High-end thrillseekers pay to be kidnapped

[Ian David]

Extreme sports such as bungee-jumping from the Macau Tower may well be enough to satisfy the adrenaline needs of the majority of premium thrill-seekers. Those still wishing for more, however, have a new alternative: they can pay to be kidnapped, without warning, by French Ultime Réalité.

"Kidnapping", "Manhunt" and "Go-Fast Adventure" are all among the standard services Ultime Réalité offers, but it's open to special requests. Through the company's simulated kidnapping packages, for instance, the participant is abducted without warning—after leaving a restaurant, say, or in the supermarket parking lot. Paying "victims" are then bound, gagged and imprisoned for four or 10 hours (depending on the scenario they choose), allowing them to experience the terror of the real thing. Additional elements such as ransom, escapes and helicopter chases can also be involved. Manhunt packages, meanwhile, can last either one or two days, with the option to play the role of either hunter or prey. Then there's the Go-Fast Adventure, where participants take the role of a drug dealer smuggling cargo on the high seas. Finally, a recently added "extreme" package allows clients to wake up on an autopsy table in a morgue, surrounded by corpses and body bags. Pricing on a basic kidnap package is EUR 900.

Just a few weeks into its launch, Ultime Réalité was already getting as many as two requests per day, according to Reuters primarily from top-level executives seeking an extreme-sports alternative. Don't look now, but the premium bar just got raised again...
More:
http://springwise.com/lifestyle_leisure/ultimerealite/

[marmar]

1. Rich, bored and nuts.....

nt

[tanyev]

2. Gosh, what could possibly go wrong?

[Kolesar]

6. Add the "wood chipper" finale for another 100 Euros...eom

[Razoor]

3. reminds me of the quote

reminds me of that quote that goes something like a fool and his money are soon parted?
seriously, getting a thrill of being kidnapped? some people have too much time and money on their hands

[Ian David]

4. Be different if it were girls in bikinis doing the kidnapping. n/t

[blueamy66]

5. Wasn't Michael Douglas in a movie that was similar to this?

The Game maybe?

[JHB]

7. De Plane! De Plane!

Ricardo Montalban would know how to give these people their "fantasy".

[dionysus]

14. yup.. great flick.. except he didnt know it was a game!

[Raster]

8. And just to give that extra edge, they should kill every seventh "client"

"Finally, a recently added "extreme" package allows clients to wake up on an autopsy table in a morgue, surrounded by corpses and body bags. Pricing on a basic kidnap package is EUR 900."

Now available: the Ultra Extreme Package! We really kill you!

[Jkid]

10. HAHAHAHAHA

But seriously, these people just have too much money.

[drm604]

9. I have to say that I'm skeptical.

This could be a PR campaign for a new movie or TV show in France. It seems hard to believe that this is a real business.

[On the Road]

11. The Question is:

Can you buy these on behalf of someone else? Without their knowledge, that is.

[The2ndWheel]

12. How would you have no warning if you paid for it?

[dionysus]

13. anyone remember the excellent movie "The Game"?

[Liberal In Texas]

15. Beat me to it. That's the first thing I thought of.

Great movie (if even a bit hard to believe it could actually be executed as well as it was.)

[KittyWampus]

16. and some people like to be tied up and/or whipped. People do different things for adrenaline

rushes and power issues.