History Website / DarwinAwards

* EnemyMine: Subverted by Ernst Thälmann, leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the WeimarRepublic. He refused to form a common front with Social Democrats (SPD), calling them "social fascists" (the Communist theory that social democracy was a moderate form of fascism). On the other hand, he was willing to ally with the Nazis, considering them to be "working people's comrades". His plan was to let AdolfHitler come to power, that then Germans would see that the Nazis have no real solutions to Germany's problems and would defect to the Communists. Except, when Hitler came to power, KPD was the first party to be banned, and Thälmann was sent to prison, then in August 1944 transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp and executed, under Hitler's personal orders.

These exceptions didn't always exist, and the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness early days]] of the site included entries that fell under these exceptions. Some remain on the site under a GrandfatherClause, but others were removed.

* HarmlessElectrocution: One winner managed to fatally *invert* this, [[https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-50.html accidentally killing himself with a 9-volt battery]].

* RussianRoulette: The site notes that simply participating in this game and losing is not enough on its own to be considered a contender for an award, as it is simply far ''too'' common a form of stupidity. In order to be eligible, the contender must have done something extra to push the already incredibly poor decision to blatantly gamble your life in a game involving loaded firearms and a one-in-six chance into the realm of ''truly'' outrageous idiocy. A highlight in this category is definitely a Houston man who not only decided to play the game, but ''also'' somehow failed to understand why a revolver is used, as he instead used a ''semiautomatic pistol'' for the game instead. An even dumber variation involves three guys taking turns stomping on a ''land mine''; fortunately, everyone else is smart enough to get the hell away before the inevitable kaboom.

* RussianRoulette: The site notes that simply participating in this game and losing is not enough on its own to be considered a contender for an award, as it is simply far ''too'' common a form of stupidity. In order to be eligible, the contender must have done something extra to push the already incredibly poor decision to blatantly gamble your life in a game involving loaded firearms into the realm of ''truly'' outrageous idiocy. A highlight in this category is definitely a Houston man who not only decided to play the game, but ''also'' somehow failed to understand why a revolver is used, as he instead used a ''semiautomatic pistol'' for the game instead. An even dumber variation involves three guys taking turns stomping on a ''land mine''; fortunately, everyone else is smart enough to get the hell away before the inevitable kaboom.

* RussianRoulette: The site notes that simply participating in this game and losing is not enough on its own to be considered a contender for an award, as it is simply far ''too'' common a form of idiocy. In order to be eligible, the contender must have something done extra to push the already incredibly poor decision to blatantly gamble your life in a game with loaded firearms into the realm of truly outrageous idiocy. A highlight in this category is definitely a Houston man who not only decided to play the game, but ''also'' somehow failed to understand why a revolver is used, as he instead used a ''semiautomatic pistol''. An even dumber variation involves three guys taking turns stomping on a ''land mine''; fortunately, everyone else is smart enough to get the hell away before the inevitable kaboom.

* RussianRoulette: The site notes that simply participating in this game and losing is not enough on its own to be considered a contender for an award, as it is simply far too common a form of idiocy. In order to be eligible, the contender must have something done extra to push the already incredibly poor decision to play the game into the realm of outrageous idiocy. A highlight in this category, is definitely a Houston man who decided play the game, but somehow failed to understand why a revolver is used, as he instead used a ''semiautomatic pistol''. An even dumber variation involves three guys taking turns stomping on a ''land mine''; fortunately, everyone else is smart enough to get the hell away before the inevitable kaboom.

* RussianRoulette: The site notes that simply participating in this game and losing is not enough on its own to be considered a contender for an award, as it is simply far too common a form of idiocy. In order to be eligible, the contender must have something done extra to push the already incredibly poor decision to play the game into the realm of outrageous idiocy. A highlight in this category, is definitely a Houston man who decided play the game, but somehow failed to understand why a revolver is used, as he instead used a ''semiautomatic pistol''.

* BestialityIsDepraved: One of the winners who was left alive but unable to reproduce ended up that way by attempting to have sex with a porcupine. Another man was kicked to death while attempting to acquire carnal knowledge of a cow.

The [[http://www.darwinawards.com/ Darwin Awards]] are a collection of stories of those that have given the best their DNA can offer to the gene pool. That is, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard they removed their DNA from the gene pool through such utterly stupid actions (of their own devising)]] that the fact they can no longer breed is worth an award. It is worth noting that, although most of the winners remove themselves from the gene pool in a fatal manner, there are a precious few who manage to leave the gene pool in a spectacularly stupid manner while still remaining alive, ([[CripplingCastration albeit... incomplete]]) afterward.

Although Internet-based, the Darwin Awards have released books authored by Wendy Northcutt detailing the "winners" of that year.

[[AC:There are four categories:]]
* Darwin Award winners: Those killed or unable to reproduce[[note]]Also occasionally includes people who are in jail for life or other long settings for similar reasons; the key element here is complete deprival of ''opportunities'' to reproduce[[/note]]. Further being classed as;
** Confirmed by Darwin: In reliable news sources.
** Unconfirmed by Darwin: Unable to find reliable sources, but not proved to be false.
** Debunked by Darwin: A story previously thought to be true is found to be false.
* [[strike:Honorable Mentions]] At Risk Survivors: Those that did their idiotic best to kill or sterilize themselves, yet defied the odds and failed to do so.
* Urban Legends: Those stories believed to be true yet have no basis in reality.
* Personal Accounts: Members of the internet put forth their own personal stories with no other proof.

See also ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'', which is based on a similar premise (the major difference is that ''1000 Ways To Die'' doesn't really care about the death being due to stupidity [[CruelAndUnusualDeath if it's spectacular and/or bizarre enough]]).

Finally, there was actually a film (''Film/TheDarwinAwards'') based off of some of the stories from this site. A few of the stories were also tested by the Series/{{Mythbusters}} (who, incidentally enough, made cameo appearances in the movie).

'''NOTE:''' People who take out innocents in the process of removing themselves from the gene pool are expressly disqualified from Darwin Awards consideration by the website, thus '''instantly''' disqualifying all drunk drivers if they hit someone. (This rule was not in the first version of their ruleset, thus some of the early Darwin Awards did mention the death or injury of bystanders.) This rule has its own exception, namely: [[DontAskJustRun if anyone in their right mind would flee the area if they saw what the contender was doing]], and a bystander stays to watch, then the contender can still get nominated on the grounds that the bystander will probably also get nominated. People with mental disorders are also disqualified as Wendy sees these deaths as just plain tragic (Diminished mental capacity due to alcohol or other drugs is permitted, because such people chose to diminish their mental capacity with drugs of their own free will). Youths under the age of 16 are generally disqualified unless a majority of the youth's peers agree the action taken by the nominee was incredibly stupid. Anyone who won before a rule change, that would have disqualified them, gets to keep the award as part of a GrandfatherClause. Finally, there was an unofficial rule change that says the nominees must have unintentionally caused the incident as to prevent people from [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity harming themselves to try to win]]. There are a few exceptions due to the aforementioned grandfather clause.

* TheMovie: A fictional film was made in 2006 about two investigators chasing Darwin Award-type stupidity for an insurance company, starring Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder. (Reviews were generally bad, according to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]].)

* DumbwaiterRide: One story involves two guys who decide to take a ride in a dumbwaiter. Unfortunately, they both squeeze in at the same time, and their combined weight sends them falling to their deaths.

* TooDumbToLive:
** The entire ''point'' of the Darwin Awards, and, [[WordOfGod according to the creator]], one of the biggest reasons why the incidents described are funny instead of morbid. This is also why minors aren't included on the list, as there's a big difference between "too dumb to live" and [[ChildrenAreInnocent merely ignorant]].

** Extra credit has to go to the man who earned his Black Belt in karate and apparently believed the achievement meant he could kill a lion with his bare hands. So he got into a zoo after hours and entered the lion enclosure. As a writer who covered the incident observed, it didn't matter if he could have successfully defeated one lion. There were several lions in the enclosure and they saw no reason to fight fair...

* ImprovisedZipline: One award winner decided to use a karabiner clip to slide down the cable of a disused chairlift. Too late he discovered that he had no way to arrest his acceleration and no to disengage himself from the karabiner. He collided fatally with a pylon. Prefaced by the last words "Hey, watch this!"

* MachoMasochism: As noted under ChainsawGood, [[https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html two lunkheads trying to impress the female sex]] managed to maim themselves, one fatally.

** The books also noted that being drunk when handling a pet snake led to the most Darwin-esque reptile accidents... [[{{Irony}} which is ironic]] since one way to make a snake let go of you/back off is to get alcohol in its face.

The [[http://www.darwinawards.com/ Darwin Awards]] are a collection of stories of those that have given the best their DNA can offer to the gene pool. That is, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard they removed their DNA from the gene pool through actions (of their own devising)]] with such stupidity that the fact they can no longer breed is worth an award. It is worth noting that, although most of the winners remove themselves from the gene pool in a fatal manner, there are a precious few who manage to leave the gene pool in a spectacularly stupid manner while still remaining alive ([[CripplingCastration albeit... incomplete]]) afterwards.

Although internet based, the Darwin Awards have released books authored by Wendy Northcutt detailing the "winners" of that year.

* ImprovisedZipline: One award winner decided to use a karabiner clip to slide down the cable of a disused chairlift. Too late he discovered that he had no way to arrest his acceleration and no to disengage himself from the karabiner. He collided fatally with a pylon. Prefaced by the FamousLastWords "Hey, watch this!"