Sadistic Game Show - TV Tropes

"NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS? NO PROBLEM! IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE. ANSWER CORRECTLY... OR YOU DIE!!!"

• Ergo Proxy: In episode 15, Vincent wakes up as a contestant on a game show as he is questioned on a variety of random trivia and is threatened with death if he fails.
• Tomodachi Game revolves around a group of friends who are abducted and essentially forced by a Creepy Mascot Suit to play a series of games designed to make them distrust one another in order to pay off the shared "debt" they're told one of them agreed to as the entry fee. Early on, it's shown that the whole thing is livestreamed for the amusement of their rich backers.

• Metal Gear: Green: The Showstoppers kidnap children all across Europe and force them to play in horrific games, often ending with a majority of the children dying, before selling the victor child to the highest bidder. The MSF is tasked with disbanding them when Nowak's daughter has been kidnapped by them. When they succeeded, they hand all the rescued kids to Poland as they'll have better luck reuniting the kids with their families compared to an unheard of mercenary force.

• The Running Man: Ben Richards, a wrongfully disgraced police helicopter pilot in post-apocalyptic 2019, is forced to compete in the eponymous Deadly Game for his freedom along with two of his prison friends, then later a TV network employee who found out he was framed. In the game, "Runners" have to evade "Stalkers" in an arena with the promise of being pardoned by the state. This turns out to be a lie, as it is revealed that Runners who avoided getting killed by Stalkers were later killed and their corpses left to rot in the arena. The one behind it all is Damon Killian, who ultimately gets taken down by Richards.
• Sorry to Bother You: I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me! is a game show that solely revolves around participants getting violently beaten and otherwise humiliated (we hear mentions of drinking hyena urine and being submerged in a "shit tank"). It doesn't have a small, niche audience of twisted fans — it's the most popular show in America, with 150 million viewers per episode.

  Langston: It makes me feel warm inside.

• As its title might suggest, the conceit of the Killer Puzzles book Titus O'Skinty's Gruesome Game Show is that all the puzzles are games on one of these, and the reader is the unfortunate contestant.
• Robert Sheckley's short story "The Prize Of Peril" is set in a future society which has many game shows that put the contestant in harm's way. The protagonist has worked his way onto the titular game show, in which he is hunted on live TV by a group of killers. Viewers can call in tips to either help him or help the killers. The story was an inspiration for both the novel The Running Man and the film based on it.

• Doctor Who: In "Bad Wolf," The Game Station forced Rose to compete on the TV game show "The Weakest Link". The loser of each round faced death by disintegrator beam. Rose ultimately discovered that the beam actually transported the losers away to be turned into Daleks.
• Gag Concert: "Quiz Cafe" is about a quiz show specially designed to make You Minsang suffer. He's not put through physical pain, but the host (played by Seo Taehun) does his most to humiliate and tease Minsang. Questions on the show have two goals: making fun of him, as do most of the warm-up questions (such as asking him to match animals to their species and "You Minsang's girlfriend" being in the category of imaginary creatures) or making him look bad, for example pulling up a list of his Gag Concert peers and asking him which one should've been kicked off the show. There are also a fair number of political questions in the vein of "Minsang Debate", another corner where the joke is humiliating Minsang.
• In an episode of I Love Lucy, Lucy racks up debts of almost $500 dollars, and to make the money she signs up for the game show "Females are Fabulous", where the previous winner shows up wrapped up in bandages from her stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Lucy's challenge is to convince Ricky that an actor is her first husband (marriage and divorce were more serious back in The '50s), however, after a misunderstanding with a hobo, the actor pretending to be Lucy's husband finally shows up. Just as Ricky is threatening to leave, the actor says Lucy beat the challenge, and awards her the $500 dollars she was promised. Ricky then uses the money to settle her debts, and assures her she has some change coming back to her, $1.
• Played with in one episode of Inside No. 9, which is recorded as if it were an episode of a quiz show. The format of the show itself isn't especially sadistic, being a typical mid-afternoon quiz along the lines of Pointless or The Chase. However, it gradually becomes one of these as it becomes increasingly clear that one of the contestants has psychic powers and a troubled history with her abusive mother.
• Jackass, but the participants are willing.
• There existed a short-lived gameshow by truTV called Killer Karaoke, which seemingly only existed as a way to (legally) torture people on live TV. Notably, the original host of the show was fired due to expressing concern over how the show was treating the animals it used for specific segments, to give an idea of how bad it got.
• In Monty Python's Flying Circus, one sketch is a game show where very stupid Pepperpots compete for various forms of abuse, such as a blow on the head or a dagger up the strap.
• In The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, the boys compete on a show called Risk It All and make it all the way to the final round, with Zack doing almost all of the physical challenges while Cody does the mental challenges. We see that the physical challenges prove to be incredibly difficult and taxing for Zac, as by the end, he's shown to have some bruising, and ultimately collapses from exhaustion during the final challenge
• Supernatural: The Winchesters get Trapped in TV Land by The Trickster/Gabriel. Among the shows/scenarios they're forced to act out is being contestants on a Japanese Sadistic Game Show named Nutcracker. You get something wrong, you get smacked in the nuts by a mallet device they're both strapped to. Not helped by the fact neither brother can speak Japanese.
• Świat według Kiepskich: In episode "...A robić nie ma komu", Ferdek has a nightmare in which is contestant of "Rosyjska muszla", parody of Polish TV game show "Rosyjska ruletka". After incorrect answer, he must to flush the large toilet he is standing on. If there is any water, he will be flushed away and as a result eliminated from the game. If there is not water, he has a chance to continue participating. As you guessed, there was water in the toilet.
• That Mitchell and Webb Look: One episode plays with this, with a host of what looks like a simple trivia show who continually rambles on rather than letting the contestants actually answer. Then it turns out there are no cameras, and it's not a game show. He's a rich lunatic who's learned he's dying, and has used his money to build a spaceship and fly it into the sun, with two people he's abducted, and he's determined to stretch out every last moment possible.
• The Twilight Zone (2002): In "How Much Do You Love your Kid?" there is the titular contest show, wherein one of the parents of a child sees the abduction of their child and the show's host leads them around in a scavenger hunt. Answer all of the questions right and find the kid using the clues given when you do, and you get a million dollars. Fail to answer them in time (one hour), and the kid is never seen again. And then it turns out that the kidnapper is the kid's father, who is told to keep the kid away successfully for one hour and he is the one who will get the million dollars (there is no telling if this is the regular way the game is played, though). The constants (and their children) are also dropped into this mess completely out of the blue, with zero foreknowledge or informed consent (presumably the parent playing the kidnapper is the one who filed said consent for the whole family).
• Victorious: In "Brain Squeezers", the entire cast go on the titular gameshow despite having never seen it before. Whilst initially seeming an ordinary game show, it turns out the penalties for getting questions wrong are flat out dangerous including: dropping heavy objects on their heads, blasting them with pus, getting hit in the chest with a bowling ball and getting punched in the face. As well as this host sometimes randomly orders additional punishments, other members sometimes randomly also get punished for wrong answers, and at one point they drop a toilet on someone's head halfway through them giving the correct answer (something the host dismisses as "things go wrong"). By the end, the entire cast are bruised, beaten, bandaged, bleeding and/or tarred and feathered. To top it all off, it turns out that the game is rigged, so it's impossible to win the money.

• The music video for "Ningen President" by Denki Groove features a bizarre game show whose host is an unflattering caricature of Donald Trump wearing high-heels, fishnet stockings, and a wig that vaguely looks like fox ears. The contestant is a befuddled middle-aged man who was apparently kidnapped in the middle of the night, still wearing his pajamas and lead into the studio in handcuffs by two leather-clad women in oni masks. Said contestant is strapped into an electric chair and given painful-looking shocks when he gives wrong answers. The "final round" involves him riding through a creepy CGI corridor and being forced to choose which of two seemingly-random animals is "president". There's also digressions involving a vox populi video (with a cameo by Hideaki Anno), a teakettle with a human head sticking out of it, and a pair of Creepy Twins dressed in kimono.

• Anna's Quest: Executioner plans to kill his victim in form of game show, where execution form is chosen on drawing machine.

  Executioner: Congratulations, you win. Prize is loose.

• Creep TV: When Courage finally gets the TV working again, he gets sucked into the game show on Channel 13 that Muriel and Eustace are being forced to participate in.
• Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: After capturing Akira, Sho Sharker puts them in a game show where contestants and various demons hunt them down for prize money. However, Rogue is the only non-demon to participate in the contest.

• In Danganronpa, the franchise as a whole turns out to be a Sadistic Game Show in which the contestants kill each other and then vote off who they think is the killer. The whole thing is broadcast live in a Reality TV format by Ultimate Despair to spread despair to the citizens of the post-apocalyptic world. In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, the setting is revealed to be a Meta Sequel, with the current killing game being a literal game show that's been going on for 53 seasons — and the main characters, as it turns out, volunteered for the show. Their true selves were erased, and they were given special talents to make the show interesting.

• Doc Rat: Naturally for a Predation Is Natural world, there's a gameshow where the losers are actually eaten alive onscreen; Law Of The Jungle. Turning the show bloodless becomes one of Quarrydog's goals, which comes with much opposition from long time fans and predators.

• Game Changer: Many of the challenges on the show can veer towards this. Show host Sam Reich practically feeds on the suffering of his contestants at times. Many of them, most notably Brennan Lee Mulligan, are not afraid to call him out on this, especially regarding his tendency to use his perfectionist attitude against him by creating challenges that he cannot possibly win, or must accept defeat in order to beat.

  Brennan: Now, Sam has built a monument to devilry, and chaos. I deserve second place, I came in second. The only crime that's been committed here is that Oscar and Ally deserve first. We should be applauding them for getting more points. But in this... sick rodeo, this bizarre, fucked-up clown festival that Sam has put together, we're here celebrating what I can only describe as the sickness at the core of America. And uh, I'm gonna get him, I'm gonna get Sam.

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: In "Win, Lose and Kaboom", Jimmy and his friends enter a game show where the losers see their planet explode.
• The Batman (2004): In "Q&A", the villainous Cluemaster kidnaps three people and forces them to participate in a trivia show against him where, if they lose, he will drop them into a pit of acid. As it turns out, Cluemaster is actually Arthur Brown, a child genius who had a winning streak on the trivia show "Think Thank Thunk" until he made a tiny mistake in one of his answers that finally made him lose. He threw a fit and never got over it. The three people he kidnapped were also on the old show, and he holds them responsible for him losing.
• In Big Mouth, Nick has an anxiety attack and envisions himself as the sociopathic host of a game show in a Bad Future where people publicly debase themselves in exchange for "basic human services", such as performing incest in front of a live studio audience over a Healthcare Motivation.
• Bojack Horseman has the titular character as the first guest against Daniel Radcliffe in JD Salinger's game show Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things? Let's Find Out!. Because the game is rigged for Radcliffe to win (because the money is going to charity), Bojack gets the brunt of the brutal treatment from host Mr. Peanutbutter.
• Dead End: Paranormal Park has Hox's Castle, a game show from the Lower Planes that Barney, Norma, and Puglsey end up going on when Courtney is unable to go on it herself. Not only are the rounds extremely difficult and dangerous, but Hox intentionally makes it harder for them, even going so far as to push Barney down the stairs to his death, and when Norma and Pugsley use the lifeline, it doesn't revive him so much as make a new Barney with all of his memories. As it turns out, no one has ever won before, with most contestants not even getting past the first round, and Hox only allows them to win when he realises that Pugsley is possessed by Temeluchus, who is Demon royalty.
• In Family Guy, Peter plays chess with Tricia Takanawa, who has taken on the persona of a Tiger Mom. Rather than learn chess the traditional way, Peter is forced to learn it by participating in a cruel Japanese game show where his scrotum is beaten with a reed and his limbs are cut off. Flash forward to the future where an aged Peter is talking to his grandson, the game apparently never ended, as he's subjected to more torture.
• Kaeloo: In Episode 58, Mr. Cat goes on a game show hosted by Kaeloo to prove that he is always right about everything by answering a bunch of difficult questions; Kaeloo rigs the game show to make him lose by inviting Stumpy to participate as his partner. During the show, Mr. Cat is consistently tortured, and by the time the final challenge is over, he almost passes out. He wins, but it's a Pyrrhic Victory.
• Looney Tunes: In "The Ducksters", Porky Pig competes in a quiz show titled Truth or AAAAHHH!!, hosted by Daffy Duck. Porky is subjected to nearly impossible questions ("What was Cleopatra's aunt's maiden name?") and potentially lethal stunts as penalties (reciting all the states in alphabetical order with dynamite sticks in his ears and mouth). At the end, when Daffy pushes his luck too far, Porky buys out the network and begins subjecting him to the same torment.
• In the Muppet Babies (1984) episode "Dental Hyjinks", Kermit has an Imagine Spot about hosting such a game show after Fozzie is taken to the dentist for his loose tooth. The show is called Tooth or Consequences, and the contestant (Fozzie) must answer a question correctly, or get one of his teeth drilled by their champion, The Dentist, with a very large drill.
• Regular Show: The game show Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson go into in "Fool Me Twice" pretty much speaks this trope, being a Takeshi's Castle Expy with a deadly obstacle course and an insane host trying to beat them to death.
• In the Rick and Morty episode "Get Schwifty", Earth is forced to participate in an intergalactic singing competition by the Cromulons, with the home planet of the losers being destroyed.
• The Robot Chicken sketch "Hall of Memory" has contestants on a game show where they had to memorize how to navigate a death trap laden cave with zero information other than seeing how the previous contestant died. Once they get the prize, they then have to escape with it while being chased by a giant boulder.
• The Simpsons: In "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo", the Simpsons, stranded in Japan without any money, participate in ''The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show" in order win tickets back to Springfield. The game includes such challenges as "Ow, that hurts!", "Why are you doing this to me!", and "Please let me die!". To go into more detail, the host says while American shows reward knowledge, theirs punishes ignorance. Homer responds with "ignore-what?" and gets torched by a flamethrower in his microphone. The game's challenges have Homer inside a piñata costume gagged while the rest of the family is blindfolded and hit him. A literal lightning round where Homer is strapped to a lightning rod and struck by lightning. Finally, the Simpsons have to obtain the needed plane tickets home by getting them from a bridge on top of a volcano and they fall into the magma which is really orangeade mixed with wasabi. Homer shames the audience before leaving. The next contestants are a Canadian couple who are afraid of scorpions. Guess what their challenge is. Homer sees this backstage and laughs.
• The Timon & Pumbaa episode "You Bet Your Tuhkus" has the titular duo competing on the eponymous game show. The host of the show convinces the duo to cheat (so that they can be disqualified for being caught cheating, which happened to the first pair of contestants). While Timon is willing to do so, Pumbaa refuses, and as a result, the show devolves into a torturefest, as every wrong answer results in punishment for the other character.
• Total Drama lives and breathes on this. The contestants are put through absurd and life-threatening challenges presented by a shamelessly sadistic host who makes the show "interesting" by paying lip service to his own rules and guidelines and doesn't care about the many interns killed in the process of setting up and testing new challenges. Hilarity Ensues as contestants are subjected to numerous Amusing Injuries and frequent humiliation.