The Challenge: Peeling a Boiled Egg

It’s been a while since any of you lovely readers had a go at challenging a Guinness World Record with us. We’re sure that you have been breaking them left, right and center in your own time but are just too modest to say. Knobs to that, we thought, we’ll drag you kicking and screaming into immortality. And so it was that on the night of the Beijinger “Pop-Up Magazine” event, we made three unwitting members of the audience come on stage and take the shell off a hard-boiled egg. What fun. But what of glory?

The glorious Guinness World Record that we were trying to beat was 5.59 seconds, achieved by Matthew Mark Mason, in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, on January 15, 2012.

GUIDELINES

1. The egg used for the attempt must be a medium-sized hen’s egg.
2. The egg must be hard-boiled and cooled before the attempt.
3. Only the hands can be used to shell the egg.
4. All shelling must be removed from the egg; if any shell is left on, the attempt is disqualified.
5. The egg must be unbroken and must retain the original shape as much as possible throughout.

THE LIVE RESULTS

Deborah: Disqualified (for starting before she was told to. Shame.)
Iris: Disqualified (for disfiguring the egg’s natural shape)
Amanda: Disqualified (for breaking the egg clean in half )

TIPS AND STRATEGIES

• Practice. Why would anyone be able to do this the first time?
• Cracking the shell properly is key. The rest is easy.

Upload a video of your own attempt or watch the most recent challengers at guinnessworldrecords.com.

If you want to join us for a challenge or would like to suggest a world record that we should take on next, email editor@thebeijinger.com.

Click here to see the April issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo: Judy Zhou