History Main / SpillStainSabotage

* '''Film/GreenForDanger''': [[spoiler:Esther Sanson catches Sister Bates with Sanson's paint-stained surgical gown which will prove she murdered Higgins and murders Bates. Realising that someone else is approaching and that she does not have to hide or destroy the gown, Sanson cuts out the incriminating stain and then dresses Bates in the gown and knife carefully places the knife through the hole to disguise it.]]

->''"'Dirtiest Diaper--?! WOAH! COUGH COUGH COFFEE EGGS BACON! Oh, too bad. I 'accidentally' made breakfast all over whatever that record was for."''

** In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "record book", Strong Bad is leafing through a book of world records and finds one of his younger self having the "[[ToiletHumor Most Dirtiest Diapey]]". He instantly makes breakfast on it to save face.

** Pictured and quoted above: In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "record book", Strong Bad is leafing through a book of world records and finds one of his younger self having the "[[ToiletHumor Most Dirtiest Diapey]]". He instantly makes breakfast on it to save face.

* ''VideoGame/JumpstartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain''. One of the game's missions had Polly decide to alter the reason Leonardo da Vinci wasn't about to construct a helicopter after designing it on paper by invoking this trope. Once fixed, the real reason becomes apparent: there were no electric motors in da Vinci's day to power a helicopter.

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[[AC:Literature]]

* In ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', Countess Andrenyi purposefully spills grease on her passport to obscure her Christian name.

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* An episode of ''Series/HannahMontana'' shows that this is Miley's way of ensuring that she never has to wear dorky gift dresses she gets for her birthday without offending her father. She deliberately takes out a whole plate of spaghetti and smears it all over the dress, making stains so large that they become unwearable.

* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' had an episode where Chief Unser prevents the ATF investigators from investigating the car bomb evidence site by sneaking off, secretly peeing into a large cup of soda and then returning and "accidentally" spilling the pee/soda mixture right in the evidence area. Unser then explains to another character that the cancer treatments he's on contaminate his pee enough to set off a Geiger counter, and that when the ATF detects nuclear contaminants they'll have to leave the crime scene until a whole separate team can get there.

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[[AC:WebAnimation]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]''', WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "record book"

When a person has something that they never want to see again, they can render the item unusable by spilling something on it and making a huge stain. Spaghetti sauce is very good for this, but one can get creative and use things like black coffee, soda, [[ExcrementStatement feces]] and even HollywoodAcid. Or simply just spilling their inkwell on it.

* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'': The head librarian "accidentally" sets fire to map to Hamenaptra with a candle, charring the map so it can't be read. He is secretly working with the Medji, trying to keep outsiders from stumbling on the city.

* A variant on the trope gets a mention on the first episode of ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard''. Luke takes down a campaign poster for [[TheDragon Rosco's]] re-election and explains it's for "lining the rabbit's cage...''[[StealthInsult face up]]''."

** In "anything" Homestar poured Mountain Dew on Strong Bad's computer [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext to make a wet computer out of it]]. In "email thunder", Strong Bad returns the favor by pouring an enormous bottle of Mountain Dew on Homestar's computer.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Bart on the Road", Homer hears from Lisa that Bart lied so he could go on a road trip with his other 10-year-old friends alone, and is working as a courier to get a chance to return home after losing all their money. Homer retrieves Bart by pouring a Buzz Cola on his work console, shorting it out so he has an excuse to buy a new one and have Bart escort it.

** In ''Dangeresque Roomisode 1: Behind the Dangerdesque'', Strong Bad as Dangeresque considers this trick by spilling [[WayPastTheExpirationDate either really old coffee or nasty Chinese takeout]] on the case file he has to solve before he leaves his office so it'll be unreadable and wash his hands of responsibility. This [[ItsAWonderfulFailure gets him landed in prison instead]].

->''"Coffee! Eggs! Bacon! Oh, too bad. I 'accidentally' made breakfast all over whatever that record was for."''

* A variant on the trope gets a mention on the first episode of ''TheDukesOfHazzard''. Luke takes down a campaign poster for [[TheDragon Rosco's]] re-election and explains it's for "lining the rabbit's cage...''[[StealthInsult face up]]''."

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer hears from his daughter Lisa that his son Bart lied so he could go on a road trip with his other 10-year-old friends alone, and is working as a courier to get a chance to return home after losing all their money. Homer retrieves Bart by pouring a Buzz Cola on his work console, shorting it out so he has an excuse to buy a new one and have Bart escort it.

[[quoteright:278:[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125_3801.bmp]]]]
->''Coffee! Eggs! Bacon! Oh, too bad. I "accidentally" made breakfast all over whatever that record was for.''

-->-- '''[[HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]''', WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "record book"

Can be used to create a ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument or an intentional WardrobeWound. The use of this trope can signal a RevealingCoverup. Not to be confused with EatTheEvidence, where instead of covering the offending object in food, the offending object is consumed as food. Compare with the BeverageSpill, where it's a ''character'' that gets messed up, and MustacheVandalism, when one creatively uses ink to deface a portrait.

->''"Coffee! Eggs! Bacon! Whoops, too bad. [[BlatantLies Looks like I just made breakfast]] over whatever that record was for."''
-->-- '''[[HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]'''

** Pictured and quoted above: Strong Bad is leafing through a book of world records and finds one of his younger self having the "[[ToiletHumor Most Dirtiest Diapey]]". He instantly makes breakfast on it to save face.
** Strong Bad as Dangeresque considers this trick by spilling [[WayPastTheExpirationDate either really old coffee or nasty Chinese takeout]] on the case file he has to solve before he leaves his office so it'll be unreadable and wash his hands of responsibility. This [[ItsAWonderfulFailure gets him landed in prison instead]].
** Homestar poured Mountain Dew on Strong Bad's computer [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext to make a wet computer out of it]]. Strong Bad in turn pours an enormous bottle of Mountain Dew on Homestar's computer in turn as payback.
** When thinking of various art styles for his hypothetical portrait, Strong Bad suggests a painting of him in a 17th century photo-realistic Dutch style, and remarked that these types of paintings are often vandalized by art bandits. Cue The Cheat spray-painting a [[TransformersGenerationOne RAD RAD ROBOTANK]] all over it. Strong Bad approves that after being vandalized, now it's worth something.

* In ''Film/TheMummy'': The head librarian "accidentally" sets fire to map to Hamenaptra with a candle, charring the map so it can't be read. He is secretly working with the Medji, trying to keep outsiders from stumbling on the city.

[[quoteright:278:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125_3801.bmp]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer hears from his daughter Lisa that his son Bart lied so he could go on a road trip with his other 10-year-old friends alone, and is working as a courier to get a chance to return home after losing all their money. Homer gets Bart back by pouring a Buzz Cola on his work console, shorting it out so he has an excuse to buy a new one and have Bart escort it.