Watching '24' for 86 hours nets him $10,000
Sam Whiting, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle December 14, 2010 04:00 AM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 Michael Macor / The Chronicle
When Kevin Coon sat down to watch "24," he didn't know how long it would be until he got back up again, but $10,000 was on the line and he meant to walk out with it.
There was also the chance to get his name in the book of Guinness World Records, in the sport of continuous television watching. That was enough for Coon, 27, and his viewing pal Andrew Clark, 25, to drive from Pleasanton to Los Angeles to compete in the "24" Marathon Challenge.
The event was a publicity stunt to hype the release today of the DVD box set of the anti-terrorist drama, which ran for eight years, 192 episodes and 20 Emmy Awards before ending in May. The contest was open to the first 100 people to line up at the Hollywood & Highland mall, where a custom theater cube was built out of Plexiglas so people could watch the people watching "24."
Before the start, counterterrorist unit agent Jack Bauer himself, in the person of Kiefer Sutherland, came on a video monitor to offer an inspirational message to the viewers of "back-to-back Jack." Also on hand were representatives from Guinness to make sure that all the rules were adhered to, which meant 10-minute breaks every two hours.
At 9:30 p.m. Dec. 2, the first episode of the first season came on a plasma screen 6 feet high and 14 feet wide. The contestants sat on love seats that tempted them to fall over and go to sleep. "People were crashing left and right," says Coon, who had a good view of the casualties from his row. When people fell asleep, a tournament official would wake them up to tell them they'd been eliminated, then let them go back to sleep.
"They didn't want anybody driving out of there delirious," Coon says. His strategy for staying awake was to never let his eyes wander from the screen, in order to conserve energy. During the breaks he would slap himself "as hard as I could, as if I were interrogating somebody," he says. "I had to remind myself why I was there," which was the $10,000. He didn't care as much about the ancillary prize, which was a box set of all the episodes he was watching.
Clark's technique for staying awake was to chew on ice and slap his legs, which didn't work as well as a hard slap to the face. He lasted just under 52 hours.
The Hard Rock Cafe catered three meals a day. Coffee was allowed, but Coon was worried about bathroom breaks so he stuck to 5-Hour Energy and came prepared with 12 two-ounce bottles to see him through.
The series was starting its sixth season when the contest was called. The old world record was broken. But there were 71 episodes and three viewers left. Coon was prepared to keep watching, "if that was what had to be done to get the money," he says.
The winners came back out of the cube at 11:30 a.m., Dec. 6. Coon feared that after all he'd been through, he might have to divvy up the prize with two others. But if you've watched TV for 86 hours, 6 minutes and 41 seconds, you deserve your own $10,000. All three got the full check.
"It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life," Coon says. "You really lose touch with reality when you're staring at a screen for that long." Back at the hotel, he put his head down and within five seconds was asleep and didn't wake up for 15 hours. At one point Clark heard Coon scream, "Everybody get out. This building is going to blow."
The "24" nightmares passed, but it took two days to recover enough to make the drive home to Pleasanton, an oversize jackpot check for $10,000 taking up the backseat. He plans to use it to fix his Jeep and fix his leg so he can go back to work in the family business, which is installing home theater systems.
Coon expects to wait a year before watching "24" again on his 50-inch Samsung. "I'm going to need some time," he says.
Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/DD0C1GOBH9.DTL#ixzz18R2cmhia
Marathon Day 1
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