Twelve couples participated in what master of ceremonies Reza Kazempour described as “two strangers kissing for an iPod” competition, held outside the bookstore on Feb. 10. The contest required each couple to suspend the device between each other using only their lips, standing ten inches away from each other, and without using the surface area of their faces.

“My neck hurts from standing on my tippy toes,” said Stanislava Eneva after the competition.

Amalie Saied and Aryeh Lewis (pictured), who were complete strangers prior to the competition, won the contest. After 10 minutes, the duo was the only couple remaining.

“I wish it would have lasted more than 10 minutes,” said Kazempour, recalling the event in the fall quarter of 2007. That year, two males set the record at 93 minutes of kissing.

Josh Whitfield and Darya Bolgova, however, entered the competition in hopes of rekindling their romance, which had been smothered by the pressures associated with student life and more specifically, the current economic recession. Whitfield decided to skip his French 4 class to improve their rocky relationship. Although they did not win the iPod, the event still provided “a good bonding experience,” said Bolgova.