Episode 13 Officially Amazing

This is the world of records.

# Officially...biggest, weirdest

# Fastest, tightest

# Longest, smallest

# Heaviest, tallest

# Longest ears on a dog

-# Most poisonous frog! #

-Oh!

# And a woman with a beard. #

What?

# Officially, officially, officially

# Amazing! #

Hello and welcome to another mind-boggling episode

of Officially Amazing,

the show that scours the globe

to bring you the biggest, quickest

and sometimes strangest records

and record-breakers in existence.

'Today's incredible Guinness World Record attempts

'include...'

One man attempts to get his 150th world record...

on a space hopper.

Haruka comes face-to-face

with the most lethal fish supper on the planet.

The Space Cowboy gets stuck in and I get stuck up.

The things I do for you.

And Manjit the man mountain mystifies me

with his magnificent...ears.

'But first, a record attempt that is certainly no pushover.'

This is a domino.

You can do several different things with them.

You can play games with them,

you can build your own miniature Stonehenge with them...

..or you can do this.

'And today in gorgeous Baden-Wurttemberg, in Germany,

'I'm meeting two guys who love doing just that.'

But instead of using a box of 28 dominoes,

they have much bigger ideas.

Big plus enormous

times massive to the power of ridiculous, because today,

they're going to try to break the Guinness World Record

for most dominoes toppled in a spiral.

They're aiming to topple 50,500 of them!

And by "spiral," we mean exactly that.

The domino run starts from the outside and goes round and round

till it finishes in the centre.

So who are these domino legends?

Meet Toby Demuth

and Tim Weissker.

Two students and two of the leading tip-top topplers in the world.

Just check out this footage from Toby's archive.

'There's no trickery in domino toppling,

'just meticulous planning

'and then pure physics in action.'

This crate holds 1,500 dominoes.

'And they'll be needing 36 crates-full

'to try and smash the current record

'of 33,533 dominoes

'by using 50,500 of them.'

A record this big needs space and lots of it,

which is why we're here at a leisure centre

or "Sporthalle."

Let's get cracking!

'They're about to start their 30-hour marathon

'to set them all up.

'All of this just to knock them down again.

'This is the big moment - the first of tens of thousands

'of dominoes. Here goes...'

Ah.

'Yeah. Great start, Toby(!)'

There's no time limit to set them up

but Tim and Toby reckon they'll need three days to build

a record-breaking domino spiral. Once finished,

the spiral will be about six metres in diameter.

That's nearly as big as the clock face on Big Ben.

Oh, I've hit the big time!

Each domino must be carefully positioned

so it knocks the next one down.

'It's a very precise business.'

At this stage now, let's say that all these dominoes

toppled now.

-OK.

-Would you still be able to rebuild it

-and get the record?

-I'm not sure.

Wow. It's serious stuff - we have to hope there's not too many mishaps.

'But don't worry. Toby hasn't just been spending

'EVERY waking hour standing thousands of dominoes

'very close together in a sports hall.

'Oh, no - he's taken a break...

'to stand thousands of dominoes very close together in his bedroom

'to make something amazing just for us.'

It really IS officially amazing

in every single sense.

I'll just do a couple of finger warm-up techniques.

-I think I'm just about there.

-Yeah.

Three, two, one...

Yes! That was amazing!

That was so good!

'If you think THAT was impressive,

'just you wait!'

The main event is still to come.

The guys are now about 19,000 dominoes in.

So there's still a lot of work to do.

And the risk gets higher and higher,

cos if they accidentally set the topple off BEFORE it's ready,

then it could wreck everything, and I can tell you now

something is about to go wrong.

I was really close to crying, to be honest!

-SLOWED DOWN:

-Oh!

We'll come back to the boys later,

but in the meantime, here's Al in New York.

Welcome to New York City,

one of the most famous places in the world.

Home to such things as the Statue of Liberty,

the Empire State Building

and those bright-yellow taxis.

'It's also home to one of the greatest record breakers

'to have ever lived.'

This is Ashrita Furman.

He's been setting records all over the world for 33 years.

He currently holds 149 Guinness World Records.

'Today he's going for another one...'

Can Ashrita break that today?

The record must be attempted on a level surface.

If Ashrita falls off the hopper,

he must get back on at the exact same sport he fell.

Rest breaks are allowed but he cannot leave the track.

I'm not a record-breaking legend like Ashrita,

but I'll keep up with him for as long as possible.

Nice tracksuit, Al. You know what they say.

All the gear and no idea.

Quiet, Ben, I'm trying to focus.

On my marks,

get set...

go!

And we're off.

6½ kilometres is going to be easy.

Actually, this is a lot harder than it looks.

I didn't even manage 600 metres,

let alone 6½ kilometres.

'But Ashrita powers off and looks confident.'

That's it for me.

He's doing good but he's got a long way to go.

'Each lap of this track is 400-metres long.'

He needs 16 laps to equal the record.

He's only a quarter of the way

and he's struggling.

He's stopped to take a breath.

Remember, that is allowed.

If you've ever been on a space hopper in the garden,

you'll know how tiring it can be.

OK, he's off again.

Ashrita is now approaching his eighth lap. He has a long way to go,

but don't expect him to stop yet.

As he's proved time and again,

this is a man who just doesn't give up.

His other records include

the most skips on spring-loaded stilts,

the heaviest shoes ever walked in

and hula-hooping the world's largest, er...hula hoop.

Official adjudicator Phil's keeping a close eye

on Ashrita's progress.

'He's now just one lap away

'from breaking another world record.'

Come on, Ashrita, let's go! Push it! Dig deep!

'Wow! Ashrita's so lucky

'to have me on hand to motivate him(!)'

That's right. Keep going, yeah!

Keep going!

'Only five metres to go.

'He's done it!

'That's his 150th world record!'

You're officially amazing. You broke the record!

THROUGH LOUD-HAILER: That's one small bounce for man...

BEEP

..one giant bounce for record-breaking.

'Ashrita, you've done it! You can stop now!

'Hello?! He's still going!

'He doesn't just want to break the record,

'he wants to smash it.'

-All right.

-All right!

Ashrita makes it to five miles. That's over eight kilometres.

-Congratulations.

-Very nice! Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

-This is awesome, man.

'Proving yet again that Ashrita Furman

'is officially amazing.'

Now back to the UK for another multi-world record holder.

On his birth certificate his name is Shane,

but we know this record-breaking maverick by another name.

He holds 18 world records.

That's quite a lot.

Mostly for incredibly dangerous stuff.

Don't hurt yourself.

On Officially Amazing, he balanced a lawnmower...

On his chin.

He even juggled a chainsaw...

Mind your fingers.

..and whipped roses from my mouth.

Watch the face.

He juggled with three apples.

Good for your teeth.

He kicked a hat onto his head on a unicycle...

That's really high.

'For today's attempt, the Space Cowboy will do something

'really sticky.'

There, you see, there you are. OK, so what's all this about then?

Well, I just want to make sure you're comfortable.

These will go under your arm.

I like dressing fancy but this is just weird. What's going on?

We'll try a new world record

for the fastest time to duct-tape someone to a wall.

Hang on, I'm a someone and that's a wall.

Exactly. You might want to stand up there and let's do this thing.

'To set a new record,

'the Space Cowboy must tape a person weighing at least

'50 kilograms - that's me,

'to the wall in less than 39 seconds.

'Then he'll move the stool away

'and I have to stay stuck to the wall for one minute.

'Do NOT try this at home.'

OK. Apparently, we're ready to go.

-Craig, official adjudicator, are you ready?

-Ready.

-Space Cowboy, are you happy?

-I'm ready.

OK, then. Well, on my count,

three, two, one, stick!

'So, to get the record, the Space Cowboy must tape me to the wall

'in under 39 seconds.

'Then he'll move the stool away and I have to stay stuck to the wall

'for one minute.

'They could have found a nicer wall to stick me to!

'OK, Space Cowboy will now remove the stool

'and I will remain stuck.'

Ah!

'Or not.

'He's allowed a second attempt.

'Here's a clue, Spacey. Use more tape.

'This challenge is about speed, physics and stickiness.

'The current record is 39 seconds.

'Once he removes the stool,

'I must remain up there for a further minute.

'I look like one of those mummies from a scary movie.

'Now I'm taped to the wall,

'can I hang around for a minute?'

Ben, you've got to stay there for a minute

if we want to get this world record.

So hold your breath, don't move.

I have time to hang around, so let's do this.

'A minute?! Hmm, let's fast-forward a bit.'

Three, two, one, stop.

Have we got a record?

'I say "we"- I've done all the hard work!

'I've stayed stuck for a minute, but did Space Cowboy

'stick me up here quick enough?'

You've to beat 39 seconds.

You did...

one minute, 41,

so I'm afraid...

Oh, well, good try.

But I've had a good time. Looking at me, I kind of think

it might not be officially amazing

but I think really you have to say it is amazing.

I'm sure they'll be back.

'So, sadly, the Space Cowboy was way too slow

'but that's not something you could say about THESE record holders.'

# They're really, really, really, really, really, really, really fast

-# Are they slow?

-No!

# They're really, really, really, really fast!

# Samantha and Melissa ran a race in record time

# But just to make things fun they dressed as a horse from a pantomime

# They broke a new world record in that 100-metre race

# The took just 18.13 seconds

# The rest couldn't stand that pace

# Tillman was a speedy pooch but he also kept it cool

# He had no time for running around

# He wasn't anybody's fool

# He was a dog riding on a skateboard

# And he didn't lose control

# He's a record-breaking mutt on wheels

# Cos that's how he likes to roll

# They're really, really, really, really, really, really, really fast

-# Are they slow?

-No!

# They're really, really, really, really fast

# Rob Williams, he loves sandwiches

# He prepares them nice and neat

# He's the fastest person in the world

# At making them using his feet

# So if he ever offers you a snack

# And it's the nicest you've ever seen

# Remember that he made it with his toes

# You don't know where they've been!

# Bold Sunita went to space where no-one can hear you scream

# She wanted to run a marathon

# And live out a crazy dream

# She tied herself to a treadmill

# As the galaxies flew past

# She's a record-breaking space runner

# She's really, really, really, really fast

# They're really, really, really, really, really, really, really fast

-# Are they slow?

-No!

-# They're really, really, really, really fast. #

-Aargh!

Part two.

Welcome back to Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany.

While we've been away, students and top topplers Toby

and Tim have been extremely busy preparing their record attempt

for most dominoes toppled in a spiral.

They've spent almost 30 hours painstakingly laying

out 50,500 dominoes.

Luckily, there aren't as many rules as there are dominoes to

topple in this attempt.

The dominoes have to be of standard dimensions,

though they are special ones without any dots on them.

The push-over must start from one domino by one person.

And you only get one go at this.

So you have to be very careful.

If you knock one over before the set-up is complete,

it could start them all off and the spiral will spiral out of control.

Tim's playing along now, but last night was quite a different story.

Go on, Tim. Tell us what happened.

We wanted to finish at 2am, but ten minutes before 2am,

we had a very bad happening because I wanted to take some dominoes out of

the box and one domino dropped out of my hand, into the spiral,

and toppled like two or three lines of dominoes.

We tried to stop it, but all in all,

2,500 dominoes toppled too early and we had to set them up again.

So we had to leave at 4am and we only got two hours' sleep.

Crikey! They had to re-lay 2,500 dominoes. I wonder how that felt.

I was really close to crying, to be honest!

Well, I'm not surprised.

Tim's incident really shows the courage, care, determination,

patience and perseverance required for a record attempt like this one.

And they're not the only people who've had topple trouble.

When these guys attempted the most dominoes toppled in a 3D pyramid

record, they had nearly finished setting up when disaster struck.

Look at the disappointment! Look at the rage!

Watch him pummel his leg in anger!

So, what did they do? Well, they simply started again

and went on to break the record with 13,486 dominoes in July 2012.

But what about today's record attempt?

Even if Toby and Tim get all 50,500 dominoes laid out,

that doesn't mean they'll get the record.

If the dominoes don't all topple as planned because they haven't

been set up correctly, it'll all have been for nothing.

This is it, the final piece is being laid right now. Nail-biting.

Have they laid them all out correctly?

Remember, the current record is 33,533.

So they're trying to smash it by a huge amount.

All 50,500 dominoes are now ready to be toppled.

Toby and Tim are in position.

Official adjudicator Anna is in position. And so am I.

36 empty crates and an audience of nervous fans await.

-Tim, Toby, are you ready?

-Yes, absolutely.

OK, then. Well, best of luck, chaps. On my count.

Three, two, one, topple.

If their calculations are correct, it'll be another 14 minutes

until they all go down,

so let's have a quick breakaway with Haruka, but rest assured,

if anything does go wrong, we'll be straight back to the action.

This is Zac the macaw from California and he isn't just a pretty boy.

He's a talented record holder too.

The question is, what can he do 22 of in a minute?

The answer is...slam dunks.

Because Zac is part of a performing parrot show.

Obviously this isn't a parrot's natural home,

which as everybody knows is the shoulder of a pirate.

Look at him go!

Uh... wrong side, Zac.

I think he's beaked...

I mean peaked and with all that record-breaking talent,

he still gets paid peanuts, just as he requested.

From one colourful thing falling over to a load of others.

Back to the dominoes and success

so far at the record attempt for the most dominoes toppled in a spiral.

But it's never certain, even at this stage,

that Toby and Tim will succeed.

30 hours of work are melting away before their eyes,

as we near the end.

The colours have all gone and they're into the blacks.

It's absolutely amazing. We're really close now.

-You must be excited.

-Yeah. Absolutely.

And it's going so fast.

Will the final dominoes fall and set a new world record?

Three rows, two rows, one row...

THEY CHEER Super!

'Super is German for super.'

Tim, Toby, we're still yet to get the official word,

but what's your immediate reaction to that?

-Amazing! Awesome! It was just...cool.

-Incredible.

50,500 dominoes toppled.

Officially Amazing!

Congratulations.

THEY APPLAUD

Now, from German genius to something fishy in the Far East.

'Just listen to me, young fellow...'

Hello and welcome from a very busy Tokyo morning in Japan.

Now, one thing we Japanese love more than anything in the world

is fish. We eat it morning, noon and night

and have fish-flavoured everything, from chewing gum to ice cream.

This market has thousands of different species of fish on sale.

And one of them makes the world's deadliest fish supper.

Not that one. This one.

It's known by various names:

But here in Japan, we call it Fugu.

And here it is, erm...asleep.

It's been revered for centuries as a gourmet delight and it's eaten raw.

But if the chef doesn't prepare it correctly, this fish will kill you!

Fugu holds the record for being the most poisonous edible

fish on the planet.

And for that very reason, you're not going to see me eat it.

Amazingly, despite being potentially deadly, people love to eat Fugu.

But preparation of the fish is strictly controlled by law.

Chefs take years to gain their Fugu licence

and even have to take an exam. Mr Komori is a very experienced chef

and he's going to demonstrate to me just how it's done.

Fugu is eaten raw and if certain parts of the fish are not

removed correctly, a person eating it could be poisoned,

so if Chef Komori doesn't do his job properly,

one of his customers could be dead within 20 minutes of eating the Fugu!

Do you feel nervous when you're preparing Fugu?

-TRANSLATION:

-I don't feel nervous

because of all the training I've had.

The dangerous pieces are removed and separated from the rest of the fish.

-TRANSLATION:

-There is something mysterious

and wonderful about this fish.

There's also the thrill of danger in eating it as well.

Wow! Chef Komori has turned the deadliest fish

into such a pretty looking meal!

I'm not sure it's going to replace cod and chips just yet,

but here in Japan, deadly or not, people just love it.

Arigatou gozaimashita!

You're welcome, love, thank you, yes. Thank you.

Eh?!

Ah! Oooh!

Meet Manjit Singh, the self-styled Ironman of Leicester.

Aha, you must be Manjit.

Hello, how are you doing? Good to see you!

-Look at this place! This is incredible.

-This is my hall of fame.

TIGER ROARS

Manjit holds loads of Guinness World Records.

He holds the record for most powerful lungs.

Heaviest weight lifted by both eye sockets. Ugh!

Here he is, pulling a bus with his hair!

Argh!

HE GROANS

And EAR he is, attempting to pull another bus,

the 10.5 to Private, with his ears!

This man will stop at nothing to prove his strength.

It all seems impossible. So what's his secret?

It's not just that smile.

If I want to get my hands on one of these, what do I need to do?

You need physical training, physical strength, as well as mental strength.

Mentally, it's meditation, you have to control your mind, yes.

And you have to focus yourself.

Close your eyes, and focus.

OK.

'Mind power.

'Mi-ind power!

'Mind power!'

DREAMY INDIAN-STYLE MUSIC

MUSIC: "Barbie Girl" by Aqua

MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY

-It doesn't work.

-Probably a few more years!

This is ridiculous. I'm never going to get a trophy!

-You will.

-Will I?

Try again and again.

Manjit isn't going to try and break a record today,

but he is going to show me a feat of strength.

So we're off to his record-breaking lair to find out more.

Now, no-one here has explained exactly what that feat is.

-I'm a bit nervous. Can you put me out of my misery?

-I'll tell you.

What I'm going to do today,

I'm going to lift you with my ears.

Oh, come on, come on! With your ears?!

Manjit can only do these stunts after many years of training

and by using specially-made clamps and apparatus.

I wouldn't even put them on, let alone try and lift something,

so do not attempt to this at home.

-OK, Dan, you can have your seat, go on top?

-Right.

So, I'm going to sit here.

Whatever happens now will be amazing.

Either he'll lift me up with his ears,

or he'll rip them clean off, trying.

I feel that I've got the easier end of the bargain here.

MANJIT SCREAMS AND GROANS

I'm off! I'm off!

You're lifting me! That was it!

The Ironman of Leicester has lifted the Twee Titan of Yorkshire!

Manjit, are you OK?

'Poor Manjit, he can't hear a thing with those ear clamps on.'

DISTORTED GROANING

I can hardly believe my eyes, or his ears!

That was incredible!

You just lifted me up and listen, look what did it,

just that bit of flesh hanging off there.

I've got to say this, because I've been wanting to say it all day -

you were ear-ficially ear-mazing. Mm? Yeah?

-Thank you so much.

-Argh!

I've been lifted by a man's ears.

Just one of the Officially Amazing things we've seen on this series.

A massive thank you to all the amazing record breakers

we've met all over the world.

# Well we've seen scooter flips

# And wrapping chips

# That both officially amazed

# Antonio breathed fire so high

# He was hot but quite unfazed

# And the Moffatt Boys that parked their car

# With record-breaking precision

# Ryuta's super chopsticks combined

# With perfect ping-pong vision

# Those stoppies were quite a dare

# But Jesse sure had flair

# We thought we'd seen it all until Tilo flew with a basketball

# Well, Kim's eyes left Al petrified

# Francisco's mouth opened really wide

# Chanel's tongue was long

# And Mr Bedford's back hair was just wrong

# Yes, the Space Cowboy kept us riveted

# With his death-defying thrills

# But if you wanna be a record-breaker,

# Try the Sizzlers' home-based record-breaking skills

# If you're in the mood for a nut

# Get Cherry to crack one with his butt

# But speaking of records that are crazy

# The memory's a little hazy

# But I think we've seen

# A pram with an engine, dogs who surf, frenetic penguins,

# Hottest camel on earth

# A car full of ladies, a bus pulled with teeth

# A skateboarding goat, a bubble beyond belief

# They are all officially

# And you could be officially

# In a world that is officially

# Amazing! #

Aaargh!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

Yay! Oh, that was amazing!