Amsterdam - A 28-year-old Dutch man on Sunday finished 86 uninterrupted hours of television watching to become the world record holder, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS. The time Efraim van Oeveren, from the town of Tilburg, spent awake in front of a TV was six hours longer than the previous award-winning coach potato from New Delhi.
Van Oeveren fought exhaustion together with two other Dutch contestants, attended by doctors and a jury. A 20-year-old competitor threw in the towel at 40 hours, while the 30-year-old TV fan held out for 72 hours.
The rules of the ordeal allowed contestants one 5-minute pause per hour to rest their eyes or to save the time to allow for showers and so on.
Contestants were able to chose their own viewing programmes, and the winner is to receive mention in the Guinness Book of World Records and a new television set.
