by Zach Bigalke

Created on: March 27, 2007   Last Updated: April 27, 2007

I once dared to drink a gallon of whole milk within a thirty-minute time span in a fifty-dollar wager. My stomach hurt as the pints drained into my distended stomach and the white in the gallon jug dissipated. With a flourish, I took my last swig, set the pint glass forcefully down next to the empty jug, and swiped the fifty bucks out of disbelieving hands. As people came up to revel in my accomplishment, my gastrointestinal tract fought back. A smooth regurgitation cured my ills, but the underlying reasons behind why people (such as myself) undertake eating/drinking contests must be analyzed before we can truly determine who is to blame for the January 16 death of Sacramento mother-of-three Jennifer Strange in a radio contest for a Nintendo Wii.

There was a clear motivation for why Strange and the other contestants in KDND 107.9 FM's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" were drinking eight ounces of water every fifteen minutes and attempting to go the longest without a bathroom break: Nintendo's long-awaited Wii video-game system was both expensive and difficult to find in department stores. With three children, Strange was merely attempting to provide for her children and give them a taste of the "Getting ahead of the Joneses" mentality that pervades American culture. Instead of saving to provide her children with a Wii several months down the line (once costs had inevitably gone down and quantities had increased), Strange instead voluntarily subjected her body to unnecessary distress. The radio station, preying on classic American technolust and win-quick mentality, provided a masochistic venue from which to provide compelling radio drama. Society as a whole, hyping an exciting-yet-unnecessary video game system as a must-have product, contributed to the disaster by reinforcing the notion that we as Americans must have the hottest and newest things at their hottest and newest.

Jennifer Strange, posthumously, must hold herself personally responsible for volunteering for the KDND contest which ultimately led to her demise. The station cannot be blamed for something which could just as easily happen to Takeru Kobayashi on ESPN someday during the Nathan's Hot Dog World Championships. And, in an overindulgent society, it is vital to take note of the potential consequences of our overindulgence.

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