New Guinness Couch Potato Record: 69 Hours, 48 Minutes

According to an AP report in USA Today, New Yorker Suresh Joachim has broken the Guinness world record for the longest time spent watching TV. He finished Friday with 69 hours and 48 minutes, passing the previous record by 19 hours and 41 minutes.

The record-breaking effort was made in the lobby of WABC-TV in New York City, as part of a "Guinness World Record Breaker Week" for the station's syndicated Live With Regis and Kelly.

Suresh Joachim, originally from Sri Lanka, has taken on and broken 16 previous Guinness records, including continuous basketball-dribbling and standing on one foot. He does it in an effort to publicize an end to hunger, poverty and war.

The Guinness rules for the "couch potato" record for continuous TV watching include "a 5-minute break every hour and a 15-minute break every 8 hours. The viewer must otherwise be constantly looking at the screen." Joachim opted to watch only ABC programming, and said the hardest thing about breaking the record was not looking away from the TV at the crowd of passers-by on the street outside the ABC studio.

"I'm going to be a little tired of watching TV after this," he told the AP in a phone interview.

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