<div>1 day. 1 song playing on repeat. 1 monumental fool trying to dance along for 24 hours to raise money for charity.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>From the 18th-19th October 2025, I will dance to the Cha Cha Slide on repeat for 24 hours.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>So how did we get here?
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>It started with a question, innocently asked:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>"If you had to dance to the Cha Cha Slide for 24-hours, what's the minimum holiday you would accept as a prize."
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This was a question I asked some people over the course of a few weeks last year, as it always led to an interesting conversation. I have no idea how it entered my head. It just did. Eventually I asked the wrong person.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>He asked me what <em>my </em>prize would be. I gave the answer I'd given to the others who had asked: that I'd settle for a substandard weekend away in a typical sad seafront town that had its best years long behind it. My reasoning was that it would be a great story to tell, so there's not much to care about the outcome.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Having thought back on this several times, I still don't fully know why this was my constant answer. You could poke yourself in the eye every minute for a full day which would give you a story to tell at the end of it, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>As you can expect, his response was "Go on then." With him putting funding towards the 'prize'.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>After much conversation, including a fair share of stammering, spluttering, and excuses from my side, I decided to hell with it: let's just say yes and think about the consequences afterwards.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>As word got round about my friend paying towards a sad weekend by the sea for me, I received more offers of patronage. It very soon felt like there was a bigger opportunity to be had. So, rather than crowdfund a disappointing holiday, I thought any money would be much much better used by a bloody brilliant charity: Reading Mencap.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Reading Mencap do wonderful things for adults and children with learning difficulties, while giving valuable support to carers. With my wife's uncle Dave being supported by them, I get to see the brilliant impact they have week after week, from the day services that they run, to the special events like discos and concerts.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Dave is one of warmest and friendliest people that I know, and Reading Mencap have given him countless good times over the years. This ridiculous challenge feels like a great opportunity to spread the word about the charity and give something back. Also, as if by magic (as it deifnitely wasn't down to any semblance of planning), the challenge coincides with Dave's 60th birthday earlier in the week, so it would be a lovely end to the month to tell him how much has been raised.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>You can take a look at the charity page <a href="https://www.readingmencap.org.uk/our-impact/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a> to see the impact Reading Mencap has, and why that work is so important.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>FAQS</strong>
</div>
<ul>
<li>Why?
</li>
</ul>
<div>Why do we scale the highest mountains? Why do we run/swim/cycle absurd distances? The Cha Cha Slide is my Everest, and I mean to conquer it with determination, gusto, and most likely some long therapy sessions afterwards.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Why the Cha Cha Slide?
</li>
</ul>
<div>No idea! There are many worse songs, there are many better songs. I feel like if you're going to dance to something for 24 hours, then you may as well have one that falls in the middle of your personal scale, as you're going to end up hating it anyway. However, if this doesn't get me a personal shout out from DJ Casper in my Spotify Wrapped for being the number 1 listener, I'll be furious.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Why a target of £393?
</li>
</ul>
<div>I wasn't sure of what was realistic, but 393 is the number of times the song has to be played to get to 24 hours, so it felt like a nice goal.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Can I watch?
</li>
</ul>
<div>I'm currently weighing up the logistics and the eternal shame of livestreaming the whole thing for those of you who want to check in on if I'm still alive/witness the collapse of a fellow human. I will share details if this goes ahead.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>How will you eat and drink?
</li>
</ul>
<div>I'm planning on having a selection of easy to eat food on hand, as well as a lot of water. I also have a few people dropping in to replenish these for me as the day goes on.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Have you practiced?
</li>
</ul>
<div>Not really. I'm not particularly worried about the physical side of things - I keep active, and my fitness is generally good. I also have a young child, so I'm used to not having huge amounts of sleep. But, I have absolutely no idea what this challenge will feel like. A lack of time, and a slither of self-respect left in the tank mean that I haven't filled my weeks with building up to dancing to the song for anything longer than an hour (which was fine, but not particularly exciting). I feel like the mental side of things will be much harder than the physical. I'm going to do my utmost to last the full 24 hours, but I really don't know what to expect.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>What about when you need the toilet?
</li>
</ul>
<div>Due to a reluctance to go all in on a catheter and imodium, I'll be pausing the clock whenever nature demands.
</div>

D E MOLE

Jim Allpass

Kirsty Heath

Donna Farleigh

Roisin Rodgers

Deborah McCormack

Joel Peddie

Katie Silvester

Charlie Boon

Mrs Sarah Gosling

Saravanakumar Rajendran

Katherine Austen

Katie Gray

Joshua Nash

Mary Horrell

Saskia Jury

Hilary Smee

Ale Zicchieri

Matthew CRONIN

Gus Redhouse White

24-Hour Cha Cha Challenge

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Voer je donatie voor 24-Hour Cha Cha Challenge