History Main / AllOrNothing

* The idiom "Hollywood or bust" refers to the practice of going for broke and either succeeding beyond one's wildest dreams, or winding up destitute. In Australia, there is a similar concept of "[[UsefulNotes/Sydney Sydney]] or the bush".

* The idiom "Hollywood or bust" refers to the practice of going for broke and either succeeding beyond one's wildest dreams, or winding up destitute. In Australia, there is a similar concept of "Sydney or the bush".

** The syndicated version:

* ''Moment of Truth''. The hopefuls were called upon to answer highly embarrassing and potentially damaging questions about themselves (affairs and past crimes were common subjects), with a prize structure similar to that on ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire''. The killer thing is, if the answerer got even ''one'' question wrong, he or she lost EVERYTHING. No safety net, no consolation prize, all that pain and emotional torment for jumping-jack nada. Even better, guess what was used to determine the "correct" answers? A ''LieDetector''. Which means that even if the answer ''was'' correct, it still resulted in absolute failure if the machine said otherwise. (Later it instituted a $25,000 floor, which wasn't much comfort.)

* This is the case in ''Series/{{The Chase|GameShow}}''. Get caught in the final chase, go home with nothing. Unless it's the celebrity edition, in which case they get a very small consolation prize. No idea what happens if you win with a negative amount of money, hasn't happened yet. In one GSN episode, all three contestants were wiped out in the "cash builder" round that precedes the final chase. The Beast offered the three $15,000 to split in the Final Chase, but only one could participate. They chose one and still lost it all. [[note]]In many versions, if all contestants are caught in their head-to-head chases and the one they nominate wins the Final Chase, each contestant wins the value of one Cash Builder question. In the Australian and ABC American versions, the chaser names the prize to be split among the contestants.[[/note]]

* This is the case in ''Series/{{The Chase|GameShow}}''. Get caught in the final chase, go home with nothing. Unless it's the celebrity edition, in which case they get a very small consolation prize. No idea what happens if you win with a negative amount of money, hasn't happened yet. In one GSN episode, all three contestants were wiped out in the "cash builder" round that precedes the final chase. The Beast offered the three $15,000 to split in the Final Chase, but only one could participate. They chose one and still lost it all. (In many versions, if all contestants are caught in their head-to-head chases and the one they nominate wins the Final Chase, each contestant wins the value of one Cash Builder question. In the Australian and ABC American versions, the chaser names the prize to be split among the contestants.)

* This is the case in ''Series/{{The Chase|GameShow}}''. Get caught in the final chase, go home with nothing. Unless it's the celebrity edition, in which case they get a very small consolation prize. No idea what happens if you win with a negative amount of money, hasn't happened yet. In one episode, all three contestants were wiped out in the "cash builder" round that precedes the final chase. The Beast offered the three $15,000 to split in the Final Chase, but only one could participate. They chose one and still lost it all.

* In ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'', unless and until a contestant reaches the $25,000 mark, a loss (without being Saved, of course) will send them home with nothing. They changed it in the syndicated version. Now, if you get one wrong, you lose what you've won so far, but you're not out of the game. Additionally to the syndicated version, you do get a ConsolationPrize of a prepaid card if you miss the bonus question: $2500 if you had at least that much at the bonus question, or $250 otherwise. And no matter what happens, of course, if you win any less than the grand prize, whether through getting a question wrong or taking the consolation prize, you have to look at the camera and say, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader."

* The end of the film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. Although Charlie has won Mr. Wonka's contest by default (since the other children all "dropped out"), Mr. Wonka disqualifies him on a technicality, delivering the news rather bluntly and cruelly. [[spoiler: However, he subverts it a moment later by revealing that it is one last Secret Test Of Character, which Charlie passes.]] The other children in this film leave with nothing other than the AmusingInjuries they'd brought upon themselves (and a lifetime supply of chocolate). (This is different than the book. Then again, the book or the ''[[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory The 2005 Johnny Depp/Tim Burton movie]]'' didn't have that contract.)

* In ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'', unless and until a contestant reaches the $25,000 mark, a loss will send them home with nothing. They changed it in the syndicated version. Now, if you get one wrong, you lose what you've won so far, but you're not out of the game. Additionally to the syndicated version, you do get a ConsolationPrize of a prepaid card if you miss the bonus question: $2500 if you had at least that much at the bonus question, or $250 otherwise. And no matter what happens, of course, if you win any less than the grand prize, whether through getting a question wrong or taking the consolation prize, you have to look at the camera and say, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader."

* UsefulNotes/RichardNixon believed that "In the Olympics, second gets you the silver medal, in politics it gets you oblivion". This explains a lot. On the other hand, in the original U.S. Constitution, the Vice Presidency was the consolation prize for the runner-up -- that idea was scrapped after the first couple of elections following UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington retiring from the presidency kept putting political rivals and President and Vice President who had zero interest in cooperating on anything (UsefulNotes/JohnAdams and UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson in 1796, Jefferson and UsefulNotes/AaronBurr in 1800), and especially after the 1800 election needed 37 attempts at selecting a President by the House of Representatives to pick one.

* UsefulNotes/RichardNixon believed that "In the Olympics, second gets you the silver medal, in politics it gets you oblivion". This explains a lot. On the other hand, in the original U.S. Constitution, the Vice-Presidency was the consolation prize for the runner-up. That idea was scrapped after the first tie in the Electoral College.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', In the Pokémon Chronicles episode ''The Legend of Thunder'', Eugene refers to this trope by name, explaining how they could either save Raikou and themselves or all die.

** The [[TransatlanticEquivalent American version]], ''Series/MillionDollarMoneyDrop'', was even crueler. Not only was the exact same format from the British version used, but the final question is even ''harder,'' mostly due to the hint they gave being [[PowerupLetdown absolutely worthless.]] Plus, there were a few questions that rely on [[CriticalResearchFailure false information.]] Not surprisingly, this show was cancelled after about half a season.

* {{Exaggerated}} in the original British version of ''GrandSlam''; not only was the only prize on offer the £50k for winning the sixteen-way tournament... But the contestants had to pay a £1k entry fee to get on the show.

** For the Express Round, if the contestant(s) choose to play the Express, their turn effectively becomes a solo "Risk vs. Reward" Speed Up Round with consonants earning $1,000 per occurrence, although vowels will still deduct $250 as normal. Express play continues until the contestant(s) either successfully solves the puzzle or makes a mistake of any type (e.g. calling a letter not in the puzzle, calling a used letter, or solving the puzzle incorrectly), with the latter acting like a Bankrupt.

* This is the case in ''Series/TheChase''. Get caught in the final chase, go home with nothing. Unless it's the celebrity edition, in which case they get a very small consolation prize. No idea what happens if you win with a negative amount of money, hasn't happened yet. In one episode, all three contestants were wiped out in the "cash builder" round that precedes the final chase. The Beast offered the three $15,000 to split in the Final Chase, but only one could participate. They chose one and still lost it all.

* The same system is used in the U.S. show ''Series/FriendOrFoe?''. It's basically the PrisonersDilemma, which is the Game Theory game non-economists know about.

* In Britain, ''Series/TheMillionPoundDrop'' was probably worse than ''Golden Balls'' about this. After taking most of an hour to go through seven questions and plenty of padding, players must face a final multiple-choice question with two choices. If they pick the correct answer, they keep their winnings; if they pick the incorrect one, they leave empty-handed and any success they had on previous questions is rendered moot. This led to one team who lost £525,000 on a tough answer which may has well have been a coin flip, since it was on ''nearly-30-year-old celebrity gossip''.
** The [[TransatlanticEquivalent American version]], ''Series/MillionDollarMoneyDrop'', was even crueler. The contestants started out with the maximum possible prize of one million dollars, then had to answer a series of seven multiple-choice questions, placing the money on the answers. This, naturally, led to some difficult choices on whether to put everything on one answer or hedge, and if they decided to hedge, how ''much'' to hedge. Nerve-wracking enough on its own, but where this trope was literally invoked was in the final question, which had only two choices. Since the contestants were required to leave one choice uncovered, there were two possibilities here, win all the money they still had at that point...or lose it all, thereby completely wasting all their efforts up to that point. Not surprisingly, this show was cancelled after about half a season.

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!!Fictional examples:

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* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' In the Pokémon Chronicles episode ''The Legend of Thunder'', Eugene refers to this trope by name, explaining how they could either save Raikou and themselves or all die.

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* In ''Anime/VariableGeo'', there's no such thing as "second place". Either you become champion, or you leave empty-handed and [[NeverLiveItDown publicly humiliated.]] Hence, the penalty for losing any match at rank 3 and above, means having to [[ShamefulStrip strip in the ring and bare themselves to the crowd in disgrace.]]

Compare SecondPlaceIsForLosers, when a game or sports event is ''not'' like that but people act like it is. A cousin of this is the GoldenSnitch, where something has so much value, you must obtain it or lose. In an acting sense, this trope will sometimes result in a OneTakeWonder.

* The terms of the will in both the original novel of ''Literature/BrewstersMillions'' and its various film adaptations essentially give Brewster an all-or-nothing challenge; if he spends the original 'inheritance' in its entirety, he gets the full amount, if he doesn't then he leaves with nothing.
** In the Richard Pryor film, Brewster has the option to simply take $1 million upfront, but turns it down in favor of the challenge (spend $30 million in 30 days to inherit $300 million).
** That option was also present in the original novel: instead of risking bankruptcy for the chance of inheriting seven million dollars from his uncle, Brewster could keep the million he inherited from his Grandfather.

* As seen in the trope image In the ''Series/SesameStreet'' game show sketch "The Crying Game Show" with Sonny Friendly, the grand prize was Sonny Friendly's owned teddy bear. But host Sonny Friendly decides to cry the hardest and thus, he wins the game. And leaves all three contestants sobbing after the announcer blurted that there are no consolation prizes.

* The ''Series/PawnStars'' spin-off game show ''Pawnography'' operates on this principle. In the final round, the leading contestant and the team of Rick, Corey, and Chumlee are asked the same ten questions within a sixty second time limit. Before host Christopher Titus reveals the final scores, Rick gives the contestant an opportunity to negotiate a cash offer, which is less than the value of the cash and prizes at stake, to walk away from the game. If the contestant refuses Rick's final offer and either outscores or ties the Pawn Stars, the contestant wins everything he/she has accumulated; however, if contestant gets fewer questions correct, then he/she loses everything.
* ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' plays with the trope. The show itself averts the trope, with each contestant guaranteed at least $1,000[[note]]$2,000 for two-person teams[[/note]] by the end of the game; however, two specialty wedges, the Mystery Wedges in Round 2 and the Express Wedge in Round 3, play the trope straight during their respective rounds.

* The end of the film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. Although Charlie has won Mr. Wonka's contest by default (since the other children all "dropped out"), Mr. Wonka disqualifies him on a technicality, delivering the news rather bluntly and cruelly. [[spoiler: However, he subverts it a moment later by revealing that it is one last Secret Test Of Character, which Charlie passes.]] The other children in this film leave with nothing other than the AmusingInjuries they'd brought upon themselves. (This is different than the book. Then again, the book or the ''[[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory The 2005 Johnny Depp/Tim Burton movie]]'' didn't have that contract.)