A Wallington man has landed a place in the record books after watching television non-stop for almost two days.

Stephen Hayes, 32, who lives in Mellows Road, enjoyed a champagne celebration last week after completing the gruelling challenge to become a Guinness World record holder.

He was joined by two other contenders, Adam King and Nick Tungett, in his attempt to beat a previous record of 46 hours 30 minutes and 50.91 seconds set by a man in America last year.

Cable television channel CNX, which was responsible for organising the event, declared all three contestants winners after they simultaneously reached their target time of 47 hours.

As well as earning a place in the history books, they were each presented with a cash prize of £5,000 and a selection of audio and visual equipment worth £2,000.

Speaking to the Guardian, father-of-two Stephen said he found the challenge a lot easier than he had anticipated.

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did prepare myself for it to be a lot worse than it was. I would have liked to have gone for perhaps 50 or 55 hours."

The interior designer said he was very grateful to his family and friends who showed their endless support throughout the challenge.

"I got 85 text messages from my family and friends which the adjucators read out to me as well as loads of phone calls. I couldn't have done it too without the support from CNX who were really good."

Stephen, who ploughed his way through endless gangster films and music videos, said he hit a difficult patch after 27 hours.

"The experience got quite weird as my body was trying to make me go to sleep, but I just kept moving around and did some exercises."

He beat off competition from more than 2,000 hopefuls to take his place in one of six futuristic pods set up in locations in London and Manchester last Wednesday.

Each contestant, whose image was broadcast live by CNX and on the Internet continuously throughout the challenge, was allowed only one 15-minute break every eight hours.

Referees watched their every move to make sure their eyes never left the screen and although contestants could stop for food and drink breaks, they were not allowed to look at what they were eating.

After finishing the challenge, Stephen said he managed to go to sleep for around five hours on Friday night.

"I got up as usual and then slept for about 12 hours on Saturday night so I bounced back from it all pretty quickly," he said.

Stephen said he planned to treat his family and go on a snowboarding holiday.

December 13, 2002 14:30