This couple in New Zealand thought they had discovered the world's largest potato in their garden last fall. They named the potato "Dug" and began working for months on the photos, paperwork, and verification of their record-breaking tuber.
Enter Guinness World Records.
According to the AP, Guinness World Records officials upon investigation ruled that the Graig-Brown's prized potato was, in fact, not a potato.
A New Zealand couple who believed they had dug up the world's largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash after Guinness wrote to say that scientific testing had found it wasn't, in fact, a potato after all.
Colin Craig-Brown, who first hit the tuber with a hoe last August when gardening with his wife Donna, said it sure looked and tasted like a potato. Mind you, he added, he's never tasted a gourd tuber.
"What can you say?" said Craig-Brown. "We can't say we don't believe you, because we gave them the DNA stuff."
After months of submitting photos and paperwork, the couple got the bad news from Guinness in an email last week.
"Dear Colin," the email begins, going on to say "sadly the specimen is not a potato and is in fact the tuber of a type of gourd. For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application."
How devastating is that? They were local celebrities. Dug, the name of the gourd, was a celebrity. And Guinness came in and ruined it with their DNA science.
The New Zealand couple is taking it well, and is looking to try an official attempt at the record this coming year.
Craig-Brown remains a big believer in Dug, who still sits in their freezer.
"I say ‘gidday' to him every time I pull out some sausages. He's a cool character," Craig-Brown said. "Whenever the grandchildren come round, they say, ‘Can we see Dug?'"
"Dug is the destroyer from Down Under," Craig-Brown added. "He is the world's biggest not-a-potato."
Craig-Brown said he's not done yet with chasing the potato record. Dug was self-sown but Craig-Brown said that with all his subsequent research into giant potatoes, he's ready to try and deliberately grow a record-breaking monster next season.
And this time, it will definitely be a potato.
I'm glad they are still hopeful after this disappointing result.
But it's not bad news for all.
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