So, we all love gummy bears, right? The tiny colourful bear-shaped sweet treats that come in a range of different flavours. Well, forget using your hands to eat them, have you ever tried using a cocktail stick?
Matthew Powers (USA) did exactly that and ended up with Guinness World Records title holder status!
On 4 April, he broke the record for most gummy bears eaten with a cocktail stick in one minute. Matthew’s attempt took place in Norwell, Massachusetts, USA, and he successfully managed to eat 48 of the sweets in his allotted time.
Matthew broke the previous record by 10 gummy bears, which was set by Wolfgang Schwarz (Austria) in Vorarlberg, Austria on 6 March 2024 with a total number of 38 eaten.
We caught up with Matthew to learn more about him and his record-breaking story.
Matthew, a 38-year-old veterinarian, lives with his wife, also a vet, and their three boys.
He told us: “I have always wanted to break a work record. I grew up reading the Guinness World Records books as a child and loved looking at all the amazing things people can do. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to hold a world record, though this has always seemed so daunting.”
Matthew explained that when deciding which record he wanted to attempt, he knew that it wouldn’t be one that would involve memorizing numbers or growing the longest fingernails, but one thing did come to mind: gummy bears.
He said: “I have always loved gummy bears and [they] are one of my favourite snack foods. Years ago, I toyed with the idea of making the largest gummy bear ever but never got the attempt off the ground.
“When I found the record for the most gummy bears eaten with a cocktail stick in one minute, I knew this was something I could actually achieve.”
Read about more tasty records like this in our dedicated Food and Drink section.
Although he had always been a gummy bear superfan, there was still a lot of time and planning that went into Matthew’s world record attempt. For example, he spent time completing trial runs at home, and over time managed to increase the number of gummy bears he could eat using a cocktail stick.
There was also a lot of trial and error with different types of gummy bears. Matthew said: “I bought every brand of gummy bears I could get in my area. There are big differences in the toughness of different gummy bear brands and flavours.
“I found the Albanese brand gummy bears to be best for the record attempt. I also tested seeing how fast I could eat my last 10 gummy bears so as the countdown progressed I knew how many seconds I needed to finish.”
After all the time spent trying to increase his tally, the hard work had paid off! And by the end, Matthew was excited to have beaten the previous record. He explained: “I was thrilled with my final number. I went into the competition hungry. The previous record was 38 and I beat the record by a full 10 bears.
“My previous best was 36 in practice. I had only set up 50 gummies total for the attempt, I was not expecting to eat that many.”
There are so many Guinness World Records titles for speed eating, but Matthew had explained that this was the first one he had ever had any eagerness to try and beat.
“I was ecstatic when I broke the record and got the results verified,” he confessed. “My kids were so proud, they were telling everyone that I broke the record. To achieve a lifelong goal like this was so special.”
