The minor annoyances of daily life. Uncomfortable situations you silently power through. No matter who you are, your world is filled with people, things, and circumstances that can be summed up with one simple word: BAD.
In the spirit of March Madness, eight captains have painfully sifted through steaming piles of life's unpleasantries and submitted their regions. The result: a single-elimination bracket of 68 entries making up the Tournament of Bad!
The results are in! Over 40,000 votes were cast throughout the tournament, and we finally have our winning entry. With 66% of the votes in The Championship, the grand champion of the 2026 Tournament of Bad is... "'Unexpected item in bagging area. Please remove this item before continuing.'"! The final bracket showing the tournament's progress from start to finish can be seen here:
Across 18 years of the Tournament of Bad, we've received a total of more than 525,000 votes from visitors in 81 different countries!
Check out a full gallery of every bracket throughout the years:
And you can see and search through a full list of every entry in the history of the Tournament of Bad here:
Thanks for voting and following along. We'll be back next March and April to crown a new champion!
Salom to our first-time voter in Uzbekistan, hal-ao to our first-time voter in Iraq, مرحبا to our first-time voter in Lebanon, salam to our first-time voter in Morocco, and namaste to our first-time voter in Nepal! That now makes 81 different countries from which someone has voted on the Tournament of Bad throughout its 18 years. The results are in from two hard-fought Final Four matchups, and we've finally arrived at The Championship. The two remaining entries now face off in the tournament's final matchup, with your votes determining this year's champion!
Relive the drama of this year's tournament with the updated full bracket here:
Voting is now open for The Championship! The final poll can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
The results are in from the quarterfinal matchups, and we have our Final Four. Which entries have what it takes to move on and compete on the tournament's biggest stage? Every vote counts! The full bracket can be seen here:
Voting is now open for the Final Four! The winners of these two matchups will go on to compete in the Championship of the 2026 Tournament of Bad. The two polls for this round can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
All results are in for the Regional Finals! Each of the eight regional captains has just one entry remaining in the tournament.
Among the entries saying farewell in today's slo-mo montage are "Only some of your family having a holiday off," "That you can't always tell right away anymore if a video is real or AI," "When fitted sheets aren't tight enough around the bed," "Going into the office to 'build the culture' just to spend hours on conference calls," "Plugging a USB cord in wrong twice," and "Piss on the toilet seat, not your own," all of which fought valiantly, but ultimately came up short.
The regional champion entries now go head-to-head to determine our Final Four of the Tournament of Bad!
The updated full bracket can be seen here:
Voting is now open for the Quarterfinals! These matchups will determine our Final Four of the 2026 Tournament of Bad. The four polls for this round can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
Over 30,000 votes have been cast by visitors from 36 different countries as we reach the Shitty Sixteen! Among the defeated last round were "Turning on the hot water but finishing washing your hands before the water gets hot," "Everyone's headlights being too damn bright now," "Spectators that wear golf shoes to PGA tournaments," and "The drunk guy trying to speak Spanish at the swim-up bar," all inspired entries which now have nothing to do but watch from home, and reflect on what might have been.
Here's the updated bracket:
And now the Regional Finals are upon us. This round will determine the winning entry of each captain's region. All eight polls can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
All results are in for The Opening Round! Two of the winning entries from our First Four have moved on again, each taking down their 1-seed opponent. Will we see a return of the magic from seven years ago, when Kate R.'s First Four entry "Seductive maternity photo shoots" battled all the way through to be our 2019 Champion?
We again mourn the demise of some truly inspired entries to the tournament. Fans and analysts worldwide were sad to see "Children driving rideable motorized suitcases through the airport," "Potpourri," and "When someone says 'make it strong' when talking to a bartender" all pack their bags after receiving tough first-round draws. Our closest, down-to-the-wire, true buzzer-beater matchup saw "Being unable to selectively turn off your senses" squeeze by "When a bar does a too-quick 'last call'/'time to go' combo" with no time on the clock. I was personally pulling for "Thinking you'll have some quiet time at work, and then the stall next to you becomes occupied," an entry that epitomizes the bizarre minutiae of the world that our fair tournament is all about.
Here's a link to the latest bracket:
It's time to see which entries will make the Shitty Sixteen! Voting is OPEN for the second round. All 16 polls can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
The results are in for the First Four and the first half of our Opening Round, and the winning entries have moved on. There was some tough competition in this year's First Four. Fan-favorite "Servers who have convinced themselves they're actually entertainers" put up a good fight, but ultimately faded down the stretch. Fans who came out early were delighted by the hard-fought First Four matchup between "Seeing one loose pair of your underwear come down the baggage claim" and "Carpet in a bathroom" with the latter taking a 71% victory to advance.
Tournament-goers were shocked by the early passings of "Overly groomed beards," "The View," "Recumbent bicycles," and "Someone saying 'just circling back' out loud, in real life," all fan favorites that came to this year's tournament with high hopes. But the court of public opinion has spoken, and so these entries see their March dreams shattered in the Opening Round.
The updated bracket:
And now we move on to the other half of the bracket, featuring highly anticipated regions authored by Rick, Brent, Ryan, and me. Voting is NOW open for Part II of the Opening Round. All 16 polls can be found below.
Remember - vote however you like. Some people always vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally.
Over the next couple weeks, your online votes will decide the winner of each head-to-head matchup, gradually narrowing down the field to one final champion of the 2026 Tournament of Bad! The bracket is set, and can be viewed here (click to enlarge):
This round will cover half of the opening matchups, as well as our First Four play-in matchups.
It all starts here. Voting is NOW open for the First Four, and the opening round for half of the bracket. All 20 polls for this round can be found below.
Vote however you like. Some people vote for the entry they find the funniest. Some always vote for the entry that most annoys them personally. Let the badness begin.
