Too much of anything can kill.

[Stu in USA]

Drinking too much water can kill you!! There was a terrible tragedy here in US last week, where a woman entered a competition to win a Wii, by drinking as much as possible before weeing. It killed her. How could anyone be so stupid to organise this where people's lives are at stake. Has something like this happened in the UK or elsewhere?

[Llamatron]

I remember reading a year or two ago of some minor celeb sat out in the sun drinking way too much water and ending up in hospital. It's something to do with the water flushing out vital salts or something.

[mushroom25]

in 2001, BRMB (Birmingham) was fined �15,000 under health & safety legislation after their "coolest seats in town" stunt went wrong - contestants had to sit on a block of dry ice, the last one sitting won some sort of prize; but 3 of them received serious frostbite, 1 ended up in hospital for 10 weeks.

[zipadeedodah]

Someone I knew died of drinking too much water several years ago now - they had depression, and drank alot of water. It had the affect Llamatron described - diluting and flushing out vital salts etc in the body.

You would think they would assess any possible affects something like that may cause before they go ahead and hold an event! What sort of organisation had held the event Stu?

[Hammer Head]

Don't put all the blame on the people who organise these events. Rather, question the intelligence of the people who don't think for themselves and put themselves in dangerous situations

[Stu in USA]

It was a radio station competition, in LA I think.

[crosso]

It didn't have anything to do with flushing out vital salts...the compers weren't allowed to go to the lavvy so the woman's system was overcome by the sheer volume of the water. I don't blame the contestants - this lady was simply doing the comp to win something for her kids. Anyone would imagine that the organisers had checked on their facts before staging the comp. There have been a few cases of damage in the UK including a particular game show where contestants had to stay on a roller coaster for as long as poss to win a car (I think it was in Blackpool) and some contestants sued for bodily harm but I never heard the outcome of their cases. Plus the notorious incident with gameshow host Noel Edmonds where a contestant died cos equpment wasn't checked correctly, yet Noel continues unabatedly in his popularity. I think contestants should be able to enter comps in all faith and trust that the terms and conditions are fair and non-detrimental to their wellbeing. It is so sad that the US lady wanted to give a fairly inexpensive gift to her kids (maybe unable to afford one) and paid with her life for the greed of entertainment chiefs.