WILL HILDA BE PAID FOR BREAKING GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

Hilda Effiong Bassey, Nigeria’s trending culinary artist, has surpassed the current holder of the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking time.

The current titleholder, Lata Tondon, spent 87 hours, 45 minutes in 2019 to achieve the feat. Bassey, popularly called Hilda Baci, has exceeded that time having spent over 88 hours uninterrupted cooking time and still counting.

She is not just poised to win but determined to set an exceptional time mark to hold the global title of “longest cooking marathon by an individual”.

Although her effort has not been officially ratified by the Guinness World Records, the body acknowledged her on its verified Twitter handle on Monday. “We’re aware of this amazing record attempt, we need to review all the evidence first before officially confirming a record,” it said.

In the meantime, supporters of this chef want to know what she stands to gain in recognition of her feat.

WILL CHEF BASSEY BE PAID?

The simple answer to this question is no. According to the establishment, it’s important “role is to celebrate the world’s best, to inspire ordinary people and to entertain and inform”. Guinness World Records does “not pay record-breakers for their achievements or for carrying out a record title attempt”.

Nevertheless, breaking a global record could help anyone unlock a lot of opportunities which are not limited to brand ambassadorships, sponsorships and public engagements.

Some of these opportunities lying on the sideline could come with direct and indirect monetary benefits. For instance, Vesti App, a financial technology firm dedicated to cross-border payments, announced an all-expense paid trip offer to the Maldives for the chef via its Twitter page on Sunday.

Once confirmed, more interested organisations could start falling over one another to sign advertisements, television shows and event participation deals with her, through which she could earn some money.

Perhaps out of excitement, some netizens have posited that GWR would pay her $50,000. This does not represent the official position of the organisation.

Many Nigerians, including Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State Governor, and Umo Eno, Akwa Ibom State governor-elect, have been drumming their support for this record breaker.

Earlier, FIJ reported that the chef had not displaced Tada Tondon, the current title holder from India. Rickey Limpkin II was the winner of the title before his displacement by Tondon.