This Father Been Dreaming Of A Guinness Record Since His Childhood. He Did It With Gummy Bears.
Matthew Powers grew up reading Guinness World Records books as a child and spent a significant portion of his adult life quietly nursing the goal of one day having his name in one. The 38-year-old veterinarian from Norwell, Massachusetts, a father of three who is married to another vet, had always assumed the dream was achievable in theory but had never found the right record to attempt. Then he found the category for most gummy bears eaten with a cocktail stick in one minute. He knew immediately. He told Guinness he had always loved gummy bears and that this was something he could actually achieve. The previous record, set by Wolfgang Schwarz of Austria in March 2024, stood at 38. Matthew needed to beat that. He committed fully: he bought every brand of gummy bear available in his area, comparing them for toughness, softness, and how reliably they could be speared and lifted without falling off the stick, and eventually settled on Albanese brand gummy bears as the best choice for the attempt. He spent months doing practice runs at home and tracking his improvement.
On April 4, 2026, Matthew took the official attempt in Norwell with 50 gummy bears laid out and a one-minute timer running. His personal best in practice had been 36. He had only laid out 50 bears because he genuinely did not expect to need that many. He ate 48, breaking the record by a full 10 gummy bears and leaving two on the table simply because the clock ran out. He said he was thrilled with the final number and ecstatic when the results were verified. His children, who had been following the whole process from the early practice runs through the actual attempt, were so proud that they started telling everyone they knew. For Matthew, that reaction was the whole point. He said achieving a lifelong goal like this was so special, and that the dream he had carried since childhood was finally real, certified, and framed. He still has the books.
