History Main / DoWellButNotPerfect

* The original Dutch version of ''Series/OneVersusAHundred'' awarded money on each question based on the ''percentage'' of the remaining Mob eliminated, not the absolute number of mob members eliminated. This resulted in a system where the longer the One drags out the game, the more money he/she would win if he/she successfully defeated the entire Mob. [[labelnote:Example scenarios]]If you knocked out the entire Mob on the first question, you'd win €50,000, or €100,000 if you used the Double on the question. If you knocked out half the Mob on the first question, it'd be worth €25,000, then knocking out the other half on the second question would be worth an additional €50,000, again subject to the Double.[[/labelnote]] This means that the best-case scenario occurs by eliminating the Mob ''one member at a time'' over the course of at least 100 questions, answering every single question correctly and using the Double on the question which eliminates the last Mob member; doing so would net the One a bit over €309,000.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in one episode where the Wilkerson brothers clean up their home while their parents are away so it'll convince them to pull Francis off military school. After they're done, they agree that they'll never buy it because the place is too clean and make it a mess again.
** When Dewey takes a test to determine if he should be put in the gifted class, Malcolm coaches him to deliberately fail and avoid doing so as Malcolm found his time miserable. Subverted in that Dewey winds up sabotaging himself so much he is moved into the ''remedial'' class.

* ''VisualNovel/PhantomThiefSilverCat'': The GoldenEnding involves Ginka briefly surrendering during torture, as Mineko's guard is dropped long enough for Ginka's staff to rescue her, whereas one of the two {{Bad End}}s involves Ginka resisting completely and Mineko deciding to just sell her to the highest bidder instead of keeping her around for amusement.

[[folder:Music Videos]]

* In ''Film/TheProducers'', this is the ultimate reason that ''SpringtimeForHitler'' becomes the TropeNamer for "trying-to-fail project that turns out successful." Bialystock and Bloom do everything they can, from top-to-bottom, to make the play a flop: they find a script written by [[SubparSupremacist a deranged former Nazi]] [[AudienceAlienatingPremise about the greatness of Hitler]], hand it off to a flamboyantly CampGay director, and cast a strung-out beatnik in the title role. Any two of those elements would have probably doomed the play to close in a single night--but all of them together manage to [[CrossesTheLineTwice force the material so far over-the-top]] that [[PoesLaw the audience interprets the play as a satire]], with its depiction of [[AdolfHitlarious Hitler as an absurd buffoon]] and the Nazi regime being introduced with the goofiest musical number you've ever seen.

** ''jubeat'', ''VideoGame/ReflecBeat'', ''Tonesphere'', and ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' discourage this sort of run through score-based pass/fail systems. In ''jubeat''[='=]s case, you need 700,000 points out of 1 million to clear the song, and getting all Goods instead of Perfects only yields 460,000 points.

* A common strategy in endurance racing. Pushing faster means more stress on the car which means more mechanical failures, and more stress on the driver, meaning a larger chance of making a mistake. Those out front will push as fast as they are willing to without taking unnecessary risks, those behind will pace themselves as fast as they need to in order to stay just close enough to make a sprint in the final hour. It gets even more confusing when you add those fuel strategy and driver swaps in the mix. Needless to say, the real winner doesn't pop up till the very end, and even then nobody is driving perfect because of all the stress, wear and tear.

* Michael Schumacher dominated the 1999 Malaysian GP, but his teammate Eddie Irvine was fighting for the world championship, so he purposely slowed down to let him pass and win the race. Previously, Mika Salo did the same, renouncing to what would have been his first (and only) win in F1, to help Irvine.
* This is basically what was the accusation by some conspiracy theorist F1 fans against Ferrari in 1999, particularly after the infamous Nurburgring GP. The first driver of the team was Michael Schumacher, who came in 1996 with a big deal from the sponsors and many new talented technicians tied to his reputation. However, in 1999 he got a broken leg mid-season and the goal to win the drivers championship shifted to the second driver Eddie Irvine, who was not as talented nor sponsor-backed up, but still managed to enter the struggle for the title after Schumacher's injury - and even briefly led the championship at some point. During the Nurburgring GP, the mechanics didn't find a tyre for Eddie Irvine while pit stopping, making him lose time and the race lead (meaning precious points lost to the rival Mika Hakkinen who ultimately won the title). This was so shockingly penalizing that some people couldn't believe it was a genuine mistake and started to accuse Ferrari of deliberate self-sabotage, simply because the humble Eddie Irvine was not supposed to be the one winning the long awaited title after 20 years. Reason: the team was built around Schumacher, the entire management invested a lot to put him and only him in the conditions of winning the title, everything gravitated around his persona even after certain unsportsmanship cases such as Jerez 1997 or much criticized driving mistakes like in Suzuka 1998, simply because he was the best driver in F1. In case of an Irvine's victory, Schumacher himself might have left, seeing as he wasn't anymore the star around which the team revolved (unless dropping Irvine, which would have been a public relationship nightmare if a world champion). His hypothetical departure would also have meant that many excellent engineers and designers tied to him would have left as well, not counting many sponsors that hugely financed the team only because of him. This suspicion was reinforced by some photos of Schumacher partying with Mika Hakkinen and Mclaren-Mercedes personnel to celebrate their championship win, which was seen as him happy that Irvine didn't win. The accusations were far-fetched, as in the last two races Schumacher returned to racing and helped a lot Irvine, even allowing him to win the Malaysian grand prix (and Ferrari the constructors championship). However, the idea that Irvine winning the drivers championship might have been proved detrimental in the long term for the team was not far-fetched. Schumacher and Ferrari later established a dominant cycle winning five championships in a row, which was possible only because of the synergy within the team, with the German driver as the undisputed leader.