King of the Jungle Sam Thompson is now an official world record holder!
Today’s episode of This Morning was marked by a delightful achievement as Sam Thompson set a new Guinness World Record.
Amidst Blue Monday, often considered the gloomiest day of the year, I’m A Celebrity winner Sam Thompson visited Shoreham-By-Sea, a town previously labelled as the UK’s most miserable. His aim was to spread some much-needed joy and attempt to break the world record for the most hugs in 60 seconds.
Joanne Brent, an adjudicator from the Guinness World Records, was present to monitor Thompson’s attempt to surpass the existing record of 87 hugs.
Before the challenge, Brent commented on Thompson’s practice rounds, saying: “I think the technique is getting better every time and you’re in with a good chance of getting this Guinness World Record title.”
She also laid out the crucial guidelines for the record attempt: “Make contact with everyone’s torso – if not, the hug will not count – and give them an embrace. That’s about it, speed is your friend here!”
As Thompson endeavoured to deliver more than 1.46 hugs per second to the locals, under blue skies, the crowd cheered him on. After the attempt, an exuberant Sam shared: “It was amazing, I had the best time of my life. Shoreham, you are amazing!”
However, Joanne brought a twist to the tale, revealing that Sam had inadvertently broken a key rule by moving down the line instead of staying in position.
She informed him: “I think I have a result to let you know, for your first official attempt, you were very close to setting the record however you did break one of the most important rules Sam. Unfortunately, you were moving down the line! You must stay in position so you will have to have a second attempt.”
Later in the show, hosts Josie and Dermot returned live to Shoreham-on-Sea for the verdict of Sam’s second attempt.
Joanne, after reviewing video evidence, delivered the exciting news: “It is such a fast-paced record to evaluate so thank you for giving me a little bit of time there…I had to review some video evidence just to double-check the count and… for the most hugs given in a minute by an individual, with the record to beat of 87, you achieved 88” – confirming that Sam had indeed successfully beaten the previous record.
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