[WS:] It is mind boggling what people are willing to do to win contests. There is an excellent documentary "Hands on a hard body" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116481/ on the subject, with a few interesting twists, and the message that transpires from it is that they do it because they want the prize, usually some exotic toy, very badly. Interestingly, the final winner in the documentary was not the person who wanted the prize for himself, but for someone else.
In a broader sense, this also illustrates the genius of "casino capitalism." People will put up with almost anything, accept any crap and indignity dished out to them by the powers that be, as long as they think they can be winners of some glitzy exotic prize. It does not matter that they do not have what most of us consider life necessities - decent housing, health care, education, social safety net - the prospect of winning the glitzy prize trumps them all.
The Soviet style socialism is a good counterfactual proving this relationship. It provided people with basic life necessities, but it took away not just the glitzy prizes, but also the prospect of winning them. Consequently, most of the populace rejected such a socialist system, and the glitzy prizes - anything from jeans, to color TVs and to automobiles - became highly valued fetishes in the pop culture.
This shows that if left to their own devices, people will opt for glitz - copper wire and beads so to speak (after Joseph Conrad's _The Heart of Darkness_) over almost everything else, from long term stability to social justice. That is why "casino capitalism" will continue to have genuine popular support, and will claim that support to boost its legitimacy. Those who are serious about socialism, need to seriously entertain introducing it from above.
Wojtek