The Alter Ego

How to play The Alter Ego

While it’s tempting to use AI to help you write a submit, we please ask that you avoid doing so, as once again, the more personal an entry is, the better we can judge it across our key criteria.

The submission form will close on 1 October, at which time nominations will be put to our esteemed panel of judges for final review.

More information on judges, submissions and deadlines can be found here. You can also access interviews with last year’s winners and the final list for 2025, as well as for every year prior.

What is The Alter Ego?

Retail betting diverged significantly from the wider market, with non-remote betting GGY falling 3.3% to £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion). The number of betting shops dropped for a 12th consecutive reporting period to 5,617 premises—a 3.6% annual decline (down 208 shops from March 2025).

Other retail sectors performed better. Bingo GGY increased 8.2% to £703.8 million ($941.8 million), while arcade GGY rose 10.7% to £800.1 million ($1.07 billion).

While the new figures underline the sheer scale of Britain’s regulated market, leading operator Entain is pressing the government for tougher action against black-market platforms.

About The Alter Ego

Humor is inherently subjective, but the only plausible reason to dismiss Carrot Top after seeing his show live isn’t a distaste for kitsch—it’s being easily offended.

Carrot Top deserves credit not only for his sharp punchlines, but for never growing bitter about becoming a punchline himself. He has always leaned into the jokes made at his expense. That self-awareness is precisely why his cameo in the end-credits photo collage of The Hangover landed so brilliantly.

If you dismiss Carrot Top, it almost certainly means one thing: Like us, you judged his act before seeing it. Giving the show a chance proves his stagecraft vastly funnier than any punchline ever used to dismiss it.