What's Driving West Africans' Recent Guinness World Record Attempts?

Ever since Nigerian chef Hilda Baci (real name Hilda Effiong Bassey) broke the Guinness World Record in 2023 for the longest cooking marathon at 93 hours, (she was unseated in November by Irish chef Alan Fisher at 119 hours, 57 minutes), the rise of Guinness World Record attempts has gripped many parts of the African continent. In Ghana alone, 355 submissions were made to the Guinness World Record body by January 2024, while in Nigeria the body says it recorded about 1,572 applications by July 2023, shortly after Baci’s successful attempt. One such application involved a man who attempted to sing for 200 hours and another who took on a crying challenge. Others have attempted reasonable to outrightly bizarre challenges for everything including one for the longest time spent kissing. The question on the mind of many continues to be: what is driving the uptick in the rise of would-be Guinness World Record holders on the continent?

Amplifying Culture

On December 24, 2023, Ghanaian media personality and entrepreneur Afua Asantewaa took to the stage in Akwaaba village, Accra in a widely-publicized attempt to break the world record for the longest singing marathon by a single person. It was an audacious attempt. For one, Asantewaa doesn’t have a traceable career in singing and describes herself as “an ardent lover of music.” There was also the fact that she would be going up against the previous record holder Suni Waghmare who had clinched the title for singing for 105 hours (four days and a couple of hours). Still, Asantewaa pressed on, telling OkayAfrica that the intent behind her mission was simple: “to promote Ghanaian music.”

The sentiment of advancing one’s culture has been a recurring motivation for some Africans who have decided to take on world record attempts. At a press conference held right after she completed her Guinness World Record attempt, Chef Baci, shared that her goal for taking on the challenge was to promote Nigerian cuisine globally while also expanding her business and employing more hands. A Nigerian school teacher, John Obot who took on the challenge for the longest time reading aloud told the BBC that he aimed to improve the reading culture in Nigeria through his challenge. While many consider the amplification of one’s culture or drawing attention to important causes as reasons for the rise in record-breaking attempts, some cultural experts suggest that some of these are purely motivated by the fame and publicity that successful Guinness World Record holders tend to receive, as in the case of Baci.

For Passion or Fame?

Asantewaa spent the next few days of her challenge, sitting, squatting, standing, and even lying down, as a large crowd of supporters cheered her on. By the time she stopped singing five days later, she had been at the challenge for 126 hours, unofficially beating out Waghmare’s previous record by 21 hours – almost an entire day. Asantewaa had also become, by virtue of the many vocal difficulties she experienced while attempting this challenge, a meme. One of the prominent ones finds the 33-year-old straining to reach a key on Gyakie’s “Something,” with her voice going off completely at intervals.

Following the attention the event garnered, Asantewaa was appointed Tourism Ambassador by the Ghanaian Tourism Authority the next month, but in February, after studying her record-breaking attempt, The Guinness World Records announced that she had been unsuccessful. The body shared that Asantewaa had broken a number of their rules, specifically, the rest break guidelines. Notwithstanding, Asantewaa tells OkayAfrica that life after taking on the challenge has been filled with life-changing experiences. The experience has now “revived the tourism bit in me,” she says. “Pushing it a notch higher now with the support of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA).”

In January 2024, Ghanaian chef Failatu Abdul-Razak took on the world-breaking challenge of the longest cooking marathon. Razak cooked for over 227 hours, unofficially breaking Fisher’s record. Like Asantewaa, Razak’s attempt drew national and international interest as well as support from fellow Ghanaians. Some of Ghana’s most influential people including Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia lent their support for Razak’s marathon. And while Razak’s attempt was deemed unsuccessful by the Guinness World Record, her time attempting the record drew considerable attention to her work.

For many, the showering of goodwill, fame and endorsements Baci received after she completed her cook-a-thon has been seen as an attractive byproduct of making a Guinness World Record attempt. Unfortunately, this fame or publicity doesn’t find everyone, even those who actually break records. For instance, when Tonye Solomon broke the record for taking the most steps while balancing a football on his head, the news barely made waves. And when Helen Williams, a woman from Nigeria broke the record for the longest hand-made wig, her feat was also hardly documented. This all boils down to the strong marketing strategies that went behind some of the more famous attempts like Baci’s, when it was revealed that she spent over ₦80 million ($57,000) to prepare for her cook-a-thon.

Nearly a year after Baci’s monumental success in Lagos, the record-breaking fever still hasn’t taken much of a dip, and new challenges continue to pop up here and there. For Asantewaa however, this might be her last world record attempt for a while. “It is early days yet for management and I to decide,” she says.