STORY TIME: When I was a wee lad of just 17 years old, I scored the enviable home alone for a week and a bit situation while the rest of the family tottered off on a summer holiday. I stayed behind to work sporadic shifts in a department store who I absolutely cannot name so please do not ask, ok-mart?
After work one day I purchased a brand new, freshly released copy of Tony Hawk Underground for the PlayStation 2. Upon returning home at around 3pm, I popped it into the console and began playing, pausing briefly only to eat, drink, and pee/poop. When I eventually decided to put it down and maybe try to sleep a little, the time was 5am. 14, largely uninterrupted hours had passed. And I suddenly realised that I did not feel particularly well. At all.
The point is, that minuscule marathon almost broke me, a reasonably normal human. But this record would surely reduce me to a fine paste.
A very game lad from Brooklyn, potentially the most bored person on the planet, has managed to eclipse the world record for longest TV binge-watching session.
Alejandro “AJ” Fragoso clocked in his gargantuan effort at a whopping 94 hours straight, pausing only briefly to eat and use the bathroom. That number, on paper, doesn’t seem like that much. But if you wanted to attempt the record yourself, and you started today at midday (a Wednesday), you wouldn’t eclipse AJ’s mark until 10am on Sunday.
Fragoso filled the time in by watching Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone, Bob’s Burgers, and Adventure Time, which honestly provides a nice even spread between serious and light hearted; enough to stop the brain from completely seizing up.
The record was broken as part of an event held sponsored by multimedia software company CyberLink, who set up a special viewing apartment for the effort to be undertaken in, with three participants starting the attempt, before two dropped out over the course of the marathon, leaving Fragoso the last man standing as he crossed the finish line.
But, as it turns out, that kind of sleep deprivation is not good for you, and Fragoso was sick as shit by the time the record was set.
“After his epic binge, Fragoso had an elevated heart rate and suffered neurological side effects, including an increased frequency of involuntary open-eyed micronaps and acute hallucinations.”
Nevertheless the bar is now at a dizzyingly lofty height, daring any person silly enough to put themselves through what essentially amounts to torture to attempt to clear it.
As for his mammoth effort, Fragoso credits his “Mediterranean diet,” and his “frequent standing and stretching” as key factors in fight against fatigue and battle to keep his blood sugar levels stable.
Believe in your dreams, friends. Immortality is a mere “Play All” hit away.
Source: Variety.
