Three people sat on 700 pounds of ice Saturday as part of a survivor-style contest at the North Grand Mall sponsored by 105.1 Channel Q, AAA Travel and the mall.The inspiration to endure the chilling challenge was a five-day trip for two to Cancun over spring break awarded to the last person to leave the ice.The contest was the brainchild of Bobby Hacker, program director at Channel Q, was inspired by the cold weather of January and February to make the contenders “work for it” rather than hold a drawing for the winner.”I wanted to go sit out in the snow for a day to prepare,” said Shannon Pollard, contestant and DMACC student. “They called me yesterday to tell me I would compete and here I am with my butt on a block of ice,” said Nikki Yaeger, another contestant and an Ames Police Department dispatcher.”I’m just trying not to think about the cold,” said Alex Tomash, senior in occupational safety and the final contestant.Distraction seemed to be everyone’s strategy. Pollard’s fiance filmed her and her friends chatting to pass the time while Yaeger was busy keeping her 3-year-old son off the ice and Tomash joked with the crowd.Watching Tomash draining the water from his pants kept everyone laughing. He also explained the phenomenon of “reverse osmosis,” how the water was soaking upwards in his sweatshirt.Hacker became a little worried after an hour and a half when everyone was still going strong.”I thought the first person would be off the ice in 15 minutes because if you put your hand to the ice, it really starts to hurt,” Hacker said. “What we hadn’t counted on is that they would lose all the feeling in their butt.”To speed up the contest Hacker served the three spring break enthusiasts water, then slushies, followed by ice cream and a soda.”This is really the ultimate urinary tract challenge,” Tomash said.Three hours into the competition things started to get tense and bladders started to get full.”I really can’t feel anything,” Pollard said. “I feel like I am the block of ice.” At four hours, Hacker let the group stand up for five minutes. The pain was obvious in the contestants’ faces as they stiffly stood on numb legs and began to thaw.Sitting back down on the ice proved to be too much for Pollard, and the group was down to two freezing contestants.”You could say I’m chilling,” Tomash told the crowd in jittery words.Tomash “chilled” longer than Yaeger and left with the tickets. He endured the ice for four hours, 13 minutes. He then hobbled out the door, didn’t sit down on the drive home and tried to thaw out in the shower.”It was a worthwhile challenge,” Tomash said. “I’ll be getting bombed on the beach and sight-seeing in Cancun!”The survivor-style contests have been a popular promotional tool. Channel Q also gave away a $25,000 Nissan Xterra last summer to the person who could live in the car the longest, which turned out to be two-and-a-half days. Hacker said the trend will continue with upcoming competitions this summer.