5. Robot Wars
Any competition to prove you're the best will undoubtedly provide some losers. The joy of Robot Wars was that everyone - except the winner - would fail spectacularly, as a result of the robots being destroyed by each other. Months and months of work could be undone in a matter of moments as the house robots and the arena traps added to the team's demolitions, and all of this took place in front of a rowdy home audience and arena crowd, baying for carnage and destruction. Many of the roboteers would come back year after year with their comedy robots and it was entertaining to see how they would be destroyed each year - professionals were pitted against amateurs, and their despair as precious robots malfunctioned and were prone to attack became our entertainment. There were no punches pulled as the robots flipped, torched, rammed and cut their opponents to pieces. Quite why someone would spend so much time designing a robot that was easily set on fire or destroyed is beyond logic, but it proved that we love to watch destruction of any kind.
4. Distraction
If a TV company decided to make a show based on this article's premise, this was it. Distraction knowingly humiliating contestants for our entertainment, with the prizes not even close to matching the pain and embarrassment endured. This show would be higher on this list were it not for the cruel undertone Distraction has by its nature. What's weirder is that contestants entered, knowing they would be distracted in various bizarre, painful and humiliating ways. The entertainment came from laughing at their failed attempts to answer simple quiz questions whilst enduring distractions ranging from such things as being randomly electrocuted to being attacked by a police dog. Host Jimmy Carr's acerbic put-downs of the contestants for their feeble efforts added to our enjoyment too, but also to the mean nature of the show. No other show allowed the contestants to fail after being victorious either; they had to answer questions to avoid damage being inflicted to their prizes, such as money being slowly burnt in toasters. Their agony at losing their spoils was comedy gold, but it proved how willing we are to fail in order to win.