History Main / TheRunnerUpTakesItAll

*** Morrison is the only person who was a successful ''winner'' of the series, but there were a few successful runners up. Alongside the Miz, there's also ROH wrestler Kenny King, and TNA star Matt Morgan.

* {{WWE}}'s ''ToughEnough'' reality show created a minor lower-midcard star for a couple of years in the form of Maven. Much more success was found by runners up The Miz and John Morrison, who were later hired and are now (as of early 2009) the top tag team in the company. Morrisson has done pretty well as a singles wrestler too, picking up various midcard titles including the (theoretically World Title-level) ECW strap.

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<<|RealityTVTropes|>>

** Really the only actual winners who are still more popular than all others from their season are Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jordin Sparks.

* HowGreenIsMyValley won an Oscar for best picture in 1941, wining out of CitizenKane and TheMalteseFalcon. The latter two are considered classics; ask anyone about the former, however, and they'll probably have never heard of it. At best, they will know it as the film that won an Oscar over TheMalteseFalcon and CitizenKane.

Compare SecondPlaceIsForWinners.

[[{{Monopoly}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/you_have_won_second_prize_in_a_beauty_contest_2516.png]]
[[caption-width:352:You've never even ''heard'' of the first place guy.]]

* StarSearch has this reputation. The list of winners is no comparison to the list of those who DIDN'T end up winning at the end of the season: Alanis Morisette, Aaliyah, Christina Aguilera, Destiny's Child, Drew Carey, Jessica Simpson, Kevin James, Dennis Miller, Rosie O'Donnel, LeAnn Rimes, Dave Chapelle, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears...

For the talent-based shows, the reason can be described as thusly. When you win, you're ''hot,'' and the producers of the show want to capitalize on that. This leads to getting pushed too fast (for singers, it might involve churning out a sub-par album to capitalize on their star power) and too hard (HypeBacklash sets in, and people will tend to get a little sick of them). But for the contestants who finish lower in the ranks, they still have all the recognition--all of the same people watched the show, after all--but are allowed to relax, work at their own pace, and develop an album of quality that people are more likely to enjoy.

When the person who comes second (or worse) in a RealityShow gets more out of it than the winner, be it in post-show popularity, sales, endorsement cash, or simply not looking as much as a jackass on national television.

For most shows (at least the talent based ones,) the reason can be described as thusly. When you win, you're ''hot,'' and the producers of the show want to capitalize on that. This leads to getting pushed too fast (for singers, it might involve churning out a sub-par album to capitalize on their star power) and too hard (HypeBacklash sets in, and people will tend to get a little sick of them). But for the contestants who finish lower in the ranks, they still have all the recognition--all of the same people watched the show, after all--but are allowed to relax, work at their own pace, and develop an album of quality that people are more likely to enjoy.

Many would argue in Reality TV, there are no winners.

For most shows (at least the talent based ones,) the reason can be described as thusly. When you win, you're ''hot,'' and the producers of the show want to capitalize on that. This leads to getting pushed too fast (for singers, it might involve churning out a sub-par album to capitalize on their star power) and too hard (HypeBacklash sets in, and people will tend to get a little sick of them). Whereas, for the contestants who finish lower in the ranks, they still have all the recognition--all of the same people watched the show, after all--but are allowed to relax, work at their own pace, and develop an album of quality that people are more likely to enjoy.

For most shows (at least the talent based ones,) the reason can be described as thusly. When you win, you're ''hot,'' and the producers of the show want to capitalize on that. This leads to getting pushed too fast (usually, for singers, it involves churning out a {typically} sub-par album to capitalize on their star power) and too hard (HypeBacklash sets in, and people will tend to get a little sick of them.) Whereas, for the contestants who finish lower in the ranks, they still have all the recognition (all of the same people watched the show, after all), but are allowed to relax, work at their own pace, and develop an album of quality that people are more likely to enjoy.

* Clay Aiken from ''American Idol''. I think a lot of people actually forget that he was the runner-up.

** Really the only actual winners who are still more popular than the runners up are Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jordin Sparks.

** Season Five champion Taylor Hicks has been outdone by ''five'' of his competitors: runner-up Katharine McPhee, third-placer Elliott Yamin, fourth-placer Chris Daughtry, sixth-placer Kellie Pickler, and even ''eighth''-placer Bucky Covington.

** Really the only actual winners who are still more popular than the runners up are Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barrino(if only because of her recent suicide attempt), Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks.

* In 1997 Japanese music producer [[HelloProject Tsunku]] ran a competition to find a new rock vocalist; the winner was Michiyo Heike. He later decided to create an all-girl group made up of the five runners-up and challenged them to sell 50,000 copies of their first single with only five promotional events. They did in four, and Morning Musume went on to be incredibly successful.

* In 1997 Japanese music producer [[HelloProject Tsunku]] ran a competition to find a new rock vocalist that was won by Heike Michiyo, he later decided to create an all girl group made up of the five runners up and challenged them to sell 50000 copies of their first single with only five promotional events, they managed it in four and Morning Musume went on to be incredibly successful.

Contrast SecondPlaceIsForLosers.

* [[{{Glee}} Heather Morris]] was eliminated early on from {{So You Think You Can Dance}}. She went on to dance for Beyonce in the Single Ladies tour and currently plays the role of the famously brainless Brittany in Glee.

* in a way, Gwen from TotalDramaIsland (the runner up of the first season) because she is better liked by the fanbase

* ''AmericasNextTopModel''- OrSoIHeard. I've read some blogs that sound surprised when they talk about past winners actually getting modelling work. Every contestant leaves the show with some extra experience of an industry they want to work in and a portfolio of pictures.