By: Kennedy Twumasi and Jeffery Nyabor
Claim: A Twitter user has published a picture purported to be of Nigerian chef Hilda Baci holding a certificate from the Guinness World Record.
Verdict: Doctored. The image purported to be Nigerian chef Hilda Baci holding a certificate from the Guinness World Record is false. Using Tineye image search, DUBAWA traced the original photo to Rawpixel, a website for publishing stock photos.
Full Text
A Twitter user @HerStoryUG has shared a picture purporting to be Nigerian chef Hilda Baci with a certificate from the Guinness World Record for breaking a record of 100 hours of uninterrupted cooking.
The current record holder is Lata Tondon, an Indian chef who achieved the feat in 2019 with 87 hours and 45 minutes. According to reports, she broke the record for cooking for over 96 hours. Already, Hilda Baci has received massive support for her attempt to break the current Guinness World Record.
However, the Twitter caption of the photo by @HerStoryUG, on May 16, 2023, says, “Nigerian chef Hilda Bassey has won the Guinness world record for completing 100 hours of cooking by an individual. Congratulations Hilda.”
The post has already received over 53,000 views and over 500 views. Even though reports have been widespread that Ms Baci has broken the Guinness World Record, DUBAWA decided to fact-check the image to discover if she has officially received her certificate from Guinness World Record.
Verification
Investigation using Fotoforensics suggests that the image has had some edits done to it. The JPEG% in the Fotoforensics tool also shows a mass repetition of numbers. This is a red flag. This suggests that the image has, possibly, been edited multiple times.
DUBAWA also ran a Tineye image search and was directed to Rawpixel, a website dedicated to publishing stock photos. DUBAWA saw the original photo captioned, “Cheerful black woman showing a vv sign with a blank speech bubble on the website.”
In the photo above, it is evident that the face of the Nigerian chef Ms Baci has been edited into the original photo. The certificate allegedly from the Guinness World Record is also doctored.
Meanwhile, a reply via the official Twitter handle of Guinness World Records indicated that the organisation knows Hilda’s fantastic record. Still, there will be a need to review all the evidence before officially confirming her record.
“Hilda began cooking on Thursday and continued through to Monday, reportedly whipping up 55 recipes and more than 100 meals in a whopping 100-hour stint,” the May 16, 2023 publication reads.
“Officials on our records team look forward to reviewing the evidence and hope to be able to verify Hilda’s efforts as a new record very soon,” the publication continued.
A statement released by Hilda’s team confirmed that they were yet to be recognized by the Guinness World Record.
“We would like you to know we haven’t received the award yet, and we’re currently working on uploading our evidence,” a statement issued on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, read.
In view of this, Ms Baci is not yet certified by Guinness World Records. If Guinness World Record confirms her, she will overtake the current world record holder, Lata Tondon.
Conclusion
The photo of Nigerian chef Hilda Baci allegedly holding a certificate from the Guinness World Records is doctored.
