Guinness World Records respond after man’s 23ft Eiffel Tower made out of matchsticks was rejected
Guinness World Record has explained why the bloke who spent eight years on a record attempt was disqualified.
In case you missed it, French man Richard Plaud spent a whopping eight years painstakingly crafting a massive Eiffel Tower replica out of more than 700,000 matchsticks, standing at a staggering 7.19m (23.6ft).
Impressive, eh?
You can see how it looks here:
Advert
For his efforts, Plaud was hoping to gain himself a spot in the record books - for the build the world's tallest structure made of matches - but he was left sorely disappointed when Guinness World Records rejected his attempt due to the type of matches he used to create his masterpiece.
You see, Plaud thought rather than individually removing the bits of sulphur at the end of each match, he contacted a match manufacturer who sent him thousands of sulphur-free matches.
However, the Guinness World Record rules state that only ‘commercially available’ matches qualify for a record-breaker.
Ouch.
As you can imagine, Plaud has been left gutted by the decision and took to social to vent saying the move was ‘rather annoying’ and ‘not exactly fair play’.
In response, Guinness World Records has said officials may have been a ‘little heavy handed’ in their decision making.
Mark McKinley, Director of Central Records Services at Guinness World Records, said: "It's the job of our records management team to be thorough and fastidious in reviewing evidence to make sure the playing field is level for everyone attempting a Guinness World Records title, however it does appear we might have been a little heavy handed with this application.
"We will make contact with the record holder again as well as review rules for similar records as a priority, to see what can be done."
After learning that his attempt had been disqualified, Plaud shared a lengthy post on Instagram.
He wrote (translated): “The Guinness Book judges gave their verdict, without having seen my tower in real life.
"It's pretty astonishing, and actually rather annoying. Not exactly fair play.
"What hurts most is that they don't acknowledge the work that I put in, the time I spent, the mental energy - because I can tell you it was not easy."
"As referenced in the guidelines: The matches used must be commercially available. Proof of this must be provided as evidence.
“As the matchsticks were not commercially available, and were not recognized as matchsticks the attempt has been disqualified.
“BIG DISILLUSION, DISAPPOINTMENT AND INCOMPREHENSION.
"Tell me [how] the 706,900 rods stuck one by one are not matches!!?? And they are too cut to the point of being unrecognizable!!??
“Clearly, the English are really different......
"My matchstick tower is still tall and will be 7.19 meters for a long time!!!!! No offence to the English.
"They reckoned that my matches weren't available for sale. So they didn't qualify."
Topics: Guinness World Record, World News, Instagram
Claire Reid