History Main / PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo

* ''Film/TheWomanInTheWindow'' features a variant. Alice slips poison into Heidt's drink, but he figures out what she's up to. After she offers the glass to him, he demands that she drink it instead. When she hesitates he smacks it out of her hand.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the Disney film ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to kill Kuzco by having his drink poisoned. Kronk pours the poison into Kuzco's cup, takes them to the table... and then Kuzco notices his spinach puffs burning, prompting him to abandon the tray and sprint to the kitchen. When he comes back, he can't remember which cup was which, so he takes the drinks back, pours all three into a bowl, then separates it back into the cups, effectively putting the poison in all three. Kronk and Yzma pretend to drink theirs, but it turns out none of the drinks were poisoned in the first place -- what he had put in them was a potion that changed Kuzco into a llama. A [[FunnyBackgroundEvent background gag]] has Yzma [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal dispose of her drink]] into [[ThatPoorPlant a nearby plant]] that becomes llama shaped.

* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'', Steve Urkel sits next to a couple of bullies in the cafeteria, then has to leave the table for a moment. They sneak heavy amounts of salt into his lunch. Suspecting that they probably did something to his food, he uses a LookOverThere ploy to make the bullies look away. They sarcastically play along, and Urkel picks the trays up and puts them down ''without switching them''. They then use a LookOverThere ploy themselves ("Look, it's Steven Hawking!"), which Urkel plays along with more convincingly, allowing them to switch the trays "back". Urkel then takes the "unpoisoned" tray and leaves before the boys bite into their salty lunch.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the Disney film ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to kill Kuzco by having his drink poisoned. During the meal, Kronk, the one to initially poison it, gets the drinks confused and ends up fixing his mistake by putting the drinks into a bowl, and then pouring it back into the cups, effectively putting the poison in all three cups. Kronk and Yzma pretend to drink theirs, but it turns out none of the drinks were poisoned in the first place -- what he had put in them was a potion that changed Kuzco into a llama. A [[FunnyBackgroundEvent background gag]] has Yzma [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal dispose of her drink]] into [[ThatPoorPlant a nearby plant]] that becomes llama shaped.

* ''Film/TheAssassinationBureau'': Ivan Dragomiloff sees the countess pour poison into his chalice. He spins both chalices on a rotating table and the countess refuses to drink since she does not know where the poison is. Dragomiloff drinks the non-poisoned wine and fakes death. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Assassination_Bureau]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'', we learn that Bean's mother Queen Dagmar was petrified by a glass of poisoned wine meant for her husband, but Bean, then a baby, was playfully turning the serving tray around. [[spoiler:Then, after she's un-petrified, it turns out ''she'' was the one who poisoned the wine.]]

* Act IV of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' features a variant where both the target and the drinker are unaware of the poison. Someone (implied to be the SerialKiller ArcVillain of the chapter or at least someone working for them) spikes Navia’s drink with water from the Primordial Sea, which causes anyone from Fontaine to dissolve into water when they come into contact with it. [[BigEater Paimon]], who isn’t from Fontaine, accidentally drinks it. Navia realizes what happened when Paimon complains that the drink (which has a sweet flavor) tastes salty.

* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'', ExtravertedNerd Steve Urkel sits next to a couple of bullies in the cafeteria, then has to leave the table for a moment. They sneak heavy amounts of salt into his lunch. Suspecting that they probably did something to his food, he uses a LookOverThere ploy to make the bullies look away. They sarcastically play along, and Urkel picks the trays up and puts them down ''without switching them''. They then use a LookOverThere ploy themselves ("Look, it's Steven Hawking!"), which Urkel plays along with more convincingly, allowing them to switch the trays "back". Urkel then takes the "unpoisoned" tray and leaves before the boys bite into their salty lunch.

Two enemies are sharing a drink and one of the glasses contains poison. At ''least'' one of them will attempt to poison the other by switching glasses while the other's back is turned. Common joke is either that someone poisons a chalice, then they get switched over, or someone [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow knows he's got a poisoned drink]], and tries to find a chance to [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal dispose of it without being obvious]], or pretends to swap the glasses, waiting for the enemy to really swap them and drink. A common trick (most famously seen in ''Film/ThePrincessBride'') is to [[SelfPoisoningGambit poison both drinks]] with a substance that [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity one is already immune to]].

A less lethal variation is to shake up a bottle or can of soda or beer.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': a version of this occurs in "Cowboy Funk", where Spike and Andy get locked in an elevator by Teddy Bomber and are quickly ascending to the top of a building where a bomb will detonate and kill them. Andy says they have nothing to worry about because he anticipated this possibility and reverted the emergency access code on the elevator after Teddy had changed it. Unfortunately for them, Spike had the same idea and ''also'' reverted it, so now it's back to what Teddy had changed it to in the first place.

* In a flashback in ''Franchise/{{Batman}} R.I.P'', we see Bruce Wayne drinking with a little Asian man in the Far East. The man then reveals he poisoned Bruce's cup. However, [[spoiler: the man himself begins to fall victim to the poison. Turns out, according to Bruce, "You blinked. I switched the cups. [[CrazyPrepared Force of habit]]."]]

* ''ComicBook/AlanFord'': the volume ''New Year's Party'' features a young, hot but greedy artist named Ramon planning to poison his older lover and source of income to inherit her goods, doing so by poisoning her champagne cup. Unfortunately, he had to leave the cups alone for a few moments, which lead to his bumbling sidekicks swapping the two chalices by mistake. In the end, Ramon ends up being forced to drink the poison by his lover at gunpoint, suffering a KarmicDeath.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

* {{Inverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', when Fiona's father the King brings two cups of tea into Fiona's room, one of which he had spiked with a LovePotion as part of a ploy to get her to marry Prince Charming. Fiona reaches for one cup, but the King says that he wants to drink that one (because it's "decaf"). Fiona obliges and drinks the cup that the King offered to her. At the movie's climax, it's revealed to the audience that the King had actually changed his mind at the last second, instead giving Fiona the untainted cup. The [[RewatchBonus attentive viewer]] can catch that the king switched the cups after putting in the potion.

[[folder:Film — Live Action]]

** Creator/AbbottAndCostello sometimes did a variation: Lou gets a necklace from a mysterious woman, detective comes by and says a mysterious woman just stole a necklace, then Lou tries to hide it in Bud's hamburger so they don't get blamed for it. Eventually, Lou ends up eating it, just as the detective comes back and mentions there's a reward for it.

** Happens to Lou again in Pardon My Sarong, when he and the island chief are having a "friendly" drink. Lou comes out on top of this one.
** Once more in ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy'', again with hamburgers, but this time with a cursed medallion.

* On ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'', a reporter had to be KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade. Dick poured two cups of brandy ("No thanks, I'm driving.", "Oh, this is special driving brandy.") and poisoned one of them. Then Dick dramatically switched the cups around a number of times. After a {{beat}}:
-->'''Dick''': You look thirsty, why don't you drink both?
* Done once on ''Series/TheATeam'' involving a drugged hamburger, as they had knocked out BA before flying anywhere. Hannibal gave each person hamburger. BA got wise and switched burgers with Murdock, who take a couple of bites and collapsed. BA then eats the burger he took from him - and collapses. Murdock then "miraculously" revives and asks, "How did I do?"

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': Done in "Murder Under Glass", although the actual switch involved a bottle opener that had been used to inject poison into a bottle of wine. The killer watches Columbo sip his wine, and then smugly picks his own glass, only for Columbo to politely inform him that he wouldn't drink that if he was him. Columbo then explains about the switch, and how that glass full of poisoned wine will be enough to convict him.

* On ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Ricky tries to slip Lucy a sedative to calm her down, but Lucy thinks he's trying to poison and kill her, which leads to...

* Played straight in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' (except that they're both ''trying'' to get the 'poison', to save the other) up until the point where [[spoiler:Arthur distracts Merlin to put both the 'poisoned' drink and the safe one in his own goblet. He drank it, but there was actually no poison in it, just a sleeping potion.]]

* In ''Series/PoliceSquad'' a woman poisoned one of two drinks. It worked, but it looked like she drank the one with the poison with it. This may have been on purpose; after all, ''Series/PoliceSquad'' was famous for never letting a moment go by without a joke, and packed tons of subtle jokes in-between the over-the-top sight gags.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': In "A Change of Mind" Number Six is made to believe his aggressive behavior has been neutralized by ultrasound brain surgery - he comes to realize it had been staged and he was being kept passive with drugs, at which point he switches his drugged tea with a cup the scientist in charge is taking with him.

* On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', Turk informs Dr. Kelso he's giving Carla regular coffee instead of decaf, due to her proclamation that the two of them will be going to bed at the same time, ''early''. Dr. Kelso listens sympathetically, being an old hand at drugging one's spouse himself. Then, when Turk looks away, he switches Turk's decaf for Carla's caffeinated. Cut to: Turk awake all night as Carla slumbers.

* Done openly in the first episode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': the serial killer has two identical bottles of pills, one poisonous and one completely harmless, and forces his victims at gunpoint to choose one while he takes the other. The only "hint" he offers is to push one bottle closer to the victim, leaving them to try and work out if it's a bluff, a double-bluff, etc. [[spoiler: Sherlock realizes the gun is fake and is about to simply walk away, but the killer challenges him into playing anyway, playing on Sherlock's [[FatalFlaw curiosity and need to show off his genius]]. However, before they can actually take the pills, Watson shoots him, and we never do find out which was which or if even the killer wasn't lying.]]

* ''Videogame/{{Sorcery}}'': A witch who offers the Analander a drink actually poisoned her own cup to test their trust. If you don't switch the cups, she poisons herself, staggers out of the room to grab the antidote, and then comes back to talk business.

* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'': In the episode "Stolen Beauty", Trakeena, after sending her MonsterOfTheWeek to Terra Venture to steal the beauty of all women, assumes the guise of a beautiful woman named Tracy and seduces Mike. When they get a drink, she poisons his. Mike drinks it, starts coughing, and collapses. However, it turns out Mike actually saw through the deception because earlier the Monster didn't attack Tracy. So he switched the drinks and only pretended it was working. He then throws the real poisoned drink in the monsters face, distracting the monster long enough for Mike to take back the stolen beauty.

* Rapists like to add drugs, commonly called "roofies", to an unsuspecting victim's drink to facilitate the rape. This trope occurs when someone notices the attempt (either the victim or a bystander) and swaps the drinks, causing the rapist to drug himself accidentally. When this occurs, the rape is prevented, and most people hail the person who swapped the drinks as a hero.

* At the beginning of the ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' movie, the blind Matt is handed mustard instead of honey for his tea. As soon as the prankster turns his back, Matt switches the cups.

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': Amped up to eleven; in order to trap the murderer who's planning to kill the last victim, they deliberately let him poison one of the coffee cups in a meeting with others. Then the detectives make an excuse so that everyone gets sent to another room. The coffee cups are then rearranged and re-served. Which one gets the poisoned one? [[spoiler: Of course, the perp gets it, thanks to Megumi's photographic memory which remembers which cup is poisoned.]]

** Turned UpToEleven in ''Film/TheNaughtyNineties'', where Costello's character ends up having a drink with a FemmeFatale. At one point Costello loses track of who has the poison, so he dumps it into a potted plant. ThatPoorPlant withers away and dies, prompting Costello to wipe his glass out ''very thoroughly.''

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' - Number Six is made to believe his aggressive behavior has been neutralized by ultrasound brain surgery - he comes to realize it had been staged and he was being kept passive with drugs, at which point he switches his drugged tea with a cup the scientist in charge is taking with him.

* In the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' novel ''The Potter's Field'', a dying wife challenges her husband's mistress to a poisoned-chalice wager in which neither knows which glass of wine is drugged. If the wife dies, the mistress will be free to marry her husband; if the mistress dies, the wife swears to punish herself by refraining from taking herbal painkillers for her illness. The mistress agrees; by chance she's the one who dies, and the wife makes good on her promise.