Countless wagers can attribute their existence to an evening of strong drink, but in the scattered junkyard of ill-conceived bet-you-I-cans, there can be only one king. Wearing that shame-adorned crown for the moment is a 30-year-old Latvian man, who sadly found a taker when he uttered the noble words “I’ll bet you I can cut off my own penis.”

Whether or not it was the easiest 1,000 lati (about $2,100) the man earned is unknown, nor if the co-bettor actually paid up. What is known is that the man was brought to the Gailezers Hospital with his penis in a bag, giving Latvian doctors the honour of becoming the first in their country’s history to perform a surgical re-penissing.

Microsurgeon Aivars Tihonovs worked three-and-a-half hours to re-attach the penis and, now that the patient is in stable condition, says only time will tell how successful the surgery was and whether or not the man will regain full use of his member.

» Scott Saxon