Episode 9 Officially Amazing

This is the world of records!

Officially!

# Biggest shoe, weirdest face Fastest loo, tightest space

# Longest snake, smallest van Heaviest cake, tallest man

-# Longest ears on a dog... #

-Aw!

-# ..Most poisonous frog... #

-Whaa!

-# ..And a woman with a beard... #

-What?

# ..Officially, officially officially

# Amazing. #

Howdy, and welcome to Officially Amazing.

I'm Ben Shires and this is your one-stop shop

to the wonderful world of records and record breakers.

In this series, we bring you the wackiest,

wettest, weirdest

and wildest records and record attempts there are.

On today's show, we'll be treating you to some mind-altering

official Guinness World Records, including...

Tempo!

I meet another Ben hoping his nimble fingers

will earn him a new world speed record.

Whoa!

This multi-TALON-ted woman shows Al and I what life is like

living with world-record-holding nails.

Oh, no!

-Well, hello there.

-Hi.

Al meets a woman who holds a truly shocking record.

Oh, my god! Oh, my god!

And the Space Cowboy is back

and balancing this monster on his chin

to show just how record hungry he is.

But before all those delights, let's head to America.

Argh!

What?

Check this out! Imagine turning up to school in one of these bad boys.

Now, I'm here in North Carolina,

the home of souped-up, oversized, gas-guzzling mega motors.

From jet cars to dragsters,

motorbikes to trucks, this place has it all.

But when it comes to supersized machines,

the undisputed king of them all is the monster truck.

OK, come with me. Because inside this massive truck,

or as we like to call it in the monster truck biz, "the rig",

is our potential record breaker.

It's a lean, mean, monster-trucking machine.

So prepare to be amazed as I present to you...the monster!

ENGINE REVS

BEEP-BEEP!

Oh, very funny! Here's the real one!

It's called Maximum Overkill.

A proper monster truck.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Look at the teeny wheels!"

That's so they can fit the truck into the rig.

But don't worry, they'll soon be replaced by these big fellas.

And once they're on, the vehicle will be ready

to attempt a Guinness World Record

for the fastest speed by a monster truck.

Let's talk to the man who'll be in the driving seat, Randy Moore.

Obviously, you're going for a record today.

You're hoping to get 100 miles per hour in this bad boy.

I mean, is that even possible?

Well, we were here about six months ago

and we went 90, 93 and then 97.

Randy and his team set a world record in March 2012,

getting up to a speed of 96.8mph.

But watch what happened to the truck when they tried to go faster.

-We're not hoping for that this time.

-No. We don't want that at all.

Because I don't like fire and fire comes up behind you

and it's not a good thing.

As long as everything goes as planned, we should break the record.

So Randy is confident. I like that.

And we know that Maximum Overkill

has gone fast enough in practice runs.

But can they hit that magical 100mph without fire breaking out again?

We'll find out a bit later.

But for now, let's leave them kicking the wheels

to make sure they're nice and monstrous

and head across country for something...

Whaa!

What?

Argh!

Oh!

I'm here in San Diego

to meet a mystery guest who's a world record holder.

The only problem is, I don't know what that world record is.

'This is Kim Goodman and she's an official world record holder

'for something very mysterious.'

-Well, hello there.

-Hey.

-How you doing? I'm Al.

'Al has absolutely no idea what it could be.

'But for you guys at home, it's one of these three options.

'She pops her eyes out of their sockets.

'She can stretch her bottom lip over her entire face.

'Or she can play her teeth like a piano.

'Al doesn't even get those clues.

'Can he guess the record?'

It's something I do with my body.

-Can you spin something on your finger?

-No.

'No! Much weirder than that, Al.'

Can you balance...like, on your head?

'Come on, you can do better than that.'

Can you say something really rapidly, like all the states...

-No!

-..all the oceans?

-'You're way off.'

-No.

-'So, it's a total fail from Al.

'I can't wait to see his face when she reveals it.'

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready, what is it?

'Guys at home,

'are you ready for THIS?'

Oh, my god!

Oh, my god! THEY LAUGH

I was not ready for that.

Why didn't you guys tell me that?

'I can't believe I didn't see THAT coming.'

Please do it again...

Oh, God.

'So, Kim holds the record for eye protrusion.

'She can get her peepers out to a distance of 12mm from the socket.

'Good job her eyelids are closed when she sneezes.'

SNEEZE

-My God! Does that hurt?

-No.

-When did you know you could do that?

-When I was a teenager.

-Oh, my goodness.

Kim, it was great to meet you.

'Thanks to Kim for showing me that eye-popping record.'

'Oh, she's off again! Time for this Ben to go and meet another Ben.'

Whoo...

-Oh!

-Er...

Yuck!

-Ben!

-Hey!

-Good to see you. How are you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

Lovely to meet you. I've always had a quiet admiration for your name.

Solid. I like it.

'Musician Ben Lee holds the Guinness World Record

'for the fastest electric violinist.

'THIS is a man with something to smile about.

'In 2011, he played the entire song Flight Of The Bumblebee,

'note-perfect, in just 58.515 seconds.

'Ben played an amazing 15 notes per second,

'which is double the speed of your normal violinist.

'Today, he's going to try and beat his own record.'

Well, Ben, it's all very good you standing here

with your blingy violin and your claims to records,

but I've not heard any evidence.

Well, let's do something first, and I think you'll like this.

-I'll play it really quick, and you try and guess what I'm playing.

-OK.

I'm a man who loves a challenge.

Let's do this.

'So, Ben is about to play a very famous pop song, super-fast.'

HE PLAYS VERY FAST

-Are you sure that's a pop song?

-This is what it sounds like, half speed.

OK. Let's see if I can guess this one.

'While Ben was playing that song at high-speed,

'his technical assistant was recording into this clever computer

'so that we can hear it back at a normal speed.'

TUNE PLAYS BACK

I think I know this one! Is...

-Is this Kylie Minogue?

-Yes!

-Can't Get You Out Of My Head?

# I just can't get you out of my head... #

Good tune.

I like this guy's taste in music, too.

We've got so much more in common than just names.

For this record attempt, sadly, Kylie doesn't get a look in. Aw!

Instead, Ben will be playing Rimsky-Korsakov's

The Flight Of The Bumblebee, as fast as he possibly can.

Let's hear what that song sounds like

when it's played at normal speed on a piano.

The time has come to hear Ben play that song

on his million-pound violin at over twice the normal speed.

The rules for this attempt are as follows...

Official adjudicator Claire and musical expert Adam are here

to make sure there's no fiddling about and everyone's playing fairly.

Right, it's blink-and-you-miss-it time.

-Let's see if everyone's ready. Claire, are you happy?

-I am.

Excellent. Adam, you too? Excellent.

And Ben, if you're happy, I will count you in. Let's break a record.

'The time to beat is 58.515 seconds.

'Can he do it?'

One, two, three, four...

'This song has a whopping 853 notes in it,

'and Ben must play every single one.

'Luckily, I'm here with my impeccable eyesight

'to make sure he does.'

Yes, yes! That looked great!

You glistened like that violin, sir. How did it feel?

Awesome. Felt nice and warm and buzzy.

Good. Well, Claire and Adam are going to go away and assess it,

so all we can do in the meantime is just wait.

'Well, "warm", fine. "Buzzing", OK.

'But did it feel record-breaky?

'Claire and Adam now need to listen back to each

'and every note at a slower speed to make sure all is in order.

'Cue tense music.'

-FAST MUSIC

-'Yes, very funny.

-'At the normal speed, please.'

-MUSIC SLOWS DOWN

'Thank you.'

Oh, this looks promising. Claire, do we have some results?

We have a result.

Ben, you've actually held this record already, with 58.515 seconds.

Now, today, Adam and I have just checked your performance

and I can confirm that you performed Flight Of The Bumblebee...

..in 57.502, that is a new Guinness World Record!

Yeah, congratulations, well done!

-Wow! Thank you very much.

-Well done.

This is fantastic.

Well, it's official.

Ben has smashed his own record for fastest electric violin,

and it just goes to show that if you practise, practise, practise,

you can achieve anything.

'From record-breaking fingers to record-breaking hair,

'as this next lot will demonstrate.'

# How do you like your hair?

# Do you use a comb?

# Do you trim it every day?

# Do you use hairspray when you're at home?

# I bet you really care

# I bet you make a fuss

# W-w-w-well Manjit Singh Used his hair to pull a bus

# It doesn't sound like fun But he's not the only one

# Cos Sailendra Nath Roy Took it high up on a zip wire, yeah

# He flew right through the air

# Hanging from his hair

# And before you think That you might want to copy

# You know it made His scalp go floppy... #

Take it to the chorus.

# Hair, there and everywhere

# They use their b-b-barmy barnets To break records, yeah

# I guess it's mind over mullet Or whatever you want to call it

# These are hair-raising adventures Around the world

# Joanna Sawicka's hair Is really rather great

# She broke the record When she lifted 53.4 kg of weight

# She held another lady Hanging upside-down

# So next time somebody Pulls your hair

# There ain't no need to frown

# Hair, there and everywhere

# They use their b-b-barmy barnets To break records, yeah

# I guess it's mind over mullet Or whatever you want to call it

# These are hair-raising adventures Around the world. #

And now...

..part II.

'Welcome back to North Carolina, where Maximum Overkill is out

'to prove it's the fastest monster truck in the world.

'Driver Randy and his team are making the final adjustments

'ahead of their all-important test drive before attempting to

'set a new record for the fastest speed by a monster truck.'

I want to make sure everything's good to go, everything's tight.

Just going over everything, because when I'm driving down through

there are sounds and you have to be really alert with your ears to catch

the sounds and what's happening, so you can turn it off immediately.

'Maximum Overkill is ready for its test run.

'This is a crucial part of the record attempt.

'If the truck isn't running right,

'it could put the whole attempt at risk,

'not to mention Randy's safety.'

TANNOY: Everyone, please clear this area.

'OK, they're all set.

'Just waiting for the track to clear and the lights to go green.'

Snap down. Yellow, yellow and then green.

Here we go!

'And they're off with a roar.'

Every time that thing changes sound,

the gear kicks into the back of them.

'And... Oh. They're not going as fast as I'd have thought.

'That doesn't look like 100mph to me.

'I'd be calling roadside assistance about now.

'Maximum Overkill looks more like Maximum Let-Down.'

We've had an ignition problem. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong,

but something in the ignition has just given us a big mess.

We can't find what it is and it's not firing.

-Do think you'll still get a chance to go for this?

-Oh, yeah.

-We don't quit for anything.

-Fantastic.

Well, that's the attitude of a record breaker, I think.

'While Randy puts his screwdrivers into action to fix his motor

'so he can attempt that world record,

'let's meet a car that already has one.'

This is a jet car.

It has a jet engine in that car.

An actual jet engine out of an F5 fighter.

'This is an F5 fighter jet.

'Imagine the engine from this on a car!

'Oh, yeah!

'It's fast, and Rich Hanna drives it.'

This is where it gets hot, 1,600 degrees.

It shoots about 20 feet of flame out the back,

billows and billows of smoke.

Jet engine obviously in the middle,

and on each side we have parachutes,

one main parachute that we always deploy

and then this is our best friend right here, our emergency parachute.

Hopefully we don't have to use that, that's just in case.

'So, jet cars need brakes and a parachute to slow them down.

'And just like skydivers have,

'there's even an emergency parachute in case the main one fails to open.'

How fast can this baby go?

This one a here is the record holder, 295 miles an hour.

The average family car can take up to ten seconds

to travel from 0-60mph,

but these jet cars can do 0-60 in less than a second.

It's awesome speed,

but then again, that's because you're driving a rocket.

Hope those seats are washable.

Rich is strapped in and ready to go.

And in case you thought this truck driver had gone mad, he's

dousing the tarmac in water to stop those jet engines from melting it.

They're ready to go.

Look at those flames!

Check out that thrust. Wow!

266 mph in a matter of seconds.

And seconds is all they've got because at that speed,

they soon run out of track.

The brakes alone would never be enough, hence the parachutes.

Wow, did you see that?

They were travelling at almost 300mph.

You could feel it in your chest.

Every time those engines boomed out, it was like an earthquake up here.

While these super-fast cars have been tearing up the track,

have Randy and his team managed

to get Maximum Overkill back up and running

and can it now get a brand-new Guinness World Record for speed?

Power's on.

ENGINE STUTTERS

'Erm... No.

'Let's face it, that doesn't sound like a happy monster truck,

'in fact, it sounds like a very dead one.'

Had some crazy ignition problems, we worked on it all day,

but unfortunately it just wasn't going to happen.

Sadly, Randy and his team

couldn't fix the engine trouble from the test run,

so they're forced to admit defeat

and head home empty-handed, without having even attempted the record.

It's a disappointing day for Randy and Maximum Overkill,

but there's always next time.

You know that when I'm not skydiving...

swimming with sharks...

or wrestling bears...

I like to take a little time out to pamper myself.

I call it Ben time, cos I'm a modern man.

It might be a foot rub, quick facial,

sometimes I even get my nails done.

I know what you're thinking - should've gone a bit pinker.

But this one isn't about me,

and anyway, these are nothing compared to our next record holder.

Chris "The Duchess" Walton

is an American rock singer who lives in Las Vegas,

but she's not a record holder because of her voice,

Al and I are meeting her because of these bad boys.

The combined length of her fingernails on each hand

was recorded by Guinness World Records in 2012

as a staggering six metres!

That's an average of 60cm a nail.

It's taken her nearly 20 years

to grow the world's longest fingernails.

Imagine trying to live your life

with these things on the ends of your fingers.

It would be a struggle making a sandwich...

rotten trying to relax...

and more than just a little tough in the toilet.

TOILET FLUSHING

How on earth does The Duchess do it?

What can't you do?

I can't pick-pocket, so there's no stealing.

Right. OK.

I still do pretty much everything, like, washing clothes,

I buy the long barbecue tongs

and I pull my clothes out of the wash that way.

-So you have to semi-barbecue your clothes to wash them?

-Exactly.

-Good.

But I do that in the cans that are up really high on the shelf,

I just get my other tongs and I pull them down from there.

I take my contact lenses out with this one.

I just dip it in the thing and after I scoop it off of this one,

I rinse it and then I just pop it in.

That's very impressive.

-All right, I'm going to throw a situation out to you.

-OK.

You've got an itch up your nose, how do you deal with it?

I blow it with tissue.

SHE LAUGHS

AL: Trust Ben to ask the nose-picking question!

I don't know about you, but I need a nail file...

I mean a fact file...

I mean...a nail fact file!

To keep her nails intact,

The Duchess says she stays away from humans where possible

and eats lots of chocolate.

In 2007, she clipped off some of her nails

because they stretched down to her ankles

and when driving she didn't want them hanging out the window.

The Duchess makes her own nail varnish,

but it takes around an hour and a half to apply it.

Right, Duchess, you claim that you can do anything, pretty much,

with you nails. Good.

I'm going to put this to the test,

because I've devised what I like to call

the Officially Amazing Nailympics.

'And since we're on my home turf and I'm wearing MY referee T-shirt today,

'I'll be ensuring fair play during this nail-biting game.'

-Duchess, meet Al Jackson, my colleague.

-The lovely Duchess.

-Nice to meet you.

-Great, so it's going to be impartial already.

I'm going to be impartial.

-Just tell us what's going to happen, Al.

-All right.

Open these.

Remember, I want a good, clean fight, no scratching, no nail-biting.

Let's go.

Yeah. You should be really thirsty about right now.

That was incredible, how did you do it?

A quarter. The change that you get after you buy one of these...

opens it up.

Mark it one for The Duchess.

'Some people might think that was cheating,

'but I'd say it was inventive thinking from The Duchess.'

The first person to text me "Officially Amazing" wins.

Three, two, one...go.

'Look at that! She's using her knuckle to type.'

-I think this competition is officially...

-Over!

-..over.

Once again, it's the lovely Duchess.

Ben, you should be ashamed, I'm taking your phone.

-Did it come through?

-It didn't come through.

Send a message and tell your friends you're a loser.

Duchess, you beat me fair and square.

-You could say...you nailed it?

-TUMBLEWEED

'Ooh, tough crowd. Anyway, enough bad gags,

'Haruka, over to you.'

If you love big vehicles,

you'll be amazed at what I'm about to see today.

It's like a beauty pageant for trucks.

Welcome to the officially amazing world of Dekotora.

These are the Dekotora trucks.

They are normal working lorries that travel all over Japan,

but have been transformed into moving pieces of art

by their owners.

Each driver has spent loads of money making their vehicle look the best.

By day, they look pretty beautiful,

but by night they really are something else.

Last year, hundreds of Dekotora trucks gathered

to attempt a new Guinness World Record

for the most Dekotora trucks in one place.

Sadly, they were just short of the required 500,

so there will be no record attempt today,

but I am going to talk to a man about a van - well, truck.

This driver represents the truckers

and he told me how he came up with the design of his truck.

TRANSLATION: I draw inspiration from my lifestyle, my home town

and my family.

The decorations are done professionally,

but I design everything myself.

So how does it feel driving one of these? Do you feel cool and proud?

The truck itself is much cooler than I'll ever be.

Subarashii.

And if you don't have your own Dekotora truck,

you could always bling up your bike instead. Now, that IS cool!

Whilst Haruka's off to deliver a sofa in style,

let's head back to the UK

to see what one of our resident daredevils is up to this week.

His mum calls him Shane,

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

Yes, the Space Cowboy.

He holds countless Guinness World Records,

mostly for ridiculously dangerous stuff.

So far, we've seen him set two new juggling world records,

one for juggling and eating apples,

the other for juggling with a chain saw.

I know which one I'd rather do.

But just what has he got in store for us today?

Ah, Space Cowboy, with a lawnmower, and yet, no lawn. What's going on?

I'm actually going to go for a new world record,

the longest duration balancing a running lawnmower on the chin.

A running... Not even just this,

which looks heavy enough as it is,

-actually running whilst on your chin?

-It is heavy.

-Is it possible?

-It is possible.

It's very difficult and probably quite dangerous.

Probably quite dangerous?! I'd say extremely!

OK. Here are the rules.

And if the Space Cowboy wants to set a new record,

he'll need to balance the lawnmower for at least one minute 30 seconds.

OK, somehow - I don't quite know how - we're in a situation

where a man is about to balance a live lawnmower on his chin.

I know. Space Cowboy, are you ready to do this?

As ready as I'll ever be.

-Good. Adjudicator Craig, are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Right, so the lawnmower is switched on and the blades are spinning.

The Space Cowboy is almost ready to dice with danger.

Three, two, one, mow.

'The lawnmower's up and we're off.

'The lawnmower weighs eight kilograms

'and all that weight is being supported just by his chin.

'Remember, those spinning metal blades

'aren't that far away from his face.'

Come on, Space Cowboy, it's looking good.

'And if the lawnmower falls,

'they aren't that far away from mine either.'

Less than 30 seconds to break the record now.

Come on, Space Cowboy, you can do this!

'Space Cowboy has adapted this lawnmower

'especially for the record attempt.

'You might already have guessed

'that lawnmowers aren't actually made with chin-balancing in mind.'

-One minute 30.

-One minute 30!

We have a record! We have a record! Yeah!

So, it's another world record for the Space Cowboy,

this one for the longest time balancing a lawnmower on his chin.

-Obviously! And it's going to be "turf" to beat.

-AL: Oh, Ben!

What have I told you about ending the show with your bad jokes?

Instead, let's remind ourselves of this week's officially amazing stuff.

See you next time.

# Well, Randy tried to get a speed record

# In his great big monster truck

# But he couldn't get The ignition to work

# Those guys just had no luck

# We saw The Duchess's super-long nails

# How does she type e-mails?

# Al got a big surprise From those two bulging eyes

# And Ben's record-breaking fingers Were super-fiddly!

# It's all officially...

# Amazing! #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd