The Monsters of the Morning, a morning radio show from Orlando, FL (also on XM 152) are doing a bit where one of their interns, Drunky the Bear, has to go a week without eating anything but honeybuns and drinking only beer (no water).
What are the likely medical consequences of this? I think that he would dehydrate pretty quickly.
We’ll find out next week what happens. Anybody want to make predictions beforehand?
Even motivated by the pressure of national attention on this “bet”, I doubt he’d last three days. Under ordinary conditions, he would probably be too uncomfortable within 24 hours for even massive inebriation to fully cover it up up. I could easily see him collapsing in shock.
However, this is “entertainment” [This term needs not double, but quadruple quotes], not a scientific experment or court case. I wouldn’t be quite surprised if there is significant cheating. How much dedicated do you think the DJs are to the “integrity” of this trial, when the health of a coworker is at stake?
Also, will he be drinking any specific beer (e.g. the sponsors? Surely, some legal eagle would have stopped that sponsorship deal!) I believe a person could readily survive a week on a diet of honeybuns and very weak or nonalcoholic beer. There have been many times and places in history where this would not have been uncommon (e.g. where the water supply was unreliable), but I don’t expect them to make more than a feeble pretense of following “the Bear” around 24/7 and enforcing their rules. They have better things to do (I hope) than making sure he doesn’t sneak a guzzle from the bathroom sink at 3 a.m.
Though not healthy, I am sure one could battle hunger with honeybuns.
The beer is another issue. The way he could keep this up longest, I believe, is if he were to drink as little beer as possible, if any. As a diarrhetic, beer would do more dehydrating than hydrating. At least, that what I was taught in high school biology, so many years ago. And in that scenario he is not violating the bet (He’s not drinking anything other than beer - but he’s not drinking the beer either). However, going a whole week (with or without the beer) is certainly not healthy, and if I were him, I would hope for one of our Florida rainstorms (which we’ve had every day this week), and go outside with an open mouth. Attribute that to an “accident!”
zz
I’ve done something roundly similar for two weeks before.
<nitpick> It’s diuretic <nitpick>
And it is possible to absorb more water than you pass when drinking beer, depending on what else you’re drinking too- you’ll retain more water if you aren’t drinking anything else.
I’ve wondered about that before. Beer is a diuretic, but how much so? Say you drink either a pint of beer or a pint of water, with the same starting conditions. How much more will you pee with the beer? How will the difference vary with your state of hydration when you start?
I’m sure that, barring any unusual medical conditions, the DJ could easily go a week on that diet, although as ~zz~ mentions, pacing himself on the beer would be a good idea. I’ve previously mentioned a guy in England who lived several years on beer and the occasional salty snack, before collapsing from malnutrition.
It was mentioned that the event might be sponsored by a company whose name starts with “Bud”.
The Monsters have a lot of fans, and he will be locked up is what they’re calling a ‘cage’, some kind of display case inside a Mini Cooper dealership, where people can come by at any time to see him during the week. He can only use the bathroom once every 4 hours, and someone has to go with him to make sure that he doesn’t cheat and drink some water. There was talk of a web cam, but that hasn’t been determined.
By the way, this bit was based on the “Supersize Me” documentary. The bit starts next week, and they’re working on getting a doctor to check his blood sugar level before he starts, and periodically throughout the week. But I think that the dehydration issue is probably going to be more of a problem than too much sugar; is there a test to determine the level of hydration?
By the way, their website is monsters.fm , but a quick look didn’t find anything about this stunt.
**~zz~, **
accidents like that will cause him to be disqualified. They’re not forcing him to do this; it’s in order to win the “#1 stunter dogtag” (If you’re not a fan of the show, you won’t understand; but it’s for a prize.)
rjk,
I’ve wondered that myself. It seems to me that there’s a specific alcohol content above which drinking the drink will cause dehydration, and below that content you will gain more liquid than you piss out. I’m guessing it’s somewhere just below the alcohol of light beer. (Anyone experienced with what my dad called ‘near beer’ who can give anecdotal evidence of hangovers or lack thereof?)
[hijack]
I just wanted to say that my band has written a few songs for their show as well as performed with them a couple times. They are all nice guys and fun to party with. My band is $50 Flander (for anyone in the market that give a shit).
[/hijack]
What is and isn’t a diuretic is sort of interesting.
I mean, tea is considered a diuretic - but it IS possible to consume no other beverage than tea for years on end and not become seriously dehydrated. It’s a diurectic, but a mild one, and the human body is capable of adjusting it’s water retention system enough to render the diuretic effect irrelevant.
I’m not sure where beer lies on this scale between “water and pure hydrating goodness” and “shrivel you into a mummy”. As pointed out somewhat obliquely, there are various alcohol content to different sorts of beer, as well as other variables. It wasn’t that long ago that people regularly consumed beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner (when they weren’t substituting rum or whiskey) - it being so much safer than the water. Espeically a low-alcohol content “lite” beer with a higher water content than some of the stronger beers may allow for adquate hydration to continue life. The fact he is sitting largely still in a cage in a presumably climate-controlled car dealership may also work in his favor - he won’t be sweating excessivly.