On Wednesday, Jan. 19, Kevin Pereira and Candace Bailey of G4’s “Attack of the Show” successfully set the Guinness World Record for creating the world’s largest tea bag. The bag weighed in at a hefty 151 pounds and triumphed over the two-year record-holding champion tea bag made by Lancashire Tea in Britain that weighed 132.2 pounds.The “Attack of the Show” staff has had multiple attempts in the past with setting and breaking world records, such as creating the world’s largest arcade machine that stood 14 feet high and included the world’s largest and smallest controllers. However, it was time for another brainstorming session and another record to be broken.
“We had several staff excursions last year where the entire staff pitched ideas for possible stunts and world records,” said Pereira. “It was determined that the largest tea bag was the funniest considering we could also set the record for largest tea-bagging right afterward.”
Staff members reported that the project took three weeks of planning in addition to several weeks of designing and building the bag, which proved to be a rather difficult task. According to Guinness, the bag had to be the correct proportions of a tea bag and be able to make tea once dipped in water. AOTS’s last attempt at a record did not go as planned, resulting in the show’s most expensive failure at a Guinness World Record. On July 1, 2009, the show tried to create the world’s largest sky-written tweet, but started out on a bad note when the pilot of the plane went missing for two hours, causing a restless crowd to believe that the plane had gone down. When the plane finally appeared and began to write the message, it looked like nothing more than a few scribbles in the sky, resulting in a failed attempt, plenty of laughs from observers and no certificate from Guinness World Records. In order to redeem themselves from another catastrophe, the staff had to take extra consideration to ensure that the tea bag would sustain the 34,000 bags of English Breakfast Tea that would make it up.
“Getting the tea was easy,” Pereira added. “Constructing a tea bag that would adhere to all of Guinness’s requirements was not. Our art department guys were very smart and designed several vertical chambers within the bag so that it would keep its shape even when filled with 150 pounds of loose tea.”
Pereira and Bailey welcomed Guinness World Record Judge Mike Janela to the show to witness the moment the audience was waiting for. After proving that they were the new record holders, Janela awarded the two with an official Guinness World Record certificate amidst shooting cannons of confetti and waving American flags.
To celebrate the win, Pereira and Bailey donned goggles and wet suits, taking a dip with the tea bag in a hot tub constructed on the brand new set of the show.
After seeping in the tea and offering mugs to those around, one may wonder just what happened to the giant tea bag once the cameras were off.
“It was very carefully hoisted from the hot tub and then thrown into a dumpster in the loading dock,” explained Pereira. “The rats were ecstatic!”
The entire staff of AOTS was thrilled over the win and another Guinness World Record certificate to add to the growing collection. When asked if there was talk about an additional world record attempt in the future, Pereira disclosed, “Not yet. But whatever we do attempt next will have to adhere to two guidelines: one, it will need to be at least as unnecessary as a large tea bag, and two, it must provide an immature innuendo.”
Viewers can be sure that the next project will be just as over-the-top and entertaining, hopefully getting AOTS another win. Tune in to the show live weeknights at 7 p.m. on G4, or check out the “Attack of the Show” website to see the footage of the victory and for the newest viral videos, gadgets, comics and movies.