25 stupid world records that nobody has bothered to try and break (with good reason)
A world record can be considered as one of the most remarkable feats that a human can experience in their lifetime, especially when it comes to achievements in sports or science, engineering and arts among many other things. But the book Guinness World Records collects all of these topics as well as the slightly more obscure (and sometimes rather stupid) ones too, like ‘most number of candles extinguished by farting’… Understandably, not many people are queuing up, or even have the niche ability, to even think of breaking that record themselves. Here are 25 of the dumbest world records that nobody has bothered to break—yet.
1. Most number of candles extinguished by farting
You’d imagine that someone who holds a world record would be a hero, right? Well, we aren’t judging who y’all choose your role models to be, but just so you’re aware, there’s a hero out there who can blow out more candles with their farts than you. Gerard Jessie from the Philippines extinguished the flames of five candles ablaze. All I can say is, don’t give me what he eats, thanks.
This reminded us of this lovely TikTok video:
@wolffpack20 (Unofficial) Guinness World Record for longest dog fart goes to Calvin #fosterdog #rescuedog #dog #fart #funny #fyp #foryou #HPSustainableSounds
♬ original sound - Wolffpack Family & Fosters
2. Most snails on face
A young boy called Fin Kehler from Utah holds the world record for having the most amount of snails on his face. Yup, that is a thing. On his 11th birthday, he asked his friends and neighbours to cover his entire head and face with the shelled and slimy creatures for ten whole seconds. Fun!
3. Pulling an aeroplane by body strength
Reverend Kevin Fast, who has several other weight-pulling records under his belt and is dubbed the “world’s strongest man” managed to pull an entire 416,299 pound (about 29,735 stone) CC-177 Globemaster III aeroplane for almost 9 metres back in 2009. If he can, you can, right?
4. Most lawsuits filed
The convicted fraudster Jonathan Lee Richards has sued over 4,000 companies and individuals (so far), including Bill Gates and Pope Benedict XVI. He filed his first lawsuit against his very own mother because she didn’t take care of him well enough. Richards also tried to sue the Guinness World Records. One angry man, that’s for sure.
5. Most metal eaten
Speaking of the dumbest world records, please, don’t try this at home, but Michel Lotito (who passed away in 2007 aged 57) won a world record for eating around 900 grams of metal per day from an aeroplane. Which might I add, was entirely gobbled up. From the age of nine, he developed an unusual tolerance—and fondness—for eating dangerous objects like glass and metal, which are generally indigestible. Doctors discovered he had a pretty resilient digestive system and was diagnosed with Pica, which is a compulsive eating disorder in which people eat non-food items.
6. Sniffing the most feet and armpits
Your average bog-standard human doesn’t usually tend to enjoy bad smells, especially bodily odours. That’s why there’s a billion-dollar industry whirling around to mask our bad smells. Products need testing though and there’s a job for everything, including armpit and feet smelling to see if the scent maskers work before they hit the shelves. Well, lab worker Madeline Albrecht holds the record for sniffing the most feet and armpits, ever—5,600 of them to be exact.
7. The world’s longest fingernails
Shridhar Chillal from India didn’t cut his nails for 66 years, leading them to grow to just about nine metres long. The collective weight of all of that nail stopped him from being able to open out his left hand or flex his fingers—cramp much? He was smart enough to leave his right-hand nails short though, you know, just so he could wipe his ass and stuff…
8. The heaviest mantle of bees
If you’re one to swat away a bee coming a little too close to your lemonade, imagine having 673,000 of them covering your entire body. Not to mention that’s about 63 kilos in weight. Ruan Liangming, or should we call him, the ‘calmest man alive’, did exactly this, inspired by a 19th-century carnival act called ‘bee Bearding’ where performers placed a queen bee on their bodies thereby attracting thousands of her workers to their beard. Cool, cool, cool.
9. Most cockroaches eaten in a minute
Beetles are the new health fad, are they not? Well, Ken Edwards was way ahead of the game, because back in 2001 he was crowned the title of ‘human to eat the most cockroaches in a minute’… 36 whole critters down the hatch! Mmm, delicious.
10. Most body hair
Some people are naturally hairier than others, but there’s one family that takes first prize. The Gomez family who lives in Mexico was awarded the title of ‘largest hairy family’ in the year 2000 because four of its members have around 98 per cent of their bodies covered in hair. The family actually have a condition called Congenital Generalised Hypertrichosis (CGH).
11. Loudest female burp
Passing wind on either end is completely natural, okay? But… possibly not as loudly as Elisa Cagnoni can. She can burp at a pitch of 107.0 decibels. That’s comparable to hearing a jackhammer from a distance of 1 metre away. That’s also comparable to something I’m really not too keen on hearing today or any other day, but you go girl.
12. Longest distance travelled holding a table between teeth (with a woman sitting on it)
Georges Christen ran 11 and a half metres while carrying an 11.7-kilo table and a 49-kilo woman sitting on top, between his teeth! Talk about strong gnashers. He also holds 23 other Guinness World Records, including the fastest hot water bottle inflated by lung power. Not the man to mess with, I’d say.
13. Longest kiss ever
You can be as attracted to someone as you think you are, but even then, imagine kissing them for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds. Ekkachai Tiranarat and Laksana Tiranarat must have been really, really, really loved up. The couple won a world record, brought home the sweet cashula and also two diamond rings. No one has felt just as romantic since, so the record is safe for a little while longer.
14. Farthest arrow shot using feet
Bullseye! The circus artist from California Nancy Siefker shot an arrow into a target that was over six metres away using nothing but her feet, upside down, using her hands where her legs should be. Can’t say I can even do that with my hands the right side up.
15. Most Guinness World Records won
There’s always an overachiever in the room, and in this case, it’s Ashrita Furman. From Brooklyn, New York, the guy has become famous for obtaining the most Guinness World Records, ever. He has set a grand total of more than 600 records and still holds around 200. To think that people spend their lives just trying to get one single one… Furman can ride a unicycle while juggling, walk around with a lawnmower balanced on his chin, jump on a pogo stick for hours and push an orange with his nose for one mile, just to name a few.
16. Fastest garbage bin motor car
Andy Jennings from the UK has driven the fastest wheelie bin at the speed of 72.568 kilometres per hour. He designed and built it, adding a racing motorbike engine, a gearbox, steering wheel and seat for him to sit on, then raced it on Elvington airfield. The Cinderella of bins, transformed from trash to kickass.
17. Most skips over your own hair
The Ivory Coast artist Laetitia Ky can do 60 skips over her own hair in 30 seconds. With hair extensions, yes, but still, 60 skips over something attached to your head is a feat that I don’t think many of us are set out to achieve. She also can sculpt her hair into pretty much anything, even a clitoris. Yay!
18. Longest spin of a basketball balanced on a toothbrush
Pointless, but impressive all the same. In 2021, Sandeep Singh Kaila from Canada spun a basketball on the toothbrush that he was holding in his mouth for one minute and eight seconds. He’s not about to stop there either, Kaila is planning on breaking several other records too, including spinning four basketballs all at once for the longest time.
The first person to break the minute mark on this basketball spin challenge was Sandeep Singh Kaila from Abbotsford, Canada who managed a time of 60.50 seconds 🏀 pic.twitter.com/LKMcuk6DDf
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) January 11, 2019
19. The largest yo-yo in the world
Beth John from Ohio built the largest yo-yo ever, taking over a year to complete the project it ended up measuring almost three and a half metres and weighing over 2095.6 kilos. The disc plunged 36.5 metres on a rope that was attached to a 150,000-pound crane before rebounding up and back down again. Why? Who cares, she’s built the largest functioning yo-yo because she can.
20. Most spoons balanced on body
In 2021, Abolfazl Saber Mokhtari managed to balance 85 spoons on his body. Mokhtari has been doing it since he was a child, and told UPI that he can “focus on whatever I am trying to stick to my body, making me capable of transferring my energy and power to them.”
21. World's tallest hat
A very unnecessary accessory one would imagine but Odilon Ozare begged to differ—he made a hat that was almost five metres tall and was required to walk for ten metres with it balancing on top of his head. He is originally a hat maker by trade, and his grandfather initially inspired him to go after the record-breaking title because of a doll he was given when his grandfather passed away. Ozare told Guinness World Records that “one day I was making the doll a top hat with a rolled-up piece of paper. I was about to cut it and I paused for a moment… and made the hat 11 inches which is tall for a 9-inch doll,” which inspired him to make one for himself.
22. Most toilet seats broken using your head
Apparently, Kevin Shelley thought it would be fun to see how many toilet seats he could break in one minute with nothing but his head. He broke 46 of them. Aside from the fact that he could have given himself a concussion, it’s a pretty niche thing to say you can do. Not that I’ll be trying it any time soon.
23. Most rotations hanging from a power drill
As cartoon-esque as this is, it actually requires a huge amount of upper body strength and probably a pretty strong ceiling. The Huy Giang holds the world record for rotating a total of 148 times in one minute while hanging from a power drill. Less boring than lifting weights at the gym to get fit, I guess?
24. Toughest groin kick
For a man, getting kicked in the groin is excruciatingly painful, now imagine receiving the hardest ever kick to the groin on record. Kirby Roy volunteered to be delivered one of these fine boots to the testicles by none other than MMA fighter Justice Smith at a speed of 22 miles per hour, with 1,100 pounds of force behind it. With not much of even a flinch, Roy simply conceded, “That was a strong kick,” but explained to MMAUnderground that it’s because he had been kicked there so many times before that his nerves process only ten per cent of the neurotransmitter necessary to communicate pain from the testicles to the brain.
25. Largest table tennis/ping pong bat
Last but not least, this is perhaps our favourite and one of the most ridiculous world records out there. Measuring 3.53 metres tall and 2.02 metres wide, Rise Brands at Pins Mechanical Company in Ohio built the world’s largest table tennis (or ping pong) bat to ever exist. Why Brands built it in the first place doesn’t really matter, but at least he’ll never miss a ball again.
There you have it, these were the dumbest world records nobody has tried to break just yet. Which one is your favourite?
