Cook-a-thon, sex-a-thon… meet Hilda Baci’s ‘heirs’ attempting to break GWR

In May, Hilda Baci, the Nigerian chef, hit the limelight after setting a new Guinness World Record (GWR) for the longest cooking marathon (cook-a-thon) by an individual. The Akwa-Ibom native cooked for 100 hours to beat the 87 hours 45 minutes record previously set by Lata Tondon, the Indian chef, in 2019. Hilda was certified by the British reference book in June but with a time of 93 hours 11 minutes.

Baci’s feat opened the floodgates of desires by some Nigerians to break her cooking record while others — even from neigbouring Cameroon — sought to set world records in various fields.

From ‘Kiss-a-thon, massaging, lecturing, praise and worship to ‘sex-a-thon, attempts were made to break world records, prompting the GWR to issue a warning, which reads: “Please enough with the record-a-thons”.

Without further ado, here are Baci’s “heirs” attempting to stamp their names in the prestigious British reference book.

Chef Dami — Cook-athon

While Baci was waiting to get her cooking record certified by GWR, Damilola Adeparusi, on June 9, turned on her gas cooker in the far-reaching mountains of Ekiti to surpass the Akwa-Ibom chef’s feat.

By June 11, Adeparusi announced the completion of her 120-hour cooking marathon — only for cheering fans to later discover that she did not seek the consent of the GWR before embarking on the attempt.

Chef Deo — Cook-a-thon

Two weeks after Hilda’s certification, Adeyeye Adeola, the Ondo-based chef, also attempted to upturn the Akwa Ibom native’s record in a 150-hour spell.

She embarked on the cooking journey on June 30. The aroma of her delicacies flagrantly travelled from Ile-Oluji in Ondo state to all parts of Nigeria, leaving a mixed bag of accolades and criticisms in its wake.

Since completing her 150-hour cook-a-thon, Adeola is still expecting a response from GWR on her adherence to rules and guidelines. 

Temitope Adebayo — Cook-a-thon

Adebayo, the Ibadan-based chef, also announced his intentions to undertake a nearly 6-day cook-a-thon — a few days after Dami started hers.

The event scheduled for November 1 will see the ambitious chef cook nonstop for 140 hours.

The chef shared the screenshots of the GWR acknowledgment mail he received on his desire to break the cooking record.

Joyce Ijeoma — Massage-a-thon

Delving far from the culinary, Ijeoma sought to break the world’s longest massage record held by Alastair Galpin, the South African man who completed the task in 25 hours and 4 minutes in Indonesia in 2015.

Ijeoma began her three-day attempt to set a new world record for the longest massage on different individuals on July 1.

The masseuse, who intended to use her soothing palms and balms on volunteers for 72 hours, however, collapsed after achieving 53 hours into the exhaustive attempt.

Sugartee — Kiss-a-thon

Alade Temitayo, the Ekiti-based singer, left Nigerians startled when he announced a 72-hour kissing marathon — from July 7 to 10.

The state government, however, placed a ban on the planned kiss-a-thon while also describing the event as “unhealthy, immoral” and capable of denting the image of the state.

“Kiss-a-thon as an event is not only absurd, unhealthy, immoral and capable of denigrating the image of the state, it is a programme that runs counter to the values of the people of the state and therefore capable of plunging our youths morally backwards,” the state government warned in a statement.

“In view of the foregoing, the ministry of arts, culture and tourism hereby prohibits the hosting of such event or any other events like it in any facility that wishes to continue to operate lawfully in Ekiti state.”

Oluwatobi Kufeji — Sing-a-thon

Waiving holy hands and genuflecting in worship, Kufeji, on Wednesday morning, completed a 200-hour singing marathon from his stable in Isolo, Surulere LGA, Lagos.

On July 2, the preacher and a praise singer, with the help of his congregation, pulled off the eccentric feat to set a new world record, which is yet to be confirmed by the Guinness World Records.

Kufeji had early disclosed that his application to surpass the previous record set by Sunil Waghmare, the Indian singer who sang for 105 hours in 2012, was accepted by GWR.

Hassan Joseph Bature — Aca-a-thon

Bature, a computer science lecturer at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), also revealed plans to undertake a 150-hour teaching marathon.

The current record holder is Arvind Mishra from India, who lectured for 139 hours and 42 minutes at the Graphic Era University in 2014. He taught scientific computation.

“We are working with my team. We are meeting with some professors,” Bature told TheCable Lifestyle while speaking on the proposed attempt.

“It’s a physical class. But we will have our dynamic students. We won’t have static students.

“Students will be going and coming. We are doing it at the university. We are having a meeting with the VC today. So it will be streaming live.”

In addition to all these attempts, there are several others who tried to break or rather set new records in their unique fashion.

Treasure Joseph, a lady from Benue, announced that she wants to set a record for the longest video on Instagram with a target of 125 hours between July 5 -9. 

Woli Arole, the Nigerian comedian, also revealed his intention to do a “prayer-a-thon” for 5,000 hours.

In neigbouring Cameroon, a 25-year-old lady announced a 200-hour of non-stop sex-a-thon, while Town Cryer recently began his quest to break the world record for the longest crying marathon by an individual.