Fact checkers at the Explainer have spotted an image making the round on social media with a claim that celebrity Chef Hilda Bassey has been handed her Guiness World Record Certificate. The claim is that the lady holding a Guinness World Records (GWR) certificate, is a Nigeria chef Hilda Bassey Effiong popularly known as Hilda Baci who made a historic feat on Monday, May 15, 2023, when she broke the Guinness World Records for the longest cooking time by an individual. The caption in the image containing the claim read;
‘Nigeria chef Hilda Bassey has won the Guinness world record for competing 100 hours in cooking by an individual. Congratulation Hilda.” Also another caption with the same image read; “Baci officially declared Guinness World Record Holder. IDAN doesn’t break, she breaks records. A big congratulations to Hilda Baci”
The Explainer found a post from the official twitter page of the Guinness World Records @GWR on Tuesday, which indicated that the review of evidence was still ongoing. The post read “Our records team is looking forward to reviewing the evidence from Hilda’s epic cooking marathon.” Further findings by The Explainer revealed that the image being circulated was edited, as the lady on the image is not Hilda Bassey.
The Explainer also deployed the reverse image search using TinEye and it showed that the image used was originally a stock image of a cheerful black woman showing a V sign with a blank speech bubble owned by RawPixel.com. The Explainer therefore assert with conclusive evidence that the lady in the circulating image seen holding a Guinness World Records (GWR) certificate, is not Hilda Bassey. It will be recall that Hilda Bassey started the push to break the Guinness World Record on Thursday, May 11, at 4PM after she turned on her cooker for the ‘cook-a-thon’ and peaked at 100 hours surpassing the initial record of 87 hours 45 minutes which was achieved in September 2019, by Lata Tondon, an Indian chef.