Nathan Davies, 32, has set a Guinness World Record by eating 15 fish fingers in 60 seconds. The father of two made the attempt as part of a pledge to Lee Mack during an appearance on the ITV gameshow 1% show, a show he went on to win, walking away with £98,000.
“I always have 20 fish fingers in the freezer, so I thought that one sounds achievable,” Davies said.
A painful challenge
Spurred on by Davies’ success, the writer decided to try to beat the record by eating 16 fish fingers in one minute. The attempt got off to a bad start: while batch cooking, the writer slipped out of an oven glove and burnt a hand.
Without tartar sauce, the cod batons got lodged in the throat, and the writer later compared himself to Icarus if Icarus had been a greedy seagull. Five colleagues gathered to watch, but within 15 seconds their encouragement turned to disgust and discomfort. The writer’s mouth was dry, leaving him unable to swallow, and the rules prevented any sauce or water to help.
Eight fingers in 60 seconds
The fish fingers quickly became stuck. “Briefly – and painfully – my mouth became the Suez Canal in March 2021,” the writer recalled.
In the end, the challenger managed to cram eight fish fingers in before the 60 seconds were up. The five colleagues marched off solemnly, while the writer writhed like a tube man in the wind outside a car dealership.
