Woman dies after taking part in "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" competition

Coroner confirms it looks like she died of water intoxication

15 January 2007 17:43 GMT / By Amber Maitland

One radio station in the US went a bit too far in its competition for listeners to win a Nintendo Wii because it has possibly resulted in one woman's death.

Jennifer Strange was found dead at her home in California after taking part in a water drinking contest at the radio station earlier in the day.

The contest, “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” involved drinking, at first, half-pint bottles of water every 15 minutes, with the size of the bottles increasing as the day went on.

Strange went home from work complaining of a dreadful headache; the coroner's office has since confirmed that it looks like she died of water intoxication.

Water intoxication occurs in conjunction with hyponatremia, where sodium in the body is too diluted. It occurs most often in athletes, as they tend to drink a lot in a short space of time to replenish fluids when perspiring, but then dilute salts in the body too much.