What goes into the sometimes zany attempts at Guinness World Records

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This is an updated mentation of a communicative archetypal published connected Nov. 2, 2025. The archetypal video tin beryllium viewed here.

With much than 150 cardinal copies sold successful 40 languages, Guinness World Records is 1 of the best-selling books successful history.

In it, you'll find the shortest, tallest and fastest, alongside jaw-dropping quality feats and eighth people bath humor.

As Cecilia Vega archetypal told you successful November, immoderate achievements are truthful implicit the top, it was hard to support a consecutive look during interviews for this story.

But down the spectacle: a meticulous strategy of British auditing – truthful strict it has crushed galore much grounds attempts than it has certified. Even if what you spot defies belief, you tin spot that if it made it into the publication it is existent and arsenic Guinness World Records declares, officially amazing.

Cecilia Vega: How are you feeling?

Colin Caplan: I'm feeling pumped.

Cecilia Vega: Yeah?

Colin Caplan: Yeah.

For Colin Caplan the stakes couldn't beryllium higher.

After a twelvemonth of planning, he's astir to find retired if his metropolis — New Haven, Connecticut — tin devour its mode into past by hosting the world's largest pizza party.

Caplan, a section historiographer and nutrient circuit guide, is truthful obsessed with pizza, past twelvemonth helium chartered a pitchy to Washington and got his congresswoman to state New Haven the pizza superior of America.

Cecilia Vega: Is this a superior endeavor?

Colin Caplan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I deliberation it is. I'll archer you what. It-- it seems airy and fun. But it's-- it's superior successful a consciousness of what's connected the line.

What's connected the enactment is the glory of a Guinness World Record. And radical volition bash conscionable astir thing to get one.

Craig Glenday: Humans are specified an absorbing bunch, aren't we? And grounds breaking is an innately quality thing. And if that means you bash unusual things similar swallowing sausages whole, or-- climbing Everest, oregon moving a marathon with a beverage vessel connected your head, past that's-- that's fine. That's great.

Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday

Craig Glenday has been the book's editor-in-chief for the past 21 years.

In his signature Scottish accent, helium recounts with a consecutive look what is often a circus of absurdity.

Craig Glenday: You know, we get things similar Fastest Time to Run Around my Garden Playing the Banjo with a Snake connected my Head. It's like, "Next." They get a bully missive of r-- like, "Thank you but nary convey you."

Cutest babies and cutest dogs don't marque the chopped either. Records indispensable conscionable strict criteria – they person to beryllium filmed from aggregate angles, verified by autarkic eyewitnesses, and measured with precision.

Each year, Guinness World Records receives astir 50,000 applications – but arsenic galore arsenic 95% get rejected. The largest fig of submissions travel from the United States.

Craig Glenday: One of my favourite days successful the occupation was, I was astatine the X Games astatine the Staples Centre successful LA and a canine zipped past maine connected a skateboard. And contempt the heat, I chased aft this canine and I recovered the proprietor and said, "I've ne'er seen a canine connected a skateboard." He said, "oh, this is Tillman, helium loves skateboarding." I had a portion measure. We measured retired 100 metres of the car parkland astatine the Staples center, and we acceptable the grounds determination and then, due to the fact that I was truthful amazed by it.

Cecilia Vega: Do you conscionable locomotion done the satellite with a portion measurement successful your pocket?

Craig Glenday: Well, I bash usually.

Cecilia Vega: Do you?

Craig Glenday: Yeah, I person a portion measurement and a stopwatch. Because you ne'er know.

Many of the grounds holders you know: Usain Bolt, for the fastest 200-meters, Beyonce, for the astir Grammys.

And galore you astir apt ne'er adjacent imagined.

Like serial grounds breaker David Rush: an Idaho tech idiosyncratic who has breached much than 350 records and counting, including astir bites taken from 3 apples portion juggling for a minute, and astir T-shirts worn during a fractional marathon.

And Monsieur Mangetout, that's Mr. Eats Everything successful French. He held the grounds for the world's strangest diet.

Craig Glenday: The feline who'd, you know, he'd supposedly devour successful a Cessna due to the fact that helium could devour metallic and glass.

Cecilia Vega: A Cessna plane?

Craig Glenday: Well, seemingly it took him 2 years. We couldn't rather –

Cecilia Vega: Doesn't dependable precise healthy.

Craig Glenday: Well, I mean, helium – his woman wouldn't fto him usage the toilet astatine location due to the fact that if he'd been eating metal, it tends to travel retired similar bullets and it would spot the porcelain. So he'd person to usage a edifice with metallic toilets adjacent his house.

Cecilia Vega: This is the craziest interrogation I've ever done. I conscionable say.

Craig Glenday: Sorry.

Cecilia Vega: I'm sorry. Come backmost to what you were saying, that erstwhile you--

Craig Glenday: I mean, for me, it's each day. So I don't rather get it, but yeah. OK.

Cecilia Vega: (sighs)

Craig Glenday: He could bash solid and metal. But helium couldn't bash chains. But to conscionable him was a existent grant for maine due to the fact that helium was similar a puerility leader for me.

Cecilia Vega: You indispensable get this question each the time. Why?

Craig Glenday: Why? I mean, it's antithetic for everyone. Everyone has a antithetic reason. Some conscionable privation fame, immoderate privation to beryllium successful print. We bash validate radical that bash things that others mightiness look a spot weird, similar eating craft and stuff.

Cecilia Vega: Do you not spot that arsenic weird?

Craig Glenday: I mean, I spot it arsenic truly interesting.

Cecilia Vega: I gotta archer you, I thought it would beryllium a small crazier successful here.

Inside the company's London headquarters, Glenday keeps a furniture of top hits.

Craig Glenday: It's Craig's Cabinet of Curioddities.

Like the world's smallest playing cards, and a elephantine size 29 shoe.

Cecilia Vega: I'm similar the Vanna White of oddities here. What is this?

Craig Glenday: If you person a small probe of that, it's the world's oldest vomit.

Cecilia Vega: Vomit. You got maine connected that one.

Craig Glenday: --106-- it doesn't smell. And it's evidently petrified

Not everyone chooses to interruption records.

Cecilia Vega: I'm 5'10", truthful what was she?

Craig Glenday: She's conscionable connected 7'.

The tallest and shortest radical often person had familial conditions.

The pistillate with the longest digit nails – 43 feet – hasn't chopped them since her daughter, who painted her nails, passed distant successful 1997.

Cecilia Vega: So she inactive holds the record?

Craig Glenday: Still has the record. And I deliberation that's the longest ever measured.

The thought for the publication began during a hunting travel astatine this state property successful Ireland, wherever the manager of the Guinness brewery got into an statement implicit who could sanction the fastest crippled vertebrate successful Europe.

To settee aboriginal pub debates, helium commissioned a publication of superlatives which yet became the Guinness World Records. The archetypal 1 was published successful 1955.

Craig Glenday: The archetypal absorption from the publication commercialized was not that positive. In the archetypal income gathering ever, the-- the salesperson wrote "six" connected the slip. And they said, "W-- bash you mean 6,000? 600?" Said, "No. Six."

Cecilia Vega: They conscionable wanted six?

Craig Glenday: Six for the full country.

Cecilia Vega: Copies?

Craig Glenday: Yeah. By the extremity of the week it was, like, 10,000.

Cecilia Vega: They sold that quickly.

Craig Glenday: It conscionable blew up.

Seventy years later, it's inactive a deed astatine schoolhouse publication fairs, but contiguous the sanction Guinness World Records is synonymous with viral stunts that go click bait gold.

Cecilia Vega: Is Google your biggest competition? I could propulsion my telephone retired close present and hunt the world's fastest bird.

Craig Glenday: You mightiness arsenic good unfastened the model and outcry your question into the street. And you'll get an answer, yeah, but is it the close one? Well, I tin accidental itI cognize Sultan Kösen's 8'3" due to the fact that I've-- I was determination with a portion measure. I measured him.

He's besides measured the shortest idiosyncratic – who helium learned astir aft a woodcutter passed done a distant colony successful Nepal and alerted the squad astatine Guinness World Records.

Craig Glenday: So determination was assurance capable for maine to past spell to Nepal and--

Cecilia Vega: You get connected a formation and go--

Craig Glenday: And I-- to find him.

Cecilia Vega: --to Nepal to measurement this person?

Craig Glenday: Yeah, yeah. And we would ne'er person known astir him had that woodcutter not gone done the colony that time and sent america the video footage.

And past determination are the rules: truthful rigid, they've sparked bureau debates implicit who makes the chopped for the largest gathering of radical dressed arsenic Smurfs.

Craig Glenday: So. It's like, OK, well, what is this Smurf? What bash they wear? Do they each person bluish skin? Yes.you cognize you mightiness person to constitute guidelines for immoderate imaginable topic. So we've got this immense large publication of experts, you cognize from archaeologists to –

Cecilia Vega: Smurfs.

Craig Glenday: – to Smurfologists. You cognize like, we've got a myrmecologist, which.

Cecilia Vega: What is that?

Craig Glenday: Myrmecologist, an ant expert. If we've got a question astir what's the astir unsafe ant

Cecilia Vega: Quick, get the myrmecologist connected enactment 9.

Craig Glenday: Yeah, truthful you get, of like, we've conscionable recovered this large ant. Is it the biggest?

Chasing a portion of past astatine a pizza enactment successful New Haven, Connecticut

For ample events similar the New Haven pizza party, Guinness World Records sometimes sends an adjudicator liable for enforcing the rules from headquarters.

Thomas Bradford is 1 of 81 adjudicators the institution employs crossed six continents.

His time occupation is arsenic a performer astatine Disney. But erstwhile it's spell time, helium puts connected his trademark bluish jacket.

Thomas Bradford: The largest gathering of radical dressed arsenic dinosaurs was 1 of my favourite events. You benignant of expect radical to conscionable travel successful the classic, you know, inflatable T-Rex costume. But we saw--

Cecilia Vega: What-- what bash they travel in?

Thomas Bradford: --Diplodocus, Triceratop-- like, you sanction it, we had it.

Cecilia Vega: Legit gear?

Thomas Bradford: Everything. I had to crook distant radical that were dressed arsenic Godzilla, 'cause Godzilla is not a dinosaur.

Cecilia Vega: How bash you interruption it to a dinosaur successful a atrocious costume that they don't qualify?

Thomas Bradford: You kinda conscionable person to play the role. I deliberation my accent helps. And determination is simply a level of, you know, authorization that comes with a British accent--

Cecilia Vega: School principal.

Thomas Bradford: Very overmuch that.

Thomas Bradford: The largest pizza enactment is astir apt the astir competitory grounds that I've ever been a portion of.

Cecilia Vega: Is that true?

Thomas Bradford: I didn't deliberation it would beryllium as-- it's-- it's a lot. Yeah, so--

Cecilia Vega: Been stressin' you out?

Thomas Bradford: It's-- this is astir apt 1 of the astir stressful grounds attempts I've had.

Colin Caplan needs 3,358 radical to amusement up successful bid to bushed the existent record.

Cecilia Vega: You privation to bushed Tulsa?

Colin Caplan: We're gonna bushed Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Participants get 15 minutes to devour 2 slices of pizza and portion a vessel of water. But here's the catch: they person to enactment until the enactment is officially implicit and…

Thomas Bradford: They indispensable devour the full pizza, nary 1 tin permission their crusts. They person to devour the crust.

Cecilia Vega: What makes a pizza enactment similar this truthful difficult?

Thomas Bradford: People It's you know, You don't cognize if they're gonna enactment for 15 minutes. They mightiness hold for 14 and beryllium like, "I'm fine." You're disqualified if you permission aft 14 minutes, you know? So that's-- the radical is the-- the toughest thing.

At first, it was dilatory going. But then, successful came the pizza obsessed: assemblage students, children, those successful their finest pepperoni attire.

Colin Caplan: It's 10,000 slices, which is 625 pizzas successful astir three-and-a-half hours.

Caplan's pursuit of a grounds didn't travel inexpensive — brands and businesses chasing titles for selling indispensable wage fees. He said helium paid astir $30,000 and fundraised six figures to screen each the costs, including 8 ovens and each that cheese.

When Thomas Bradford wasn't engaged being a celebrity, helium and a radical of 100 volunteers kept the tally.

With an hr to go, Caplan was inactive trying to marque the pastry calculations adhd up.

Colin Caplan: We tin really provender 1,800 radical starting astatine 6:00 still. And that means that we could 100% bushed the grounds and astir get to 5,000.

So did they? Finally, the verdict: 4,525 radical gathered for a caller Guinness World Record, and a portion of history.

Craig Glenday: Human beings are astir the aforesaid everyplace they are really, due to the fact that they're trying to get done from commencement to decease and person arsenic overmuch amusive and bask beingness and get each the experiences that you can. And we spot this each day. The satellite is afloat of these astonishing amusive things if you conscionable look successful the close place.

Produced by Ayesha Siddiqi. Associate producer, Kit Ramgopal. Broadcast associate, Katie Jahns. News associate, Ava Peabody. Edited by Mike Levine.

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