People have enjoyed binge-watching TV for a while now, but the streaming revolution really kicked it (or sat it) into high gear. While most people don’t go to bonkers extremes with their Netflix behavior, though, some out there are on a mission to achieve greatness. Such is the case with Alejandro “AJ” Fragoso, who broke the Guinness World Record for the longest binge-watching session ever recorded, and all it took was chilling out in front of the TV for 94 consecutive hours. Hope he wasn’t using this as sick time from work.
On Friday, April 8, three participants entered a midtown Manhattan apartment with the goal of watching TV for longer than anyone else, under constant examination by medical personnel. But in the end, it was only AJ Fragoso who outlasted the previous record-holder’s time in front of the boob tube, and it was only AJ Fragoso who received the prize of a magical golden bandolier made from dozens of strung together knobs from TV models of eras past. Or at least that might have been what he was hallucinating at the time, because he was indeed having those when he threw in the towel, which then turned into Tina from Bob’s Burgers, on Tuesday morning after 5 a.m.. ET.
This attempt at smashing a record was put on by the multimedia software company CyberLink, and their effort was worth it, although it did take its toll on the last man standing. Fragoso, who works as an iOS developer with Brooklyn’s Fuzz Productions, was also dealing with an elevated heart rate and suffered from involuntarily going into open-eyed micronaps, along with other neurological side effects. It doesn’t say whether or not he went through an entire grocery store’s supply of coffee during this ordeal, but I imagine there was an assortment of ways for the participants to stay awake via taking in food and drinks. According to Variety, Fragoso says it’s his Mediterranean diet and stretching habits that helped him out in holding back fatigue and blood sugar fluctuations.
Over that five-day stretch, some of the shows that Fragoso watched were Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Twilight Zone, among others. The time he spent watching TV equals out to around 256 episodes of a standard 22-minute sitcom or 134 standard 42-minute dramas, which means he could have watched the majority of Netflix Original comedies in that time, or less than half of The Simpsons run. Alternately, you could probably watch all of Breaking Bad and The Wire if you cut out the opening titles and the end credits. Is that me challenging you? Nah. But maybe.
The previous record of 92 hours was set just last month by five Austrians for an LG Electronics Austria-sponsored event. What’s the longest binge session you guys have ever gone through?
