Line #17 Main/EjectTheLoser


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/RemoteControl https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rc-offtheair_9880.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[CrowdSong Hey hey hey, goodbye...]]]]
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4	->''"Win money or fall down a hole."''
5	-->-- Tag line for ''Series/RussianRoulette''
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7	GameShow Trope where eliminated contestants, instead of merely being bid farewell, are forcefully ejected from the studio. Differs from a Walk of Shame, but often times no less humiliating. Generally, the contestants are not even given time to speak before they are removed. Ejections can range from being dropped through a simple TrapDoor in the floor, to being disintegrated via CGI, to being launched off the edge of a cliff, to (in the case of fictional shows), either [[BreadEggsMilkSquick being dropped/launched]] into a brutal DeathTrap, or [[WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland flung into a big, metal box with “Tiny Loser Chamber” written on it]].
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9	The UrExample may have shown up in older WesternAnimation features with singing or talent contests, which inevitably had [[IneptTalentShowContestant horrible contestants]]; their performances generally ended with the judge pulling a lever to open a trap door underneath the contestant.
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11	Note that this does not include shows like ''Series/MatchGame'', where losing contestants remain seated at a part of the set used for the upfront game that rotates or moves out of the camera's sight, or as the show segues to either a commercial or sponsor/prize plug as the winner prepares to play the BonusRound. Nor does this include shows where the lowest-scoring contestant at a defined point of a progressive-elimination game (e.g., the 1978 version of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'') is simply eliminated without fanfare – i.e., other than simply being told "thanks for playing" and perhaps told of a consolation gift; in this case, the departed contestant is simply taken offstage.
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13	Compare DropTheCow and VaudevilleHook, for similar usage in dealing with overly long or bad stage acts.
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15	!!Examples:
16	* ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'': The eliminated contestants are either flung into the [[FunWithAcronyms TLC]] or teleported there by lasers, depending on the progression of the show. In ''WebAnimation/BattleForBFDI'', Four absorbs the eliminated contestants and place them in the [[EverybodyHatesMathematics EXIT ]][[spoiler: Eternal Algebra Class With 4]]. Battle For BFB has X snap the eliminated contestant into the BRB. As for ''[[WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIslandThePowerOfTwo TPOT]]'', 2 absorbs the contestants and places them in a room similar to that of the hotel's. The EXIT is seen in ''TPOT'', but it is currently unknown what becomes of the Exitors due to these segments being set around the time of ''BFB'''s ''finale'', and not in the modern day. It is also currently unknown if the efforts of the Exitors to escape is connected to [[spoiler: 1 coming to Goiky]].
17	* ''Showdown'', a 1966 Heatter-Quigley game show, is the TropeMaker. Teams of contestants competed to answer questions in a format similar to what would be used on ''Series/HotPotato'', with players who answered wrong being dropped through the floor and eliminated from the game.
18	* ''[[Series/MusicalChairs1975 Musical Chairs]]'', a 1975 game show hosted by Adam Wade, featured eliminated contestants being pulled backwards through a wall while still in their chairs during the final round.
19	* ''Series/TheVideoGame'' from 1984 featured the Res-Off Round, in which contestants had to navigate the LovelyAssistant through a maze of lighted squares; guiding her to a wrong square resulted in the contestant being "de-resed" (made to "disappear" by means of special camera effects).
20	* ''Series/RemoteControl'', the late-80's MTV game show; similar to ''Musical Chairs'' (but much more violent) and possibly the TropeCodifier. Contestants who were in last place when the TV went "Off the Air" in the second round were pulled back through the wall while being taunted by the host and announcer and serenaded with a CrowdSong by the audience.
21	* ''Series/RussianRoulette'', where contestants answering incorrectly were forced to pull a handle in hopes that a rotating light would not land on their "drop zone" and eliminate them by the TrapDoor beneath them opening and sending them through the floor.
22	* ''Series/Downfall2010'', where potential prizes were sent over the edge of a building via ConveyorBeltODoom; elimination resulted in the contestant likewise being sent over (in a controlled fall, of course).
23	* ''Series/{{Distraction}}'' featured this occasionally, in particular when the challenge involved wrestlers, nudists, or roller derby girls; the contestant who lost this round was picked up and carried off by these individuals.
24	* ''Series/WhosStillStanding'' recycled the "hole in the floor" concept from ''Russian Roulette''. One contestant (the "Hero") stood on a TrapDoor on the center of the stage and faced off against a circle of ten competitors also standing on trap doors (the "Strangers") in a series of trivia duels. Eliminated contestants dropped ten feet into a padded room below the stage. If the Hero decided to walk away at one point and keep his or her winnings, (s)he then had the option of either walking out of the studio or by dropping through the floor. [[EveryEpisodeEnding Every episode ended]] with host Ben Bailey (of ''Series/CashCab'' fame) also dropping through the Hero's trap door.
25	* The Creator/{{Syfy}} game show ''Series/TotalBlackout'' uses the mechanic in a slightly different way. After each round, the remaining contestants stand in front of trap doors and, on Jaleel White's command, are told to jump onto them. The contestant with the least amount of points in the round drops out of the game, while the other contestants' doors stay shut.
26	* ''Series/BrainSurge'': Contestants locked in their guesses during the second round by sitting on a chair covered in {{Whoopee Cushion}}s. The first two players to answer incorrectly were greeted by farts and then pulled backwards through paper "teeth" on a giant model of the host's face.
27	** The [[http://www.teennick.com/nickatnite-assets/shows/images/family-brainsurge/flipbooks/new-set/brain-surge-set-4.jpg;jsessionid=74E818384FE8A714797BF7F645BED8A8.kids-jboss-071-811-mtvi-com-8851 Brain Drain]], an ear-shaped water slide with "[[CoveredInGunge ear wax]]", may also qualify; eliminated contestants, as well as those who lose the BonusRound, are sent down it.
28	* Came up just before the ''Jack Attack'' in the TV series of ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack,'' where the eliminated contestant would be made to disappear using a CGI effect.
29	* Inverted by ''Series/MastersOfTheMaze'', where the member of the ''winning'' team that had run the maze was disintegrated into a floating ball of particles via CGI and sent on a "special journey" through the set and into the game's giant monitor.
30	* ''Series/GamesMaster'' a UK show based around video games. Occasionally the mysterious guardian who awarded winnners with joysticks would also escort particularly dreadful challengers into a smoke filled pit within the arena. This was only however done in exceptional cases and the host would consult GM himself for a final decision to do this. On one occasion a girl was released the following week by her boyfriend winning a challenge.
31	** The 2021 reboot goes full in on this trope with the Abyss. Losers are ejected from the show (via the magic of GreenScreen and goofy acting) by being thrown down a shaft and into a pit of molten lava. Adding insult to fatal injury, the [=GamesMaster=] (Sir Trevor [=McDonald=]) also delivers a BondOneLiner at their expense.
32	* The 2018 British series ''Series/TakeTheTower'' has series host Creator/DolphLundgren push contestants who fail their challenges [[DestinationDefenestration out of the top floor window of a skyscraper]]. We the viewers got to see them fall via ChromaKey and CGI.
33	* In ''Series/TheAdventureGame'', contestants who failed the final challenge would be "evaporated". Of course, it was explained that being evaporated was ''not'' fatal, but still, nothing like being a child watching your favourite celebrities, AsThemselves, dissolving into nothing because they messed up on a giant Minesweeper game.
34	* The reality competition ''House of Villains'' has contestants who get banished from the house pulled backwards into a wall whilst sitting in a chair.
35	* The MediumBlending quiz show, ''WesternAnimation/{{Skatoony}}'' did this to losing contestants whether they be human or not. Subverted in the sense that the children ''obviously'' weren't being flung around, so all of it is VFX.
36	* After an elimination vote in ''Series/BigBrother'', the housemate will be made to leave the Big Brother House. Oftentimes, ''while live on TV'', as well, just to rub salt in the wound.
37	* Ant and Dec series, ''Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere'' uses a similar format. If a celebrity is voted out, or in an extreme scenario, loses an elimination challenge, the campmate is forced to leave the Jungle, with the catchphrase to boot.
38	'''Ant and Dec:''' [Celebrity name here], you're a celebrity, GET YOURSELF OUT OF HERE!
39	* Multiple games in ''VideoGame/TheJackboxPartyPack'' follow this trend.
40	** ''Trivia Murder Party 1 & 2'': If you lose a death minigame, or disconnect, you ''die''. Audience players are immune to death.
41	** ''Push the Button'': This ''literally'' befalls all the human players if you can't determine all the aliens either in-time, before you run out of button presses, or at all.
42	** ''The Poll Mine'': [[InUniverse You're kept inside the Poll Mine, FOREVER!]]
43	** ''Roomerang'': ''Big Brother'' rules.
44	** ''Dodo Re Mi'': If you don't satisfy the plant behind you, it eats you.
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47	!This trope serves as the main premise of the following:
48	* ''Series/OneHundredAndOneWaysToLeaveAGameshow'': ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; each eliminated contestant was ejected in whatever bizarre way the producers could come up with.
49	* ''Series/Exit2013'', a show on Creator/{{Syfy}} where contestants had to answer questions to escape from rooms filled with MalevolentArchitecture that would otherwise end up "killing" them.
50	* ''Ejector Seat'', a UK offering in which contestants who answer questions incorrectly move backwards in their chairs toward the end of a long track; during this, they are bombarded with questions, and a correct answer will stop the chair, but if they reach the end by failing to stop their chairs, they are tipped backwards and ejected from the studio in a cloud of smoke. If a contestant survives the all or nothing final round, [[RuleOfFunny they get ejected anyway]].
51	* "Know or Go", a game played on ''The Creator/EllenDeGeneres Show''. Contestants are placed in a high platform and asked simple trivia questions; one wrong answer and a TrapDoor dropped the contestant inside the platform. Most of the fun came from the contestants sweating it out as Ellen delayed the drop. In this example, though, just because you're the last player standing, it doesn't mean you're safe. Ellen will continue through the stack until you miss one, which means even if you're the winner, you get dropped anyhow.
52	** The spinoff ''Series/EllensGameOfGames'' also has this trope as a central premise. "Know or Go" keeps the drop, but most other games have their own wacky ejections: flung through the ceiling, dunked in a slime pit, kicked offstage by a giant boot... Or several games just get the losers (and winners) CoveredInGunge.
53	* ''Games World'', a UK show based around video games, featured an Aztec theme in the final (crap) series with Andy Collins. Contestants who lost would be forcefully shoved into a hole in the top of a temple as a sacrifice. The temple was proven to be fully wheelchair accessible...
54	** In earlier (far better) series hosted by Bob Mills, losers were removed from the premises by “bouncers” (read large intimidating guys... not entirely unlike Millsy himself). One of the main reasons why Mills worked as a host and Collins didn’t was that their removal played second fiddle to Bob’s mockery of their self proclaimed games playing prowess, whereas Andy Collins made being thrown down the pit the focal point of each round.
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58	!Non-game show examples:
59	* A cereal commercial from the late 80's or early 90's showed several people in a dark room seated around a table, with a voice asking them about the ingredients in the cereal; the ones that said "salt" and "sugar" were [[{{Undercrank}} speedily dropped through the floor]].
60	* One of the CD-ROM games based on ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' takes place in the Costa Rican rainforest. One bit includes a game show hosted by a vain jaguar, asking questions about the wildlife. The contestants, representing various jaguar prey species, are launched into the air and straight into the waiting host's mouth upon answering incorrectly. The final contestant gets his answer right, "but I am still hungry, so I'll eat you anyway!"
61	* In ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'' Akane attempts to get the two leads to be more open about their feelings for each other... by setting up a mock game show in which she questions them about their relationship and each "dishonest" answer causes them to be tipped further and further toward a mud pit. [[TheGadfly Akane being Akane]], she sets it up so [[{{Fanservice}} they both end up going into the mud pit regardless of their answers]].
62	* ''VideoGame/{{Gruntz}}'': This happens to your Gruntz in [[CasinoPark High Rollerz]] (essentially a FloatingContinent Casino) if they are touched by a spotlight, which forces them to sing. Unfortunately they're unable to sing properly, so a hole opens below them and drops them from a great height to their death.
63	* One round of the Chunin Exams early on in ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'' is hosted by Shikamaru. He asks a yes-or-no trivia question to the examinees, and they have to stand on {{Trap Door}}s labeled "yes" or "no." He explains that a wrong answer will drop them into a pit of ink and that anyone with ink on them when the round ends automatically fails the exam. True to Shikamaru's indirect nature, this round runs on ExactWords: [[spoiler:The answer is a trick question, and ''every examinee'' gets dropped into the pit. The ''real'' purpose of this test is to see who can react quickly enough to break their fall before they reach the ink while not letting any of it splash onto themselves.]]
64	* In ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'', Dr. Evil loves to dispose of henchmen who annoy him in this manner: all the chairs at the table are rigged to dump their occupant into a pit of flames at the push of a button.
65	* ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' has a [[BlackComedy humorously]] [[PlayedForHorror horrifying]] variant for its DeadlyGame: after one contestant has killed another, if the killer is correctly identified/{{voted off\| the island}}, they are ejected into one of [[BigBad Monokuma]]’s {{Death Trap}}s to suffer a CruelAndUnusualDeath (or “execution”, as he calls them). If someone else gets the most votes, ''[[GameOver everyone but the killer gets the punishment]]''. The executions themselves are as over-the-top as would be expected from a real game show, and kill the losers [[DeathByIrony in a way specifically tailored to their talent]] (for instance, [[spoiler:baseball star Leon Kuwata gets pelted to death by baseballs]]). The survivors, rather than laugh and have fun as in a real show, are often left staring in horror, and sometimes break down screaming and crying at the inhumanity of it all. [[spoiler:And yes, it is all part of an ImmoralRealityShow.]]
66	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'' has an example performed from a ''home''. Losers of the "My Family's Full of Losers" game show are picked by a claw and thrown to the moon from their house (where it is played). This game show is hosted by the Crumpets' EvilUncle and Aunt (who aren't in the house, instead utilizing a flying camera that transmits to their own set) and is played between family members.
67	* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'' Pegasus has the option to forcibly eject disqualified duelists through a trap-door and into the ocean, albeit he only uses it once on Bandit Keith who [[BullyingADragon thinks it's wise to stick the man up with a gun]] (though Pegasus does state he doesn't care about ''that'' and is doing it because Keith was cheating in his duels).
68	* ''WebAnimation/FriendshipIsMagicBitch'' basically consists of Princess Celestia, a despotic tyrant in the short, herding ponies into her chamber to hear their problems, asking if they like bananas, and launching them to the moon via cannon [[MortonsFork no matter what they answer]]. It was made worlds funnier when, in an actual screen shot of the show, [[https://trixiebooru.org/327355 the ponies just happened to stand around where the trap door would be]][[note]]Whether or not this was intentional is anyone's guess, but show staff have made it very clear they're well aware of the short and [[https://trixiebooru.org/939835 have referenced it several times]][[/note]].
69	* In ''VideoGame/FallGuysUltimateKnockout'', between each round, all players are placed into small square cells in a big wall. After a drumroll, the back wall of certain cells will move forwards, pushing the losers out.
70	* ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'' has an occasional segment named and based around "the red chair", where an audience member will sit and deliver an anecdote, while Graham stands ready at a giant lever, ready to eject them from said chair if he deems the story to be boring. Very few attemptors have finished their stories.
71	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode " Bad Wolf", losing contestants of the in-universe reality and game shows are zapped with ray guns, causing them to disappear. [[spoiler: The Doctor eventually discovers that they are being teleported to the Dalek fleet.]]
72	* Two of the games in ''Series/SquidGame'' have losers fall from great heights to their death, as opposed to the other games where losers are merely shot. [[spoiler:The third game, Tug-of-war, is played over two platforms and a big gap in the middle, with both teams chained to the rope- whichever team falls in the gap is plunged to their doom. The fifth game, Glass Stepping Stones, is similar to hopscotch where each player must cross a bridge by stepping on a series of two identical-looking glass platforms, one of which will break and send a contestant falling and splattering down below.]]

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