The Contest (Seinfeld)

"The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The 11th episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, George tells Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer that his mother caught him masturbating. The conversation results in George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer entering into a contest to determine who can go for the longest period of time without masturbating.

The episode was controversial when broadcast because NBC thought that masturbation was not a topic suitable for prime time television. As a result, the word "masturbation" is never used in the episode. Instead, the subject is described using a series of euphemisms, while the meaning of the subject is still made clear to the audience. The writer of the episode, Larry David, won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series for his work on the episode. One of the euphemisms used in the episode is "master of my domain," said by a character when still in the contest. It has since become a catchphrase in popular culture, although it is not always used in reference to masturbation.

The episode was ranked #1 on TV Guide's 2009 list of "100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time".

The fourth season of Seinfeld has a continuous story arc, in which Jerry and George are writing a television pilot for NBC. In the previous episode, "The Virgin", Jerry had started dating Marla (played by Jane Leeves), a woman who is a virgin.