DJs Sacked Over Fatal Water Drinking Contest

A US radio station has fired 10 staff after a stunt resulted in a woman dying from water intoxication in a bid to win a games console.

Jennifer Lea Strange, 28, from California, was one of 18 people who competed last week for the prize of a Nintendo Wii by seeing how much water they could drink without going to the toilet.

The Morning Rave DJs - who were all sacked yesterday when the show was scrapped by the KDND-FM station - called the contest "Hold your wee for a Wii".

Participants were given two minutes to drink a 250ml bottle of water and then given more bottles to drink at 10-minute intervals.

Strange, a mother of three who told a fellow contestant she wanted the Nintendo for her children, is believed to have drunk between five and nine litres, witnesses said. She called in sick to work and was found dead at her home about five hours later.

The Sacramento county coroner said preliminary autopsy findings showed she died of water intoxication. The condition, also known as hyponatremia, is extremely rare and only usually affects endurance athletes. Nausea, vomiting and headache are the first symptoms of the condition, which causes brain swelling and leads to seizures, coma and death.

The winner of the contest was similarly affected, telling CNN: "I was throwing up, I couldn't even function, I couldn't do anything."

It is the second such death from excessive water consumption in two years in the state. A 21-year-old student at Chico university died of water intoxication after being urged to drink large quantities by other students.