After being suspended 30 feet in the air for 29 minutes and 11 seconds to win the Longest RJ While Suspended Upside Down title, Vincent Jebaraj is now getting ready for his next Guinness record attempt. Starting today, he will attempt to VJ Live for 72 hours straight on Life TV and those interested in watching this feat can head to the Aark Coffee House in Anna Nagar.
Vincent and his family have long been associated with Shelter Home, an asylum for children who are HIV positive. His previous record attempt which garnered around Rs. 3 lakh went to the home. This time, Vincent hopes the response will be greater. “HIV care is very expensive. Each child needs Rs.5,000 just for medical expenses every month. Only 500 children across the country get first-level treatment for HIV and one of them is at Shelter. Through my attempt, I hope we can give them the best care,” he says, on the eve of his big day. “The show is also about dispelling the social stigma attached to HIV. I will have a couple of children from the home and a HIV positive family on my show during these three days.”
The record Vincent attempts to beat is 62 hours and 12 minutes set by a VJ in Nepal. “We’ve rented a coffee shop in Anna Nagar and turned it into a studio-cum-café, from where we will broadcast live. People can walk in to have coffee and watch me,” explains Vincent, “In fact, public participation in the event is important and we will have visitors’ books where customers can sign that they’ve witnessed the event and provide their contact details. Guinness may contact them for further references.”
There will also be 30-50 interviewees who will be part of the show, across the three days. “They will talk about how they succeeded in life. We’ll have Sophie Natrajan, James Vasanth, Keba Jeremiah and other prominent people on the show,” says Vincent, “It has taken us six months to plan and execute the event.”
Every attempt comes with its set of instructions and Vincent has been following them keenly to prepare for this day. He has slept only for two hours in the last two months and is on a vegetables-only diet. “I start at 8 a.m. and I’m quite excited about it. Of course, I’m scared because I only have a 40-minute break every eight hours and a 15-minute break after every hour (during the commercials),” he says. “But there has been a lot of support from all sides and I think when people root for you, you can do anything.”
