A Frenchman’s eight-year effort to build the world’s tallest structure out of matchsticks has been rejected by Guinness World Records.
Richard Plaud, 47, devoted 4,200 hours to meticulously assembling 706,900 matchsticks into a towering 7.19-meter (23.6-foot) Eiffel Tower replica, surpassing the current record.
However, his dream of holding the title has been dashed due to technicalities surrounding the type of matches used.
Guinness World Records instructed that the structure must be built with commercially available matches lacking flammable red tips and remain “recognizable.”
Mr. Plaud admitted to altering the matches by removing the red tips to achieve better aesthetics, unaware it would disqualify him.
He explained that commercially available matches were impractical for such a large project, leading him to obtain untipped versions directly from the manufacturer.
He recounted the immense effort and public exhibition and attention the tower received, attracting 4,000 visitors.
Interestingly, Guinness World Records acknowledged potential “heavy-handedness” in its decision.
The Director, Mark McKinley, stated their commitment to upholding fairness for all record attempts but said there is room for improvement in this case.
He promised to revisit the application, possibly leading to rule adjustments for similar records.
