Captain Reginald Agyei, the husband of Chef Failatu Abdul Razak, who is currently striving to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon, has officially declared that the Cook-a-thon will conclude at 10am on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
In an interview with GhOne News, Captain Reginald Agyei expressed that despite receiving reassurances from both the medical team and Chef Faila herself regarding her ability to continue, the team has decided to terminate the Cook-a-thon due to concerns for her well-being.
“I just want her to be safe. I don’t want her overstressing herself. I’m an officer, so obviously I’ve trained officers and all. So I know the point where when you get out this point, we are not coming out.
“Right now, I can say on authority that we are calling it quits. She is okay. She’s willing to continue. The medical team is saying she’s okay, but the team myself, we think its enough. By tomorrow, 10:00 am. She’s not happy about it, but this is a decision we have taken. She said she would listen to what we have to say,” she said.
Captain Reginald Agyei expressed his gratitude to God for the success of the cookathon so far and cited expectations for the future in the aftermath of the cookathon.
“I was also optimistic that if she had her name out there, the restaurant would grow. So I think that is one thing I’ve looked out for. And then for some reason, God has intervened.
“With the kind of name she’s made out there, I’m pretty much sure anything she starts up or even we do an annex somewhere is going to go far. And we give God all the praise,” he said.
He also narrated how he was not expecting the show of support Chef Faila had received since the commencement of her attempt.
He said he expected a handful of people but was surprised when massive crowds of individuals in and outside Ghana came to show their support for her.
He cited the massive support as a reason for her resilience throughout the cookathon.
“Well, I’m excited to be honest, a little overwhelmed because I was not expecting these numbers after the first day. I was expecting a few people, maybe their team members, maybe our friends around us.
“To my surprise, I think after the crossover everybody made their way here. It was fantastic. I think that’s one thing which keeps her going.
“Anytime there’s a crowd and then there’s good music and she can relate to, I think keeps her going. So I think my only surprise was when you kept hearing that people fly from outside the country, UK, us, just come and have a look at it and it was news to me. I wasn’t expecting something like that, he said.
Chef Faila is currently on her 9th day of cooking nonstop at the Modern City Hotel in Tamale.
She has successfully broken her target of 120 hours and has also surpassed the record for the longest cooking marathon, which is currently held by Alan Fisher (Ireland) with a time of 119 hours and 57 minutes.
Other Ghanaians have also announced their plans to attempt various records and some have even completed their attempts, such as the most lipstick applications in 30 seconds.
