Song Changjiang, a lucky 27-year-old from Chengdu, China, has won the right to drive in a BMW 1 Series after keeping his hand glued to it for 4 days and three nights, in a bizarre contest.
What some people wouldn’t do for the chance to win a brand new BMW. Take the participants in the ‘Who Can Keep Their Hand on the BMW‘ contest held in China’s Chengdu City. 120 contestants, aged between 18 and 40, signed up for the chance to win a BMW 1 Series. Organizers brought out a few vehicles, placed palm-shaped stickers on them, and all the participants had to do is keep their hands on them for as long as they could. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? I thought so too, but judging by the photos taken during the competition, it was a real physical and mental test.
The car-touching competition was held during the last days of May, as part of a promotion for a real estate sales program. It attracted quite a lot of attention, but not exactly the kind organizers were hoping for. After photos of exhausted contestants laying on the ground, sleeping on their feet with their hands glued to the BMWs, and even carried away by their girlfriends were released by the press, the general reaction wasn’t at all positive. Anyway, after four days and three nights during which contestants were allowed a 15-minute break every four hours, to eat, sleep or go to the toilet, only three of them were left standing. One of them quit in tears, after his legs had swollen so much he couldn’t even walk, and the second one gave up three hours later, making Song Changjiang the last man standing.
You might think a brand new BMW 1 Series is worth all the effort, but what we haven’t told you is the winner didn’t actually get to own the car. after 87 grueling hours, Song only won the right to drive it for 5 years, before having to return it to the company that organized the car-touching competition. “I won, but it was not worth it, I’d never do it again,” Son Changjiang told the press, after the contest. “At the end, I didn’t have the strength to eat. Even if there is an award of a million, I will not take part in a contest like this in the future.”
Sources: China Daily, The Sun
