SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner's office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

"She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad," said Laura Rios, one of Strange's co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. "She was crying, and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."
heh, what a shitty way to go... lmfao

I take it she didn't win?

I figured it would take more than 1.8 liters. I mean I've drank more in beer a night and it gave me a hangover/dehydration.

ouch

I figured it would take more than 1.8 liters. I mean I've drank more in beer a night and it gave me a hangover/dehydration.

beer != water. It contains sodium and maltose, building your electrolytes not diluting them.

also, it seems to hinge on the person not peeing at any time during the intake. The contest rules were that they had to drink water and hold it in, which lead to the dilution effect.

True... I always figured it would take a lot more water to do it. I have heard stories of contests like this where people died from too much water.

Up here in Boulder a HS student wanted to try X for her 18th bithday a few years ago. I read that a side effect of X is that it makes you feel thirsty....don;t know don't do drugs....anyway

She literaly drank herself to death with so much water. Not an urban legend, you can lterally drown yourself by too much water. Such a sad waste of a life.

not really 'drowning', but the resulting dirt nap is much the same...

Such a stupid thing to die of. Who wants to bet there's a lawsuit coming?

See, in the other forum there's two threads close to each other. In one, people talk about how they'd love to get JDM aftermarket bodykits, bumpers, etc. but the fact that some Americans are so quick to yell "sue!" whenever someone does something of their own volition, then gets hurt, ruins it for the more 'responsible' crowd...

In the other, a twin of this one, some people are advocating that the woman's family should sue.

hrmh.

some people are advocating that the woman's family should sue.

I'd like to think they wouldn't sue, but reality suggests otherwise. Noone wants to be held accountable for their own actions anymore.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see warning labels pop up on bottled water either.

I take it she didn't win?

Doesn't look like it. It doesn't say whether she actually won or not. Either way, she wouldn't have enjoyed it too long.

Doesn't look like it. It doesn't say whether she actually won or not. Either way, she wouldn't have enjoyed it too long.And now she's in hell. Ain't that a bitch?

looks like Darwin wins again? PWN3D!!!

Doesn't look like it. It doesn't say whether she actually won or not. Either way, she wouldn't have enjoyed it too long.

I think she was the runner-up. The one that won the Wii should be enjoying it right now :D

SACRAMENTO, California - A radio station fired 10 employees, including its three morning disc jockeys, after a woman died following an on-air water-drinking contest last week.

The hosts of KDND-FM's "Morning Rave" were fired Tuesday, a day after the station said it was suspending the show and investigating the death of Jennifer Lea Strange.

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Video/070115/n_water_death_070115.300w.jpg

Strange, 28, was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by seeing how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The show's DJs called the contest "Hold your Wee for a Wii."

During the contest, participants were given two minutes to drink an 8-ounce bottle of water and then given another bottle to drink after a 10-minute break.

Strange may have drunk nearly two gallons, witnesses said. She appeared ill, one contestant said.

After the contest, Strange called in sick to work. She was found dead at her home about five hours later.

The Sacramento County coroner said preliminary autopsy findings indicated she died of water intoxication.

Drinking large quantities of water rapidly can throw off the body's balance of electrolytes, causing brain swelling and leading to seizures, coma or even death.

Strange had showed fellow contestants photographs of her two sons and daughter, for whom she was hoping to win the Nintendo Wii. The game console sells for about $250.

so even if you start pissing I guess it's too late

I feel bad for her kids. They might never get a Wii now. If they do it will just bring up bad memories.

I feel bad for her kids. They might never get a Wii now. If they do it will just bring up bad memories.

Don't just feel bad for them, feel bad for the radio station and the DJs...

Seems like they're about to get owned in the worst way...




http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?id=34466&siteSection=1

California Sheriff Looks into Water-Drinking Death

As participants in KDND-FM's water-drinking contest chugged bottle after bottle, a listener called in to warn the disc jockeys that the stunt was dangerous - and could be fatal.

"Yeah, we're aware of that," one of them responded.

Another DJ said with a laugh: "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK."

Those comments, and others made during the Jan. 12 "Morning Rave" radio show, appeared to give little regard to the risk of water intoxication - until a woman died just hours after imbibing nearly two gallons in the contest.

On Wednesday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department launched a criminal investigation into the incident, and attorneys for the family of Jennifer Lea Strange said they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the radio station.

The county coroner said preliminary autopsy findings indicate Strange, a 28-year-old mother of three, died of water intoxication.

Authorities decided to pursue the investigation after listening to a tape of the show, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, during which DJs joked about the possible dangers of consuming too much water, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said. At one point, the DJs even alluded to a college student who died during a similar stunt in 2005.

Strange was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by determining how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The show's DJs called the contest "Hold your Wee for a Wii."

Several hours into the contest, Strange was interviewed on the air and complained that her head hurt.

"They keep telling me that it's the water. That it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke," she said.

Eventually, Strange gave in and accepted the second-place prize: tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. She commented that she looked pregnant, and a female DJ agreed.

"Oh, my gosh, look at that belly. That's full of water. ... Come on over, Jennifer, you OK?" a male DJ asked. "You going to pass out right now? Too much water?"

Several hours later, Strange was found dead in her home.

On Tuesday, KDND's parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, fired 10 employees connected to the contest, including three morning disc jockeys. The company also took the morning show off the air.

Station spokesman Charles Sipkins said Wednesday the company had not yet heard from the sheriff's department but that it would cooperate with the investigation.

sounds like fun.

Yeah, at first it seemed like a "shoulda done their research, but hey they're DJs - how would they know water could be dangerous?"

But then you hear the audio, and they're not only told it could be deadly, but laughed about it and mentioned another person dying from a similar stunt. I mean, how stupid and arrogant could they get?

this was very unfortunate. It's one of the last thing someone (without a medical background at least) would expect to die from

I got my Wii this morning, and I didn't have to hold water to get it.