TV binge-watching world record set by Brooklyn man with 94-hour session
An exhausted 25-year-old Brooklynite has just set the Guinness World Record for the longest TV binge-watching marathon, with a 94-hour stretch in front of the tube.
Over the course of five days, Alejandro "AJ" Fragoso watched back-to-back episodes of shows including "Game of Thrones" (pictured above), "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Battlestar Galactica," "Twilight Zone," "Bob's Burgers" and "Adventure Time" in a stunt sponsored by multimedia software company CyberLink. The viewing event, held at a midtown Manhattan apartment, began Friday, April 8, and the 94-hour mark was passed Tuesday just after 5 a.m. Eastern.
"Throughout this process I learned that binge-watching TV for abnormally long durations can actually be quite physically taxing," said Fragoso, who is an iOS developer with Brooklyn-based product agency Fuzz Productions.
Related: Binge Nation: 70% of Americans Engage in Marathon TV Viewing
The previous record for longest marathon TV-watching was 92 hours, achieved by five Austrians at an event organized by LG Electronics Austria in March 2016.
CyberLink hired an on-site physician to monitor the binge-watchers and the effects of prolonged, uninterrupted TV watching and sleep deprivation, and it also had a Guinness judge present to verify the record. The company's binge-watching team began with three participants, but only Fragoso was able to hold on long enough to beat the previous mark.
After the four-day binge, Fragoso had an elevated heart rate and suffered neurological side effects, including an increased frequency of involuntary open-eyed micronaps and acute hallucinations, according to the company. Fragoso credited his Mediterranean diet and frequent standing and stretching as helping him fight fatigue and keep his blood sugar stable.
Content was streamed via CyberLink's PowerDVD 16, which has added a new TV mode and streaming capabilities with Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast devices.
