In a bid to find the next child prodigy not in mathematics or music, but in the high-stakes world of citrus peeling, Absolute Radio and Guinness World Records have thrown down the gauntlet—or should we say, the peeler? It’s a challenge so juicy, it’s almost pulp fiction!
The challenge was cooked up on the Dave Berry Breakfast Show, where Dave himself, along with co-host Matt Dyson and Guinness’s very own Mark “Mandarin Monitor” McKinley, called upon the youth of Britain to unleash their wildest record-setting imaginations. Among a basketful of zesty ideas, the record for “Most Mandarins Peeled in One Minute (Under 16)” peeled itself away from the rest.
“We fell for it hook, line, and sinker,” chuckled Dave. “It had that ‘peel’, you know?”
Mark, popping up on the show like a recurring citrus dream, was all thumbs up. “It’s a-peel-ing, for sure,” he quipped, outlining the path to pulpy glory and dropping citrus puns like they were hot potatoes.
Once the challenge was set, Mark, in a move that may define parental innovation, put his own kids to the laborious task of peeling mandarins. “It’s all in the name of science—and free labor,” he joked, already planning how to transform his home into a mandarin-peeling boot camp.
The spotlight then turned to Taylor Camp, an 11-year-old from York, who might as well have had mandarin juice running through his veins. “He’s a natural,” his mum boasted, finding peels in places no peels should be.
Despite his past successes (nailing almost eight mandarins in the rehearsals), Taylor faced a peel-off at Absolute Radio’s sleek new studio that almost turned sour. After a couple of slip-ups that left him short of the four-mandarin minimum, it was do or die. With the pressure mounting and the clock ticking louder than a ticking time bomb, Taylor’s final attempt was nothing short of a citrus miracle.
“I could peel the tension in the air,” said a spectator, as Taylor, under the stern gaze of Mark and the frantic cheers of the radio team, clinched the title with exactly four mandarins peeled.
“It was epic,” his mother sighed, relief washing over her like a fresh spritz of mandarin zest.
Taylor, now dubbed the “Master Peeler,” not only took home a Guinness World Record but also proved that when life gives you mandarins, you don’t make lemonade—you break records.
As for Guinness World Records, they continue to zest up the competition for kids, ensuring the record-breaking field is as level as a freshly peeled mandarin. “It’s all about the fun,” Mark concluded, already dreaming up the next big challenge in the world of pint-sized peeling prodigies.
