Farewell fair play... how we cheat to win
MILLIONS of Britons admit they will shamelessly lie and cheat to get their own way, new research shows.
Faking pregnancy to get a seat on public transport, feigning injury on a sports field and pretending to cry when losing an argument are just some of the underhand tactics people confess to employing.
As Britons abandon the tradition of fair play, according to the survey, men and women are equally guilty of using sneaky tricks to get ahead.
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The research was published just days after Colin Firth dealt a body blow to the nation’s self-image by saying the stereotypical English gentleman is just a fantasy figure.
The 50-year-old actor, known for portraying the noble Mr Darcy in Pride And Prejudice and the equally resolute Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones films, said gentlemen only exist “in the roles I play”.
According to the research, published by online casino Yazino, the ideal of fair play is most often abandoned on the roads and public transport.
Four out of 10 people admit they have pushed ahead of others to get the last seat on a train or bus, while a similar number said they would race other drivers to get ahead in a queue of traffic.
A third admitted they regularly compete with strangers to nab a parking space.
Of more than 2,000 people who responded to the survey, 27 per cent said they would compete most often with random strangers, 20 per cent with friends and partners, 16 per cent with colleagues and eight per cent with siblings.
The researchers found that six per cent of Britons – more than 2.8 million people – resort to some form of emotional blackmail to get their way.
As many as 750,000 women and, more surprisingly, 450,000 men fake tears during an argument to throw their opponent off course, the researchers claimed.
Almost 250,000 women have pretended to be pregnant to get a seat on public transport, they added.
On the sporting field only two per cent of people confessed that they had faked an injury to gain an advantage such as getting an opponent sent off but half that number admitted they had gone one step further by pretending to have a disability.
The research may not come as a surprise to contestants in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, where nutritionist Gillian McKeith has been accused by campmates of faking a fainting spell to avoid a bush tucker trial.
Professor Karen Pine, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “Competition unlocks our primal instinct for survival.
“In contemporary society we no longer need to fight for food or fire, but the impulse remains so we find ourselves racing for seats on the Tube or control of the television remote.”
