Weeks after, Guinness World Record yet to confirm Hilda Baci cooking record, Nigerians react
The audacious attempt by Nigerian chef Hilda Effiong Bassey, also known as Hilda Baci, to break the Guinness World Record for the “longest cooking marathon by an individual” garnered headlines in the African and international media from Thursday, May 11 to Monday, May 15.
Her four-day cook-a-thon, which transformed the Amore Gardens, Lekki, into a Mecca for foodies, generated a lot of attention online as well. In just a few days, her Instagram feed went from having 50k to 1.2M followers.
Therefore, it came as no surprise when Baci decided to extend her time in the kitchen to 100 hours after exceeding her initial 96-hour goal and smashing the previous world record of 87 hours 45 minutes held by Lata Tondon of India.
The attempt, which was one of the most widely publicized in history, drew letters of congratulations from numerous influential figures, including former president Muhammadu Buhari, former vice president Yemi Osinbajo, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
However, the record body has failed to certify Hilda Baci’s cooking record two weeks after her infamous attempt, according to DAILY POST.
In a statement on May 16, a representative for the Guinness Book of Records said, “We are aware of the record attempt and are looking forward to receiving the evidence for our Records Management Team to review before we can confirm the record is official.”
But two weeks later, the record body has not acknowledged Hilda Baci’s accomplishment.
The Nigerian chef recently expressed her displeasure about the delay on Instagram Story, lamenting the fact that she had been checking her email repeatedly in the hopes of receiving GWR’s certification email ever since she had submitted all of the supporting documentation.
The Akwa Ibom-born chef expressed worry about the circumstance in a letter, writing, “Not me refreshing my email every second since we submitted all the evidence to Guinness World Records.”
Kaffy, a Nigerian dancer who now holds the World Guinness Record, had already indicated that Hilda Baci’s effort might not be verified right away.
When Kaffy broke the “Longest Dance Party” Guinness World Record in 2006, it took the organization nearly two weeks to officially recognize her achievement.
Similar to Hilda, Lata Tondon stated during an Instagram live session in mid-May that it took two months before her record was certified and a certificate was given to her by Guinness World Records. Tondon is the person Hilda is attempting to surpass.
Many people have criticized the Guinness World Records for the incident on social media due to the delay in confirming Hilda Baci’s record.
Below are a few Twitter reactions;
at King William: “I’m not sure why they’re taking so long, to be completely honest. How challenging can it be to request that your staff watch a video? Given that people now watch so much television, how difficult can it be?
@Luckyai: “At one point, I became enraged and even visited their page to gather proof of wrongdoing against them. However, it turns out that it takes 12 weeks to review every submission, so you have 11 more weeks to relax. I hope they’ll end it quickly.
“@hildabacicooks Hundreds of people saw it,” HenryEm tweeted. My initial assumption was that you wouldn’t break the record, but something changed, and I realized you would succeed. Crazy 9ja fans were present to celebrate and lift your spirits. I’m telling you now because it was your strength: “That mail go come @GWR please.”
@Miraculous Sound: “I’m not sure if you carried the Guinness World Record along or properly involved them before setting out for this endeavor. If not, then why the slow response time?
