U.S. pair try for world record blind date

U.S. pair go on 30-hour-plus blind date to try for world record

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) - A man and woman spent just over 30 hours together in an attempt to set a world record for the longest blind date.

Tara Fortunato, 23, and Keith Santarelli, 28, spent Monday and part of Valentine's Day together trying to make the Guinness Book of World Records. There is no existing record for longest blind date. The record needs to be certified by Guinness to become official. Under Guinness rules, the two were not allowed to sleep during the date. They were accompanied by employees of Foxwoods Resort Casino for verification reasons.

Fortunato and Santarelli were brought together by a promotion from Medford, Mass.-based WXKS-FM, Foxwoods and Date.com.

The pair began the blind date at 6:45 a.m. Monday in Fortunato's hometown of Medford and ended the date at Foxwoods at 1:03 p.m. Tuesday, said Scott Miranda, spokesman for Date.com. The two were together for 30 hours and 18 minutes.

Santarelli, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Fortunato, a child sponsorship co-ordinator for a child welfare agency, spent most of their time at Foxwoods. They ate four meals together, watched the movie Chicken Little, played air hockey and skee-ball and gambled.

Santarelli and Fortunato won a trip to Miami from Date.com for surpassing the 24-hour mark.