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Montenegro holds ‘Laziest Citizen’ contest

(NewsNation) — In the Balkan country of Montenegro, more than twenty people are vying for a unique title: “laziest citizen.”

“We organized this lying-down competition as a parody, playing on the stereotype that Montenegrins are lazy, to see who can endure it the longest. Currently, there are seven contestants out of the 21 who applied this year,” explained Radonja Blagojevic, one of the competition’s organizers.

But only one person can win the title of laziest citizen, which comes with a cash prize of around a thousand dollars.

To win that title, citizens have to stay flat on the floor. They’re allowed to eat or drink and get a 10-minute bathroom break every eight hours. They can also read or use their phones and laptops, but they cannot, under any circumstance, sit or stand up.

This year’s seven remaining contestants have now been competing for 24 days — that’s almost 600 hours of rest and relaxation. Last year’s winner spent just 117 hours lying down, meaning these Montenegrins have already smashed the previous record.