Showering Into the Record Books

Everyone likes a good, hot shower, but this group one sounds more like Chinese water torture. The participants, eight men and two women, are allowed only one 10-minute break per hour to go to the potty, eat and drink a little, and rub some more milk fat into their skin to protect it from the effects of the constant stream of water pouring over them.

A doctor is standing by to make sure that nothing goes awry, such as falling down on the tile floor due to lack of sleep.

But according to Patrick Förster, a spokesman at the Victoria Hotel in the little town of Hövelhof where the wet and wild event is taking place, everyone's in good spirits.

If they make it until 7:35 p.m. local time Sunday, they'll have beat the previous record, get into the Guinness Book of Records and get a cash prize of 2,000 euros ($2,478). But it's not like they'll be bringing any national pride back to Germany. The previous record holders were also Germans, from Berlin; they held out for 100 hours. The upstarts plan on going one hour better.