Standing Up And Sitting Not Allowed In This Country's 'Laziest Citizen' Contest

Continuing with its annual tradition, Montenegro kicked off its "laziest citizen" contest last month, which sees participants lying down on mats for almost 24 hours a day. As the name suggests, the point of the competition is to see which contestant will have the ''longest bedtime'' and can lie down longer than everybody else, Metro reported. 

The bizarre competition is being held in the resort village of Brezna in northern Montenegro. This year's challenge kicked off in mid-August and is now entering its 26th day, as only seven out of 21 competitors remain. These contestants are vying for a grand prize of $1,070 (approximately Rs 88,000.)

According to the competition rules, the participants competing while lying down are allowed to sleep, meet their food and beverage needs, read books, and use the phone. However, sitting and standing up is considered a violation of the rules. Contestants are allowed to have 10 minutes every eight hours to go to the toilet.

Last year, the lying down record was set at 117 hours, however this year, the competition has crossed 26 days, reported The New York Post.

''All of us feel good, excellent, there are no health problems, they are pampering us, all we have to do is to remain lying down,'' said the 2021 champion Dubravka Aksic.

The contest was launched in the tiny country 12 years ago to mock a popular myth that labels Montenegrins as lazy, Radonja Blagojevic, one of the competition's organizers explained. 

''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,'' said Ms Blagojevic. 

She said the seven remaining contestants from a starting field of 21 had been lying down for 463 hours so far.

Traditionally, the competition is held under a maple tree, but due to bad weather, they have moved to a wooden shack instead. According to Reuters, competitors are under care and healthy so far.