The one with the ice bath

Thursday 19th April 2007

OWEN – So we promised you something just that little bit out of the ordinary last night so here it is.

We were a bit disappointed with our recent lack of ideas for bets as we have a large back catalogue of prop bets to draw from. Whilst we’ve maybe not blogged about it we’ve had many years of Crazy Punting, ranging from who can draw the highest card to who can throw a pine nut to knock a can from a bridge. Most of these bets have not involved much in the way of physical endurance and after putting our heads together we thought to remedy that.

After leaving the office last night we went straight to the local supermarket and bought as many bags of ice as we could get our hands on then proceeded to drive home.

Upon arriving we emptied each of these bags of ice into the bath with a little water (I’m sure you can see where this is going). Wearing nothing but our swim shorts the challenge was to sit in the bath of ice, up to the shoulder, for the longest. As the winner of the last few bets, Jack went first so I would have a target to beat.

JACK – These kind of things always sound like a bit of a laugh and a good idea at the time, but when you’re standing in a pair of shorts staring down at a bath full of ice, you start to think that it might have been better to flip a coin for the £50.

I voiced my concerns to Owen in the form of a girly yelp when the first of my toes hit the ice-cold water, but it was met with nothing but a look that said “Get in that bath you complete pansy!”

It took me about a minute to get my shoulders below the ice/water line, which in retrospect was a horrible mistake as it was time spent freezing my ass off that I wasn’t getting credit for. As my shoulders dipped down, Owen started the clock.

This was honestly one of the worst things I’ve ever done. The only thought which was spurring me on was that Owen was about to undergo the same horrible experience. I thought about that for a good couple of minutes then decided that since I felt like I could possibly die if I didn’t get out right this second, I jumped up and grabbed my towel as Owen told me how long I’d lasted.

OWEN – So after Jack’s paltry 2 minutes 17 seconds I was fairly confident that I would be £50 up in no time, well in no more time than 2 minutes 18 seconds.

With a quick top up of another bag of ice I slowly lowered myself into the bath. It was quite literally freezing. Forcing my leg in wasn’t so difficult but as I got the second in and starting feeling the icy chill crawl up my thighs I had a sudden recollection about tales where people’s hearts stop as the hit Artic waters and became much more apprehensive about sitting in it up to my shoulders.

As the water passed my (not inconsiderable) waist I was already thinking that maybe 2 minutes 17 seconds was a quite a long time. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was squealing a little at this point as my body had to rapidly adjust to the temperature.

I closed my eyes and hoped that Jack wasn’t going to knock me unconscious and that I would wake up sans kidney and with Jack’s bankroll £500 richer. As my shoulders finally submerged Jack started the timer and I went to my happy place.

Jack was full of encouraging statements such as “That’s only been 10 seconds” and “Wouldn’t it be nice to be in the Caribbean just now” but I was determined to win. At the minute mark (all timings courtesy of my regular updates) I started to think that this maybe wasn’t worth £50 but I knew this wasn’t about the money. If I lost this bet I would have lost everything since the wagers started and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I tuned out Jack’s “help” and focused purely on surviving for another minute and a half. I reached a strange plateau where time seemed to move slowly but it was over before I knew and at the 2 minute 18 second mark (helpfully counted down from 10 by Jack) I slowly raised myself out of the ice water, towelled off and went to sit by the fire.

Frozen, still little damp and thinking that this whole thing was ridiculous I was still pleased. This was my first victory for a new age of crazy punting; the ridiculous physical challenges. £50 the richer and I think this may be the start of a real comeback for me.

JACK – As long as there’s no more ice, I’m game.

Current Bankrolls

Owen £1,023

Jack £1,240