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The One Too Many Nigerian Attempts At Breaking The Guinness World Records

Posted on by Alex Omenye
The One Too Many Nigerian Attempts At Breaking The Guinness World Records

When popular Nigerian chef, Hilda Baci embarked on her attempt to break the world record for the longest cooking hours, she was met with a lot of support and earned herself tangible goodwill. Already well-known on social media for her creative recipe videos, she grew into a bigger sensation offline as well, a much-needed distraction and win for Nigerians after a period of gloom following the general elections in the preceding quarter. After reviewing her submission, the Guinness World Records (GWR) deemed that she completed a total of  93 hours and 11 minutes, seven hours less than her goal but still enough to overtake Indian Chef, Lata Tondon, who set the previous record of 87 hours and 45 minutes in 2019. Soon after Hilda Baci got her nod from the Guinness World Records, many Nigerians who aspired to be like her began to experience the Hilda impulse. There have been so many attempts, that the GWR is struggling to catch up and had to issue a quirky warning “Please enough with the record-a-thons” in response to the spike in applications from Nigeria, particularly for marathon records. The organization further revealed that they “have received over 1,500 record applications from Nigeria since the start of May.”

We have compiled a  list of attempts to break the Guinness World Records after Hilda Baci. 

Chef Dammy 

Damilola Adeparusi, also known as Chef Dammy, is probably the most popular of all known attempts to break Hilda Baci’s record. Chef Dammy began cooking on Thursday, May 11,  and continued until Monday, May 15, cooking over a hundred pots of food in a four-day kitchen stint, in an attempt to break Baci’s record by cooking for 120 hours.

However, upon completion of her cook-a-thon, Dammy has since disclosed in the heat of the controversy surrounding the record attempt, that she didn’t set out to break Hilda Baci’s record but was manipulated by her pastor, the organizer of the program, to attempt the cook-a-thon. Her attempt was also denied by the organization, for ignoring the set rules for such endeavors. Nigerian chef, Prince Temitope Adebayo also applied to break the world record with a 140-hour cook-a-thon, however, nothing has been heard from that exercise. 

 

Massage Marathon

Succeeding the accompanying drama from the cook-a-thons, Joyce Ijeoma, a Nigerian masseuse announced the start of a 72-hour body massage marathon in a bid to break the world record for the longest massage, inviting Nigerians to support her attempt.

However, after crossing the 50-hour mark, Ijeoma passed out during the attempt at the venue in Lagos State’s Lekki neighborhood. Despite the unfortunate incident, Ijeoma still managed to break the record, held by Indonesian Alastair Galpin who in 2015 established the record by massaging for 25 hours and 4 minutes. 

Adebiyi Israel’s Movie Marathon

The One Too Many Nigerian Attempts At Breaking The Guinness World Records

The shot at breaking world records hasn’t been exclusive to cooking. A native of Ekiti State, Adebiyi Israel attempted to shatter the global record for the most hours spent viewing movies, held by Suresh Joachim, a Canadian, who spent 121 hours and 18 minutes in 2015 seeing movies. It’s uncertain if Adebiyi successfully broke this record.

 

Ekiti State’s Botched Kiss-A-Thon

The One Too Many Nigerian Attempts At Breaking The Guinness World Records

It would seem that indigenes of Ekiti state took the record attempts a little too seriously. After Chef Dammy’s cook-a-thon and the movie marathon, they remained insatiable.  A group known as Sugartee took to social media to announce their attempt at a 72-hour Kiss-A-Thon. However, the state government would have none of that as they quickly squashed the idea in a letter. Part of it reads  “Kiss-a-thon” as an event that is not only absurd, unhealthy, immoral, and capable of denigrating the image of the state, it is a program that runs counter to the values of the people of the state and therefore capable of plunging our Youths morally backward,” The Guinness Book Of Records however, had earlier expunged the category from their books, hence the attempt would have ended in futility. 

 

Cry-A-Thon

Tembu Ebere tried to break the Guinness World Records (GWR) for the longest marathon” before going  “partially blind” for 45 minutes. Speaking to the BBC, Ebere revealed that he had suffered from “headaches, puffy eyes, and a swollen face,” which led to his partial blindness. He disclosed that to smash the record, he had to make himself cry.

“I had to re-plan and cut back on my crying,” he added,  stating that despite the challenges, he resolved to weep for a week as originally intended. Ebere also stated that his attempt could not be considered official; he did not apply to the Guinness World Records. 

 

Wash-A-Thon

The latest attempt at breaking a Guinness World Records comes from Subair Enitan, a student of  Obafemi Awolowo University. Enitan attempted a handwashing marathon, however, it seems to have ended badly as she has been hospitalized following reactions from the exercise. 

Despite the impact of the marathon on her health, Enitan managed to finish the marathon ahead of schedule, finishing in 58 hours, ahead of her initial goal of 50 hours. Her hands have become wrinkled and white due to excessive hand washing, as evidenced by a video that is currently making the rounds on social media. She was also observed resting on a bed in a hospital ward in the viral video. 

The Guinness World Records is yet to recognize Enitan as a record holder.