like Face Off, Top Chef, Project Runway, etc., is that winning the elimination challenge is basically meaningless.
The majority of these types of shows all have the same basic format: a short “immunity challenge” to start, with the winner of that receiving immunity in the bigger “elimination challenge” to immediately follow. To use those three examples:
On Project Runway, maybe just two or three times a season there is something to win for, like a magazine spread or have the guest judge wear your outfit to whatever event, and about 1/3 to 1/2 of the season the winner receives immunity for the next challenge (they don’t have the shorter challenges), but otherwise, nothing.
On Top Chef, maybe about half of the time in later seasons they have an actual prize, be it cash, a car, cooking gear, or other stuff, but the rest of the time the “winner” gets nothing.
On Face Off, winning doesn’t mean a damn thing except that you’re definitely not getting sent home. Whoop-dee-doo.
Most other shows of the ilk are like Face Off; winning the elimination challenge is, with respect to the overall competition, meaningless. There’s essentially no difference between winning the elimination challenge and merely not being the one sent home. Until the field gets whittled down to the last 4 or 5 competitors, it’s more important to win the immunity challenges than the elimination challenges.
This helps to insure that the more colorful characters (most bizarre hair, most unlikeable, most likely to have an emotional breakdown, etc.) are not eliminated too early. They were cast to be entertaining, not because they had a real chance to win, and the producers want to keep the audience entertained as long as possible.
Actually, when deciding who to send home, the judges (at least on Face Off, which is the only one I watch) do consider your overall track record, although a history of doing well won’t save you from the axe if you really do a crappy job on an episode.
I don’t mind that so much. As stated, it allows some contestants a chance that might not have had one otherwise. I have a problem with the actual format of the broadcast shows. It’s seems like each one pulls any announcement out like taffy. Right before the break, ther is the inevitable, "The contestant…
Going home today…
Is…
Goingtobeannouncedafterthisbreak."
Really? We know the format! Can’t they just say, normally, we’ll find out when we return?
There may not be a prize for second place within the show, but I have to believe that runner ups are going to get at least a little more industry attention than the guy sent home on the first episode. So it may very well be easier to parlay into a job when the show is done.
Haven’t most of the American Idol runners-up gotten record deals, just not from the show? I know The Voice hires their top few folks for their Vegas or touring shows. So sure, first place gets the glory and prize, but second place isn’t without some perks.
This is also taken into consideration on Project Runway. A designer who has flamed out on a given week’s challenge, but who overall tends to design attractive and/or original clothes, will usually get to stay while a consistently-disappointing designer who makes yet another mediocre item goes home.