History Main / PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo

** It actually works out well for him-in the end he is correct. The real trick is that there is four candles: trapped short, trapped long, normal short and normal long. Gon's opponent would give him the trapped candle with whatever one he chose, then picked the non-trapped version for himself. But since the contest was to see who's candle goes out first, he just blows on the other guy's normal candle and wins.

* ''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.

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' features a subversion. After going through a long IKnowYouKnowIKnow, Vizzini [[LookOverThere distracts]] the Man In Black and switches the goblets, then carefully waits for his opponent to drink first (since presumably the Man In Black would try to weasel out of drinking if he thought he was about to drink from the poisoned cup). Turns out the Man In Black [[SelfPoisoningGambit poisoned]] [[XanatosGambit both chalices]], revealing to Buttercup afterward that [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity he had built up a tolerance to the poison used]]. Ironically, ''both'' sides of his IKnowYouKnowIKnow were correct — "I cannot choose the wine in front of you" and "I cannot choose the wine in front of me" — even though he was only using them to fish for a reaction.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the Disney film ''Disney/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.

* ''LIterature/{{Discworld}}'', ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': When Mort, who is [[SubbingForSanta subbing for Death]], visits the Agatean Court, a poisoned piece of squishi goes back and forth between the vizier and the emperor's bowls as each thinks of a better reason for the other to eat it.

-->-- Rule #83, EvilOverlordList

* Done openly in ''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. [[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.]]
** Assuming the killer was telling the truth a variation is created. [[spoiler:No matter how clever Sherlock is he cannot figure out where the poison is because the killer doesn't know and has just been lucky (though he must have divine luck to come out alive after all four previous killings).]] Naturally Sherlock ''doesn't'' believe him and gets sucked in.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E4Theromans "The Romans"]]: Vicki overhears Nero's wife, Poppaea, plotting to have a servant poisoned. Feeling this cannot be allowed to happen, Vicki swaps the drinks over, meaning Nero will receive the poisoned one. When she casually tells the Doctor what she has done, he rebukes her for "interfering with history" and the pair hurry to stop Nero from drinking the poison. Though it's just as well Vicki swapped the drinks because, unknown to herself or the Doctor, the intended victim was Barbara.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' had a variation with salt in milk, between Jason and Peter with multiple switches and some alleged fake switches, culminating in the line "We're trying to figure out which of us should be throwing up right now." Turned out Paige had somehow gotten the salt.
* A ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip has Jon Arbuckle suggesting that he and his date drink from each other's glasses... on the grounds that his last date tried to poison him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KlondikeKat'', he is trying to drug Savoir-Faire, who knows what he's trying to do. They keep switching the glasses around until Savoir just clinks the glasses together once, but leaves them as is. Klondike switches the glasses again and winds up with the wrong glass.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi-Wan and Anakin use TheForce to pull this trick off on a gang of pirates. But then they get knocked out anyway between episodes [[AllThereInTheManual because the lead pirate's pet sees them and uses a gas to knock out]] ''everyone''.

* 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.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', you come across one of your assassination targets just as he's about to poison a political enemy. You can then switch their glasses and have the target drink his own poison, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential mix the drinks and poison them both]], or smash both glasses and force your target to carry out his assassination the hard way.

* The Creator/GKChesterton short story "The Bottomless Well" uses exactly the same variant as ''Curtain'', with [[spoiler:a revolving bookcase to accidentally switch the cups]].

** In the final Literature/HerculePoirot novel, ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', [[spoiler:20th-century [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]] Stephen Norton has manipulated Barbara Franklin into trying to poison her husband. While everyone else is looking at meteors, Hastings, completely unsuspecting, swivels the table around to get at a book, and Barbara drinks the poisoned coffee.]]
** Also in ''Curtain'', [[spoiler:Poirot tells Norton that he plans to kill him. Both are drinking hot chocolate, and Norton asks to swap cups. Poirot agrees, but he had dosed the pot of chocolate with sleeping tablets he had been taking for a long time (and thus [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity developed a mild immunity to]]). Norton falls asleep, and Poirot later kills him.]]

[[folder:Commercials]]
* A TV commercial announced that, on Mondays, a DVD with episodes of a British crime show would be included when you bought the Swedish evening paper ''Expressen''. In the commercial, a British woman is preparing tea for herself and her husband, and secretly pours poison into his cup.
-->'''Husband''': [Drinks his tea] \\
'''Wife (smiling)''': "I poisoned your tea..."\\
'''Husband (also smiling)''': "Darling, I know! I switched the cups."\\
'''Wife''': "So did I."\\
'''Husband''': [Gasps, and then promptly dies] \\
* The butler enters the room.* \\
'''Wife''': "Bury him with the others, James."
[[/folder]]

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 pretending 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]].

** 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 for this one.

** It also occurs in ''Outcast of Redwall''. Swartt convinces Bowflegg that the wine isn't poisoned by drinking some of it straight from the bottle. That's because the poison is actually smeared onto the rim of the goblet that Bowflegg drinks from. The trick is pulled at least once more, and is later subverted by a fox who realized the trick (he's gotten rid of in a less direct way).

* Played straight in ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' (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.]]

* Film/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.

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 pretending 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 poison both drinks with a substance that [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity one is already immune to]].

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' features a subversion. After going through a long IKnowYouKnowIKnow, Vizzini [[LookOverThere distracts]] the Man In Black and switches the goblets, then carefully waits for his opponent to drink first (since presumably the Man In Black would try to weasel out of drinking if he thought he was about to drink from the poisoned cup). Turns out the Man In Black [[XanatosGambit poisoned]] ''[[XanatosGambit both]]'' [[XanatosGambit chalices]], revealing to Buttercup afterward that [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity he had built up a tolerance to the poison used]]. Ironically, ''both'' sides of his IKnowYouKnowIKnow were correct — "I cannot choose the wine in front of you" and "I cannot choose the wine in front of me" — even though he was only using them to fish for a reaction.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* {{Inverted}} in the fantasy film ''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 love potion as part of a ploy to get her to marry Prince Charming. After talking for a bit, Fiona reaches for one cup, but the King, succumbing to guilt, nervously tells her to drink the other, making up a transparent excuse about one of them being decaf. Fiona obliges, having no reason to be suspicious of her father. 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.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* In ''Film/TheIronMask'' Phillipe does this in full view of his mother. But since he's the king--actually, TheUsurper who is impersonating the king--she has little choice but to drink it.
* In ''Film/SherlockJr'', the detective played by Creator/BusterKeaton accepts a poisoned drink, then politely offers it to the would-be murderer's accomplice (who doesn't know about the poison).

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' features a subversion. After going through a long IKnowYouKnowIKnow, Vizzini [[LookOverThere distracts]] the Man In Black and switches the goblets, then carefully waits for his opponent to drink first (since presumably the Man In Black would try to weasel out of drinking if he thought he was about to drink from the poisoned cup). Turns out the Man In Black [[XanatosGambit poisoned]] ''[[XanatosGambit both]]'' [[XanatosGambit chalices]], revealing to Buttercup afterward that [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity he had built up a tolerance to the poison used]]. Ironically, ''both'' sides of his IKnowYouKnowIKnow were correct -- "I cannot choose the wine in front of you" and "I cannot choose the wine in front of me" -- even though he was only using them to fish for a reaction.
** And best of all, the Man in Black was playing fair -- he never said his opponent had to choose a goblet, only that he had to drink. Vizzini could have avoided danger by refusing both goblets and [[TakeAThirdOption drinking out of the bottle.]]

* ''Film/{{Stardust}}'': This scene when the three remaining brothers, Primus, Tertius, and Septimus are having a toast to their quest for the magic ruby:
-->'''Bishop:''' To the new King of Stormhold. Whichever of you fine young men it might be.
-->''[They acknowledge him and drink. The bishop's face contorts. Seconds later, he collapses, dead. The brothers look uncomprehendingly at their cups, and then eye each other suspiciously. Tertius breaks the atmosphere with a laugh, which turns into wheezing, then starts having convulsions, and dies]''
-->'''Septimus:''' ''[to Primus]'' You- ''[Clutches his throat and chokes on the poison. Seconds later, he falls on his back. Primus' eyes light up in realization at the fact that he is the only brother remaining. Thinking this means he is now the king, he picks up the crown reverently and is about to put it on when....]''
-->'''Septimus:''' Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! ''[stands up, laughing]'' You ''really'' thought you were king!
-->'''Primus:''' You killed the bishop.
-->'''Septimus:''' No, Primus, I think you'll find that ''you'' killed the bishop by drinking out of the wrong cup. ''[Primus looks crestfallen]'' Oh look, once you've finished wrestling with your conscience I suggest you return to your chamber. Leave the quest for the stone to me.
** In the book, all the brothers are savvy enough to only drink wine they themselves have poured from a sealed bottle. In the film, Primus refuses wine from Lamia at the inn, probably for that reason.

* Film/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.
** Turned UpToEleven in ''Film/TheNaughtyNineties'', where Costello's character ends up having a drink with the BigBad. 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.''
** 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 for this one.
* Subverted in a terrifically cool way in the Hong Kong movie ''Color of the Truth''. Evil Mob Boss visits Hired Mooks in their hideout bearing celebratory bottles of wine. Head Hired Mook suspects this trope, so he demands that Evil Mob Boss takes a swig of the wine first - which he does. Evil Mob Boss leaves the Mooks to their party, then rushes out to a trailer truck parked a short distance away - in which a mobile medical unit is waiting to ''pump the poison out of his stomach.''
* Used in multiple ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' shorts. In one notable instance, Shemp and the villainess take turns distracting each other and swapping their wine glasses. The villainess, however, simply taps the glasses together when it's her turn, causing Shemp to swap the glasses around again and give himself the poison.
* PlayedForLaughs in the Czech film ''Císařův pekař - Pekařův císař'' (''The Emperor and the Golem'') - a group of conspirators attempt to poison Emperor Rudolf II. The plot [[HilarityEnsues is derailed]] when the chalices of wine - including the poisoned one - are used to demonstrate Copernicus' heliocentric system.

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', Jack Sparrow lies about which chalice contains the mermaid tear, and thus will grant life, while the other one will drain life. [[spoiler: Blackbeard values his own life more than that of his daughter, drinks the one he thinks will give life, and ends up dying.]]
* The [[Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011 2011 version of ''The Three Musketeers'']] has a variation where it's the chalices themselves that were poisoned.
* At the end of ''Film/TheLittleGirlWhoLivesDownTheLane'', as Rynn is making tea for herself and [[AffablyEvil Frank]], she puts potassium cyanide in her own cup. It's not clear if she anticipated that Frank would be suspicious and switch, or if she was initially intending to kill herself rather than submit to Frank's blackmail (and possibly framing him with her murder), or if it was a XanatosGambit (where, for the reasons stated earlier, either person dying would be a "win" for Rynn). Whatever the case, Frank becomes suspicious and demands that they switch cups, so he ends up dying.
* Played with in ''Film/PrinceValiant1997''. The villain spikes Princess Ilene's goblet with some kind of potion (love potion, sleeping potion... wasn't made clear). Ilene distracts him, switches goblets, and pours candle wax into his goblet. The villain get suspicious and switches them back. He drinks first, and as he chokes on the wax, Ilene escapes.
* In the 1938 German movie ''Napoleon ist an allem schuld'' ("It's All Napoleon's Fault"), Lord Cavershoot (Curt Goetz) and Lord Cunningham (Paul Henckels) spike one of the cups for afternoon tea with a delayed Mickey Finn so that the intended victim will be asleep and thus miss the big party in the evening. Unfortunately for them, while they aren't looking, Lady Cavershoot discovers an unsightly spot on the tablecloth, which Cunningham caused when he poured the potion into the tea. She doesn't know about the potion, but because she doesn't want the guest to face the spot, she quickly turns the table around, accidentally causing Lord Cunningham to drink the Mickey-laced tea.
* In ''Film/{{Heathers}}'', Veronica mistakenly picks the wrong of two cups to give to Heather, [[spoiler:who then dies from drinking the lethal potion.]]
* In the short film ''Film/TheBloodyOlive'', Werner prevents poisoning by exchanging the glass of toxic champagne with a glass of sparkling water.

* In ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart1'', one of the secrets Finnick reveals about Snow is that his favorite method of disposing of rivals is through poison. Knowing they would expect this kind of treachery, he would drink from the same cup as them, but he had taken an antidote.
* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Eggsy is offered a glass of brandy from [[spoiler:Arthur]]. Having recognized treachery less than a minute before the offer is made (and already educated in the style of poison being used), Eggsy asks a question about a nearby painting as a distraction so that he can make the switch.
* Although not involving poison, the alternate ending to ''Film/{{Die Hard with a Vengeance}}'' plays with this trope. John [=McClane=] faces off with Simon Gruber, a rocket launcher with the sights removed on the table between them. They play the Simon Says game, with the rocket being turned each time Simon Gruber answers a question correctly. Eventually he gets a question wrong, so John tells him to pull the trigger. However Simon turns the rocket launcher one more time before doing so, convinced the muzzle will then be facing towards John. He's wrong.
* ''Film/TheSurvivalist'' has a variation: the poisoner gives the poison to the person that they intended, but the victim is probably not who the audience were expecting. [[spoiler: Kathryn wants to kill The Survivalist and take over his patch. Her daughter Milja says that she will cook a meal with poison mushrooms. No one swaps their dishes around when the meal is eaten, but we find out that Milja gave the poison to Kathryn. ]]

* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes adventure ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', the killer uses a variant to get revenge on the people who kidnapped his fiancee, [[TechnicalPacifist without directly killing them.]] He corners each victim and produces two pills, forcing the victim to choose one and he agrees to take the other. The twist is that he deliberately has no idea which is poison, but trusts in fate to punish the guilty. This breaks down when one victim refuses to pick (and instead attacks the perpetrator), forcing the killer to stab him.

* Used in Brian Jacques's ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' novel ''Marlfox'' by [[TheStarscream Lantur]], on [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen her mother Silth]]. The mad old queen either overthinks it by several layers, or by one layer too few, depending on your point of view, on trying to figure out if her own royal goblet was poisoned or the plain pewter one intended for Lantur. [[spoiler:She forces Lantur to drink from the pewter cup, but the poisoned one was indeed her own royal cup the entire time.]]
** It also occurs in ''Outcast of Redwall''. Swartt convinces Bowflegg that the wine isn't poisoned by drinking some of it straight from the bottle. That's because the poison is actually smeared onto the rim of the goblet that Bowflegg drinks from. The trick is pulled at least once more, and is later subverted by a fox who realized the trick (he's gotten rid of in a less direct way).
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Percy manages to pull this on Phineas with the gorgon blood. He wins. Doubles as OutGambitted.
* In the novel ''Literature/TheSherwoodRing,'' Barbara is taken prisoner by Peaceable, and ''lets him know'' (she can't hide it, really) that she's got sleeping drops on her person after hitting the apothecary that morning. After he starts to get a crush on her, and lets her know about it, she decides to pull the chalice switcheroo and hands him the red glass. He's well aware of what she's doing (especially since the cups are of different colors) and points out to her that he doesn't blame her for trying, it's just the general stupidity of her trying that irritates him. He switches goblets and challenges her to drink hers, she does, he does...then he says, "It was in the green glass all the time, wasn't it?" Yup. He'd informed Barbara earlier that all the girls he ever met in his life came off as fools and he assumed when she pulled out the goblets that she wasn't as smart as she appeared, and she took advantage of it. He promptly proposed marriage before he passed out.
* ''Literature/{{Nation}}'', by Creator/TerryPratchett: Half-averted, half-subverted. In order to prevent two men from killing the islanders (and after they had already killed one), Daphne gets them alone and poisons them with undiluted beer. Foxlip, the one who had killed, does ''not'' switch the cups as per the trope, instead having Daphne mix the drinks together so they all get the same. Like ''Princess Bride'', all the cups were poisoned. Unlike ''Princess Bride'', it wasn't that Daphne was immune so much as understood the trick to make the beer safe: Spitting into the beer to neutralize the poison, and singing the ritual beer song to count time it takes to work. Daphne did this right in front of the men and asked they do it too, knowing that they would never partake in "pagan mumbo jumbo." As a result, Foxlip drank and died. The other man survived only because of continued suspicion but was sent running soon after.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''Literature/{{Farseer}}'' trilogy, [=FitzChivalry=] ostensibly poisons his "victim"'s glass, and gives him his own. He later takes a few sips of that unpoisoned glass, before noticing, a little too late, that [[spoiler:the ''bottle'' had been poisoned by the EvilPrince. He barely survives, the victim doesn't]].
* In the Creator/AgathaChristie short story "Accident", a man suspects a woman of being a murderer. Before he can be certain, he must take a drink she offers him. He waits for her to drink first; she hesitates before pouring her drink into a plant. Confident he's beaten the switcheroo, he drinks from his vessel [[spoiler:and promptly dies]].

* The Creator/GKChesterton short story "The Bottomless Well" uses exactly the same variant as ''Curtain'', with [[spoiler:a revolving bookcase to accidentally switch the cups]].
* ''Literature/InDeath'': Non-lethal drug example. Whenever [[{{Determinator}} Eve]] goes too long without sleep in the middle of a case, Roarke will usually try to push food and sedatives on her. On one occasion, she switches their bowls of soup with a snarky comment and starts to eat -- only to fall asleep. Roarke makes fun of her for for it before she goes under.

* ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': When Mort, who is [[SubbingForSanta subbing for Death]], visits the Agatean Court, a poisoned piece of squishi goes back and forth between the vizier and the emperor's bowls as each thinks of a better reason for the other to eat it.
* In the ''Literature/BenjaminJanuary'' series, it's used to ShootTheDog. There's no way to arrest a murderer without his revealing an extremely damaging secret, so [[spoiler:Hannibal Sefton]], who's a potential threat to the man, deliberately goes to have a drink with him and switches glasses when the man's back is turned. The murderer dies of his own poison and the secret is safe.

* ''Literature/TheInitiateBrother'' has a case where the cups are being switched by the poisoner so as to poison himself. Kogami Norimasa is given non-negotiable orders to poison Shuyun under guise of sharing a drink, but because Shuyun cured his daughter, he wants to back out. Rather than let Shuyun drink the poison, he ensures that it's him who ends up with that cup, leaving Shuyun alive and himself beyond his master's retribution.
* ''Literature/SheLoverOfDeath'': Accidentally. The chaos caused by Fandorin attempting to escape from the TrapDoor causes Prospero to dive to the desk and close the hatch--causing the roulette wheel on which the two glasses are poised to spin around. That leads to Prospero drinking the glass of acid that he'd intended Horatio to drink.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Boom Town" (9th Doctor), the evil Margaret Blaine distracts the Doctor during dinner and slips poison into his drink. Then the Doctor, still smiling and without missing a beat, deliberately and in full view switches the glasses.
** Also occurs in the First Doctor story "The Romans", in which Vicki overhears Nero's wife, Poppaea, plotting to have a servant poisoned. Feeling this cannot be allowed to happen, Vicki swaps the drinks over, meaning Nero will receive the poisoned one. When she casually tells the Doctor what she has done, he rebukes her for "interfering with history" and the pair hurry to stop Nero from drinking the poison. Though it's just as well Vicki swapped the drinks because, unknown to herself or the Doctor, the intended victim was Barbara.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' had a variant in one of their end-of-episode silent sketches. Roz brought some coffee to a woman she disliked but then got a call on her mobile; while she was distracted, the other woman switched the coffee. Then she got distracted, so Roz switched them back. This cycle of distraction and switching continued for some time until at the end, Roz just poured both cups down the sink.
* In ''Series/PoliceSquad'' a woman poisoned one of two drinks. It worked, but I'm sure 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.
* 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.

-->'''Shawn''': Why do they think he's so much smarter than us? ''(Takes a bite of "his" hamburger and winces in disgust)''\\
'''Cory''': Because he is, isn't he? ''(Shawn nods in agreement)''
* ''{{Skithouse}}'': The inviting host enters with one, and only one, glass of wine on a tray. He puts it down, lays a distraction, adds the poison, and he and his captive play out the distract-then turn scene, while the single glass is in the center of the tray and not moving at all. In the end, the host picks it up, and drinks.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Steve Martin, always eager to protect his status as hosting the show more times than anybody else, once did a skit where he attempted to maintain his status by poisoning Tom Hanks before he could tie the record, by slipping poison from his ring into Tom's whiskey. A series of switcharoos took place, before Tom Hanks pulled a fake switcharoo. Steve Martin, now suspecting that, decided to throw out the whiskey and order champagne, which he again poisoned. After another couple switcharoos Tom resolved the issue by punching Steve in the jaw. Only then did Steve find out that this was only Tom Hank's fifteenth time hosting, meaning he was still one short of tying Steve. Both of them felt very foolish.
* ''Series/{{House}}'': Played almost-straight when House buys two coffees, grinding up amphetamines in one to give to Wilson. House offers the clean one to Wilson, who suspiciously declines House's offer and takes the drugged one from his desk.
* Seen in a ''Creator/MorecambeAndWise'' {{Hamlet}} parody in which Eric and Ernie resort to ever more desperate measures to distract each other as they switch the poison chalice concluding with; Ernie: Look, there's a naked lady. Eric: Look there's an even nakeder lady.
* ''{{Dracula}}: The Series'': A variation; the involved parties are both vampires and the "poison" is holy water. The exchange happens right in front of the poisoner who doesn't notice due to Dracula's fast reflexes.
* Played straight in ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' (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.]]

* 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.
--> '''Dr. Kelso:''' "What a fun day..."

-->'''Lucy:''' I ''switched glasses!''
-->'''Ricky:''' I know you did. I ''switched'' them back.
* ''Series/GetSmart''. Max is dining out with a female KAOS agent. She is trying to give him a knockout pill, while Max is attempting to spike her drink with truth serum. Both of them keep pointing out things to look at behind the other's back, so they can switch drinks. It ends with Max telling everything he knows to the KAOS agent, who is fast asleep.
* In ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' serial "Done To Death," the two detectives suspect [[FemmeFatale Blanche]] has poisoned their food. They both make several attempts to change their plates with hers; in the end, they both think they've succeeded and start eating, only for Blanche to remark innocently that she's got her original plate back. [[spoiler:Fortunately, the food wasn't poisoned in the first place.]]

* 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?
* Played quite straight in the German comedy "Klimbim": 1st round, the heroine switches the chalices, 2nd round, the villainess switches the chalices, 3rd round, the heroine FEIGNS to switch the chalices, 4th round, the villainess switches the chalices. Glug Glug Glug. Hey, you should drop dead now. Drat. Since the villainess isn't completely stupid, she does NOT drink her glass, but don't worry, she gets what she deserves eventually.
* ''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.
* Done once on ''Series/TheATeam'' involving a drugged hamburger, as they had knock 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?"
** Another episode had BA once again switch hamburgers with Murdock, then figured Hannibal would suspect that and conclude the only safe hamburger would be the one he was originally given. BA still lost as it turned out Hannibal drugged his milk, not any of the burgers.
* ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'': In one story, El Chapulin is helping two pirates to defect and a girl offers the Captain a cup of wine while El Chapulin is given a drink from a similar cup. Suspecting the Captain's wine to be poisoned, he and Chapulin keep playing switcheroo behind each other's backs until Chapulin pretends to switch and the Captain ends up drinking a sleeping potion.
** Chespirito has also done it in historical or mythical sketches.
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': Father Brown pulls this in "The Man in the Shadows" with a slight twist as he does it to save a life. Knowing that a Soviet agent has put cyanide in her tea so she won't be taken alive, he asks her for some sugar and then switches teacups with her while her back is turned.
* ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums'': One sketch has the Old Gits trying to kill each other. One tries to use poisoned cocoa; the other swaps the mugs. The would-be poisoner survives only because his mug broke as he was about to drink from it.
* A recurring [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOoKCOWlbs series of sketches]] on ''[[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook The Mitchell And Webb Situation]]'' was of a servant trying to poison his sick master. In one of them, the servant suspiciously suggests they should have drinks together, and brings in two drink glasses on a rotating tray. But the master catches on quickly and starts spinning the tray around repeatedly until the servant loses track of the poisoned glass. The servant then decides that they should just have drinks later.
* ''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.
* ''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.
* A non-lethal variant appears in an episode of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', when Shawn places a bunch of salt and condiments on Minkus' hamburger. Minkus distracts Shawn and Cory and then pretends to switch the burgers, then Shawn and Cory distract Minkus and actually do switch them, ending up with Shawn eating the trapped burger.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Obi-Wan and Anakin use TheForce to pull this trick off on a gang of pirates. But then they get knocked out anyway between episodes [[[[AllThereInTheManual because the lead pirate's pet sees them and uses a gas to knock out]] ''everyone''.