Q&A with Peter Wilson, who’s currently setting a URDB World Record for Fastest Time To Watch Every Episode of LOST

By: Lindsey Weber

Right now, as I type this, Peter Wilson is watching LOST. Now it wouldn’t be so strange for a fan to be catching up on the series, considering that after six years of mysteries it’ll be coming to a dramatic end this Sunday with a long-awaited two-and-a-half hour finale. But Peter’s been watching for the past 35 hours straight, and he’ll continue watching (stopping only to change DVDs, take bathroom breaks and sleep a scheduled few hours) for the next few days up until Sunday’s conclusion.

While the Montreal native couldn’t get any of his hometown friends to re-watch the entire series alongside him, he’s got Ustream chatters cheering him on throughout this epic journey. (TUNE IN LIVE RIGHT NOW!) At 2AM on Thursday Peter’s got about 55 users watching him while he watches. Together they’re re-living some of the series’ best moments. Only a few episodes ago, they all cried out “WAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLTTTTT” during a pivotal scene where a main character’s son is kidnapped. When user “Sweettooth30” has to call it a night, she promises to “check you tommorrow.” “Keep it up,” she adds. “Thanks Sweettooth,” Peter says from his couch. 

By watching the entire 5,500 minutes of LOST in less than a week, Peter is not only attempting to set a world record for watching all of the series in the shortest amount of time, but he’s also doing so to raise money for Child’s Play — a charity that raises money to buy toys for sick children stuck in hospitals. (Make a donation through Peter’s blog.) I had a few pre-marathon questions for the record setter, promising to occasionally pop-in the chatroom (you’ll see me chatting as “eloisehawking”) and check back in after the finale. 

Are you already a LOST fan? As in, how hardcore are you about the series?

I am definitely already a LOST fan and I have been one for about 3 years now. Typically I listen to roughly 8 hours of Lost podcasts a week, so I think that makes me sufficiently hardcore. 

Aside from the charity, what inspired you about the show and it’s longevity/fanbase to set this world record?

I’ve always been a fan of a long, drawn out story. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been a fan of comics, long book series etc. The problem with this is that very rarely do you ever get to sit down and experience the whole story from beginning to end. I always wanted to do such a thing and realized that a LOST marathon such as this would be a perfect opportunity. 

What have you done to prepare? 

Apart from get a lot of sleep the day before I haven’t done much specifically to prepare. That being said, I’m not stranger to watching TV for extended periods of time. I’m the kind of person who could buy a season of a TV series on DVD and then watch the whole thing in a sitting. In fact just recently I’ve done this with both Dexter and Breaking Bad. Then again those are 12 or 13 episode seasons, 121 episodes of television is likely to be a very different experience.

LOST isn’t usually a participatory sport, meaning, serious fans don’t usually enjoy watching it in noisy groups. Are you worried that the spectators in the chatroom might distract you from your primary objective?

Well I’ve already seen all of the episodes and torn them all apart searching for clues, so I’m not going to be analyzing every detail of the show. I think that the chat room will be more of a help than a hindrance as I think it will be a valuable tool for keeping me awake. I think reading people’s opinions of both what I am doing and the episodes themselves will definitely be interesting.

Along from setting a record and raising money are you looking to find any deeper, hidden meanings?

I am going to be watching the show fairly carefully. For example I do plan to try and keep a running tally of how many times Ben tells a verifiable lie throughout the series, which should both be fun and a challenge.

Who’s your favorite character and what’s your favorite mystery? 

I think my favorite out of all the original characters would be Jack. I can identify with him as I’m kind of a skeptical kind of guy and I found his character arc to be the most well thought out and satisfying one of the series. Also: who doesn’t love bearded, depressed, addict Jack?

My favorite mystery is most likely why Radzinsky drew the Blast Door Map. Looking back on that mystery it really doesn’t make any sense that he drew it and it really didn’t serve much of a purpose, but I really used to love all that Dharma stuff. Also, why does Pierre Chang use all those aliases, that makes no sense. I find it kind of unfortunate that those are, frankly, never going to get resolved but I honestly don’t mind as they’re fairly irrelevant.

Do you think you’ll be greater affected when the show ends than any other typical LOST fan? 

Yeah, I’ll probably get affected more than the average LOST fan. If nothing else, I’ll probably have more free time. Also I’ll probably cry harder, though I’ll try not to cry on camera. No promises.

Follow on Twitter at @LostMarathon

Greatest LOST World Record Ever

My name is Peter Wilson. I am a 21-year old student living in Montreal, Canada. On May 18th, 2010, I am going to begin my attempt to set a URDB World Record for Fastest Time To Watch Every Episode Of LOST.

What this means: immediately before the first episode begins I will begin timing myself. I will stop timing once I have finished watching the final episode of the series. This will include the time I use to sleep, eat and go to the bathroom.

The feat will take me approximately five days, during which I’ll have to watch approximately 5500 minutes of LOST. This works out to 91 hours, just less than four days. While I am watching the episodes, I will be video streaming my experience and participating in a live chat. This will also allow the feat to be recognized as a world record by the Universal Record Database.

Since I have announced my intention to perform this world record attempt, many have asked me why I’m going to do this. There are many reasons, but the one that’s most important is that I am doing it to raise money and awareness for Child’s Play.

Child’s Play is a charity organization that raises money with the goal of buying toys for children who are sick in hospitals. Most, if not all of us, know a young child who has had extensive medical care. We all know that long stays at a hospital are not pleasant. I believe that making their stay at these hospitals a much more pleasant experience is an idea that all of us can get behind. So please, amidst the excess and frivolity of watching 121 episodes of television, remember that donating a little for this cause is always an option.

On a less serious note, the original reason I considered doing this is to, in a way, honor a series which I have been following for years. Since the beginning of the show, its showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have emphasized the fact that Lost is a story with a beginning, middle and end. LOST is a pretty epic achievement in serialized storytelling, and I think it would be thrilling to be amongst the first to experience what the series feels like as a cohesive story. Also, the glory of watching it in world record time doesn’t hurt either.