History SchmuckBait / LiveActionTV

* In the 2015 competition for ''Series/Battlebots'', Complete Control entered its fight against Ghost Raptor holding a mysterious box covered in brightly-colored gift wrap. Despite it looking obviously like a trap, Ghost Raptor immediately attacked the box--and inside was a rope net that jammed Ghost Raptor's spinning blades, rendering it unable to fight.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]: Ryan Sinclair is attempting to retrieve his bicycle in the woods when a golden glowing thing appears in midair and reveals a button the middle. Of ''course'' he presses it, summoning a mysterious alien pod with a murderous warrior inside.

-->'''Jon Stewart:''' By the way, if you google "muppets" and "scat", that may not be what you get. Go ahead, I'll wait... ''Freaky'' pictures.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** At the start of the Second Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber "The Mind Robber"]], the Doctor tells both Jamie and Zoe they must stay inside the TARDIS. Guess what Zoe does the instant the other two are out of the control room? And what Jamie does when he comes back and finds her missing?
** In [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]], it turns out that Rassilon, ancient founder of the Time Lords, knew a thing or two about Schmuck Bait. [[spoiler: He'd spread stories about a potential path to immortality as a trap for the overly-ambitious. The fact that acquiring it required a visit to Gallifrey's Death Zone should've been a hint it was this trope, yet even ''the Master'' almost stepped right into it.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E3Frontios "Frontios"]], the Doctor lures the Gravis onto the TARDIS, and to reconstitute it, using this.

** From [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]: "Come and see this!"[[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Time_of_Angels_8637.jpg '''[[NeckSnap SNAP!]]'''[[/note]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]], Rory falls for some verbal schmuck bait offered by the Dream Lord:

** Let's face it, the entire ''Universe'' is Schmuck Bait when it comes to the Doctor.

* ''Series/IronChef'' and ''Series/IronChefAmerica'' both have the Ice Cream Machines. The Iron Chefs seemingly can't resist trying to make ice cream or other frozen dishes out of ingredients like trout and cod roe (I.C. French Hiriyuki Sakai seems particularly vulnerable to the machine's siren song). 9 times out of 10, this earns them scolding from the judging panel (if not outright {{Squick}}). Fish and Fish Roe ice cream is actually quite the treat in some parts of the world. The scolding is because the machines break half the time.
** In The Food Network reality chef competition series ''Chopped'', there is always a bottle of truffle oil in the pantry. The judges hate truffle oil, and severely chastise chefs who have the temerity to use the stuff in their dishes...
*** Kind of. Like with other flavoring oils (i.e. sesame oil) the problem tends to be the extreme overuse of the oil causing it to overpower the mystery ingredients.

--->'''The Doctor:''' And how am I going to react when I see this: A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstance. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem, cause I really don't know who I am and I don't know where to stop. So when I see a great big threatening button which should never ever ever be pressed, then I just want to do this! ''(presses it)''

* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'' has several examples (for obvious reasons), one of which involves a deadbeat dad that picked up a jet fighter pilot seat for his new bachelor pad. [[DontTouchItYouIdiot There was a lever on it.]] [[spoiler: He got curious, and discovered the hard way the ejector system was still live when it launched him through his ceiling, shattering his skull.]]

* The pilot episode of the Adam West ''Batman'' has the Riddler try to steal the Batmobile and hit the clearly-labeled "start" button, which launches a flurry of fireworks.
* ''Series/TheDailyShow''

* The term "[[BuffySpeak Schmuck Bait-y]]" was used in the Creator/MutantEnemy bullpen and by Creator/JossWhedon in [=DVD=] commentaries to describe settings that were dark and gloomy and seemed dangerous. Handy term for places they were ''bound'' to send characters.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s island is covered in Schmuck Bait. In the early days of the series, the characters were constantly traipsing into the jungle even though they knew the "monster" was out there. In the episode "Walkabout", Jack and Sawyer go into the plane's fuselage to investigate ''growling''. David Fury, late of Mutant Enemy, referred to this as "Schmuck Bait" on the DVD commentary.
* Dougal on ''Series/FatherTed'' has had problems at least twice with do-not-push buttons, once (evidently) on a [=SeaLink=] ferry, and then in the cockpit of an airplane.
* ''Series/TheMiddleman'' warns Wendy there are three [[BerserkButton things she should never, ever bring up]] in conversation with Sensei Ping. The minute said sensei pisses her off...
* In the opening episode of episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' season three, Hiro receives a posthumous video message from his father saying that he must not open the safe in the office. Any one who has watched Hiro for five minutes knows this was idiocy on his father's part. And it was... the fact that the very next thing the message says is "[[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat I told you not to open the safe!]]", while funny, makes it clear that his father actually ''intended'' to make him open the safe.

** At the start of the second Doctor episode "The Mind Robber", the Doctor tells both Jamie and Zoe they must stay inside the TARDIS. Guess what Zoe does the instant the other two are out of the control room? And what Jamie does when he comes back and finds her missing?
** The Impossible Planet. Don't turn around. Of course he probably was doomed anyway.
** Also the episode "Blink". Don't look away, don't run, and whatever you do, don't blink. Guess what that statement encourages you to do. And when you do do it, you'll end up decades in the past.
** And "The Christmas Invasion":

** From "The Time of Angels": "Come and see this!"[[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Time_of_Angels_8637.jpg '''[[NeckSnap SNAP!]]'''[[/note]]
** In "Amy's Choice", Rory falls for some verbal schmuck bait offered by the Dream Lord:

** "The Pandorica Opens". The Doctor seeks out a device that is an advanced prison designed to contain the universe's most powerful and intelligent being, a being feared by the Daleks, Cyberman, Judoon, Silurians, and countless other hostile alien races he's fought against. [[spoiler: It's a prison for the Doctor.]]
** In "The Five Doctors", it turns out that Rassilon, ancient founder of the Time Lords, knew a thing or two about Schmuck Bait. [[spoiler: He'd spread stories about a potential path to immortality as a trap for the overly-ambitious. The fact that acquiring it required a visit to Gallifrey's Death Zone should've been a hint it was this trope, yet even ''the Master'' almost stepped right into it.]]
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E3Frontios Frontios]]'', the Doctor lures the Gravis onto the TARDIS, and to reconstitute it, using this.

* Inversion in ''Series/CandidCamera'', when they put a bowl in a public place full of money with a sign that said "FREE MONEY". Nobody touched it, assuming it was Schmuck Bait. This show runs on the trope, such as getting people to put themselves through an airport baggage scanner in view of a hidden camera. Anyone who takes the Schmuck Bait is told to "smile, you're on ''Candid Camera!''.
* Another candid camera (though not that exact show) example: people were made to wait in a room alone for whatever reason, and in that room was a lifesized cardboard cut-out of an extremely attractive member of the opposite sex, with a sticker over their genitals. When people were waiting alone, they would look at it but never touch it, but when two people were waiting, one would invariably dare the other to lift the sticker. As soon as the sticker came off, a loud alarm would sound and the people would desperately try to put it back, which did nothing. Oh, and the cutouts' junk was still obscured.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone''
** 1980's version, episode "Button, Button". A couple is given a box with a button on it. They're warned that if they push the button they'll receive $200,000, and a person they don't know will die. They finally push the button and receive the money. Then they're told that the box will be re-programmed and given to ''someone they don't know''.
** In [[AdaptationDisplacement the original]] version of the story, the wife pushes the button and the husband dies, causing the insurance money to pay the promised sum. When she complains to the button-giver, he responds, "[[MetaphoricallyTrue Did you really think you knew your husband?]]"
** The same premise is the plot behind the movie ''Film/TheBox''; the reward has been increased to $1,000,000. Inflation.
* On the old Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} show ''Series/SaluteYourShorts'', the main counselor Dr. Kahn's niece Ellen, a BrattyHalfPint that bordered on EnfantTerrible, visited and caused problems for all the campers. They eventually figured out that she liked seeing them upset so they ignore her but tell her she will be punished if she pushes a button. It turns out the button activated a RubeGoldbergDevice designed to give her a HumiliationConga complete with ProducePelting and a BucketBoobyTrap leaving the nasty little girl CoveredInGunge.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** In "The Inquisitor", Lister pretends to think he's outsmarted the titular time-erasing simulant, and gives him his time gauntlet back. The Inquisitor falls for it, and ends up deleting himself from the entire space-time continuum.
** The M.O. of the Psirens, who appear as whatever their target finds beautiful, usually a lusty, beautiful, scantily clad woman in dire need of sex... and when the target's distracted, they stick a straw in their ears. Even people who know full well the Psirens are hideous bug-monsters can't help but fall for it. The distractions don't even need to be very fool-proof: The one used on the Cat would've worked if it hadn't been for everyone else.
-->'''Rimmer:''' Well, if that's the best they can do, I hardly think we're in any trouble of being bewitched.
-->'''Kryten:''' If I may, sir, that was the level of sophistication required to ensnare [[TheDitz the Cat]]. And it ''worked''. Had we not been here, he would now be stumbling around on one of those asteroids trying to write "oh, boy, was I suckered!" with his own intestinal tract.
* In the ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episode Mr. Yin Presents... a note next to a tap says "Draft us a couple cold ones and let's make a toast to you falling head over heels for me." Guess what happens when someone follows instructions left by a serial killer. Justified in this case, as Yin and Yang liked to set up elaborate "games" where the detectives had to solve puzzles and follow instructions left in riddles in order to find and rescue the victims before they were killed. This forced them to choose between [[ScyllaAndCharybdis taking the schmuck bait and leaving the victims to die.]]
* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "The End" has Future!Dean trying to shoot Lucifer with the Colt. In the DVD commentary, the writers and producers describe this as a meta example of "schmuck bait", taking great pleasure at the outraged fans complaining about how stupid it would be to shoot the devil in the face.

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', episode "Wink of an Eye", the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Alien of the Week]] tells Kirk not to touch a certain device. He touches it, and gets shocked. So what does he do? ''Puts both hands on it and keeps getting shocked.'' The reason is that the device in question is putting his crew into deep freeze to be preserved as potential breeding stock for the Alien. Kirk is willing to endure pain if he can only switch it off.
* ''Series/{{QI}}'' runs on this trope, since it is primarily about debunking commonly held beliefs. Panellists will be greeted with a siren and point deduction if they give the generally-known, obvious and WRONG answer to a question. Most panellists have come expect this and avoid obvious answers, unless it would be funny. Alan Davis is the preferred target for Schmuck Bait, receiving a siren for [[spoiler:incorrectly]] answering a "How do you do?" with "Fine, thanks." and once for simply pressing his buzzer when prompted.
** So the panellists know that obvious questions are schmuck bait. But the question setters know that the panellists know, so set schmuck bait questions that aren't. The panelists won't answer, so Stephen has to force the answer out of them, cajoling them until one says they will 'take the bullet for the team', and being surprised the obvious answer is the correct answer, leading to one of Creator/{{David Mitchell|Actor}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONsrQtnvZcs rants]]. Of course when Stephen has to cajole the answer, and refuses to move on it must be because the answer IS right, so they know to give it. The production team know that the panellists know this. So the obvious answer IS wrong...

* One Season 3 episode of ''Series/BabylonFive'' features a form of Schmuck Bait trap. An automated alien ship happens upon the station and offers advanced technology for those who can solve a set of complex high-tech questions within 24 hours. Otherwise, it'll explode and take out the station. Even while frantic communiques are sent throughout the Earth Alliance for the answers, Captain Sheridan begins to suspect the ship for what it really was: a trap meant to take out civilizations too advanced for someone's good. Turns out he's right, and he prevents all the answers being transmitted until it's in the middle of flying away and well out of blast range.
* At least one ingredient in Round One of every episode of ''Series/CupcakeWars'' is obvious Schmuck Bait. For example, the oysters, or the olives.
* ''Series/{{Community}}''
** After being told under no circumstance should they enter the space simulator by the Dean, it takes about five seconds after he left for Abed and Troy to find their way in.
** From episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E08HomeEconomics Home Economics]]", Britta warns Pierce to not talk to Vaughn. Gets predictable results.
** Abed sent Jeff a fake invitation to a club opening to ensure his calendar would be open for Troy and Abed's housewarming party.
-->'''Jeff''': [reading card] There’s no such thing as the “Single Malt Platinum Boobs and Billiards Club"?...I guess I never said it out loud.
* The premise behind ''Series/BaitCar'', which illustrates amusing examples of would-be car thieves. (See Real Life entry for more details.)
-->'''Thief:''' Hope this isn't one of those "Bait Cars"... ''(drives away, followed by police)''
* A stunt on the 90s Nick show ''{{Series/What Would You Do|Nickelodeon}}?'' had kids alone in a room with a box that has a sign saying "Adults Only". It's actually a black-eye telescope.
* "Schmuck bait" is a term that appears quite regularly in ''{{Series/Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}}'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' scripts.
** In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Why We Fight", Spike mentions to Angel that he, Nostroyev, and the Prince of Lies were apparently captured by the Nazis when they attended a "free virgin blood party".
** In "Smile Time" Angel enters a door marked only with the word DON'T. [[PuppetPermutation He gets turned into a puppet.]]

* A segment of ''Police Videos'' shows an operation where fake flyers were mailed to suspects saying they won a free cruise if they came to the location on the flyer. The place looked like a party room for all the prize winners but when they tried to leave they would arrest them.
* The ''Series/SweetGenius'' pantry contains a few prepared ingredients, such as pastry dough. Using any of them is likely to earn you a scolding for taking the easy path rather than making the pastry yourself.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Hyperdrive}}'', the Captain falls for a "Hero Trap", believing that an ancient society needs help, and will give him great rewards, despite his security officer Eldon repeatedly telling him what an obvious trap it is.
* ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'': ''[[Recap/ShapeS1E1SharpesRifles 's Rifles]]'', Sharpe gets Harris to make a sign reading "Keep Out" in French, and puts it at the entrance of a booby-trapped building. Sure enough, the next French cavalrymen to pass fall for it.

* In ''Zeke & Luther'', Zeke takes a bath in a hotel.Near the tub is a sign saying [[RuleOfFunny Don't stick fingers in the faucet]].He does it and it remains stuck,forcing him to do a stunt with a faucet stuck to his toe.Better than the other idea,though (which was to saw his toe off.)
* ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' is all about tricking people with bait in order to get them to foolishly give up what they could have won. It's all in good fun.
* On Season 18 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', the Austria Detour involved "Long Hard Walk" or "Quick and Easy Meal". "Long Hard Walk" involved carrying a large couch down a large stretch of the city while "Quick and Easy Meal" involved eating food on the Prater Ferris Wheel within a strict time limit (one full rotation of the wheel). The only problem with the latter detour was that they did not identify ''how much food you had to eat''. It turned out to be an absolutely massive amount, and the three teams who initially attempted this could not finish and ended up doing the other side of the Detour, as it was not like you could eat any more the second time around.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' episode 31, [[FallenHero Micchy]] and [[SmugSnake Sid]] come upon one of the Overlords, who surrenders after a brief fight and promises to take them to the one who possesses the [[MacGuffin Forbidden Fruit]]. Just before they arrive, Micchy refuses to go any further, saying that it's a blatantly obvious trap. Sid, however, lets his {{Greed}} get the better of him and goes on ahead; this results in him encountering the Overlords' leader, who absolutely [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] Sid and [[TheWallsAreClosingIn crushes him inside a stone cliff face]].
* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', "Save Henry." Regina, Snow White, and Emma are hunting down Peter Pan when they see PandorasBox just sitting on the ground. Seeing as how the box is a FateWorseThanDeath for anyone inside it, and [[spoiler:Rumplestiltskin]] ''is'' inside it, Regina ''immediately'' deduces it's a trap. Snow White doesn't listen, goes to the box, [[WhatAnIdiot and sets off the trap]].
* The RCG closing logo in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' features a different backwards message each season. The first season's message was "You're stupid for playing this forward, you're stupid for playing this forward."
* In an episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Jenna and Tracy are petsitting for Kenneth, and he gives them an ominous but vague warning "don't go into my room." When they do, they find that his room is getting bug-bombed, and they kill his pet bird by letting out the poisonous gas.

* On ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', Fargo's GD personnel file contains the phrase "inappropriately pushed button" 37 times. Someone took advantage of this to try and kill Fargo, and nearly succeeded.
* Some of the American episodes of ''Series/TheChase'' had a Super Offer for the titular Chase round. It was normally double the top offer and always six-figures, but choosing this forced the contestant to play a perfect run of seven tough questions against the Chaser without a single wrong answer. Get a question wrong, and they're out of the game unless the Chaser gets a question wrong himself. Even if it was accomplished, they still have to win the Final Chase to take any of it home, or it goes away anyway.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' has a meta-aversion to this in the cliffhanger to "Fall," when [[spoiler:Kim Wexler, overexhausted, zones out at the wheel and crashes her car.]] We then see [[spoiler:Kim stagger out of the car, clearly heavily injured.]] [[http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/12/better-call-saul-creator-fall-jimmy-mcgill-kim-crash/ According to]] show co-creator Peter Gould, they had to take steps to avoid schmuck bait.
-->''"We had an option that we considered — and if it had been a different TV show, we might have taken — which was to have the crash and then not show her getting out of the car. There’s a phrase that we used to use in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' writers’ room, and we use in the ''Better Call Saul'' writers’ room, and it’s something we try to avoid. We call it schmuck bait, but basically, it means leaving the audience to believe that something enormous has happened to get them to keep watching past the commercial or to the next episode, and then taking it off the table as soon as you get back. We really try to play fair with the audience."''

* In ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'s Rifles'', Sharpe gets Harris to make a sign reading "Keep Out" in French, and puts it at the entrance of a booby-trapped building. Sure enough, the next French cavalrymen to pass fall for it.

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "The Inquisitor", Lister pretends to think he's outsmarted the titular time-erasing simulant, and gives him his time gauntlet back. The Inquisitor falls for it, and ends up deleting himself from the entire space-time continuum.

*** People actually did it. Even the [[EarWorm correct link]] is Schmuck Bait.

* The term "[[BuffySpeak Schmuck Bait-y]]" was used in the MutantEnemy bullpen and by Creator/JossWhedon in [=DVD=] commentaries to describe settings that were dark and gloomy and seemed dangerous. Handy term for places they were ''bound'' to send characters.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s island is covered in Schmuck Bait. In the early days of the series, the characters were constantly traipsing into the jungle even though they knew the "monster" was out there. In the episode "Walkabout", Jack and Sawyer go into the plane's fuselage to investigate ''growling''. David Fury, late of MutantEnemy, referred to this as "Schmuck Bait" on the DVD commentary.

** So the panellists know that obvious questions are schmuck bait. But the question setters know that the panellists know, so set schmuck bait questions that aren't. The panelists won't answer, so Stephen has to force the answer out of them, cajoling them until one says they will 'take the bullet for the team', and being surprised the obvious answer is the correct answer, leading to one of Creator/DavidMitchell's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONsrQtnvZcs rants]]. Of course when Stephen has to cajole the answer, and refuses to move on it must be because the answer IS right, so they know to give it. The production team know that the panellists know this. So the obvious answer IS wrong...

** From "The Time of Angels": "Come and see this!"

-->'''The Doctor:''' And how am I going to react when I see this: A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstance. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem, cause I really don't know who I am and I don't know where to stop. So when I see a great big threatening button which should never ever ever be pressed, then I just want to do this! ''(presses it)''

-->'''Dream Lord:''' If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality.\\

* ''Series/{{QI}}'' runs on this trope, since it is primarily about debunking commonly held beliefs. Panellists will be greeted with a siren and point deduction if they give the generally-known, obvious and WRONG answer to a question. Most panellists have become GenreSavvy enough to expect this and avoid obvious answers, unless it would be funny. Alan Davis is the preferred target for Schmuck Bait, receiving a siren for [[spoiler:incorrectly]] answering a "How do you do?" with "Fine, thanks." and once for simply pressing his buzzer when prompted.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', "Save Henry." Regina, Snow White, and Emma are hunting down Peter Pan when they see PandorasBox just sitting on the ground. Seeing as how the box is a FateWorseThanDeath for anyone inside it, and [[spoiler:Rumplestiltskin]] ''is'' inside it, Regina ''[[GenreSavvy immediately]]'' deduces it's a trap. Snow White doesn't listen, goes to the box, [[WhatAnIdiot and sets off the trap]].

* ''Series/WarehouseThirteen'' is full of really cool artifacts with mystic powers but dangerous side effects. Pete Lattimer is well aware of this, but still touches anything and everything where the downside isn't immediately apparent.

'''Rory:''' What happens if you die in reality?\\
'''Dream Lord:''' You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality.

* ''South Beach Tow's'' ChristmasEpisode ''begins'' with this as a ChekhovsGun with anonymous box of Christmas cookies that [[FatIdiot Rob Jr.]] eats despite his [[WomenAreWiser sister's]] paranoia about where they came from. [[PottyEmergency Cue bad gas and emergency bathroom run]] during a heated bilingual exchange with the owners of a [[PintsizedPowerhouse car that despite being hitched up]] ''drags the entire tow truck'' to who-knows-where. Then, [[HumiliationConga he returns to HQ sans truck where he's chewed out by his dad, loses out to]] [[ReliableTraitor Eddie]] [[TooDumbToLive who ALSO ate the cookies after Christine's warning,]] [[PottyEmergency hogged the company bathroom, leaving]] [[GassHole Rob to nearly shit himself on the floor as his dad]] [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity fires him]] [[MagnificentBitch after the anonymous baker, a former tow victim, calls to rub it in.]]

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', episode "Wink of an Eye", Kirk is told by the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Alien of the Week]] not to touch a certain device. He touches it, and gets shocked. So what does he do? ''Puts both hands on it and [[WhatAnIdiot keeps getting shocked.]]'' In justice to Kirk the device in question is putting his crew into deep freeze to be preserved as potential breeding stock for the Alien. Naturally he's willing to endure some pain if he can only switch it off.

** So the panellists know that obvious questions are schmuck bait. But the question setters know that the panellists know, so set schmuck bait questions that aren't. The panelists won't answer, so Stephen has to force the answer out of them, cajoling them until one says they will 'take the bullet for the team', and being surprised the obvious answer is the correct answer, leading to one of {{David Mitchell}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONsrQtnvZcs rants]]. Of course when Stephen has to cajole the answer, and refuses to move on it must be because the answer IS right, so they know to give it. The production team know that the panellists know this. So the obvious answer IS wrong...

* Inversion in ''Series/CandidCamera'', when they put a bowl in a public place full of money with a sign that said "FREE MONEY". Nobody touched it, assuming it was Schmuck Bait.

** The same premise is the plot behind the movie ''TheBox''; the reward has been increased to $1,000,000. Inflation.
* On the old Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} show ''SaluteYourShorts'', the main counselor Dr. Kahn's niece Ellen, a BrattyHalfPint that bordered on EnfantTerrible, visited and caused problems for all the campers. They eventually figured out that she liked seeing them upset so they ignore her but tell her she will be punished if she pushes a button. It turns out the button activated a RubeGoldbergDevice designed to give her a HumiliationConga complete with ProducePelting and a BucketBoobyTrap leaving the nasty little girl CoveredInGunge.
* ''IronChef'' and ''IronChefAmerica'' both have the Ice Cream Machines. The Iron Chefs seemingly can't resist trying to make ice cream or other frozen dishes out of ingredients like trout and cod roe (I.C. French Hiriyuki Sakai seems particularly vulnerable to the machine's siren song). 9 times out of 10, this earns them scolding from the judging panel (if not outright {{Squick}}). Fish and Fish Roe ice cream is actually quite the treat in some parts of the world. The scolding is because the machines break half the time.

* ''{{QI}}'' runs on this trope, since it is primarily about debunking commonly held beliefs. Panellists will be greeted with a siren and point deduction if they give the generally-known, obvious and WRONG answer to a question. Most panellists have become GenreSavvy enough to expect this and avoid obvious answers, unless it would be funny. Alan Davis is the preferred target for Schmuck Bait, receiving a siren for [[spoiler:incorrectly]] answering a "How do you do?" with "Fine, thanks." and once for simply pressing his buzzer when prompted.

* In an episode of ''ThePretender'', Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle are investigating one of Jarod's "lairs" (a shipping container) when they see a BigRedButton with a sign saying "DANGER - DO NOT PUSH" in Jarod's handwriting. Parker tells Lyle not to push it, saying it's probably a trap. Lyle pushes it...and it IS a trap.

* In an episode of ''{{Hyperdrive}}'', the Captain falls for a "Hero Trap", believing that an ancient society needs help, and will give him great rewards, despite his security officer Eldon repeatedly telling him what an obvious trap it is.
* In ''{{Sharpe}}'s Rifles'', Sharpe gets Harris to make a sign reading "Keep Out" in French, and puts it at the entrance of a booby-trapped building. Sure enough, the next French cavalrymen to pass fall for it.

* In an episode of ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'', Jenna and Tracy are petsitting for Kenneth, and he gives them an ominous but vague warning "don't go into my room." When they do, they find that his room is getting bug-bombed, and they kill his pet bird by letting out the poisonous gas.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', "Save Henry." Regina, Snow White, and Emma are hunting down Peter Pan when they see Pandora's Box just sitting on the ground. Seeing as how the box is a FateWorseThanDeath for anyone inside it, and [[spoiler:Rumplestiltskin]] ''is'' inside it, Regina ''[[GenreSavvy immediately]]'' deduces it's a trap. Snow White doesn't listen, goes to the box, [[WhatAnIdiot and sets off the trap]].

* On ''Series/Eureka'', Fargo's GD personnel file contains the phrase "inappropriately pushed button" 37 times. Someone took advantage of this to try and kill Fargo, and nearly succeeded.