As the Guinness World Records team puts it, Samantha Ramsdell is every dentist’s dream come true.
The Connecticut resident, 31, recently set a Guinness World Record for having the largest mouth gape (for a female).
Her mouth gape measures 6.52 centimetres, or two and a half inches. When measured across, it reaches more than 10cm, or four inches. That means Ramsdell can fit an entire green apple in her mouth, can bite through four single stacked cheeseburgers, and can even fit an entire large-sized portion of French fries in her mouth.
“My whole life I’ve been so insecure about my mouth … now I celebrate it. I’ve turned one of my biggest flaws into my biggest assets. What makes you unique is your superpower and I hope this only inspires others to embrace what makes them different and never be afraid to be yourself,” Ramsdell said in a post on Instagram.
Growing up, Ramsdell was often bullied by other children and given nicknames such as “big bass mouth”. Since no one in her family had a mouth like hers, it eventually became her defining characteristic.
So when she created her TikTok account, she started gaining popularity for her unique plus-size pucker.
“At first, I was like, well … am I too old to be on TikTok? But it was the one thing I could do right now to keep me busy and keep me creative, so I started doing some singing, some of my comedy stuff, and I did one comedy video where I made this crazy face, and the children of TikTok were like, ‘What happened to your face?!’”
During the pandemic, her legion of followers grew exponentially, especially after Ramsdell started posting videos consuming food – from sandwiches to pastries – in a single bite. Her videos include stuffing three doughnuts in her mouth, or taking requests to eat two at a time. She now has more than 1.7 million followers on the platform.
It was her TikTok family that encouraged her to apply for a Guinness World title.
“Being 31, and being able to get a record for something that really I was so insecure about, something that I wanted to keep so small, it’s great because now it’s like one of the biggest, best things about me,” she says.
She hopes her record will encourage others to embrace features that make them unique.
“If I had advice for anyone who had a large body part, or something really unique, and they wanted to go for the Guinness World Records title, I would say do it. It’s your superpower, it is a thing that makes you special and different from everyone else walking around.”
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Pros%20and%20cons%20of%20BNPL
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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%3Cp%3EFly%20with%20Etihad%20Airways%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi%20to%20New%20York%E2%80%99s%20JFK.%20There's%2011%20flights%20a%20week%20and%20economy%20fares%20start%20at%20around%20Dh5%2C000.%3Cbr%3EStay%20at%20The%20Mark%20Hotel%20on%20the%20city%E2%80%99s%20Upper%20East%20Side.%20Overnight%20stays%20start%20from%20%241395%20per%20night.%3Cbr%3EVisit%20NYC%20Go%2C%20the%20official%20destination%20resource%20for%20New%20York%20City%20for%20all%20the%20latest%20events%2C%20activites%20and%20openings.%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
