History Main / TheBet

* H. Rider Haggard wrote ''KingSolomonsMines'' on the basis of a bet with his brother, who said H. Rider couldn't write a novel half as good as ''TreasureIsland'', the current bestselling pageturner of the day. Whether ''King Solomon's Mines'' is as good as ''TreasureIsland'' is up to the reader, but Haggard's book sold so well publishers had trouble keeping up with demand.

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* In an episode of the ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'' TV series, Randoll asks Hayato what he thinks of Asuka and he makes a bet with her that if he wins the Spanish GP, he gets her kiss. [[spoiler: He didn't, thankfully.]]

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* One [[DrakeandJosh Drake and Josh]] episode titled "The Bet" had Drake and Josh betting they could quit they're bad habits longer then the other, in this case: Drakes addiction to junk food and Josh's addiction to video games.

* Real life example: RogerZelazny wrote 'ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'' because someone bet he couldn't get readers to root for {{Jack the Ripper}} as a hero. The resulting novel won him both the bet and a NebulaAward nomination.

* The basis for several RoaldDahl short stories, the most famous of which is probably "Man from the South". In this story, an old man named Carlos offers a boastful American boy his Cadillac if the boy can strike his lighter ten times in a row. The catch is that if the lighter does not light ten times in a row, Carlos will cut off the boy's left little finger.

* George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion'', which was turned into the musical ''MyFairLady'', has Colonel Pickering betting his friend Higgins, professor of phonetics, that he can't make good on his boast that he could turn Cockney flower girl Eliza into a Dutchess.

* ''SouthPark'': Cartman formed a massively successful ChristianRock Band just to win a bet with Kyle. Cartman succeeds, but loses the bet because of Kyle's LoopholeAbuse, so he angrily denounces Jesus in front of his own fans.

* ((Dr. Seuss)) wrote ((Green Eggs and Ham)) on a bet he couldn't write a story using the same fifty words.

* In ''TradingPlaces'', two brokers disagree on the "nature vs nurture" argument. They decide to bet "the usual amount" (eventually revealed to be ''[[spoiler: a dollar]]'') on what will happen if they ruin a rich mans life and let a poor take his place.

* HowToEatFriedWorms

* Real life example: RogerZelazny's ''A Night In The Lonesome October'' was written because someone bet Roger he couldn't get readers to root for Jack the Ripper as a hero. The resulting novel won him both the bet and a NebulaAward nomination.

* ''Dr. Seuss'' wrote ''Green Eggs and Ham'' on a bet he couldn't write a story using the same fifty words.

* ''HowToLoseAGuyIn10Days'' is about a woman who writes "How to" articles for a magazine. She want's to write "real" stories, with actual substance, so her editor tells her to write the titular article. The male lead just wants a woman to fall in love with him so he can be in charge of his advertising company's big diamond account. [[DoubleStandard Note that the woman is only doing it out of creative integrity, while the man is doing it just for money]].

* Tony Hawks, twice, each time getting a book out of it. The first was Round Ireland with a Fridge, the second Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, the latter is a very interesting look at a country with a truly messed up economy and has started charitable donations to help out a bit.

A common Romance or RomanticComedy version of TheBet is when a character is bet that they won't/can't win over/date/sex up a certain lady. Almost inevitable the guy will end up devloping genuine feelings for the girl, and the girl will just as inevitable be pissed off when she finds out about the bet.

* At least two of the {{Asterix}} books are based on a bet. In ''Asterix and the Laurel Wreath'', a drunken Chief Vitalstatistix bets his nouveau-riche bore of a brother-in-law that he he can serve him a stew seasoned with Caesar's Laurel Wreath; naturally it's Asterix and Obelix who are sent off to Rome to do the dirty work. And in ''Asterix and Cleopatra'', a furious Cleopatra, stung by Caesar's taunts, insists that Egypt is still a great country and bets him that she can build a palace for him in Alexandria within three months. An Egyptian architect is charged with it, Panoramix gets called to help, and Asterix and Obelix go with him. Unlike in a lot of stories, these bets are not just a pretext for a plot; they also represent the wider conflict between national pride and imperial arrogance.
** Three -- in ''Asterix And The Belgians'' (or ''Asterix In Belgium'', this troper forgets), chief Vitalstatistix [[BodyCountCompetition bets the titular Belgians on who can destroy the most Roman camps]], after Julius Caesar has stated the Belgians to be the bravest barbarians. The whole thing eventually becomes [[spoiler:a tie]], and they seek out Julius Caesar to ''judge''. HilarityEnsues.

* Two for one deal: In ''HowToLoseAGuyIn10Days'', the girl has 10 days to get him and then have him dump her (and the boss will give her a byline), and the boy has 10 days to get her and make her stay (and his boss will give him a lucrative account).

* ''How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'' is about a woman who writes "How to" articles for a magazine. She want's to write "real" stories, with actual substance, so her editor tells her to write the titular article. The male lead just wants a woman to fall in love with him so he can be in charge of his advertising company's big diamond account. [[DoubleStandard Note that the woman is only doing it out of creative integrity, while the man is doing it just for money]].

* "Nobody can eat fifty eggs!" Except for CoolHandLuke.