60 hours: Dancing Girls
Mike: I was meant to stay awake for sixty hours and Steve (the series producer) has just told me that I have to film until ten at night. That makes sixty-three hours. I've been dying to go to bed and had set my heart on turning in at seven in the evening. Now the goal posts have moved and I'm angry. I feel completely deflated and have a good shout at him. My language is pretty bad. I am so ready for bed. The shoot continues to go badly for me. I make a grave error of judgment by agreeing to take part in a scene with some dancing girls - I'm no prude, but this isn't my thing and I don't want to piss my wife off.

Zeron: When I was told about the final scene with the dancing girls I didn't have a problem with it. It was a scientific experiment aimed to prove a loss of sexual response after lack of sleep. And how would we do that? Read a porno magazine and admit whether we were turned on or not, boring TV and rubbish evidence. So the scene had to be sexed up. In the end we made ground breaking TV.

In Mike's defence, he had just got married and was really worried about upsetting his wife. The test we did is routinely carried out on sex offenders (with highly graphic sexual images), it measures beyond a doubt any anti-social sexual tendencies they have.

Mike: The scene was seedy. I did agree to do it when it was first put to me, but that was a mistake. My new wife, Liz, will not be at all happy and what really pisses me off is that I don't even enjoy the experience, even if I have to smile for the camera. I can see that I'm going to be in a lot of trouble, and that Liz's feelings will be hurt - all for the programme to go out with a big bang. Bloody TV people.

Zeron: Our two live dancers were more for the viewers than Mike and me. I didn't think the scene was seedy. Far from it - we had the producer giving directions, a camera crew filming, an array of monitor cameras and the scientist in the kitchen with us. It was pretty impressive that we managed to show any reaction at all with so much distraction around us. More down to the sensitivity of the equipment.

My girlfriend arrived just as the two dancer were about to shake their booty. She told me she spent most of the time laughing at my obvious predicament. Either I end up looking lame or I get turned on by another woman - either way I can't win!

66 hours: Party
Mike: It's gone midnight and I should have gone to bed a couple of hours ago, but how can I? For a start, the others are having a party. There are twenty of them, including directors, researchers, camera crews, on and off-screen experts, all drinking and celebrating the end of the shoot in the kitchen.

Zeron: I'm impressed with Mike's stamina. The show is in the can (dancing girls gone), the booze is out and Mike has found his second wind. Everybody is telling him to go to bed but he can see and smell beer. And there is food to be eaten and while that's available, Mike won't sleep.

Mike: How do they expect me to sleep while they are making such a noise downstairs? On top of that I'm not going to miss out on free beer. But the main reason I don't turn in is that each time I lie down my head begins to spin almost as if I'm drunk. I have almost developed a fear of lying down. Still, bed beckons. It's only a matter of time before I turn in and it's great not to be forced to stay awake.

Zeron: Eventually the party fades, Mike is now running on his reserves. I don't think I could have made it. Over 60 hours without sleep doing some pretty menial - and some extraordinary - things. Anybody who thinks that is was easy should try it. And make sure you include a lot of dead time in the 60 hours. Time spent doing nothing is the killer. I was bored for many hours and could catch forty winks. Mike stayed wake for the full duration. He had no choice. Another achievement in the life of a Lab Rat. Nice one Mike - I'm dead impressed.

69 hours
Mike: It's bedtime - 4am. Thank God! Looks like I'll get another three-hour night because we have to clear out of the house up by ten and it needs a serious clean. I've been awake for nearly seventy hours and will have had six hours' sleep in five days (that's six hours' sleep in over one hundred). Cool!

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Content last updated: 25/08/2005