48-year-old Jimmy De Frenne, from Belgium, recently set a new world record for the longest time spent sitting on a toilet, after spending five days on a toilet bowl in a bar.
After breaking the world record for the longest time spent ironing non-stop (82 hours) in 2016, Jimmy De Frenne recently set his sights on another bizarre world record attempt – the longest time spent sitting on a toilet bowl. There was no official record to break as Guinness World Records had no such category, but De Frenne had heard of a man who had allegedly spent 100 hours sitting on a “throne” and thought he could do better. He set himself a goal of 168 hours and spent almost five days last week sitting on a toilet bowl at Filip’s Place bar in Ostend, but had to quit after only 116 hours as his body just couldn’t handle it anymore.
Photo: sferrario1968/Pixabay
“I was very tired and my legs hurt but I believe in my success and try to make this record official,” the 48-year-old bus driver in training told reporters.
De Frenne was allowed a five minute break every hour, which he could accumulate over several hours to use as sleeping time or, ironically, toilet breaks, as his record attempt bowl wasn’t actually connected to plumbing. Even son, he reportedly only got three hours of sleep over almost five days, and on Friday last week he had to call it quits.
“I wanted to spend a whole week sitting on a toilet bowl, but my body just didn’t want to go on so I decided it was best to stop,” Jimmy De Frenne wrote on social media. “I am proud, but also a bit disappointed that I did not reach my goal. I am very grateful to the people who have helped me over the past few days. Everyone was very supportive, we did it as a team.”
Even though he couldn’t reach his goal of 168 hours, 116 hours is still the longest anyone has ever spent on a toilet bowl (as far as we know) and De Frenne is hopeful that his attempt will be acknowledged as an official world record. There were no Guinness Records representatives present at Filip’s Place, but he had local officials and witnesses making checks to validate it.
De Frenne was also able to raise some money for charity while sitting the toilet bowl, by charging visitors for photos with him during the unusual record attempt. He managed to raise €250 which he plans to donate to a local charity.
