Radio station fires 10 over deadly Wii contest
By Paul Miller 
posted January 17th 2007 1:21PM
posted January 17th 2007 1:21PM
We're sure something dumber than this whole "drink until you die of water intoxication to win a Wii" thing was perpetrated back in the Tickle Me Elmo hysterical days of yore, but we can't really imagine what. The owners of KDND FM didn't seem to have a hard time figuring out what to do about this situation: they've fired 10 employees of the station, including the three hosts of "Morning Rave," which were directly involved in the contest that ended in Jennifer Lea Strange's death. Now word on a lawsuit from the family, but the county sheriff's office has stated that it's not investigating the matter, so this could be it for news on the tragic ordeal until somebody tries to one-up the stupidity on display here.
I think this is as dumb as these people waiting in line for the ps3: http://grapheety.com/?story=107&zoom=12
She tried to do something nice for her kids, but I can't believe that she would put her health on the line like this. Even if she didn't know about water intoxication, wouldn't she THINK that something wrong might happen to her bladder?
Ugh, I'm over this story.
netposer
"If you are going to enter a stupid contest for a $250 item make sure there are no health risks. She made the choice and signed the papers. Darwin is at work here...let him work."
What a sad, angry little pissant you are.
It's not darwin you douchebag, she has kids. Besides, if you're gonna have a contest that could potentially kill you, perhaps you shoud disclose it?
You retarded little jerkoffs need to learn what darwination is.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/17/entertainment/main2365259.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_2365259
CBS News station KOVR-TV reports that during the contest, a listener - self-identified as a nurse - called the live radio broadcast and warned that the game was dangerous.
"I want to say that those people drinking all that water can get sick and die from water intoxication," said the caller.
"Yeah, we're aware of that," replied a DJ, according to the broadcast news report. "They signed releases so we're not responsible, okay?"
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Legally okay or not… This DJ had a moral obligation to listen to that nurse.
The life of human is sacred.
If you think that Jennifer Strange was randomly generated from pond scum & time... Well, then you’re absolutely right. Who cares then, it doesn’t matter in the end. In fact more and more people are coming to your same logical conclusion. Give it another decade and I’m sure comments like your's will then be highest ranked.
But if you're wrong... Her life does matter, and I'm telling you her life does matter.
The legal system failed, but its not the problem in this case.
The problem is with the human heart.
xman @ Jan 17th 2007 3:36PM
"for all the geniuses on this blog saying that it is not common knowledge, you are just saying the radio station people shouldn't have known either and letting them off the hook. maybe you geniuses should rethink that one if your goal is to defend this woman."
You idiot, they said on the air that they knew it could be deadly after they got started, but laughed it off since the people all signed waivers.
Now repeat after me: DUUUUUUHHHH?
People aren't suing cigarette venders for selling cigarettes that killed their relative of cancer, emphysema or whatever...
When people make poor choices that cost them their lives, their families should not look for someone else to blame.
However, the radio station ought to atleast give the kids a wii.
"People aren't suing cigarette venders for selling cigarettes that killed their relative of cancer, emphysema or whatever..."
Uhhh...where have you been the last decade? People may not be suing vendors, per se (i.e. the stores that sell cigarettes) but they have successfully sued cigarette makers for millions in many cases. Although it's more symbolic than anything. It certainly hasn't put Big Tobacco out of business.
Anyway, that's beside the point. We're talking about a stupid radio contest, not a product that has been scientifically proven to kill people. I stand by my earlier stance that they were criminially negligent for not having some kind of health professionals to monitor the contest. At the very LEAST, they should have taken her to the hospital instead of letting her drive herself home. They KNEW she was sick, and said so on the air.
Exactly. The manufacturer, not the vender.
The radio station was simply vending the wii for a price.
If someone is going to take a competition to the point of death, then it is on their head.
If someone waited in line for the Matterhorn(disneyland) and starved to death, would it be fair that they sued disney for not providing them with food while they waited?
Someone had to ingest a lethal amount of water under their own will. That is no ones fault but the person who ingested the water.
As for those who say, "Maybe she didn't know that drinking that much water could kill her"
Ignorance is never an excuse. "Sorry officer, i was going 100 miles an hour because i did not know the speed limit."
This is completely different than a parent forcing a kid to drink water as punishment. This lady chose to do it.
She is going to receive a DARwiiN AWARD!
Time for a first year law school refresher, people:
If the American Civil tort system recognizes that the radio station breached a legal duty to this contestant, it allows a legal remedy in the form of money damages against the station. If our legal system allows this- which I believe it certainly would in this case- then the contestant could not have reasonably know about the dangers of excessive water drinking. It even sounds absurd. Did you know?
Is the radio station liable? Yes. It had a duty to ensure the contest was safe, because a reasonable radio station would make certain it was not placing contestants in danger of undue harm. There is plenty of case law to support this.
Did it breach that duty? Obviously. A reasonable radio station would have taken necessary precautions- such as calling a doctor to check dangers!- and this station (must have) failed to do that.
The death was the factual and proximate cause of the station's negligence. All this leads to civil liability for the death of the contestant. Arguing her own stupidity (which I claim there is none) is not a valid defense on these facts. She is not contributorily negligent. So stop saying she is stupid for this- no judge would find that way, and I would trust his or her opinion over any of yours.
The DJs were joking around about dying of water intoxication.
AND a nurse called in and tried to warn them, but was put down by one of the DJs with laughter.
By the way, the contestants couldn't hear what was going on on-air in the room they were. So, they didn't hear any of the caller's warnings.
I don't know, but after this one contestants, Gina Sherrod, quitted after she felt dizzy and after Strange said she was not feeling too well and had a headache, they didn't start thinking "Hmm, maybe we went too far, maybe we should call in for some medical assistance"?!
No, the station's employees left everyone in the believe that nothing can happen and let them believe that if the body's limits are reached they would just throw up and everything would be fine.
One of the DJs said "If it gets dangerous for somebody, their body will automatically throw it up.
And the following quotes are really creepy and unprofessional. A contradiction in terms.
Eva: "I want to say that those people who are drinking all that water can get sick and possibly die from water intoxication"
DJ: "We're aware of that"
DJ: "They signed releases so we're not responsible. It's OK"
DJ: "And if they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they're gonna throw up and they're outta the contest before they die. So that's good right?"
Uhh, what? They were aware that you can die of drinking too much (fact), but those self-declared medical masterminds created their own little medical wisdom in saying the people would vomit before anything dangerous would happen. Which is not a fact.
"My head hurts. They keep telling me that it's the water...that it will tell my head to hurt and it'll make me puke." Strange told the DJ, live on the air, before leaving the station."
They mislead that lady!
Not one thought wasted about considering help.
I am really curious what they signed in their waivers. I mean throwing off all responsibility in a release, ok. But saying on-air, that they know it could kill somebody, but not telling her? Is that a bad joke?
Even if you know, that you heard or read about it that it could cause death, wouldn't you look it up first before you organize such a contest? Didn't the people of the station talk about it in some way before the show?
I mean, sure, none of them wanted to kill anybody. But geez, if you know that there are risks, why ignore them totally and making up that vomitting part?!
People do a lot of stupid stuff. dangerous stuff, just for the rankings. I saw a Japanese show where they put lots of black scorpions around some guy's head. On the show they bragged about it could be deadly. He did it nevertheless. So that's his problem. But Jennifer Strange thought it was safe, the DJ said on-air - what the woman couldn't hear - that they were aware of death. And backstage they told her, she would puke before anything bad would happen. There's a complete difference. They left her in the belief that everything was fine.
I would have went to a hospital anyways. But maybe just telling her all of her symptoms are normal was the crux for her not to seek real medical advice.
So, saying it's all her fault doesn't seem right to me. And is pretty weak considering she died. She didn't just had some seizure, allergic reaction or whatever. She died, because of ignorance. Totally unnecessary.
These idiots got fired? Good. Now they need to be sued until they have nothing left and then put in jail for six months to think over their idiotic actions.
I'm so fed up with stupid, cocky, reckless DJ's who think they're God's gift to the earth and who think everything they do is funny and clever and wonderful. They're BORING and infantile and one of the main reasons I switched to satellite radio in the first place. It's great to see some of them put in their place for once.
Signing waivers is irrelevant because most people look at those as a mere technicality. No one would honestly think that a radio station would have them participate in an activity that would truly put them at risk of death. Give me a break.
I wasn't aware that you could DIE from drinking water, either. How many people know that? All I've ever heard is that you could throw up from it because your stomach could only hold so much at one time. But I've never heard that it could result in death. If she had drank a gallon of whiskey, I could understand people being a bit critical. But water?
So I'm certainly not about to dole out judgment over someone's death - not in this case. That would just be obtuse and callous.
Wow, a lot of inbred idiots posting on this tonight. The amount of people who consider this death as 'trivial' just shows that the US is second only to the third world when it comes to respect for human life. Oh, and those saying you can't trust a radio station to tell you that your event is safe are even bigger morons. Try telling the judge that you didn't expect her to take your advice seriously, somehow I don't think he will agree with your defense.
I can only pray that when some of you decide to have children, you decide to mate outside your own bloodline. Maybe give your offspring a fighting chance at intelligence.
"It's not darwin you douchebag, she has kids. Besides, if you're gonna have a contest that could potentially kill you, perhaps you shoud disclose it?
You retarded little jerkoffs need to learn what darwination is."
'Darwination'? Mmmm-kay. Last time I checked, 28 is before the age of menopause, so she was still able to bear young and pass on her genes. She already had children, but could have had more. So natural selection still applies. Maybe you need to learn how evolution works and quit studying 'darwination'.
Let me remind us all that anything in life can potentially kill you. She had to drive to reach the station for the contest - she could have been killed in a wreck along the way. A ceiling implement at the studio could have fallen and hit her in the head. She might have had an allergic reaction to the higher levels of chlorine in the radio station water. Want a 100% chance of living to the national average for life expectancy? Sorry, that's not in the cards. Accidents and weird things happen.
I am sick of the "not responsible" mentality these days. Nobody is ever responsible for what they do. It's caused by childhood abuse, medications, work stress, and anything except their own choices. It particularly riles me when "lack of information" is the responsible party ... this in a time when people have unprecedented access to almost the entirety of human knowledge.
Is it a tragedy that this woman died? Yes. Do we need to find a scapegoat? Apparently many of us do.
Actually, it's a criminal matter now....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/17/radio.death.reut/index.html
Wow...stupid mistakes: leader=litre, personal=personnel, viewer=listener (seeing as it's radio). In my defence, it's past 5am here and I can't get to bed.
UPDATE ON THIS:::::: THE POLICE ARE CURRENTLY INVESTIGATING THE CASE
Those idiots.
All they had to do is make the contestants drink Gatorade, or pickle juice.
That is why Athletes drink Gatorade or Powerade or Pickle juice. Not because it increases performance, but because its not safe to drink a lot of (hypotonic) water in a short period of time, which is something athletes do.
Gotorade or picklejuice is isotonic, which will not cause water intoxication.
When the nurse called in and told the DJ's that this could be fatal, they neglected to let the contestants know.
This qualifies for negligent homicide.
The frat boys that made another boy die while doing the same thing during his initiation ritual, plead guilty to negligent homicide.
NO ONE FORCED TO THE BOY TO DRINK WATER, BUT HE HAD TO DRINK TO JOIN THE FRATERNITY.
THE FRAT BOYS WERE PROSECUTED!!!
So who won the Wii?
@Porsche
No, it's NOT common knowledge. What is common knowledge is that you need to drink lots of water everyday, but that if you drink too much of anything, you'll puke it up. That's common knowledge.
Drinking a bit of water at one time and repeating that over a longer period of time and dying from it is NOT common knowledge, so what the freak are YOU talking about?
And you mention her wanting to win a contest was unethical? Again, what the heck are you talking about? How is it unethical to enter a contest and desire to win? That doesn't even make any sense.
When you actually manage to construct a logical thought, let us know.
@Porsche
Sorry about the "logical thought" comment I made. That was unfair of me to say to you. It's easy for any of us to get fumed over topics like this story.
I also misinterpreted what you were saying about people trying to get money unethically. I thought you were saying she was unethical for entering the contest. I see now that you were saying you think people are unethical for suing to get money.
Although we may disagree on the fundamentals of this story, at least I've cleared a couple of things up.