History Main / DickDastardlyStopsToCheat

* A tragic example in a ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' comic: [[Charavters/BatmanTheRiddlet The Riddler]] pulled off a robbery so flawless he could have easily gotten away and ComicBook/{{Batman}} couldn't have stopped him. Still, he was ''compelled'' to leave behind a clue like he always does, and Batman ends up arresting him after solving it. Nygma's riddles are no longer a villainous gimmick, but a compulsion he can no longer control.

* A tragic example in a "Batman Adventures" comic: the Riddler pulled off a robbery so flawless he could have easily gotten away and Batman couldn't have stopped him. Still, he was ''compelled'' to leave behind a clue like he always does, and Batman ends up arresting him after solving it. Nygma's riddles are no longer a villainous gimmick, but a compulsion he can no longer control.

* Lampshaded/spoofed in a ''[[WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle Tom Slick]]'' short: when asked by his flunkie what could be more important than winning, the Dick Dastardly {{Expy}} says "CHEATING!", even striking a lovelorn pose.

** That character, Baron Otto Matic, predates Dick Dastardly by a season.

* Similarly, [[WebVideo/{{Miniminter}} Simon Minter]] and Vikram Barn of the ''WebVideo/{{Sidemen}}'' exhibit this during ''GTA'' races. Vik "stabilizes" races by pinning down or knocking away whoever is in the lead, often giving up finishing the race in order to do so. When Simon builds a large lead in a race, he usually turns around or stops at the finish line to screw with the others and often gets dealt with karma for doing so, as [[https://youtu.be/0dxlcwAAq_s?t=773 this]] race shows.

** Karl's [[https://youtu.be/f8TlTaTHgzo video]] on the WebVideo/{{Dream}} cheating controversy also touches on this in his rebuttal to claims that someone as skilled at ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' speedrunning as Dream would have no reason to cheat. Karl argues that since the category Dream was playing is reliant on finding {{Rare Random Drop}}s, it doesn't matter how skilled you are, [[LuckBasedMission if you don't get the luck required]], you'll never have a world record-pace run. As such, even a good player would have an incentive to cheat; modding the game to boost the chances of getting those items would dramatically reduce the number of runs killed by bad luck. Or as he succinctly puts it:

** Karl's [[https://youtu.be/f8TlTaTHgzo video]] on the LetsPlay/{{Dream}} cheating controversy also touches on this in his rebuttal to claims that someone as skilled at ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' speedrunning as Dream would have no reason to cheat. Karl argues that since the category Dream was playing is reliant on finding {{Rare Random Drop}}s, it doesn't matter how skilled you are, [[LuckBasedMission if you don't get the luck required]], you'll never have a world record-pace run. As such, even a good player would have an incentive to cheat; modding the game to boost the chances of getting those items would dramatically reduce the number of runs killed by bad luck. Or as he succinctly puts it:

* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries'': Tlacey the CorruptCorporateExecutive breaks her contract with Tapan's group, steals their research, and repeatedly tries to have them killed when they try to recover it. As a representative of an interstellar MegaCorp, it would have been trivial for her to hire them or buy their work fairly. Instead, her efforts get her [[spoiler:a crushed windpipe from a very angry [=SecUnit=] who doesn't like seeing innocents endangered.]]

** In ''Justice for All'', [[spoiler:Matt Engarde]]. His plan was nearly perfect; [[spoiler: hire Shelly de Killer, an assassin known for his code of honor and making sure his clients don't get blamed for the crimes they pay him for, to murder Juan Corrida before Juan could use a fake suicide note to ruin his reputation.]] The plan was even good enough to get past someone FramingTheGuiltyParty, [[spoiler: as while Matt was arrested, Shelly then blackmailed Phoenix Wright into defending him by threatening Maya's life]], which just leads to the framer being suspected of the crime. But he just ''had'' to get "insurance" for blackmail purposes by filming the crime scene, which Phoenix is able to reveal [[spoiler: to de Killer]]. Had the guy just played honest, he would've gotten off, but by trying to cheat [[spoiler: de Killer he just gave the ProfessionalKiller known for being ''very'' good at his job and for hating betrayal above all other things a reason to drop the contract and turn Matt into an example of what he thinks of traitorous clients. Matt changes his plea to 'guilty' because it's ''safer'' in prison]].

Compare and contrast the heroic version of this trope, DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp. See also CheatersNeverProsper, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, ComplexityAddiction, StupidEvil, EvilIsPetty, HoistByHisOwnPetard, SlowAndSteadyWinsTheRace. It is related in spirit to the RevealingCoverUp. The polar opposite of Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat is (of course) PragmaticVillainy.

* Woodward and Bernstein's theory that Watergate is tied to the White House faces some skepticism from a ''Washignton Post'' editor because of this trope. With the Democrats in disarray going into the 1972 election, there was no need for Nixon to stoop to dirty tricks and jeopardize his reelection prospects. It later emerged that the plan dated back to when Nixon's lead wasn't as insurmountable, making the plan (at least in its early stages) an aversion.

* One episode of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' involved a stock car race between the title character and an old rival. The rival had nitrous oxide installed in his car without his permission ("That's illegal"), but even though he was already ahead of [=MacGyver=] and would have won had he just kept the course, he decides to use the nitrous oxide he criticized anyway and ends up spinning out on the shoulder.
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Space Race", the villainous [[FantasticRacism human supremacists]] sabotage every other vehicle in the race so their favorite will win. In doing so, they take out most of the legitimate competition for Sam and her partner, and convince another enemy pilot to disable the favorite's ship out of spite. Not to mention that the favorite's one true threat managed to overcome the sabotage and probably would have beaten him fairly anyway.
* In "Earthbound", an episode of ''Series/Space1999'', a passing ship on its way to Earth offers to take one human along with them (there is only one free cryogenic capsule). The computer is asked to choose who goes. While the program is running, an obnoxious bureaucrat is busy nagging Koenig about how important he is and why he should go, finally forcing his way onto the alien ship (it doesn't end well [[CryonicsFailure since the capsule isn't set up properly for him]]). So who did the computer eventually choose? The obnoxious bureaucrat!
* ''Series/LazyTown'''s Robbie Rotten, whose goal is to return the town to its original lazy state, [[{{Irony}} is the most active person in the town due to his schemes]]. In the episode "Roboticus" he's mail-ordered a robot superhero that's stronger and faster than Sportacus, and a race is held to determine who will be the town's hero. If Robbie hadn't insisted on stopping and putting everyone in harm's way Roboticus might have won fair and square.
* This ended up being the undoing of the Korilla BBQ team on season two of Food Network's ''Series/TheGreatFoodTruckRace''. They were consistently powerful in the first four weeks, but in week 5, after a Speed Bump forced them to go vegetarian and they put out a performance that made them fear elimination. As such, they added $2700 of their own money to their cash box to make it look like they sold more than they actually did. But without the necessary receipts, they were caught and disqualified. The real clincher? The team actually made enough money legitimately to earn third place that week, and wouldn't have been eliminated had they not resorted to cheating.

* Reese turns out to be a surprisingly good cook on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', and would have easily won an amateur cook-off, but still decided to sabotage the other dishes. Though this isn't because he wanted to win, he is just a JerkAss. It does give his parents incentive on a unique way to punish Reese for his actions, by ''[[CoolAndUnusualPunishment banning him from preparing any food of any kind for a month.]]''

* In the ''Series/TomicaHeroRescueForce'' movie, Neo Terror blows up a bridge, causing its car to fall out of the race while Rescue Force carries on.

* ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'': In the test to become the Chosen, a contestant already ahead of Amberle tries to trip her. Not only does he fall doing this, but she trips him when he tries to get back up, and two contestants cross the finish while they're struggling. She ultimately gets up and across the finish line to become one of the Chosen, but not him. Had he just kept running, they both would've made it.
* ''Series/CaseyJones'': The pilot episode deals with this trope right off the bat, when Casey is asked to compete in a race between the Midwest and Central and the Southern and Panhandle over a mail contract. Casey comments that the S&P has the better chance in this race; not only is their train, the ''Swamp Tiger'', almost as fast as ''The Cannonball'', but their route is 25 miles shorter thanks to running on relatively flat plains compared to M&C's more mountainous tracks. Nevertheless, they are so desperate to win the race that they commit all sorts of sabotage to their competitors, giving Casey the inspiration to [[spoiler: rip up his track and connect it to S&P's, allowing his train to overtake the ''Swamp Tiger'' and win!]]
* ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'' centers around participants in a DeadlyGame where the player with the lowest score at the end of a round may be EliminatedFromTheRace, with the second round having the two lowest scores belong to Neon and Kanato, the resident {{Griefer}}. Both also become {{Zombie Infectee}}s during the round and believe they'll die soon regardless of their scores. While Neon is encouraged to bank on previously-established NoOntologicalInertia and puts in a valiant effort to end the final wave of the round before she turns, Kanato takes a DoomedDefeatist attitude and attacks the other players in an attempt to [[TakingYouWithMe drag them into (un)death with him]]. Once the players succeed in wiping out the zombies and causing the infection to vanish, the end result between Neon's zombie-killing spree and Kanato's penalties for attacking other players is that Neon narrowly edges out Kanato in points and the latter is eliminated. Given that his backstabbing was responsible for Neon getting bit in the first place, even the people running the game express relief that his cheating finally got him out.
* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'': On the American version, Season 14 contestants Mark & Michael do this. One option in Episode 7's Detour is transportation by rickshaw with air pumps provided in the case of a flat tire. Mark & Michael hide the pumps which they get penalized for when they arrive at the Pit Stop. If that isn't bad enough, they are assessed another time penalty for following a taxi along the way. As a result, they miss out on a trip to Hawaii when another team checks in a few minutes before their penalties time out.