Booby Prize - Examples

Examples

• An award is given annually for Mr. Irrelevant, the professional American football player each year who is selected last in the NFL draft; the award includes a trophy mimicking the Heisman Trophy depicting the player from the Heisman fumbling.
• A Red Lantern is given to the cyclist who finishes last in the Tour de France and the last musher in the Iditarod.
• A wooden spoon is a common booby prize which is awarded in such sports as Rugby Union, Rowing and in particular to the bottom team on the ladder in Australian Football League (AFL).
• The anthropomorphic Dusty Bin was given as a booby prize in the TV game show 3-2-1.
• A number of game shows have used their own terminology to describe booby prizes, won by contestants who had made either a poor decision or an unlucky choice. On Let's Make a Deal, booby prizes are called "zonks," while the Chuck Barris-produced The New Treasure Hunt called these items "klunks."
• Two games on The Price Is Right offer a booby prize-of-sorts for a losing contestant:
  • A cash prize of less than $10 for revealing the three numbers in the piggy bank prize's blanks in Any Number (before completing the price of either one of the two more desirable prizes).
  • A cash prize of $1, $10, or $100 for picking the grocery item higher than the target price in Grand Game on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd pick, respectively (before finding all 4 items to win the grand prize).
• Traditionally, the cadet graduating West Point with the lowest academic record was known as the "goat" and was given a silver dollar by each of his classmates.
• On the BBC Quiz show Blankety Blank losing contestants were famously presented with a Blankety Blank Cheque Book and Pen
• On the New Zealand game show It's in the Bag, three of the game bags have booby prizes in them, ranging from rubber ducks to boxes of washing powder.