Celebrity chef Hilda Baci has opened up about a dramatic moment when her enormous pot of jollof rice collapsed during her Guinness World Record attempt.
In a video shared on X by HipTV on Tuesday, Baci revealed that the custom-built pot unexpectedly gave way while being lifted for weighing, leaving her initially terrified.
“When we had the mishap with the pot, in my first few seconds, my heart was in my hands. I was very scared, very worried,” she said.
Despite the initial panic, Baci explained that the incident ultimately turned out to be a positive, as it facilitated food distribution and allowed her team to serve more people.
“For me, the record was not the most important thing. People needed to get to taste and enjoy the food we had spent hours making.
“I would say it was a good thing that the pot caved because it made food distribution a lot easier… it was a blessing in disguise,” she added.
During the record attempt on September 12, 2025, at the World Jollof Festival in Lagos, Baci’s team prepared nearly 8,780 kilograms of jollof rice in a six-meter-wide and six-meter-tall pot with a capacity of about 23,000 liters.
Baci highlighted that even after the scare, her priority was ensuring the food reached the crowd. She also stressed the importance of transparency, working closely with the Guinness adjudicator to properly document the incident.
“So I reached out to our adjudicator, and I let him know that the pot caved… And he’s like, let’s just proceed…we had to look for different cameras to see if we had a recording, a clear recording of that, because for me, transparency is very, very important.
“So once we were able to establish that we had a clear recording of that, it was just straight to the next thing, like to distribute the food,” Baci said.
Guinness World Records later confirmed her as the official record-holder for the largest pot of jollof rice cooked in a single attempt.
Reflecting on her success, Baci credited her faith, saying, “It’s just a testament that God is good and I’m a child of grace. When I tell you grace is here and you doubt me, look at my track record. Trust the Lord.”
This milestone adds to her previous record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual, achieved in May 2023 when she cooked for 93 hours and 11 minutes.
