined "story" beats, no matter what it tries to tell you. And this is always a good one for putting the Bachelor/ette on the spot.)
* People who come on ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow'' because their partner has "something to tell them", and are told they have been seeing someone else. This always comes as a complete shock.
** It's fairly evident that there's little-to-no actual "reality" happening on ''Jerry Springer''. But then again, there's not a lot on all these other shows, either.
*** Parodied in ''Website/TheOnion'' in a sidebar article: "Jenny Jones Guest Has Secret, Man-Sized Adam's Apple".
** This went horribly, horribly wrong on ''Jenny Jones'' — a man was brought in to meet his secret admirer on the air, which was another man. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Scott_Amedure The guy murdered his admirer shortly afterwards]]. For what it's worth, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity her show's ratings spiked for quite some time after the news broke]].
** In ''Sinbad's Guide to Life'', Sinbad talks about how a lot of guys in talk shows tend to be GenreBlind:
--->'''Sinbad:''' ''Men, if you get invited to go on one of those shows, and they put you in the SoundProofBooth -- don't come out! Don't sit down in that chair next to your woman! Are you stupid enough to think they're gonna cheer you on? No, they want to dog you -- that's why you're on the show! That girl you thought nobody knew about is waiting for you behind the curtain. BOOM! Here she comes! That's why they put you in the soundproof booth, stupid!''
* On ''Series/{{Maury}}'':
** With a handful of exceptions, it's usually a much better idea for the alleged fathers to keep their mouths shut and not make waves every time they walk out on stage so that they don't come off looking like uneducated fools. Instead, most come out on stage swearing and insulting the audience, claiming that the child looks nothing like them (regardless of whether it is or isn't theirs) and usually end up chasing the heartbroken mother backstage to further antagonize them, regardless of the result.
** Mothers always [[TemptingFate tempt fate]] just before the paternity results are read, despite knowing that most of the time it backfires and they're forced to run backstage to save face from the jeering crowd.
** Even repeat mothers looking for the true father(s) of their children are often seen acting hopeful and "110 percent" sure the alleged father is the real one, despite the same allegations not working multiple times before.
** Guests who have severe phobias are freaked out and run through the set/backstage when the inevitable plate of items they are so intensely afraid of are brought out and/or shown on screen, yet they still act like they've only been brought on to discuss their fears and nothing else.
** Rebellious teens act unrepentant and play up their promiscuous and arrogant behaviour, despite it being a staple of the show that everybody (including, often, a drill instructor who takes them to boot camp and forces them to shape up) will call them out on it.
** In the "men who abuse women" episodes, you'd expect the guys to realize that at the end they'll probably see their wives and girlfriends "dead".
** When men get put in a room with a "sexy decoy", they always cheat. ''Maury'' always has cameras on in the rooms and the decoys are obviously to bait the men, yet they take the bait.
* Like ''Jerry Springer'', ''Series/TheJeremyKyleShow'' ran through a long list of guests who were utterly unprepared for the format or public nature of the program, which led to long-running jokes that the show was the "trashiest U.K. talk show".
** It's generally ''not'' a good idea to pick a fight with "Security Steve", the giant security guard who is standing just by the stage and won't hesitate to intervene, ''especially'' in cases where a man tries to attack his girlfriend on-stage. Turns into an in-show case of SchmuckBait when the guests try to attack Kyle himself, who reminds them of what the show is called and dares them to try it again and see how Steve will react.
** According to ITV (the TV station that aired the show) in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIHM5e5Yo8E an official inquiry]] called after the show was cancelled, they stated their official policy with guests who aren't happy with the material is to "leave the stage". The statement ignores that guests who tried this over the years quickly discovered that the backstage area was a nigh-incomprehensible maze, filled with confusing corridors and a monotonous office layout that quickly tripped up fleeing participants. Made even worse that Kyle would constantly call them out on their behavior ("Are you going to make me do a runner?") and would chase them backstage to antagonize them some more. Participants continually did this throughout the show's run, unaware that it almost never works.
** Like other reality shows, it's generally not a good idea to rush onto the stage ranting and screaming, as it's an easy way to have Kyle tell you to "sit down and shut up" and rally the audience against you. Made even worse when some of the participants' relatives are in the crowd, who will often pipe up to criticize one or more of the guests (and sometimes even get into fights with them).
** Without fail, every participant in a lie detector test comes on expecting that the results will absolve them, and when asked by Kyle how sure they are of the results, they will always claim they are innocent. This happens even after the first question inevitably reveals that they've kissed someone else, and persists even if Kyle asks them against answering the first question whether they want to change their opinion. As seasons wore on, some participants in the test pre-emptively revealed information (like confessing to kissing someone) in an attempt to throw off the test, and in some cases, participants used drugs or drank the night before so that the test results would be revealed as "inconclusive". The lie detector may have proved a factor in the cancellation of the show, as a guest committed suicide one week after participating in an episode where it was claimed by the lie detector that he'd cheated on his girlfriend.
* You'd think that the people being chosen to compete in ''Throwdown With Bobby Flay'' would have a clue that the Creator/FoodNetwork wouldn't just randomly give them a TV show on their network out of the blue, even if it ''is'' allegedly a special... but some of them do.
** Subverted in one episode where Food Network actually '''was''' doing a regular special, and a couple of brothers assumed that it was a Throwdown. So Food Network turned it into one. Only instead of Bobby doing the work of bringing in the ''expert'' judges, he forced the brothers to find two judges because "They declared a Throwdown."
** During an ice cream Throwdown, Flay said "I'm Bobby Flay, and I challenge you to a Throwdown!" and the contestant replied "You're ''who?!"''
** Part of this comes from a misconception on the part of some viewers. If you pay closer attention to the lead-in, the person is told they're being part of an ''[[JediTruth episode]]'' of a Food Network show, not that they're getting their own series. Food Network does have a lot of shows that feature such chefs (''Series/DinersDriveInsAndDives'' being a good example), so being told you're going to be part of a special/episode of a new series is hardly unbelievable.
* Referenced right near the beginning of the reality TV pastiche ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', where Heather remarks to Lindsay "Haven't you ever seen shows like this?" in "Not-So-Happy Campers, Part 2". Of course, if [[AlphaBitch Heather]] had paid a little more attention to such shows herself, she would've realized being a manipulative bitch wouldn't win her the grand prize...and it doesn't.
** [[ManipulativeBastard Alejandro]] follows a similar game plan with a similar fault. In his defense, it would take a good deal of MediumAwareness to realize that the fans of the show vote for the winner. However, his current strategy of [[Series/{{Survivor}} Russell Hantz-like scheming]] and elimination of a bunch of well-liked contestants (male and female) due to his charms means that nearly any other character would likely go up against him and win — even [[TheScrappy Sierra]].
** Heather does wise up to the social aspect of the show by the end of the third season. [[spoiler:When ''World Tour'' comes down to her, Alejandro, and Cody, she realizes that as the popular one Cody would have the advantage, while Alejandro is the only one potentially less popular than herself. She distracts Cody while he and Alejandro duel for 2nd place so that Alejandro would win by eliminating Cody, making him even less popular. But she has forgotten the main rule of ''Total Drama'' — [[JerkAss Chris]] is in control, and he decides that the winner will be chosen by a challenge.]]
* The British show ''How To Look Good Naked'' invariably puts up large photographs of their current subject in their underwear in a public area. Yet the subject is always shocked and embarrassed by this.
** The first season of the American version had a segment in which the subject was asked which of two photographs showed a woman with a better body, with the big reveal being that they were the same woman. This was dropped for Season 2, as anyone who'd seen the show would say "Well, they're the same woman."
* At least partly justified on ''Series/{{Intervention}}'' — the "interviewees" for the "documentary" are usually so stoned that they don't see what's coming, or to remember seeing previous episodes on television. (And that's if the person isn't already homeless or hasn't already sold the TV for drug money.)
* There is ''always'' at least one ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'' contestant on every cycle who claims that "ImNotHereToMakeFriends" and generally acts in a hostile and self-absorbed manner towards the others. All of this despite the fact that ''none'' of the past contestants have had their progress hurt by making friends in the house, the "bitch" of the group never seems to win, and the winner of each cycle always seems to have made at least one close friend, usually having had amiable relationships with most of the contestants.
** Let's not forget the girls who go in knowing that they will eventually get makeovers and there is a possibility of their hair getting cut short. Cue some girls being shocked, throwing tantrums, and one even quitting. (This is possibly due to arrogance. Some girls believe they already have what it takes to be a model and that they have the right look before entering the competition. And in the past Tyra has left some girls with minimal makeovers like a trim or a slightly lighter or darker dye job. And she has given other girls extensions.)
* Anderson Cooper actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this in ''Series/TheMole'' ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlltgR5fEjs&feature=PlayList&p=6A29F101255613A3&index=27 Season 2, Episode 6]]), explaining to a few players who didn't quite understand that they are never being told the truth:
-->'''Anderson Cooper''': Don't you guys know how this game works? If you say you don't like to cook, you know you're going to end up cooking. You say you like to cook, you don't get to cook.
** Repeated in Season 5, when players were asked to break up into "a smart team", and "a dumb team". The big reveal was that the dumb players were dumb ''for picking the dumb team'' because it required them to do a harder task. This was actually fairly late into the season. Anderson's comment actually doesn't hold true all of the time, especially in season one. In a lot of games, the contestants were allowed to choose their roles (albeit in vague terms before knowing the parameters of the challenge).
-->'''Jon Kelley''': You should ''know this'' by now!
** That might be justified because The Mole pulled an inversion of this trick in Season One. In that case, the "Stupid Team" got to go with Anderson Cooper directly to the hotel because they were too "stupid" to find the hotel. The other two teams (Resourceful and Smart People) had the harder task of following the clues to find the hotel.
* Some have stopped believing in ''Date My Mom'' as Reality TV. ''Every single time'' the daughter/son says to her/his mother what ''not'' to tell the date, the mother ends up saying it anyway '''without even being pressed on it'''! This might be a case of "[[IgnoreTheDisability don't think about the white elephant]]".
* This is pretty much what killed ''Series/JoeMillionaire''. There are only so many times (turns out it's just two, and even then they had to go to Europe the second time) that you have a guy pretending to be a millionaire and the girls believing it.
* This probably also would have killed the reality DeconstructiveParody show ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow'', but they stopped at two seasons (each with a completely different reality show formula being deconstructed). Even so, one of the stars of Season 2 figured out the hoax and had to be replaced.
* Jamie of ''Series/TopChef: New York'' averted this during her season's Restaurant Wars. Knowing that whomever's made executive chef for that challenge has basically a 50/50 shot of being eliminated, she intentionally lost the challenge that would decide who got to be executive chef of each team.
** Yes, but the show plays the Trope straight with the season finale. Every year there's a twist. Every year, the final chefs are surprised by it. You'd think they never watched the show before.
*** Which is finally averted in Season 6 as Brian, Michael, and Kevin all expected to have to make an extra dish long before it was announced they would have to do so.
*** In general, the "cheftestants" are getting increasingly GenreSavvy. (Everyone in Season 6 seemed to assume that they'd be forced to make dessert in at least one challenge too, which is something many previous contestants had been unprepared for.) It's probably hard to find people who are simultaneously nationally-ranked chefs ''and'' TooDumbToLive...
* You'd really think that every political figure would make it their business to know what ''Series/TheDailyShow'' correspondents and Creator/StephenColbert look like. Ali G pulled it off for years, but he never had the same size audience.
** If not the political figures, at least someone on their staff or in their immediate family...
** ''The Daily Show'' is so big, most people they interview just run with it.
*** In a January 2010 "Written By" interview, a ''Daily Show'' writer said that many interview subjects know what they're in for and figure as long as they get a few licks for their cause in, [[ColbertBump they're coming out ahead thanks to publicity]]. And with ''Daily Show'' and ''Colbert'' wielding legitimate clout, they almost certainly are.
** Most, if not all, attendees are expecting to be mocked, and it's not a particularly unusual setup — Presidents have been sitting in for Correspondents' Association Dinners for over 30 years now and even adding jokes themselves. You'd think they'd have better material for ''The Daily Show'', given the speechwriters ''otherwise''...
** According to Rob Corddry in an NPR interview, guests are told what to expect and frequently try to play along with the correspondents and be funny, only to be told off-camera, "You're very funny, but this is all going to be edited out. Act like this is a real interview."
* On ''Series/TheColony'', a show about a 10-week experiment where several people are placed in a simulated AfterTheEnd environment, the volunteers are often portrayed as taking the setting completely seriously. Many of these scenes are obviously coached or outright scripted (especially obvious in the last episode), but some may not be, and the experts that occasionally comment on the show bring up cases such as the StanfordPrisonExperiment where volunteers begin treating the experiment as real. FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize the show is supposed to be a simulation, and actually acting like it's just a reality show would be [[{{Metagame}} Metagaming]], and no fun for anyone.

* While most contestants on ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' have watched the various versions of the show, there are still contestants who show a fundamental lack of knowledge for a franchise that's two decades old.
** There are three things that show up every season and have since the beginning: DrivingStick, a swimming task, and a thrill task. There are still teams who come on the show without being able to do the first two well and unprepared for the third :
*** In season 14, sisters Kisha and Jen got put behind because the detour in a non-elimination leg involved two swimming tasks and neither knew how to swim. They couldn't make up the time the next leg and got eliminated. Notably when they came back for the 18th season (which they won), they knew how to swim and did several water tasks just fine.
*** Mika in Season 15, Leg 6 is a prime example of two of these —thrill task and swimming. She stopped dead in her tracks upon facing a waterslide because she was afraid of both water and heights. She refused to do it ''even after the last place team arrived and threatened to pass them'', eventually quitting the task to come in last place.
*** Stick shift was a problem in season 17, when the contestants had to drive in the UK, at least one person said "Uh oh, Stick shift!" Turns out the [[http://www.cbs.com/cbs_casting/amazing_race/Application_Form.pdf Season 17 contestant application form]] actually asked contestants "Can you drive a car with: (a) manual transmission; (b) automatic transmission (check all that apply)" and "What is your swimming ability? / Excellent / Medium / Poor / I can't swim." This means the producers are '''intentionally''' invoking this.
*** A team got put out in fourth place by a matter of minutes in season 27 (!) because one of the partners wasn't a good enough swimmer and spent several hours trying to do the obligatory swimming task.
** Don’t expect your allies to stick with you past the 2/3 mark or so, especially if you’re a stronger team. In season 10,[[note]] Which is considered to be the point where there had been enough seasons to be able to study the game[[/note]] physically fit brothers with Master’s degrees, Erwin & Godwin, were in an alliance with two other teams (couple David & Mary and friends Lyn & Karlyn) who weren’t as fit or smart. Once they got to the top five, David & Mary had been eliminated, leaving just two of the teams. Lyn & Karlyn, who made up for not being a physical threat by understanding the game very well, were willing to throw the boys under the bus and had fully expected them to be willing to do the same thing but they weren’t. The guys finished the task well ahead of them but [[WhatAnIdiot waited around on them to finish]] despite the fact they were fighting for last place. The guys made a wrong turn into the area of the finish line and Lyn & Karlyn passed them up and they got eliminated.
** Not to mention the contestants who take taxis when they're supposed to walk, leave something they're supposed to bring with them behind, or basically forget in any way the most basic rule of the Race — "[[ReadTheFreakingManual Read the entire clue, do exactly what it says.]]" Season 17 alone saw ''five'' 30-minute time penalties for taking a cab or having one guide them when they weren't allowed to.
** Taking a risk on a connecting flight with less than an hour layover or where you have to make multiple connections for a minimal lead is way too big of a gamble. As late as season 21, the top team made the former mistake and got over 12 hours behind everyone else because they ended up missing their connection which would have given them only an hour lead on the other flight. They got so far behind in leg 7 that they missed equalizers and it took them three legs to catch up with the pack and got eliminated. In season 23, Chester and Ephriam made the latter mistake. Their booking agent made a mistake and they tried to rush her to fix it, she got so flustered that she suggested the two stop layover instead of the one layover. They weren't in last place and a later team did get on the one layover flight. They missed their second connection and got a MercyKill once they finally got to the destination.
** Vicki in Season 17 ''didn't even know how the Fast Forward works'', even though it's worked the same way since Season 1 [[note]](except when paired with an Intersection)[[/note]]. She wanted to go for it because she was "pretty sure everybody did the Fast Forward". Once a team claims the Fast Forward, it's off the table for everybody else. Secondly, when Nick & Vicki got to the Fast Forward and saw the "Fast Forward Taken" sign, Vicki wondered if they're supposed to wait around.
** For the love of God, don't pick a task that's dependent on the weather. In season 27, engaged couple Justin and Diana who were super fans of the race [[note]] they got on the show after his proposal based on the show went viral[[/note]] took a huge risk when they got to the fast forward (which most teams consider too big of a risk, even if it's not dependent on the weather) first to do a hang gliding task in the very first episode. They wasted precious time and money taking a taxi to the location, only to find out it was too windy to do the challenge and had to go back. The only reason they were spared from elimination was that another team had a complete meltdown.
** Sometimes teams are given the chance of either taking a taxi or the metro. 9 times out of 10, it’s smarter to take the taxi because it’s a straight shot. The only time it’d make sense to take the train is if you’re traveling at rush hour on a weekday. In season 21, the teams got to Istanbul on a Sunday morning with no traffic on the road so most teams went with the taxi. Jaymes & James and Rob & Kelley decided to take the train to the last stop on the line. The guys got to talking to a guy on the train who pointed out that since they were there on a weekend morning that they should just get off and take a taxi. They listened but Rob & Kelley decided to stay because they “weren’t followers”. Anyone who watches the show should know that splitting off from the only team who you definitively know where they are is suicide. Rob & Kelley got to their destination in last place and couldn’t make up the time and got eliminated. Front runners Matt & Redmond made this mistake in season 29 and got eliminated in Seoul on the penultimate leg.
** In season 29, Shamir didn’t come prepared to do a rappelling challenge (there’s always one) and had a complete meltdown because of how uncomfortable the harness was. The host, Phil, straight up told him on the mat at the end of the episode that all the other guys did it with minimal complaining because they knew it was coming and had learned beforehand how to sit and land properly to not make it hurt.
* People from the American ''Series/BigBrother'' don't seem to have watched the show that often and expect to somehow win. Justified in Season 2 — they didn't ''know'' what they would be facing, which is part of why Dr. Will was so revered and why Monica got so far. But that still doesn't excuse the rather ignorant mistakes, and it is in fact mind-boggling to see people make the ''same mistakes'' every '''single''' season.
** Perhaps the biggest is "Let's get rid of our own alliance before cleaning out the other side, especially when they're on the block!". This is perhaps one of the ''dumbest'' things you can do in Big Brother unless the situation is like the Final Four of ''Big Brother 6'' (the one member of her alliance remaining, Janelle, had won Head of Household and was exempt from nomination). Only ''once'' has the "Let's remove our own alliance before finishing off the other side" move worked, and ''that'' was because of the most GuideDangIt Final Four Head Of Household question ever (the one involving the guinea pigs being the third preexisting relationship; had Sharon gotten it right, she would've won). Yet every other time? Janelle had ''no'' shot at the Final Two short of winning the final Head Of Household because Will & Boogie weren't planning on taking her, especially since Boogie was going to pick Erika. Zach was ''right there'' on the block with a huge "Evict me, I'm a floater!" sign on his face, but because they evicted Amber, he flipped the game around on the little Julie Chens. Then, Jeff decided to blindside Russel before removing Kevin and Natalie who had a 50% chance of winning the next Head Of Household over Jordan and Michelle because he thought that Russel would be a bigger threat than Kevin and Natalie. Except that the ''same'' mistake was made at least three times before, and not ''once'' did it work without suspected ExecutiveMeddling.
** In general, people tend to make ballsy moves or do stuff to put a target on their back...and are surprised when they're nominated for eviction. Or they are surprised that people who ''don't'' try to make ballsy moves (Especially for the first couple weeks) wind up going further.
*** Pretty much all you have to do in order to survive week one is not be stupid. Nobody knows each other yet, and the Head of Household ''will'' look for any reason to nominate someone. The logical thing to do is lay low and keep quiet for just one week. And yet year after year, you have people who decide week 1, when nobody has any set-in-stone loyalties, is the perfect time to try and take control of the house and draw tons of attention to yourself. Every single year this person goes home, and yet ''people keep trying it''.
** Anybody who volunteers to go on the block is guilty of this. It doesn't matter if you have the votes. It doesn't matter if the HoH is your strongest ally in the house. It doesn't matter if it's part of a brilliant plan to get the biggest threat out of the house. Putting yourself in a situation where you are one of two people eligible to be evicted is ''never'' a smart idea. If anything, when people find out you asked to be nominated they'll want to evict you ''more''. There's a reason people always say "Pawns go home."
** In more recent years, there have been several events that have become OnceASeason, and yet people still don't prepare for them. Starting with Season 15, every season has had a competition where the evicted houseguests are eligible to return to the house. Maybe you should try not to screw anyone over while evicting them until after this happens so that you don't have someone returning to the house hell-bent on getting their revenge against you. Subverted in season 17 in which Johnny Mac's immediate return appeared to not really cause any waves.
** Matt had a strange case of this despite also being a large fan of the show, he knew both not to throw any challenges ''and'' that his alliance was starting to turn on him. Yet he threw the HOH competition, didn't warn Britney about the Brigade to try and save himself, and instead threw his only ally under the bus. He should have realized this wasn't ending well for him. His wife seemed to lampshade this because she said that he didn't have that much common sense.
** In the thirteenth season, there was an ''immediate'' split between the six returning players and the eight new players. So far, nobody has thought to ''count the votes''. Porsche can't vote, Keith can't vote, and Daniele, Jeff, Jordan, and Rachel only makes four - meanwhile, the other ''six''? The only reason they got what they wanted was that Shelly and Kalia flipped and voted out Keith.
*** ''Brendon'' even continues this. While trying to get Daniele on his side, he tells her that if one of them (Brendon or Rachel) goes to the final two, they'd win. This is the exact opposite thinking you want to encourage people thinking because thinking you can beat them is typically why you get evicted in the first place.
*** ''Jeff'' is even guilty of this. He's complained that "nobody has been doing anything" and has been complaining about himself being targeted - when he ''already'' has a huge target on his back by being a returning player and a ratings machine (Smart people know [[ExecutiveMeddling producers have the power to slant the show and place safeguards up for ratings machines.]]) Nobody's been "doing anything" Because they're not trying to get themselves targeted, of course. Given how they keep talking about people were "Floaters" who "are bad at the game", one could only wonder if they would start accusing Dr. Will of having poor gameplay (with his zero competition wins in ''both'' his seasons) despite that he was taken further ''because'' he was thought of as being easily beaten and worthless.
*** Adam and Shelly apparently thought that aligning with unbreakable pairs who had known each other outside of the game and would ''never'' vote against each other unless they wanted to commit gameplay suicide would bring them to the finals over pairs that were easily swayed and not as iron-bound. Shelly at ''least'' realized that the pairs ''had'' to be split up but Adam apparently thought he'd be brought to the final two no matter what.
** Much like Survivor, evicted players have to ''like'' you or at least ''respect'' you. This has resulted in several cases of someone who played a "dirty game" winning simply because they came ''clean'' about it ''and'' took time to bond on a personal level with members of the jury.
* Whenever the advertising task comes around in the UK version of ''Series/TheApprentice'', one of the teams will pour all their effort into a TV advert that looks slick and polished [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain but says absolutely nothing about the product]]. The other team will put together an advert that looks sloppy and amateurish but says enough about the product to allow them to win the task.
** Subverted somewhat in Season 3, where the winning team's advert was [[StylisticSuck deliberately produced in a cheap-looking way]] to go with the theme of their product, although the opposing team fell into the usual trap and produced a slick but meaningless advert.
** Averted for once in Season 5, where the losing team's advert just outright sucked.
** Also, there's always at least someone who tries to bring back their enemies/rivals into the boardroom rather than the people who actually caused them to lose the task. This isn't being VotedOffTheIsland people, it's Sir Alan Sugar who chooses which contestant gets the boot. And so the people who actually messed up get off scot-free, the project manager guilty of bringing back people they don't like usually ends up fired and everyone finds out the hard way that this isn't like the ''X-Factor'' or ''Survivor''.
* Just about all the time in the British ''Series/BigBrother'', there'd be one or two people punished a season for discussing nominations, which is against the rules.
* ''Space Cadets'', where prospective contestants went through a long (televised) audition process in order to try to determine which were the most gullible, most suggestible, and had the lowest knowledge of the genre. (Strangely, though, the actors that were mixed in with the contestants occasionally forgot they were on a reality TV show as well...)

* ''Series/UndercoverBoss''. Similar to ''Joe Millionaire'', you'd assume that after Season 2 that people would pick up on the presence of cameras following around this new employee and begin to put on their absolute ''best'' behaviour. The producers have gotten out ahead of this one; the employees are now told that they're participating in a reality show to see if the "contestant" (actually the boss) has what it takes to make it in the organization. Presumably they'll think up a new cover story for Season 3.
** It's possible that they could have gotten some clever concealment. What they might have been able to do in the episode about an indoor resort/water park was hide the cameramen in a crowd and disguise them as customers filming their family vacation. (Ask anyone who works at a resort; people do this ''all the time''.) Heck, depending on the crowds they could ''easily'' do that for a lot of the ones where they follow somebody into a resort of some kind.
** Later episodes seem to have the cover story thought up on a case-by-case basis; for example, a waste treatment company had the CEO go undercover as an employee from a company closed for pollution codes violations being the subject of a documentary on him working as various "clean" industries.
* Inverted on a FOX reality/talent show where the contestants were "dared" to do something like recite a scene of a Shakespeare play with no errors or learn to play or sing a song in key by a certain timeframe. Naturally, they never ''fully'' expect what the dare was going to be since it was ''rarely'' the same and often wasn't a hobby they did.
* Gillian [=McKeith=] in ''Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere'', seems amazingly genre-blind, apparently unaware that the contestant who makes the most fuss about the Bushtucker Trials will inevitably be voted by the public to do every single one (and that anyone who goes on this show risks being covered in snakes, insects, etc. at some point). Not to mention the news that the next trial is called "school dinners" — as disgusting food challenges are one of the most famous parts of the show, the rest of her team make the obvious (and correct) guess that this challenge would be an eating one. [=McKeith=] suggested that maybe she'd be asked to ''plan'' a school dinner.
** In the 2013 series, contestant Matthew Wright actually listed a whole bunch of things he didn't like about the jungle's wildlife, and what scared him/grossed him out. You know, in front of a prime-time audience wanting to see someone humiliated. Guess who's now pretty much stuck doing the trials for the next few weeks?
* Fictional, but averted in ''Sims Big Brother''. Most of the characters actually seem to know ''very well'' what they're doing or how the game works. The closest example would have to be Keri, who didn't ''really'' know what she was getting into, but this actually became CharacterDevelopment as she became ''scarily'' competent later on.
** For that matter, a lot of Machinima based on reality TV shows aren't full of outright stupid players because they're all made up by fans of those shows.
* Many a {{Bridezilla}} has expressed surprise at how bad the show makes them look. One Bridezilla even said the producers asked her to insult her husband on national TV, then [[WhatAnIdiot couldn't figure out why strangers on the street hated her]].
* ''Series/LagunaBeach'' and its spinoffs are a very interesting case. The first two seasons of the series had the conversations between the cast become increasingly scripted (due in part to ManipulativeEditing and staged scenes), and the best moments were often found in the off-script and spontaneous improper behaviour - lead cast member Kristin Cavalieri was a major cause of this; she danced on a pole while drunk in Cabo, continually whined to her father to buy her a new car and had a relationship with just about every male character on the show. She was far from the only one - Jason Wahler cheated on several girlfriends, with the evidence of his guilt caught on camera. After this, you would figure that future cast members would be on their best behaviour for the cameras - however, Kendra and Cami in season 3, Chrissy's father and Allie in season 4 (and several others) make complete fools of themselves because they're apparently unaware that their actions are being broadcast on national television.
* Most of the brides in ''My Fair Wedding With David Tutera'' who complain about him changing up their original wedding ideas, when they know that's the entire point of the show.
* [[spoiler: Cameron]] left ''Series/TheGleeProject'' because he couldn't kiss a girl while acting because it felt like he was cheating on his girlfriend. It sounded like he had no idea what "acting" means.
* On ''Series/TimeCommanders'', it was a given that each week's contestants have no experience with neither video games nor with battle tactics. This was first ''partially'' subverted with a team of four "experienced" video game players - though none of them had any experience with anything remotely like ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar''. On another occasion, they brought in a team of four military officers - who were promptly given a much more challenging scenario to beat. [[IDontKnowMortalKombat Both these teams lost]].
* It looks like many people who go to ''Series/TheSteveWilkosShow'' have never seen an episode. Many don't realize that if you're not a "victim" then you'll probably get yelled at horribly and you won't be able to sit down on stage.
* ZigZagged in ''The Glass House'' - while the contestants were all well aware that they needed to be popular amongst the fans if they wanted to stay in the game, some contestants were more Genre-Blind than others, while others managed to piece together a strategy. The way the game works is that the house is broken into two teams each week, with the team captains being people who received the least popularity votes that week. If the team captain loses, they and one player from their team are sent to Limbo where the players vote to eliminate one of them. Some of the players like Gene figured out that since you pick your teams, you have to find a balance between trying to pick people who can win at the competition versus people you can beat in Limbo.
** Alex meanwhile asked the viewers whether or not he should be the best villain they've ever seen, and they answered with "Yes". He decided to be a complete JerkAss, wanting to be the person who the viewers LoveToHate. Unfortunately, he went too overboard with his act and we just hated him instead. Apollo went into the game without a strategy and made little effort to garner the viewers' attention. By week two, he wound up with the least votes next to Ashley and was a team captain.
** Amusingly enough, the ''viewers'' became more Genre-Savvy. The first ''Series/BigBrother'' had all the "interesting" houseguests who'd make drama voted out first, while the viewers complained the people left were boring. In The Glass House, Alex was voted out for being a drama whore by people who knew that if Alex remained in the house, the house would remain united against him, and that the lack of a common target would cause cracks to split in the house.
* ''Beadle's About''. People apparently don't look around or assume that some outrageous accident is possibly being filmed. Averted at one point when someone spotted that the parking lot she parked in had apparently become a showroom and every other car was replaced by identical cars. She simply looked at this and said, "Is this ''Beadle's About''?"
* S7 of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'' featured Penny Davidi who ''lives'' on this trope (as far as fans of Creator/FoodNetwork are concerned)...for all the [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong reasons]]. The prize for winning (or doing exceptionally well) on this show is having your own series on Food Network and eventually becoming a star. In order to win (or perhaps do very well), you would have to be able to cook very well under time pressure, have skills to work the audience and be able to hold and develop a sizable fanbase. The problem with Penny? She has the cooking chops, but she has the '''wrong''' TV chops. What does she do? She eagerly begins deploying ''Survivor''-style (or ''The Apprentice''-style) tactics to eliminate the other contestants, openly [[HannibalLecture brags about it to the other contestants]] and to the ConfessionCam in the most sickeningly SmugSnake way possible, and in general is the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the show's history and [[WhatAnIdiot thinks she can slide through anyway]] because "I have a plan to win." But then, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her plan to use blatantly cutthroat tactics only served to alienate the audience more and more with each passing week until the judges couldn't ignore her smugness anymore and eliminated her from the competition.]] ''Food Network Star'' may be a reality show, but it's not the same kind of reality show as ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', and not knowing the difference can backfire on you in a major way.
** Outside of ''Food Network Star'', she has continued to show Reality Show Genre Blindness. She went on to compete on ''Series/{{Chopped}}: All Stars''. She didn't need to show any of her characteristic smugness, but she did, [[WhatAnIdiot even though she keeps complaining on the ConfessionCam "This is not who I am."]] Unfortunately, for fans of Food Network, she ended up winning against GentleGiant Vic and going on to the finale. Once again, her arrogance cost her the ''Chopped: All Stars''. On that level of competition, you'd have to be ''better than an Series/IronChef'' and have to be practically flawless in order to win. She made 2-3 major errors on her dish, which got her eliminated 3rd place.
** And then she takes this UpToEleven on a meta-level. She starts going on a rant against Amanda Freitag over some saffron (which the other judges said was too much as well) and she promises to conquer Food Network for not giving her what she needs. Someone who places 7th on ''Food Network Star'', 3rd in ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' and is shown to be an overall {{Jerkass}} bitch is ''not'' someone who deserves to get a show on Food Network.
* Though it's not a game show, a huge proportion of the mothers who appear on ''Series/ToddlersAndTiaras'' seem to think that they're doing their daughters a favour by inviting camera crews into their homes to film the lead-up to the pageant. This usually ends in one of two ways: ManipulativeEditing being played in the daughter's favour, and presenting the mother as an over-bearing ControlFreak, or flipping the situation, and portraying the girls as horrific little [[SpoiledBrat Spoiled Brats]] and the mothers as their helpless slaves. You almost wish there was a follow-up episode that captured the reaction of mothers and daughters actually ''watching'' the show.
* There's no specific strategy or anything, but in ''WebVideo/SexHouse'' one of Derek's early traits is being aware that ''somebody'' out there was the one to set situations up, which leads to him wondering why they only cast one gay guy and protesting by drawing Mohammed on his head (meaning they have to censor him).
** Later, [[BrainlessBeauty Jay and Tara]] get [[HiddenDepths surprisingly]] philosophical and realise that the reason they're so compatible is that the producers ''knew'' they would be, and choose not to have sex as an expression of individuality.
* On ''Series/RestaurantImpossible'', nearly every owner gets defensive when Chef Robert tells them that their menu selection and/or quality is terrible. Even in the first season of this show, the restaurant is in deep trouble, and being open to any possible cause should be why you invited Chef Robert in.
** This is true of the similar ''Series/BarRescue'' as well.
* On ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'', contestants are often unprepared for events that happen at least once every season, such as the Snatch Game (a ''Series/MatchGame'' parody where they impersonate their favorite celebrities). By this point, any queen who gets on the show and says they "don't do impersonations" is likely to be torn down (with just cause) by her fellow contestants.
** A common trap queens fall into when it comes to Snatch Game is the fact that the impersonation doesn't have to be particularly accurate, it just has to be funny. Justified for Season 2, where the queens didn't realize what was being expected of them, and the bottom queens were those who prioritized accuracy over comedy, and even criticized Snatch Game winner Tatianna's impression of Britney Spears for being "too ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''".
** The bottom two contestants of every episode have to "lip-sync for their lives" in order to determine who is eliminated. Although the queens are told in advance what each episode's song will be, some queens ''still'' don't bother learning the words, indicating either genre blindness or naked hubris. Needless to say, the ones who clearly don't know the words are eliminated. The inverse sometimes happens, with queens who just stand there and mouth the words with no form of choreography, which also leads to almost guaranteed elimination.
** During a lip-sync, if something comes off, it should be to reveal something else under it. Otherwise, keep your hair, shoes, and clothes ''on'' - contestants who shuck off their heels or whose wigs fall off almost always lose the lip sync. And yet, we still see bald, barefoot, and half-naked queens, whether on purpose or by accident. Mind you, Ru has slightly more respect for queens who dance through an ''accidental'' WardrobeMalfunction than the ones who do it on purpose in a failed attempt at being dramatic.
--> Aja, on seeing Bebe removing her wig: I don't see no flowers, I don't see no glitter, I don't see no gag...You ain't no Sasha Velour, bitch, keep your wig on!
** Another example is the sewing challenges. There will always be at least one or more challenge per season that involves creating a look from scratch, plus the makeover challenge. This has been a ''Drag Race'' staple since day one. And yet, queens still complain because they don't know how to sew. Even worse are the queens who will explain that they can't sew and expect sympathy from the judges when they are called out on their awful outfit. As Ross Matthews said, "You don't make your first dress when you're on Drag Race. You make your first dress when you find out you're going to be on Drag Race."
** After 9 seasons of critiques, Ru and the judges have made it clear what they are looking for in a winner. And yet season after season girls will go on the runway and stand in front of the judges and make the exact same mistakes, including:
*** Wearing skimpy or revealing clothing and expecting the judges to be impressed by their naturally-feminine physique. Especially now that "Stop relying on that body" is essentially a Michelle Visage soundbite.
*** Wearing what is essentially the exact same outfit week after week without changing up their style at all. Every season a queen will be asked to show the judges versatility (though Season 6 winner Bianca was infamously able to get away with wearing a boatneck gown every week, possibly because of the judges' preference for floor-length dresses and the fact that each one was executed flawlessly plus she always performed well in the challenges).
*** Playing up a "character" while in drag or trying to distance their drag persona from their real selves. The judges have made it clear that they want to see vulnerability from the queens and get to know who they actually are as a person.
*** Wearing a basic outfit. If you go out there wearing boots and a swimsuit with a belt around the waist, a jumpsuit with a corset, or God forbid, something you '''''[[FelonyMisdemeanor bought off the rack]]''''' without altering in any way, Ru and Michelle ''will'' call you out on it.
** In short, the four pillars of ''Drag Race'' are designing, comedy, singing, and dancing. A queen must have solid skill in at least three out of four if she wants to get far in the competition. Yet you still get a queen who'll whine about a challenge not being her style even though it's clear by this point what [=RuPaul=] is looking for. Stated point-blank by season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio in the commentary for Season 7's premiere episode that if they cannot do any of the four ''in some way'', they have zero business being there in the first place.
** In over half the seasons, Rupaul brings back either a queen who was eliminated earlier in the season, a queen from an earlier season, or in some cases, both. In fact, at this point, it's no longer even a surprise to bring back ''everyone'' who's been eliminated that season and make them compete for the chance to return! Yet as late as All-Stars 4, some queens still express surprise and displeasure at this "twist" (despite the fact that no queen has ever won a season on which she left and returned).
** A rather specific example happens with Season 11's Silky Nutmeg Ganache, who made it clear in the season premier that she was gunning for a SpinOff, and she would showboat for attention and shout her catchphrase ("ATTITUDE CHECK!"[[note]]The expected response is "FUCK YOU, FAT BITCH!", but after the third time (that we saw), Silky was just met with annoyed silence[[/note]]) every five minutes. This has only succeeded in making her overbearing and obnoxious, to the other queens ''and'' viewers. What makes this genre blindness is that this exact scenario happened in Season 6 with Laganja Estranga, who also tried to invoke herself as a FountainOfMemes by spouting would-be catchphrases and acting in a loud bombastic manner, which simply made her come off as fake and annoying.
* Defied in ''WebVideo/StripSearch'',[[note]]About ''comic'' strips. GetYourMindOutOfTheGutter.[[/note]] where the contestants focused on winning by ''being the best artist'' rather than any reality-show politicking. The only one who tried to use an ounce of strategy was Amy, and even she gave it up due to stress after an incident where the judges declared "ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem" and created a ShockingElimination.[[note]]They sent ''two'' contestants home and reinstated a previously-eliminated contestant in their place, on the grounds that they considered her a much better artist than the two that had been up for elimination.[[/note]] Tavis even pointed out to Amy as she was struggling to cope with this development that the show's real benefit to the artists is making professional contacts with each other and the crew and gaming the system to win the prize could get in the way of that.
** Though played straight in another instance. An early challenge involved a tour of Seattle, and afterward the artists were given a quiz about the things they saw on the tour. Most of the artists weren't expecting it but commented to the ConfessionCam that they really should have seen it coming.
* ''Series/TheUltimateFighter'' has had numerous fighters show up in poor conditioning or unable to "make weight" (weigh in at the proper weight for their weight class). A lot of fighters also got in trouble for bad behavior. TUF is a LongRunner and many contestants from the show became UFC superstars, contenders, and even champions, so every fighter worth his or her shorts should know what will be required of them. Earlier seasons had their fair share of bad behavior, failures to make weight, or athletes in poor shape, but even as late as Season 18, two fighters failed to make weight and were summarily bounced from the competition.
* Each episode of ''Series/PropertyBrothers'' begins with the hosts showing the couple a house that is hundreds of thousands of dollars above their price range. The couple always falls in love with the house and is shocked that it's so unaffordable. The Scotts then leverage that shock into acceptance of their plan to renovate a much cheaper house instead.
* In ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'', the water tank challenge is included in every single season. Only three people (not counting Andrew) have ever thought to bring a change of clothes to the set: Eric in Season 2, and Michael and Yolanda in ''Ever.'' And every person in ''Ever'' was a ''returning participant!''
* In ''{{Series/Jachtseizoen}}'', nearly every contestant who has tried to take the train was caught immediately afterwards. Taking the train is a death sentence because StukTV can just look up the routes and timetables online, drive ahead, and catch you at the next station, and there is no way to escape while on a train. Even if this weren't immediately obvious, you would think that contestants would watch the previous seasons and realize that taking the train almost never works.
* The number of oblivious celebrities who go on ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' thinking it’s a real talk show is downright staggering, almost disturbing at times. Generally speaking, the smarter/more self-aware guests usually either figure out what’s up and play along (like Music/TylerTheCreator and [[Series/TheTomGreenShow Tom Green]] did) or openly call Eric out on-camera (like Creator/EricBalfour and Creator/LanceReddick). Everybody else is either terrified (or infuriated) into fleeing the stage or, even worse, will try to ignore the ElephantInTheRoom and keep the interview going “normally”, which usually just makes Eric and Hannibal act even crazier. The example is muddled a bit by the fact that the show goes out of its way to confuse, annoy, shock, or terrify guests, so even if they figure out what’s going on they’re often unprepared for just how nuts things get. That being said, if there’s one rule this show abides by, it's that something weird ''will'' happen, it’s just a question of what. If you don’t realize that, you’re playing right into their hands.

* Spectacularly averted by Michael Larson, who managed to memorize the "random" game board patterns on ''Series/PressYourLuck'', won $110,237 ($255,540 in 2016 money) and made that particular game last so long that it had to be split into two episodes. This was enough of an OldShame that CBS [[MissingEpisode didn't let those episodes be re-aired for 19 years]], and they only saw the light of day again as part of a documentary about the scandal.
* Anybody who watches ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' on a regular basis would know that in "reorder the digits" games like Safe Crackers or Ten Chances, if there's a lone "0" digit in a price, it's almost always the last digit. After all, manufacturers tend to price their products at round numbers ([[AndNinetyNineCents or something in ending in 99 cents]], which ''Price'' rounds to the nearest dollar). Yet far too many WhatAnIdiot moments occur when a contestant puts the 0 in the ''second-to-last'' slot (such as $607).

* ''Series/TheCrystalMaze'', good god the Crystal Maze! It was a common thing for viewers to start yelling at their TV screens when stupid contestants couldn't spot the obvious solutions to puzzles or just started doing stuff not even related to the puzzle. Granted, it's harder when you're on a time limit, you have five other people trying to give you advice and a bald chap playing the harmonica but sometimes it really did get ridiculous. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U68PUwXUoQ this set of outtakes from the show.]] Note how even the production team starts insulting and laughing at them!
* ''Series/GuysGroceryGames'' has a RunningGag in which Guy Fieri will work '3", "2", "1", and "go" into his banter before a round and keep on talking, making them waste about half a minute. Surprisingly, almost ''nobody'' has learned to just go the second he says "go", or listen for him to say "3", "2", or "1" in differing contexts.
** Subverted in one episode with child chefs as contestants, in which the kids just went the second he said "go" - interrupting him and confusing him in the process.
* Justified in ''Series/CashCab''. During the first and some of the second seasons, the contestants didn't know what the heck was going on. However, during later seasons, several contestants actually cheered when they realised they were in the Cash Cab.
* ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' contestants generally make a lot of mistakes:
** Since you generally have between 20-30 minutes per round, making rice is almost ''always'' the kiss of death because it's nigh impossible to do this without a rice cooker - which ''Chopped'' does not have.
** Polenta is another very risky ingredient. However, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures if it's a box ingredient, it's often pre-prepared]].
** When you have a large ingredient such as a thick piece of meat or a cornish game hen, some contestants attempt to cook the whole thing - when they have only 30 minutes or less. Generally speaking, you have to cut the meat.
** Contestants often mislabel their dishes. They [[AntiFrustrationFeatures generally go easy on people who are not professionals]] such as children, celebrities, or non-chefs, but most contestants are culinary school graduates.
** The ice cream machine is another troublesome piece of equipment. Some contestants instantly think to use an ice cream component as part of their dessert round, but never realise that they should think of a backup in case their opponent gets there first since only one person can really make ice cream.
*** What's worse, some people actually don't know ''how'' to use the ice cream machine.

Actually, generating Genre Blindness is often baked into the DNA of reality shows. First, contestants are selected for personality traits that will cause them to act emotionally and impulsively. Once on the show it is standard practice to isolate contestants from their friends and family and place them in high stress situations with little sleep for weeks or months on end. Several contestants across several different reality shows have also reported that the producers are more than happy to ensure that there is plenty of alcohol to go around on the set, setting up great conditions for a lot of AlcoholInducedIdiocy. If all else fails, producers will use ManipulativeEditing, goad the "appropriate" reactions out of the contestants, or even outright telling them how to act. (Supposedly, on ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', the contestants have been told that any time they mention a previous season/contestants, it won't be aired on film, and on the American ''Series/BigBrother 2'', contestants were told not to mention the first ''Big Brother''.)

** Restaurant owners are not only unprepared for Ramsay's behavior (despite most of them knowing who he is, and that he has high expectation), but choose to freak out on their kitchen staff, family members and/or waitresses while the cameras are rolling. This happens in both the UK and US versions.

** The waiters/waitresses who serve Ramsay (in both versions) either misrepresent the quality of the dishes he's considering ordering, or try to reassure Ramsay that the next dish will be better, despite knowing full well that a camera crew is filming their interactions. Later seasons had the servers get wise to this fact, and either tell Ramsay to stay away from certain dishes or give their honest feelings about the state of the food in the restaurant.

** There are also people who aren't thinking about getting appropriate clothing. Sometimes this is actually justified, because they aren't often ''told'' they're going to start the game and are often told they're going to a promo event...which was a big twist in ''Pearl Islands''. (During the Final Tribal Council, Lilian stated she wouldn't have worn her scoutmaster uniform if she had known they were going to the game instead of a promotional event. In the same season, Savage would've also not worn a tuxedo of all things.)

*** One of the most notorious examples of this was Purple Kelly from ''Nicaragua''. Since she was cast as the "sexy one," the only clothes she had were a sundress and a bikini. As a result, she was constantly freezing from the cold and had to quit midway through. The reason she voted for Fabio in the end was because he let her wear his jacket.

** Part of the reason Russell Hantz got so far in ''Samoa'' was because almost all the other players appeared to be completely GenreBlind — Galu not voting off their outsider when they had the chance, Shambo voting personally, Galu deciding to vote off their own teammate with a hidden Immunity Idol instead of [[FanNickname Pagonging]] the four players left, players practically being shown a map ''to the hidden Immunity Idol'' for the first time ''ever'' and ''not even bothering to look for it'', never learning to keep an eye on the Idol-hunting Russell, John changing his vote, etc. (Note we said "''almost''" — Natalie saw the dumb people voting the smart out, so she used ObfuscatingStupidity instead and ended up with the big bucks. Not only to his dismay but to the [[FanNickname Hantz Nation]].)
*** However, while savvy to the mechanics of the game (the front end), Russell was blind to its core (the back end) — games like ''Survivor'' are ''social'' games; evicted players have to like you (or at least respect you despite what you did) before they vote for you to win. Russell didn't grasp this (while the aforementioned completely GenreBlind players ''did''), and paid the price when only ''two'' jurors voted for him. (Russell ''still'' didn't get it by the ''Heroes vs. Villains'' reunion, even claiming that [[ComicallyMissingThePoint America needed to control a portion of the votes]].)

*** Goats in the early game tend to be people who lose challenges, but are rescued in order to eliminate someone who might be a threat later on in the game. The problem is that eliminating a strong person while keeping a weak person makes your team weaker, meaning you're going to end up losing more challenges and losing more members. In a numbers game like Survivor, having the most members going into the merge is of utmost importance.

* Similarly, the home-redecorating program ''Series/WhileYouWereOut'' not only arranges for a family member to get out of the house while the team swoops in and helps the rest of the family redo the place, but invariably sends a camera crew along with him or her on some bogus pretense — such as a documentary. Only ''twice'' has the stooge figured out what was going on; the first found out because his favorite radio station reported the presence of the show's distinctive vehicle in his town, while the second was told by one of the staff at the hotel he was staying at.

** This went horribly, horribly wrong on ''Jenny Jones'' — a man was brought in to meet his secret admirer on the air, which was another man. The guy murdered his admirer shortly afterwards. For what it's worth, her show's ratings spiked for quite some time after the news broke.

--->'''Sinbad:''' ''Men, if you get invited to go on one of those shows, and they put you in the SoundProofBooth -- don't come out! Don't sit down in that chair next to your woman! Are you stupid enough to think they're gonna cheer you on? No, they want to dog you -- that's why you're on the show! That girl you thought nobody knew about is waiting for you behind the curtain. BOOM! Here she comes! That's why they put you in the sound proof booth, stupid!''

** When men get put in room with a "sexy decoy", they always cheat. ''Maury'' always has cameras on in the rooms and the decoys are obviously to bait the men, yet they take the bait.

** According to ITV (the TV station that aired the show) in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIHM5e5Yo8E an official enquiry]] called after the show was cancelled, they stated their official policy with guests who aren't happy with the material is to "leave the stage". The statement ignores that guests who tried this over the years quickly discovered that the backstage area was a nigh-incomprehensible maze, filled with confusing corridors and a monotonous office layout that quickly tripped up fleeing participants. Made even worse that Kyle would constantly call them out on their behavior ("Are you going to make me do a runner?") and would chase them backstage to antagonize them some more. Participants continually did this throughout the show's run, unaware that it almost never works.

** Heather does wise up to the social aspect of the show by the end of the third season. [[spoiler:When ''World Tour'' comes down to her, Alejandro, and Cody, she realizes that as the popular one Cody would have the advantage, while Alejandro is the only one potentially less popular than herself. She distracts Cody while he and Alejandro duel for 2nd place, so that Alejandro would win by eliminating Cody, making him even less popular. But she has forgotten the main rule of ''Total Drama'' — [[JerkAss Chris]] is in control, and he decides that the winner will be chosen by a challenge.]]

** Let's not forget the girls who go in knowing that they will eventually get makeovers and there is a possibility of their hair getting cut short. Cue some girls being shocked, throwing tantrums, and one even quitting. (This is possibly due to arrogance. Some girls believe they already have what it takes to be a model and that they have the right look before entering the competition. And in the past Tyra has left some girls with minimal makeovers like a trim or a slightly lighter or darker dye-job. And she has given other girls extensions.)

** Repeated in Season 5, when players were asked to break up into "a smart team", and "a dumb team". The big reveal was that the dumb players were dumb ''for picking the dumb team'', because it required them to do a harder task. This was actually fairly late into the season. Anderson's comment actually doesn't hold true all of the time, especially in season one. In a lot of games the contestants were allowed to choose their roles (albeit in vague terms before knowing the parameters of the challenge).

** That might be justified because The Mole pulled an inversion of this trick in Season One. In that case the "Stupid Team" got to go with Anderson Cooper directly to the hotel because they were too "stupid" to find the hotel. The other two teams (Resourceful and Smart People) had the harder task of following the clues to find the hotel.

** According to Rob Corddry on an NPR interview, guests are told what to expect and frequently try to play along with the correspondents and be funny, only to be told off-camera, "You're very funny, but this is all going to be edited out. Act like this is a real interview."

** There are three things that show up every season and have since the beginning: DrivingStick, a swimming task, and a thrill tasks. There are still teams who come on the show without being able to do the first two well and unprepared for the third :

** For the love of God, don't pick a task that's dependent on the weather. In season 27, engaged couple Justin and Diana who were super fans of the race [[note]] they got on the show after his proposal based on the show went viral[[/note]] took a huge risk when they got to the fast forward (which most teams consider too big of a risk, even if it's not dependent on the weather) first to do a hang gliding task in the very first episode. They wasted precious time and money taking a taxi to the location, only to find out it was too windy to do the challenge and had to go back. The only reason they were spared from elimination was because another team had a complete meltdown.

** In season 29, Shamir didn’t come prepared to do a rappelling challenge (there’s always one) and had a complete meltdown because of how uncomfortable the harness was. The host , Phil, straight up told him on the mat at the end of the episode that all the other guys did it with minimal complaining because they knew it was coming and had learned beforehand how to sit and land properly to not make it hurt.

** Perhaps the biggest is "Let's get rid of our own alliance before cleaning out the other side, especially when they're on the block!". This is perhaps one of the ''dumbest'' things you can do in Big Brother, unless the situation is like the Final Four of ''Big Brother 6'' (the one member of her alliance remaining, Janelle, had won Head of Household and was exempt from nomination). Only ''once'' has the "Let's remove our own alliance before finishing off the other side" move worked, and ''that'' was because of the most GuideDangIt Final Four Head Of Household question ever (the one involving the guinea pigs being the third preexisting relationship; had Sharon gotten it right, she would've won). Yet every other time? Janelle had ''no'' shot at the Final Two short of winning the final Head Of Household because Will & Boogie weren't planning on taking her, especially since Boogie was going to pick Erika. Zach was ''right there'' on the block with a huge "Evict me, I'm a floater!" sign on his face, but because they evicted Amber, he flipped the game around on the little Julie Chens. Then, Jeff decided to blindside Russel before removing Kevin and Natalie who had a 50% chance of winning the next Head Of Household over Jordan and Michelle because he thought that Russel would be a bigger threat than Kevin and Natalie. Except that the ''same'' mistake was made at least three times before, and not ''once'' did it work without suspected ExecutiveMeddling.

*** Pretty much all you have to do in order to survive week one is not be stupid. Nobody knows each other yet, and the Head of Household ''will'' look for any reason to nominate someone. The logical thing to do is lay low and keep quiet for just one week. And yet year after year you have people who decide week 1, when nobody has any set-in-stone loyalties, is the perfect time to try and take control of the house and draw tons of attention to yourself. Every single year this person goes home, and yet ''people keep trying it''.

** In more recent years, there have been several events that have become OnceASeason, and yet people still don't prepare for them. Starting with Season 15, every season has had a competition where the evicted houseguests are eligible to return to the house. Maybe you should try not to screw anyone over while evicting them until after this happens, so that you don't have someone returning to the house hell-bent on getting their revenge against you. Subverted in season 17 in which Johnny Mac's immediate return appeared to not really cause any waves.

** In the thirteenth season, there was an ''immediate'' split between the six returning players and the eight new players. So far, nobody has thought to ''count the votes''. Porsche can't vote, Keith can't vote, and Daniele, Jeff, Jordan, and Rachel only makes four - meanwhile, the other ''six''? The only reason they got what they wanted was because Shelly and Kalia flipped and voted out Keith.
*** ''Brendon'' even continues this. While trying to get Daniele on his side, he tells her that if one of them (Brendon or Rachel) goes to the final two, they'd win. This is the exact opposite thinking you want to encourage people thinking, because thinking you can beat them is typically why you get evicted in the first place.

* Whenever the advertising task comes around in the UK version of ''Series/TheApprentice'', one of the teams will pour all their effort into a TV advert that looks slick and polished [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain but says absolutely nothing about the product]]. The other team will put together an advert that looks sloppy and amateurish, but says enough about the product to allow them to win the task.

** Also, there's always at least someone who tries to bring back their enemies/rivals into the boardroom rather than the people who actually caused them to lose the task. This isn't being VotedOffTheIsland people, it's Sir Alan Sugar who chooses which contestant gets the boot. And so the people who actually messed up get off scot free, the project manager guilty of bringing back people they don't like usually ends up fired and everyone finds out the hard way that this isn't like the ''X-Factor'' or ''Survivor''.

* Inverted on a FOX reality/talent show where the contestants were "dared" to do something like recite a scene of a Shakespeare play with no errors or learn to play or sing a song in key by a certain timeframe. Naturally, they never ''fully'' expect what the dare was going to be, since it was ''rarely'' the same and often wasn't a hobby they did.

** In the 2013 series, contestant Matthew Wright actually listed a whole bunch of things he didn't like about the jungle's wildlife, and what scared him/grossed him out. You know, in front of a prime time audience wanting to see someone humiliated. Guess who's now pretty much stuck doing the trials for the next few weeks?

* On ''Series/TimeCommanders'', it was a given that the each week's contestants have no experience with neither video games nor with battle tactics. This was first ''partially'' subverted with a team of four "experienced" video game players - though none of them had any experience with anything remotely like ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar''. On another occasion they brought in a team of four military officers - who were promptly given a much more challenging scenario to beat. [[IDontKnowMortalKombat Both these teams lost]].

** Alex meanwhile asked the viewers whether or not he should be the best villain they've ever seen, and they answered with "Yes". He decided to be a complete JerkAss, wanting to be the person who the viewers LoveToHate. Unfortunately, he went too overboard with his act and we just hated him instead. Apollo went into the game without a strategy and made little effort to garner the viewers attention. By week two, he wound up with the least votes next to Ashley and was a team captain.

* S7 of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'' featured Penny Davidi who ''lives'' on this trope (as far as fans of Creator/FoodNetwork are concerned)...for all the [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong reasons]]. The prize for winning (or doing exceptionally well) on this show is having your own series on Food Network and eventually becoming a star. In order to win (or perhaps do very well), you would have to be able to cook very well under time pressure, have skills to work the audience, and be able to hold and develop a sizable fanbase. The problem with Penny? She has the cooking chops, but she has the '''wrong''' TV chops. What does she do? She eagerly begins deploying ''Survivor''-style (or ''The Apprentice''-style) tactics to eliminate the other contestants, openly [[HannibalLecture brags about it to the other contestants]] and to the ConfessionCam in the most sickeningly SmugSnake way possible, and in general is the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the show's history and [[WhatAnIdiot thinks she can slide through anyway]] because "I have a plan to win." But then, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her plan to use blatantly cutthroat tactics only served to alienate the audience more and more with each passing week until the judges couldn't ignore her smugness anymore and eliminated her from the competition.]] ''Food Network Star'' may be a reality show, but it's not the same kind of reality show as ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', and not knowing the difference can backfire on you in a major way.
** Outside of ''Food Network Star'', she has continued to show Reality Show Genre Blindness. She went on to compete on to compete on ''Series/{{Chopped}}: All Stars''. She didn't need to show any of her characteristic smugness, but she did, [[WhatAnIdiot even though she keeps complaining on the ConfessionCam "This is not who I am."]] Unfortunately, for fans of Food Network, she ended up winning against GentleGiant Vic and going on to the finale. Once again, her arrogance cost her the ''Chopped: All Stars''. On that level of competition, you'd have to be ''better than an Series/IronChef'' and have to be practically flawless in order to win. She made 2-3 major errors on her dish, which got her eliminated 3rd place.
** And then she takes this UpToEleven on a meta level. She starts going on a rant against Amanda Freitag over some saffron (which the other judges said was too much as well) and she promises to conquer Food Network for not giving her what she needs. Someone who places 7th on ''Food Network Star'', 3rd in ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' and is shown to be an overall {{Jerkass}} bitch is ''not'' someone who deserves to get a show on Food Network.

* There's no specific strategy or anything, but in ''WebVideo/SexHouse'' one of Derek's early traits is being aware that ''somebody'' out there was the one to set situations up, which leads to him wondering why they only cast one gay guy, and protesting by drawing Mohammed on his head (meaning they have to censor him).
** Later, [[BrainlessBeauty Jay and Tara]] get [[HiddenDepths surprisingly]] philosophical and realise that the reason they're so compatible is because the producers ''knew'' they would be, and choose not to have sex as an expression of individuality.

** During a lip sync, if something comes off, it should be to reveal something else under it. Otherwise, keep your hair, shoes and clothes ''on'' - contestants who shuck off their heels or whose wigs fall off almost always lose the lip sync. And yet, we still see bald, barefoot and half-naked queens, whether on purpose or by accident. Mind you, Ru has slightly more respect for queens who dance through an ''accidental'' WardrobeMalfunction than the ones who do it on purpose in a failed attempt at being dramatic.

** In short, the four pillars of ''Drag Race'' are designing, comedy, singing, and dancing. A queen must have solid skill in at least three out of four if she wants to get far in the competition. Yet you still get a queen who'll whine about a challenge not being her style even though it's clear by this point what [=RuPaul=] is looking for. Stated point blank by season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio in the commentary for Season 7's premiere episode that if they cannot do any of the four ''in some way'', they have zero business being there in the first place.
** In over half the seasons, Rupaul brings back either a queen who was eliminated earlier in the season, a queen from an earlier season, or in some cases, both. In fact, at this point it's no longer even a surprise to bring back ''everyone'' who's been eliminated that season and make them compete for the chance to return! Yet as late as All-Stars 4, some queens still express surprise and displeasure at this "twist" (despite the fact that no queen has ever won a season on which she left and returned).

** Though played straight in another instance. An early challenge involved a tour of Seattle, and afterward the artists were given a quiz about the things they saw on the tour. Most of the artists weren't expecting it, but commented to the ConfessionCam that they really should have seen it coming.

* In ''{{Series/Jachtseizoen}}'', nearly every contestant who has tried to take the train was caught immediately afterwards. Taking the train is a death sentence, because StukTV can just look up the routes and timetables online, drive ahead, and catch you at the next station, and there is no way to escape while on a train. Even if this weren't immediately obvious, you would think that contestants would watch the previous seasons and realize that taking the train almost never works.
* The number of oblivious celebrities who go on ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' thinking it’s a real talk show is downright staggering, almost disturbing at times. Generally speaking, the smarter/more self-aware guests usually either figure out what’s up and play along (like Music/TylerTheCreator and [[Series/TheTomGreenShow Tom Green]] did) or openly call Eric out on-camera (like Creator/EricBalfour and Creator/LanceReddick). Everybody else is either terrified (or infuriated) into fleeing the stage or, even worse, will try to ignore the ElephantInTheRoom and keep the interview going “normally”, which usually just makes Eric and Hannibal act even crazier. The example is muddled a bit by the fact that the show goes out of its way to confuse, annoy, shock, or terrify guests, so even if they figure out what’s going on they’re often unprepared for just how nuts things get. That being said, if there’s one rule this show abides by, its that something weird ''will'' happen, it’s just a question of what. If you don’t realize that, you’re playing right into their hands.

** But some of those may be a tad justifiable considering pressure — ''several'' teams in ''Series/{{Knightmare}}'' died because the dungeoneer didn't act fast enough (but the instructors were plenty quick on their feet) or in ''Series/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple'', they're trying to get out of the temple as ''fast as they can'' and wind up getting klutzy. (Some people have spotted that in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, the pieces are switched around the room but it's ''still'' a three piece puzzle.)

*** The other 2 players should bet everything, because they're not going to win unless they get it right (and the leader gets it wrong, or violates the above rule).
** Every now and again, a player comes along and violates one of these rules, throwing away a game they otherwise could've won with a better wager. This tends to happen primarily in the Kids Tournament and Teen Tournament, since most of the adults who get on the show study wagering strategy ahead of time. The 2013 Teen Tournament saw at least 2 such contestants in the span of 2 weeks, one of which resulted in [[spoiler:the first triple loss ever to occur in a tournament game.]]

* ''Series/TheCrystalMaze'', good god the Crystal Maze! It was a common thing for viewers to start yelling at their TV screens when stupid contestants couldn't spot the obvious solutions to puzzles, or just started doing stuff not even related to the puzzle. Granted, it's harder when you're on a time limit, you have five other people trying to give you advice and a bald chap playing the harmonica but sometimes it really did get ridiculous. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U68PUwXUoQ this set of outtakes from the show.]] Note how even the production team starts insulting and laughing at them!

* ''Series/TheCrystalMaze'', good god the Crystal Maze! It was a common thing for viewers to start yelling at their TV screens when stupid contestants couldn't spot the obvious solutions to puzzles, or just started doing stuff not even related to the puzzle. Granted, it's harder when you're on a time limit, you have five other people trying to give you advice and a BaldOfAwesome chap playing the harmonica but sometimes it really did get ridiculous. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U68PUwXUoQ this set of outtakes from the show.]] Note how even the production team starts insulting and laughing at them!

* ''Series/GuysGroceryGames'' has a RunningGag in which Guy Fieri will work '3, 2, 1, Go" into his opening banter - and keep on talking, making them waste about half a minute. Surprisingly, almost ''nobody'' has learned to just go the second he says "go", or listen for him to say "3", "2", or "1" in differing contexts.
** Subverted in one "junior" episode, in which the kids just went the second he said "go" - interrupting him and confusing him in the process.

*** Wearing a basic outfit. If you go out there wearing boots and a swimsuit with a belt around the waist, a jumpsuit with a corset, or God forbid, something you ''''[[FelonyMisdemeanor bought off the rack]]'''' without altering in any way, Ru and Michelle ''will'' call you out on it.

*** Wearing a basic outfit. If you go out there wearing boots and a swimsuit with a belt around the waist, a jumpsuit with a corset, or God forbid, something you ''''[[FelonyMisdemeanor bought off the rack]]''' without altering in any way, Ru and Michelle ''will'' call you out on it.

* On ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'', contestants are often unprepared for events that happen at least once every season, such as the Snatch Game (a ''Series/MatchGame'' parody where they impersonate their favorite celebrities). By this point, any queen who gets on the show and says they "don't do impersonations" is likely to be torn down (with just cause) by her fellow contestants.

* On ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'', contestants are often unprepared for events that happen at least once every season, such as the Snatch Game (a ''Series/MatchGame'' parody where they impersonate their favorite female celebrities). By this point, any queen who gets on the show and says they "don't do impersonations" is likely to be torn down (with just cause) by her fellow contestants.

** During a lip sync, if something comes off, it should be to reveal something else under it. Otherwise, keep your hair, shoes and clothes ''on'' - contestants who shuck off their heels or whose wigs fall off almost always lose the lip sync. And yet, we still see bald, barefoot and half-naked queens, whether on purpose or by accident.

*** Wearing what is essentially the exact same outfit week after week without changing up their style at all. Every season a queen will be asked to show the judges versatility (though Season 6 winner Bianca was infamously able to get away with wearing a boatneck gown every week, possibly because of the judges' preference for floor-length dresses and the fact that each one was executed flawlessly).

*** Wearing a basic outfit. If you go out there wearing boots and a swimsuit with a belt around the wait (or a jumpsuit with a corset), Michelle will call you out on it.
** In short, the four pillars of ''Drag Race'' are designing, acting, singing/dancing, and comedy. A queen must have solid skill in at least three out of four if she wants to get far in the competition. Yet you still get a queen who'll whine about a challenge not being her style even though it's clear by this point what [=RuPaul=] is looking for. Stated point blank by season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio in the commentary for Season 7's premiere episode that if they cannot do any of the four ''in some way'', they had zero business being there in the first place.

*** However, while savvy to the mechanics of the game (the front end), Russell was blind to its core (the back end) — games like ''Survivor'' are ''social'' games; evicted players have to like you (or at least respect you despite what you did) before they vote for you to win. Russell didn't grasp this (while the aforementioned completely GenreBlind players ''did''), and paid the price when only ''two'' jurors voted for him. (Russell ''still'' didn't get it by the ''Heroes vs. Villains'' reunion, even claiming that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint America needed to control a portion of the votes]].)

* Anything involving ''Creator/GordonRamsay''. The man is famous for being '''the''' MeanBrit and having exacting standards and no tolerance for idiots. What on earth makes people think he'll be their YesMan?

* S7 of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'' featured Penny Davidi who ''lives'' on this trope (as far as fans of Creator/FoodNetwork are concerned)...for all the [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong reasons]]. The prize for winning (or doing exceptionally well) on this show is having your own series on Food Network and eventually becoming a star. In order to win (or perhaps do very well), you would have to be able to cook very well under time pressure, have skills to work the audience, and be able to hold and develop a sizable fanbase. The problem with Penny? She has the cooking chops, but she has the '''wrong''' TV chops. What does she do? She eagerly begins deploying ''Survivor''-style (or ''The Apprentice''-style) tactics to eliminate the other contestants, openly [[HannibalLecture brags about it to the other contestants]] and to the ConfessionCam in the most sickeningly SmugSnake way possible, and in general is the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the show's history and [[{{WhatAnIdiot}} thinks she can slide through anyway]] because "I have a plan to win." But then, [[{{HoistByHisOwnPetard}} her plan to use blatantly cutthroat tactics only served to alienate the audience more and more with each passing week until the judges couldn't ignore her smugness anymore and eliminated her from the competition.]] ''Food Network Star'' may be a reality show, but it's not the same kind of reality show as ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', and not knowing the difference can backfire on you in a major way.
** Outside of ''Food Network Star'', she has continued to show RealityShowGenreBlindness. She went on to compete on to compete on ''Series/{{Chopped}}: All Stars''. She didn't need to show any of her characteristic smugness, but she did, [[WhatAnIdiot even though she keeps complaining on the ConfessionCam "This is not who I am."]] Unfortunately, for fans of Food Network, she ended up winning against GentleGiant Vic and going on to the finale. Once again, her arrogance cost her the ''Chopped: All Stars''. On that level of competition, you'd have to be ''better than an Series/IronChef'' and have to be practically flawless in order to win. She made 2-3 major errors on her dish, which got her eliminated 3rd place.

* The number of oblivious celebrities who go on ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' thinking it’s a real talk show is downright staggering, almost disturbing at times. Generally speaking, the smarter/more self-aware guests usually either figure out what’s up and play along (like Music/TylerTheCreator and [[Series/TheTomGreenShow Tom Green]] did) or openly call Eric out on-camera (like Eric Balfour and Creator/LanceReddick). Everybody else is either terrified (or infuriated) into fleeing the stage or, even worse, will try to ignore the ElephantInTheRoom and keep the interview going “normally”, which usually just makes Eric and Hannibal act even crazier. The example is muddled a bit by the fact that the show goes out of its way to confuse, annoy, shock, or terrify guests, so even if they figure out what’s going on they’re often unprepared for just how nuts things get. That being said, if there’s one rule this show abides by, its that something weird ''will'' happen, it’s just a question of what. If you don’t realize that, you’re playing right into their hands.

** Contestants often mislabel their dishes. They [[AntiFurstrationFeatures generally go easy on people who are not professionals]] such as children, celebrities, or non-chefs, but most contestants are culinary school graduates.

* While many teams on ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' demonstrate that they've watched previous seasons, a couple of teams from time to time demonstrate a surprising lack of knowledge as to typical challenges on the race...
** There's three things you should always be prepared for : a thrill task, driving stick, and a swimming task:
*** In season 14, sisters Kisha and Jen got put behind because the detour in a non-elimination leg involved two swimming tasks and neither knew how to swim.They couldn't make up the time the next leg and got eliminated. Notably when they came back for the 18th season (which they won), they knew how to swim and did several water tasks just fine.

** Remarkably few teams have bothered to do the math and realize when the time penalty for skipping a task will be less than the time it takes to do it. Only two teams have ever taken advantage of the fact that by definition you can't be eliminated due to a time penalty if you can convince a team ''behind'' you to accept the same penalty.
*** That's because, at four hours for quitting a Roadblock and 6 (formerly 24) for quitting a Detour, there have been only a few times in the show's entire history where quitting a task was actually beneficial. At any other time, quitting a task is suicidal at best. Plus, oftentimes the penalty for quitting a task is tacked upon reaching the mat, meaning teams don't have a chance to get others to quit as well.
*** In the cases mentioned above, the racer doing the quitting in the first instance was a Series/{{Survivor}} alumnus and knew ''exactly'' what he was doing and how to pull it off. Other racers wouldn't have that much experience with manipulating others. In the second case of multiple teams quitting, the three teams were stuck doing a Needle in a Haystack luck task, and decided to take the penalty and race to the Pit Stop instead of leaving all their fates up to random luck.

** In season 29, Shamir didn’t come prepared to do a rappelling challenge (there’s always one) and had a complete meltdown because of how uncomfortable the harness was. The host , Phil, straight up told him on the mat that all the other guys did it with minimal complaining because they knew it was coming and had learned beforehand how to sit and land properly to not make it hurt.

** A common trap queens fall into when it comes to Snatch Game is the fact that the impersonation doesn't have to be particularly accurate, it just has to be funny. Justified for Season 2, where the queens didn't realize what was being expected of them, and the bottom queens were those who prioritized accuracy over comedy, and even criticized Snatch Game winner Tatianna's impression of Britney Spears for being "too ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''".
** Another example is the sewing challenges. The '''first and last challenge of every season''' involve creating outfits from scratch using themed materials. This has been a ''Drag Race'' staple since day one. And yet, queens still complain because they don't know how to sew. Even worse are the queens who will explain that they can't sew and expect sympathy from the judges when they are called out on their awful outfit. As Ross Matthews said, "You don't make your first dress when you're on Drag Race. You make your first dress when you find out you're going to be on Drag Race."