Woman Killed In Wii-Related Competition

snuffin writes to tell us that a local radio competition to "hold your wee for a Wii" has ended with a Sacramento woman dead from water poisoning. From the article: "An Associated Press interview with another contestant, named James Ybarra, claimed that contestants were initially given eight ounce bottles of water to drink every fifteen minutes, with larger bottles being used once contestants began to drop out. According to Ybarra, 'They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk.' He described the victim as 'a nice lady' and that 'she was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.'"

Comments

Re:Killed??

[starwed]

It's a bit harsh to call it stupidity; water poisoning isn't that well known.

Plagarising Bastards!

[elviscious]

From the article:

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is upset by a rapid intake of water.

From Wikipedia:

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.

What is this 8th grade English class?

Re:Killed??

[theGil]

Knowledge is not a prerequisite for a Darwin award, though lack thereof often is.

I disagree. The author of darwinawards.com lays out "Excelennce", or an "Astounding misapplication of judgement" as a prerequisite. Look at the other comments on this page. Many people didn't think drinking large quantities of water could kill you...just not something everyone thinks of.