FACT-CHECK: Has Guinness World Records awarded Hilda Baci as longest cooking chef?

By Damilare Adeleye

The claim that the Nigerian chef, Hilda Effiong Bassey popularly known as Hilda Baci, has officially been awarded as the individualistic longest cooking champion is false.

This platform understands that Baci just concluded a Cook-a-Thon exercise in an attempt to break the world record as the first human on earth with the longest time spent on cooking individually.

The 27-year-old gourmet chef, on Monday evening, recorded a historical feat after cooking for 100 hours non-stop between Thursday, May 11 and Monday, May 15, 2023, to surpass the current holder of the title, Lata Tondon, who achieved a Guinness World Records for cooking for 87 hours, 45 minutes 00 seconds non-stop in Rewa, India in 2019.

Baci’s Cook-a-Thon took place at Amore Gardens, Lekki, Lagos, the venue which was stormed by Nigerians including prominent dignities and celebrities including Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Pastor Bolaji Idowu, Brother Shaggi, Spyro, to show support.

Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari, vice-president Yemi Osinbajo, the president elects; Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Peter Obi, and Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar joined others to hail and praise the Akwa Ibom native for her efforts to put the country on the global spotlight.

BACKGROUND OF FACT-CHECKING

As series of congratulations were being showered on Hilda Baci for her feat, a portrait of her surfaced-on Twitter space on Tuesday where she purportedly posed with a Guinness World Records certification as the longest cooking marathon by an individual cook for period of 100 hours.

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The image was posted by one @Kadjo_Desiigner with a caption congratulating Hilda for her official recognition.

The twitter user wrote: “Hilda Baci Had Official Been Awarded as the Record Holder for the Longest Cooking Marathon by An Individual (100 hours long).

Congrats @hildabacicooks 🥳🥳🥳”

This tweet, as at 9:30 pm on Wednesday night, had over 101. 5K views, 102 retweets, and 1,032 likes.

It was gathered that the picture has been used in one online news platform identified as NewYork Post to report Hilda Baci’s achievement on Tuesday 16 May 2023.

FACT-CHECKING METHODOLOGY

This platform ran a quick check on Baci’s official Twitter handle but couldn’t find any portrait of such.

Another quick check on the verified Twitter handle of Guinness World Records did not show prove of such certification to Hilda.

Meanwhile, it was obtained that Guinness World Records acknowledged the 100-hour cooking marathon completed by Baci.

The global authority on record-breaking achievements, on Tuesday, in a post on its official website titled: “Nigerian Chef Hilda Baci Bids for Longest Cooking Marathon With 100-hour Kitchen Stint”, said its officials were reviewing the evidence of Baci’s feat for proper verification.

The statement reads: “A Nigerian chef has been cooking up a storm in her kitchen in the hopes of landing a world record.

“Hilda Bassey, known on social media as Hilda Baci, has been dominating headlines around the world ever since she launched her cooking marathon.

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“She’s hoping to snap up the record title for longest cooking marathon (individual) which currently belongs to Lata Tondon (India) with a time of 87 hr. 45 min.

“Hilda began cooking on Thursday and continued through to Monday, reportedly whipping up 55 recipes and more than 100 meals in a whopping 100-hour stint.

“Officials on our records team look forward to reviewing the evidence and hope to be able to verify Hilda’s efforts as a new record very soon.

“A Guinness World Records spokesperson 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’.”

FACT-CHECKING VERDICT

Hilda Baci remains a prospective longest marathon cook in human history until Guinness World Records confirms her evidence and announces her as new record breaker. Therefore, the threading portrait is fake, not genuine and not authentic and should be disregarded by unsuspecting members of the public.