The Iceman Cometh: Man Reportedly Sets Record With 2-Hour Ice Bath

The Iceman Cometh: Man Reportedly Sets Record With 2-Hour Ice Bath


Talk about breaking the ice.


Clad only in swim trunks, China's Jin Songhao reportedly endured a freezing-cold ice bath for two hours -- potentially setting a new world record for direct, full-body contact with ice.
Jin took the title by lasting 120 minutes in a plastic box filled with ice cubes, according to Xinhua and Global Times. Guinness World Records officials in New York City told AOL News that they have not yet received any documentation of the 54-year-old's world record attempt, meaning they cannot confirm it.

Current Guinness World Record holder Chen Kecai of China competed alongside Jin in Monday's contest in China's Hunan province. Kecai reportedly lasted 118 minutes, besting his record-setting 2010 showing by 10 minutes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Jin Songhao stands in a plastic box during a cold endurance competition in Zhangjiajie, China, on Monday. He reportedly beat the existing record for the longest ice bath by immersing himself in ice for 120 minutes.                                                                              

But officials pulled Chen out of the box when monitoring devices showed the 53-year-old's body temperature falling, according to ITN News.

Both competitors outlasted Dutch citizen Wim Hof, who in a separate event held in Hong Kong reportedly managed to stay in an icy bath for 115 minutes earlier this week.

Though Hof wasn't able to set a new record, that doesn't mean he's been frozen out of the record books. The 51-year-old remains a Guinness World Record holder for running the fastest half marathon barefoot on snow.

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15 Most Absurdly Extreme Guinness World Records [videos]

For nearly 60 years now, the folks at Guinness World Records have been keeping tabs on the world’s factoids, from the most inane to the most absurd. Some people are born with a penchant for counting pencils, while others desire nothing more than to walk around with a small car balanced on their head for a requisite number of seconds. Whatever the case may be, Guinness is usually just a few feet away, carefully watching and counting. These are the 15 most absurdly extreme examples of those records — just don’t try them yourself.

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Born with the Most Digits

Though he just had them removed, a six year-old Chinese boy was originally born with a total sum of 31 digits. He had previously found it nearly impossible to wear shoes, as his feet both had eight toes each; his hands were a far worse affair as they had so many fingers that many had simply melded together into flipper-like appendages. In total, the boy had 11 digits removed, bringing him back into the norm — and finally able to wear shoes. While such extreme cases of polydactyly are definitely a rarity, the phenomenon itself isn’t as uncommon as one might think. A related condition, brachydactyly, is more commonly known as clubbing of fingers or toes — like in the case of Megan Fox’s clubbed thumbs.

World’s Biggest Burger

Until recently, the title of World’s Largest Burger had been held by the folks at Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA — but late last year a group of die-hards in Michigan pulled out all the stops to top the behemoth. Note the size of the monster the boys from Pennsylvania cook up; it’s 131 pounds. That record was smashed at Mallie’s Sports Bar and Grill in Southgate, MI, because the burger they cooked up weighed in at an enormous 185 pounds. The patty looks to be about twice the thickness of the 131 pound burger, taking this competition well beyond the ridiculous hamburger phase and into the meatloaf between huge buns dressed up to look like a hamburger era. At their current pace, it’s only going to be a couple of years before somebody makes one the size of a couch.

Longest Fingernails

It’s a bit disturbing and somewhat difficult to look at, but Lee Redmond has spent a great deal of her adult life (since 1979) growing what were once the World’s Longest Women’s nails. She held the title until last year, when she lost them in a car crash. Competing alongside Lee, but in the male category, was Melvin Booth, who continues to grow his (even more disturbing) set of nails today. In total, Lee’s nails amounted to a combined length of 28 feet, 4.5 inches — while Melvin last checked in at 29 feet, 8 inches. At least Lee had the consideration to manicure hers.



Most Beer Steins Carried Over 40 Meters

No matter which way you slice this one, it comes out as pure awesome. Lots of pure awesome. These women compete to see who can truck the most beer steins across a 40 meter stretch, full of beer, without spilling, while wearing the traditional outfit of a beer maid. It’s as magnificent as it is hilarious, because these women are serious. The most recent victor in this bold competition? Anita Schwarz — who managed to heft 16 steins full of beer across the full length of the stretch without spilling so much as a spoonful. That’s dedication.



Most Clothes Pins Clipped on Face

As ridiculous as this sounds (because it is), this is a pretty major competition in the world of record-breaking. The clothespin is just one of those innocuous household items that tends to get overlooked, but it’s always showing up in the most random of places, displaying a whole new use — and sticking them to your face to get world recognition is now one of them. In this video, we see Kevin Thackwell shatter the previously held record of 88 pins with his own 104 pin-record. The sight of these guys with that many clothespins on their faces is something that won’t soon be forgotten, we assure you.



Loudest Burp

Everyone knew the kid in school who could belch the entire alphabet, as well as the names of classmates. That guy likely outgrew his skills with time, but there are people who strive to build such talents into a refined skill. Paul Hunn and Jodie Parks are two such people, both holding the male and female (respectively) records for loudest burp. We’re not talking burps that are so-so loud either; Hunn topped out at 118.1 decibels — that’s the just a shade under the accepted loudness-scale rating of a typical rock concert. His female counterpart in all this topped out at 104.75 decibels, which is nearly the level of a car horn.



Most Pierced Woman

If you thought the longest fingernails were disturbing, then brace yourself for most piercings. Elaine Davidson has held the title for a number of years now, and she hasn’t stopped at simply maintaining it. She’s gone so far in her quest to cover her body with piercings that she’s just about ensured that no human could possibly outdo her in the near or far-future. Davidson last checked in at over 6,000 piercings. She’s literally covered her entire body in them, with the largest single concentration being her genitalia, which we can only guess is a bad thing for any would-be suitor. Think you’re hardcore with that Prince Albert? Think again.



Most People Crammed into a Mini

We all remember the old cram a ridiculous amount of people into a VW Beetle gag, and clown cars are still much-loved to this day, but when Guinness gets involved things tend to get serious. This competition is no different, as there has been a fierce battle for domination of this title for a number of years now. The rules are rigid, and the payout is minimal, but when we get to watch 23 girls (and one guy) from the New Zealand Allstar Cheerleading team cram themselves into a Mini, we’re nothing but happy. We imagine the gear-shift feels the same way.



Most Panes of Safety Glass Run Through in One Minute

The entire point of safety glass is that it doesn’t break when somebody slams into it. Whenever somebody does manage to crash through one, it’s usually by some act of violence that ends with them visiting a hospital. The glass itself shatters nicely, leaving no large shards to cut through skin, but it takes an amazing amount of momentum and force to break through in the first place. Martin Rubin De Jong of New Zealand (they like breaking records down there) decided that he was going to make it his new past time to become a master of this task. The guy heaved himself through 15 panes of regulation safety glass in just under one minute flat. That’s an impressive feat, even if it is completely asinine.



Heaviest Car Balanced on Head

John Evans is probably one of the nicest, oddest, strongest guys you could ever hope to meet. In his spare time, John likes to balance massive loads of assorted items on his head, to include small cars. In 1999, he showed this impressive skill to live audiences across the UK as he balanced a 352 lb Mini on his head, and walked around in circles like it were a heavy beach ball. Having a 24″ neck plays a huge role in his success, but the same could go for his tree trunk-like body — and that awesome hat.



Most Layers in a “Bed of Nails Sandwich”

The bed of nails is something every kid grows up knowing all about, largely due to several episodes of Looney Toons featuring one, but the idea of sandwiching people between them, and then adding more sandwiches of people and nailbeds is a bit too ridiculous to believe outright. In 2004, Britons Paul Evans, Andy Gray, Steve Prior, and Ray Prior all sandwiched themselves between layers of six-inch nails, while John Parfitt laid atop the pile of brave men. Not only was it truly ridiculous, but it was a major record-breaker that most would be too terrified to attempt to break.



Most Beer Bottle Caps Removed with Teeth

Gonzalo Plaza Sierrio of Spain is sort of like that guy you know at the bar who always insists on opening his own bottle of beer, because he’s got that special way of doing it. The difference is that Gonzalo not only prefers to do it with his teeth, and he can do it up to 54 times a minute. He did it in front of a live audience in Madrid back in 2001, and solidified his place in Guinness.



Most Iron Bars Broken by the Head in One Minute

Sound insane? Yeah, pretty much, but that doesn’t stop Wang Xianfa of China from doing this every single day. He has to do it every day, otherwise he might stop long enough to realize how ridiculous it is that he breaks iron bars with his head for a living. The guy does have some pretty fantastic stamina, we must admit, but all that bar-breaking has to take a pretty heavy toll on the skull at some point. His standing record, which was caught on tape in Beijing back in 2007 as he performed for the Guinness officials, was 26 iron bars broken by head in one minute flat. Most people get a headache just watching it.



Heaviest Weight Pulled with Eye Sockets

Another one that is actually quite difficult to watch if you value your face, Chayne Hulgren — AKA the Space Cowboy for some odd reason — demonstrated this odd and quite grotesque skill to a live audience during a performance in Milan, Italy back in 2009. The man pulled a cart weighing 907 lbs using hooks and his eye sockets. Honestly, the lady in the flashy dress is pretty nice looking, but that’s just ridiculous.



Strangest Diet

So, aside from it being strange that people compete for the title of having the strangest diet to begin with, this one is genuinely confounding. Michel Lotito, often called Monsieur Mangetout — which comes out to something like “Eats Anything” in French — has earned his place in the annals of Guinness by eating two pounds of metal a day. Seriously. The man eats metal. He started by eating bicycle rims as a kid. It’s freaky, but it’s true — and to make it weirder, all the doctors who have examined him can’t make heads or tails of it. He actually claims that regular food makes him sick. That’s what world records are all about.



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Guinness World Records in Pictures : Latest Records

Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U.S. editions as The Guinness Book of World Records), is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The book itself held a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted series of all-time. It is also one of the most stolen books from public libraries in the United States.

Collected here are a group of superlatives, recent photos of world records and record attempts around the world, according to Boston’s BigPicture. Enjoy the gallery below[GuinnessWorldRecords via Boston]

Indonesians take part in an attempt to break a world record for the most sky lanterns flown simultaneously in Jakarta, Indonesia, late Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. At least 10,000 lanterns were released into the sky to break the world record, organizer said. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Chef Matthew Mitnitsky cheers after his meatball weighed in, breaking the world record for the largest meatball, in Concord, N.H., Sunday, Nov. 1,2009. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Egyptian Mohammed Ali Zinhom, 25, attempts a new Guinness World Record for doing push ups on the 2 fingers of his right hand only, in front of the historical site of the Giza Pyramids, Egypt, Monday, March 8, 2010. Zinhom recorded 46 push ups in 49 seconds.

Chefs serve what they claim to be the world's largest cheesecake in Mexico City, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009. The chefs hope to win a Guinness World Record. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Norman Surplus from Larne, Northern Ireland, waves to the media from his autogyro at Duxford, England, Thursday, March, 11, 2010. Surplus is to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe in the autogyro, starting from Larne on March 18, depending on the weather. With its open cockpit it will be flying through 26 countries, 27,000 miles including 4,300 miles over water, in an expedition that will raise awareness and money for bowel cancer. The specially adapted machine will have collapsible fuel tanks that will give it a range of some 900 miles. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Thousands of Mexicans take part in the "I do dance Thriller" event which attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest mass "Thriller" dance, in Mexico City, on August 29, 2009. Up to 15,000 people were expected to take part in the mass performance of Michael Jackson's famed "Thriller" dance on the day he would have turned 51. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

Albanian artist Saimir Strati, 43, creates a mosaic of the late pop legend Michael Jackson in Durres, near Tirana, Albania on October 31, 2009. Strati is using 250,000 paintbrushes and 28 days to complete the 10 meter-wide by 2.6 meter-tall mosaic on the side of a truck traveling the streets of Albania. This is Strati's fourth attempt to enter the Guinness World Record. (REUTERS/Arben Celi)

The world's tallest horse, Luscombe Nodram, or 'Noddy', stands with his owner Jane Greenman before they depart on major tour which will include appearances at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and Brisbane, in Melbourne on March 19, 2010. The Shire horse is seven-years-old, stands at 20.2 hands high (2.05 meters) and at 1.5 tons weighs three times more than the average thoroughbred racehorse. The Shire horse is now endangered with approximately 2,000 left in the world with very few of them being gray. (AFP PHOTO/William WEST)

The Burj Dubai tower is pictured during the opening ceremony of the Burj Dubai tower on January 4, 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.The Burj Dubai, which in Arabic means Dubai Tower, is at 824.55 meters the world's tallest man-made structure. (Martin Rose/Getty Images)

Palestinians stand near a large embroidered dress as it is presented to the media at a stadium in the West Bank city of Hebron October 25, 2009. The dress, which took several months to sew, is expected to be officially measured next month in an attempt to be entered as a Guinness World Record. (REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun)

 

Lebanese celebrate entering the Guinness Book of Records in Beirut October 24, 2009 after producing what they believe to be the biggest plate of hummus in the world. The dish, weighing 2,056 kg, was filled with 1,350 kg of the chickpea-based dish. The organisers claimed world records for both the size of the dish and the quantity of hummus produced. (REUTERS/Jamal Saidi)

Life Time Fitness broke the Guinness World Record for the largest cycling class with 1,052 cyclists. The class was held at Target Center arena in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Peter Wong)

Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man, unveils the world's largest gingerbread man at an Ikea store in Oslo, Thursday, Nov. 12 2009. The Swedish furniture chain's Oslo outlet says 8-foot-1-inch tall Sultan Koesen of Turkey presented the cookie that weighs 1,435 pounds (651 kilograms). It was baked in the traditional gingerbread man shape by a local bakery and beat the previous 2006 world cookie record of 1,307 pounds (593 kilograms) set in Smithville, Texas. (AP Photo/Morten Holm/Scanpix)

About 1,800 people dressed in Santa costumes prepare to run down the main street in central Sydney November 29, 2009. Organisers of the Variety Club Santa Fun Run, in support of a children's charity, aim to build on Sunday's event and challenge the world record for people running dressed as Santa. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne)

Bryan Berg of the U.S. poses at his creation of the replica of The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, as he breaks his own Guinness World Record for the largest house of Freestanding playing cards on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Berg used 218,792 playing cards to build a replica of The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel during the 44 day project. The final composition is 35 feet long, 10 feet tall and weighs 272kg. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Chinese 104-year-old twins, Cao Daqiao (senior, right) and Cao Xiaoqiao talk at home in Weifang, east China's Shandong province on November 29, 2009. According to the Shanghai Guinness World Records, these twin sisters, who were born in 1905, are the oldest living twins in the world as they are also listed on the Guiness World of Records for the oldest twins. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Filipino chefs and students stand beside dishes as they attempt to break a Guinness World Record for "The Most Number of Dishes On Display, In A Single Day" in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Monday Dec. 14, 2009. The organizers hope to be considered for the record as they make more than 5,000 cheese-inspired dishes to beat the previous record of 4,668 set by India in 2007. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Indian born British strongman Manjit Singh, 59, pulls a double decker bus using ropes attached to his hair in London, England on November 12, 2009. Singh broke the world record Thursday by pulling the bus a total of 21.2 metres. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

Children scoop marshmallows out of a mug holding nearly 500 gallons of hot chocolate, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 at Bryant Park in New York, during the American Dairy Association's attempt to set a new world record for the largest mug of hot chocolate. (AP Photo/American Dairy Association, Diane Bondareff)

Street performer Chayne Hultgren (a.k.a. 'The Space Cowboy'), re-enacts his 18-sword swallowing attempt for a Guinness World Record in front of the Sydney Opera House on February 8, 2010. The Australian beat his own world record when he simultaneously swallowed 18 swords, each blade measuring 50.8cm by 1.3cm, in the lead-up to International Sword Swallowing Day on February 28. (TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

Physical challenged people participate in purportedly the world's largest finger painting, a 100 feet by 140 feet canvas, to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. More than 200 physically challenged people participated in the event for a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

A base jumper leaps backwards off the Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower, Malaysia, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. A group of base jumpers were attempting to set a Guinness World Record striving to have 24 people base jump every hour for 24 hours from the the 915 feet high communication tower. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Bakers link pieces of gingerbread in order to break a world record on December 18, 2009 in Ludwigsburg, southern Germany. A total of 1,700 kg of honey, 1,700 kg of flour, 1,000 kg of walnuts, 900 kg of hazelnuts, 550 liters of milk and 158 liters of cherry schnapps were used to make the one kilometer-long and seven-ton-heavy gingerbread. (SASCHA SCHUERMANN/AFP/Getty Images)

In this photo taken Aug. 21, 2009, Diana Taylor walks with her Great Dane, Titan, along Ocean Beach in San Diego. During a ceremony Thursday Nov. 12, 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records officially proclaimed that 4-year-old Titan from San Diego is the world's tallest dog. Owner Diana Taylor says Titan is blind, deaf, epileptic and undergoes acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments every three weeks. Taylor says Titan stands 42.25 inches from floor to shoulder, weighs 190 pounds. (AP Photo/Union Tribune, Peggy Peattie)

He Pingping, 73 cm tall (2 feet 5 inch), of China looks up at Sultan Kosen, 246.5 cm tall (8 feet 1 inch), of Turkey in Istanbul on January 14, 2010. They have been listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's shortest man and tallest man respectively. (REUTERS/Osman Orsal

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Woman Covers 95 % of Her Body with Tattoos

American Julia Gnuse has covered her body in ink. Among the tattoos, you can find jungle scenes, her favourite actors and Disney cartoon characters.

But it wasn’t in the name of art that she started tattooing herself, it was because of her skin condition, called porphyria, which gave her blisters when her skin was exposed to sunlight.

To mask her scarring, she first tried tattooing her skin the same color to the scarring that she had, but it didn’t match her pale-looking skin. That’s when she tried colorful tattoos and got hooked up.

This addiction of hers lead her right into a Guinness World Record for “the American who has been named the most tattooed woman in the world.”

All of her tattoo designs were created by the same artist.

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