Cheering for a contestant to lose for selfish reasons....

[aaron sica]

.....leading off this one with two examples.

1) TPIR's cliffhangers, so I can see "Yodely Guy" fall off.
2) The Gold Rush/Run on Blockbusters80, so I can hear the losing horns.

[Kevin Prather]

Supermarket Sweep, so the contestants and David could walk together to the money, then be greeted with their hero's welcome by the other players.

[BrandonFG]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders (I know it's strategy but it still irks me), so anytime they get on stage I root for them to lose their pricing game. Because I'm petty.

[jw2001]

People getting a Whammy on Press Your Luck, primarily to watch all of the various, funny animations. But of course it's particularly satisfying when the contestant is annoying!

[Ian Wallis]

I guess this question could be taken a number of ways, but the first thing I thought of is there are some contestants here and there where I didn't want to see win (and not just because of whammy animations or anything like that).  Whether it's because they're "annoying" as jw2001 said, or maybe because they'd won enough money already and I wanted to see someone else win, or maybe the $1 "upbidders".

I'm not really a fan of Steve Harvey's Feud (just because it's on so many damn times), but sometimes there are families on there that I'd like to see quietly disappear.

It seems more often than not the contestant(s) I'm rooting against end up winning anyway.

[parliboy]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders (I know it's strategy but it still irks me), so anytime they get on stage I root for them to lose their pricing game. Because I'm petty.

See, I'm completely the opposite.  I'm of the opinion that if you are the fourth bidder, there are only four possible rational bids, and I get irked when they win while making a different bid.

[BrandonFG]

See, I'm completely the opposite.  I'm of the opinion that if you are the fourth bidder, there are only four possible rational bids, and I get irked when they win while making a different bid.

That's fair, when you put it like that.

I'll also add any Deal or No Deal contestant who said "[Six-figure offer] is not enough...No Deal!" I always got a good laugh out of them going home with $50 due to their greed.

[That Don Guy]

I remember when studio audiences could be heard rooting against contestants. For some reason, on one of the versions of NBC High Rollers, once a contestant won over $20,000, the audience tended to start rooting for the challenger.

Does rooting for challengers to lose so I can see the champions go for bonuses (e.g. rooting for a third-day champion to win on $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, or even something like rooting for a Pyramid contestant who won their first game of a day to win their second one as well) count?

[TimK2003]

Moreso in the 80s reboot of Treasure Hunt, I liked when contestants would wind up getting Klunked, as they at least had another guaranteed shot at picking the winning jack-in-the-box in the next game for another chance at a decent prize.

[Ian Wallis]

I know we've discussed the ratio of male-female contestants on certain shows in the past, but I found that on '80s Pyramid, whenever there was a male contestant I always rooted for them (and against the female) because if the male contestant lost, it could be over a week before we saw another one.

[alfonzos]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders

The British thwarted that maneuver by giving the advantage of spinning last in the Showcase Showdown to the person who bid closest to their one-bid item.

[Kevin Prather]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders

The British thwarted that maneuver by giving the advantage of spinning last in the Showcase Showdown to the person who bid closest to their one-bid item.

That's actually really clever. It eliminates the luck-of-the-draw aspect when one player wins Golden Road and another wins Double Prices.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders

The British thwarted that maneuver by giving the advantage of spinning last in the Showcase Showdown to the person who bid closest to their one-bid item.

...Doesn't that encourage $1 upbidding?

[TLEberle]

It might encourage someone to get closer to the ARP than just sliding by, especially if you think there is some room to maneuver. It becomes more a test of pricing than game theory.

[Kevin Prather]

Never been a fan of $1 upbidders

The British thwarted that maneuver by giving the advantage of spinning last in the Showcase Showdown to the person who bid closest to their one-bid item.

...Doesn't that encourage $1 upbidding?

Not if you bid $801 on a $1999 item after Cletus won by bidding $1300 on a $1350 item.

And $1 would be completely obsolete, replaced by something more pragmatic like $300 or $400.