Top scream falls short of Guinness Record

Russian wins contest, but effort is nothing compared to Brit’s 2000 bellow

PATTAYA, Thailand – Cover your ears.

A brave audience kept their distance Saturday as a group of ear-splitting contestants tried to break the Guinness Record for the loudest scream.

Eleven competitors qualified for the final round from a field of more than 1,500 in the competition held in Thailand, just south of Bangkok.

It was a Russian man, Sergey Savelyev, who belted out the loudest scream among the contestants. It topped out at 116.8 decibels. But that’s well short of the world record of 129 decibels set by Britain’s Jill Drake in London in 2000.

It may be nothing to scream about for some, but the winner walked away with a prize of about $882.

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VIDEO Contestants take part in a screaming contest in Pattaya, Thailand, measured on a decibel meter.