History Main / OrderedToCheat

** ''Film/TheKarateKid1984''. Evil Sensei John Kreese's students are basically the neighborhood tough guy/bullies. His philosophy of Karate can be summed up as "No Mercy". Daniel [=LaRusso=], the titular ''Karate Kid'', learns a much more balanced philosophy of karate. When it looks like [=LaRusso=] is going to take the All Valley Under 18 Karate Championship away from one of his students, Kreese first tells one student (who is fighting [=LaRusso=] in the semi-finals) to take him "out of commission", which the kid does by wrecking one of [=LaRusso=]'s knees. The kid adamantly doesn't want to do it and apologizes afterwards... and he was [=DQ'ed=]. In the final bout, Kreese tells his favored student to "sweep the leg," which the student does. Naturally Daniel wins anyway.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', during the 22nd World Tournament, Tien Shinhan finds that their master, the Crane Hermit, has been having [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Chaozu]] use his telekinesis to paralyze Goku during their fight. The Crane Hermit then orders Tien Shinhan to kill Goku while he's paralyzed. Tien Shinhan refuses.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Covention", [[SiblingRivalry Eda and Lilith]] cheat on Luz and Amity's behalf during their witch's duel. Amity (who prides herself on having earned her top student status through her own blood, sweat, and tears) is driven to a brief HeroicBSOD when she finds out what her mentor has done, terrified that she may have ruined her chances for joining the Emperor's Coven.

* {{Reconstructed}} in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: Wraith Squadron]]''. [[AcePilot Wedge Antilles]] "cheats" to win a race against his subordinate Falynn Sandskimmer[[note]]He ramps his vehicle off a rock, skips off the top of hers, and gets ahead while she tries to regain control. They hadn't actually agreed on any rules of the race, Falynn just assumed it would only be a contest of speed and maneuvering.[[/note]], to teach her an object lesson about SpaceFighter dogfighting.

* Seen in the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode where Lisa is in a spelling bee. The organizer tells her to throw her word that could win her the bee (with the promise of a fully paid college education and a hot plate), because the governing body wants to use her [[{{Adorkable}} adorably geeky]] rival in advertising. In a bout of defiance, she exposes the con, then proceeds to lose anyway.

* Directly parodied during the Board Breaking Guy's Web Redemption on Series/{{Tosh0}}.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''. Mr Hoggett would like nothing more than a fair game, but his team happens to be full of compulsive cheaters. He apologizes for his team's actions, and when the game is done he decks Andy Shank, the worst of the bunch.

* {{Reconstructed}} in ''[[ComicBook/XWingSeries X-Wing: Wraith Squadron]]''. [[AcePilot Wedge Antilles]] "cheats" to win a race against his subordinate Falynn Sandskimmer[[note]]He ramps his vehicle off a rock, skips off the top of hers, and gets ahead while she tries to regain control. They hadn't actually agreed on any rules of the race, Falynn just assumed it would only be a contest of speed and maneuvering.[[/note]], to teach her an object lesson about SpaceFighter dogfighting.

* An issue of the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' manga has Sasami attending an ''Series/IronChef''-like contest and is confronted by the assistant of a restaurant owner who wants to pass it over to his son if he won three in a row. He ''begs'' Sasami to throw the match because he wants the whole ordeal over with. Sasami can't live with the idea of giving up and keeps going.

* This is basically the entire premise of the movie ''Film/QuizShow''. All the contestants willingly and enthusiastically went along with the cheating, both in real life, and in the movie. (Especially in real life.)

* Music/NoMoreKings, [[http://www.sweeptheleg.com/ "Sweep The Leg."]]

-->"SweepTheLeg! Do you have a problem with that?"

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Season 12, ''Suite Smells of Excess''. Hank was told to give misleading orders to a rival football team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, so that his football team, Texas Longhorns, would win. Hank was reluctant at first, but then went on with it when he remembered that it was to help Texas. [[spoiler: The rival football team won anyways.]]

->'''Kreese:''' Bobby, I want him [[CripplingTheCompetition out of commission]].\\

* In the ''Literature/YoungBond'' novel ''Literature/{{SilverFin}}'', George Hellebore is ordered to cheat by his father to ensure that he wins the Hellebore Cup. he does so because he is terrified of disappointing his father.

* Music/NoMoreKings, "[[http://www.sweeptheleg.com/ Sweep The Leg]]".

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', Johnny Lawrence subverts this trope: He orders his Cobra Kai fighters to fight fairly in the tournament. [[spoiler:Zig-zagged in that they are so used to the idea that there is NoSuchThingAsAFairFight that they cheat instinctively ''anyway,'' resulting in several injuries to opposing fighters.]]

->'''Kreese:''' Bobby, I want him out of commission.\\

This is when a character who wants to compete fairly and honestly is told not to do so by someone else. Sometimes, the character will be told to cheat in order to win. Other times, they will be told to deliberately lose. Both heroes and their antagonists can be in this position - all that's required is that their superiors or colleagues want the competition to be rigged for some reason. This reason is often just greed or pride, but doesn't have to be - there may be something genuinely important riding on the contest.

When it's a bad guy who is ordered to play dirty, their reluctance to do so may help build them up as a WorthyOpponent - they have genuine skill, and might even get along with the hero if they weren't on opposite sides. If ordered to cheat to win, they might perform at least a partial HeelFaceTurn by defying their orders at the last minute and giving the hero a fair shot.

* ''SpeedRacerX'': Speed entered a race against an opponent who wanted to win fair and square but the BigBad coerced him into trying to get rid of Speed.

* Appears in the first ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' movie, which becomes a WhatTheHellHero moment and the beginning of a mild HeelFaceTurn (the main character wasn't all that much of a heel to begin with).

-->-- ''TheKarateKid''

* In one episode of ''SmartGuy'', TJ becomes the coach of his high school basketball team and becomes increasingly competitive and cruel. This culminates in ordering Marcus to injure an opposing player and act like it was an accident.

* NoMoreKings, "[[http://www.sweeptheleg.com/ Sweep The Leg]]".

* In the ''{{Mahabharata}}'', Bhima is only able to win his climactic mace duel against Duryodhana by striking his opponent in the thigh (which the Pandavas's mentor Krishna advises him to do by repeatedly slapping his own thigh). Duryodhana calls the Pandavas out for this, since strikes below the belt are illegal. OlderThanFeudalism.

* In WorldOfWarcraft, Instructor Rasuvius, a boss in Naxxramas actually says the trope's former title while training Death Knights, likely as a ShoutOut to the original.

* ''PennyArcade'', in a [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/09/15/ line dancing competition]] of all things.
-->'''Rival Team Boss''': You know what you have to do.
-->'''Rival Team Member''': I can beat him! I'm the better dancer!
-->'''Rival Team Boss''': He's too good. You take him out. Or I take you out.

* In "Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}", the titular hero's father, a boxer, was being paid by gangsters to throw his fights. He eventually got fed up with the dishonesty of it and won...which is how his son ended up in an orphanage.

* Happens in ''Film/TheLongestYard'', when the Warden orders guard captain Knauer, who, while cruel, still believes in fair play, to play dirty. Specifically, he wants the guards' team to get a three touchdown lead and just kick the inmates' asses for the entire rest of the game.

* This is basically the entire premise of the movie ''Film/QuizShow''.
** All the contestants willingly and enthusiastically went along with the cheating, both in real life, and in the movie. (Especially in real life.)

* The second ''Film/TheCheetahGirls'' movie has this done by the [[MeddlingParents Agent]] mother of one of the competitors. This includes having her daughter interact with Chuchi in order to split her off from the other girls, and even arranging for them to be paid at a performance in order to get them kicked out of the competition that they're in Barcelona for (which is only for amateurs; receiving payment makes them professionals). Her daughter ultmately calls her out on her behavior, saying that she doesn't want to win by cheating.

* Used during the Chuunin Exam in ''Manga/Naruto''. The written exam was designed to be very difficult (although some people could do it the old-fashioned way, such as Sakura), but the Instructors left hints that punishment for cheating would be rather lenient, that you're actually ''expected'' to cheat. Which is the point, the exam is testing your intelligence gathering skills.