Ghanaian chef arrested for forging Guinness World Records award breaks silence

Ebenezer Smith, the Ghanaian chef who claimed to have broken the Guinness World Records (GWR) for the longest cooking marathon by an individual, was arrested on Tuesday.

The cook, fondly called Millennium Chef Smith, was detained at the La police station in Accra for faking the GWR award.

Smith had publicly announced himself as the new world record holder, claiming he cooked non-stop for 802 hours and 25 minutes. He said he started the exercise on February 1 and ended on March 6, 2024 — about 33 days.

The Ghanaian chef also presented a certificate he claimed was given to him by authorities of the prestigious British reference book.

But on Wednesday, Alina Polianskaya, a GWR spokesperson, told BBC Pidgin that Smith’s claims were “not true”.

The spokesperson added that the certificate he presented “was not ours”.

“The current and true record holder for the longest cooking marathon (individual) is 119 hours, 57 minutes, and 16 seconds, achieved by Alan Fisher (Ireland) in Matsue, Shimane, Japan, from 28 September to 3 October 2023,” Alina said.

The police arrested Smith following a disagreement with his sponsor, the Amadia Shopping Centre, Spintex, where he held his cooking marathon.

He was accused of breaching a contractual agreement by failing to inform the shopping centre about the alleged award.

The deception fetched Smith a chorus of condemnation on social media, with many Ghanaian users who supported his attempt, expressing shock and disappointment.

It, however, remains unknown if Smith has been released from detention or arraigned in court.

‘HOW I FORGED THE GWR CERTIFICATE’

“I have been following GRW for long. They (GWR) have a lot of certificates on their online pages. So I just picked one and edited it with my details,” Smith confessed in an interview with GHOne TV.

Narrating how he carried out the deceit, Smith said: “After Hilda Bassey did it, I have been thinking about it. And then all of a sudden I decided, after Afua did her sing-a-thon, I decided to make a step.

“Tracking the history has always been sequential, like numbers with the application reference. So I landed on the application reference of Adu Safoa. And then I built something for myself.”

He also revealed that his assistant was not aware of his criminal act.

The chef said his sponsors spent more than GH¢300,000 on him, adding that he is ready to face any action from them.

“I can’t tell the exact amount my sponsors invested but it may be more than GH¢300,000,” he said.

“Words won’t be enough, at this point, I give my life out to my sponsors to do to me as they wish. I don’t even deserve to live because it’s too much for me to bear.”

Smith also apologised for his actions.

Alan Fisher, the Irish chef, is the current world record holder after cooking for 119 hours and 57 minutes.

Last November, the GWR certified Fisher as the record holder for the longest cooking marathon by an individual after he surpassed Nigerian chef Hilda Baci’s record of 93 hours and 11 minutes.