A large potato sits on kitchen bench at Donna and Colin Craig-Browns home near Hamilton, New Zealand, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. The New Zealand couple dug up a potato the size of a small dog in their backyard and have applied for recognition from Guinness World Records. They say it weighed in at 7.9 kilograms (17 pounds), well above the current record of just under 5 kg. They've named the potato Doug, because they dug it up. (Donna Craig-Brown via AP)
By Nick Perry
Colin and Donna Craig-Brown were weeding their garden in New Zealand when Colin's hoe struck something huge just beneath the soil's surface.
As the couple knelt down and began digging around the object, Colin wondered if it was some kind of strange fungal growth, a giant puffball. After Colin pried it out with his garden fork, he scratched away a bit of the skin and tasted it.
A potato.
“We couldn't believe it," Donna said. “It was just huge.”
And not exactly pretty. Donna describes its appearance as more of an ugly, mutant look.
But it's quite possibly the largest potato on record. When the couple lugged it into their garage and put it on their old set of scales, it weighed in at a remarkable 7.9 kilograms (17.4 pounds). That's equal to a couple of sacks of regular potatoes, or one small dog.
In the weeks since their unusual find on Aug. 30, the couple’s potato has become something of a celebrity around their small farm near Hamilton. They’ve named the potato Doug, after the way it was unearthed, and Colin even built a small cart to tow Doug around.
“We put a hat on him. We put him on Facebook, taking him for a walk, giving him some sunshine,” Colin said. “It's all a bit of fun. It's amazing what entertains people."
A more official weigh-in at a local farming store put Doug at 7.8 kg. The Guinness World Records entry for the heaviest potato is a 2011 monster from Britain that weighed in at just under 5 kg. The couple say they've applied to Guinness to have Doug recognized and are waiting to hear back.
Guinness said it couldn't share information on the application and that the British potato remained the record-holder, for now at least.
Colin said he doesn't have any secret gardening tips. Usually they throw a bunch of cow manure and straw onto their garden and see what happens. He said they'd been growing cucumbers in that area of their garden before the weeds took over and hadn't planted any potatoes. Doug must have been self-sown, and quite possibly growing for a couple of years or more.
“It's a mystery to me,” Colin said. “It's one of nature’s little pleasant surprises."
But Doug hasn't proved an easy charge to look after. As the couple showed the potato off, it began drying out and losing weight. Mold started growing from its wounds.
“He was getting a bit pongy,” said Colin, referring to the potato's smell.
So Colin cleaned up Doug as best he could and put the potato in the freezer, where it remains.
But Colin may not be done with Doug yet. An amateur brewer, Colin said he's keen to turn Doug into a nice drop of potato vodka.
Business communication platform Slack, recently released its fifth wave of results from its global workplace survey from its Future Forum consortium, showing that the workforce has already moved to a split between working from home and going to the office. “We are now officially in the hybrid era of work,” Slack Future Forum VP Sheela Subramanian said when discussing the findings. "Hybrid is a work model where people can come into the office as well as work remotely, and what we're seeing is that the majority of knowledge workers are now in this arrangement — and that number is set to grow."
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, founder of Strategy + Rest,
joins Cheddar News to discuss UK's pilot four-day workweek and its impact on workers' mental health.
Ed Gaussen, co-founder and CEO of Mantra Health, and Matt Kennedy, co-founder and COO of Mantra Health, joined Cheddar News to discuss the digital mental health startup's latest funding round and plans for the future.
Charles Platkin, executive director at Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss how food insecurity affects our mental health.
Actor Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard on HBO's "Euphoria, recently addressed how she feels about the stigma attached to nudity in acting for women versus men. Sweeney noted she also made a request to avoid doing unnecessary nude scenes, which was supported by series creator Sam Levinson.
Actor and singer Chrissy Metz, who stars as Kate Pearson in "This Is Us," is partnering with Capital One Auto Navigator to share her story of purchasing her first car to help make car buying easier for others. "For me, I know a car was so important because of course it took me to the auditions to get me to the place I have today," she said. "But it also means empowerment and freedom and accessibility, and I think everybody is deserving and in need of that." Metz also discussed the final season of her hit show, noting that expectations for the finale "will probably be exceeded."
Tire manufacturer Michelin is partnering with the popular video game "The Sims FreePlay" in order to meet teens where they are to promote driving safety. Michelin North America Chairman and President Alexis Garcin joined Cheddar News to discuss how the #GoldenGauge program integrates with the game. "If you're a gamer yourself or your kids, then while you're driving and moving on the application, you will find a Michelin billboard, and if you engage with that billboard, then you will get some advice about how tires are critical for your safety on the road," Garcin explained. *Updated with the full title of 'The Sims FreePlay' and a typo fix in the name of Alexis Garcin.*
The video game industry has come a long way from the first commercialized 3D video game in 1980, but it still has a long way to go. Video game creators have recently been called out for not having realistic Black hairstyles in their games and graphic artists are now taking matters into their own hands by creating The Open Source Afro Hair Library. Jovan Wilson, 3D artist and resident for The Open Source Afro Hair Library, joined All Hands to discuss.
