Entertainment

Sleb Safari: Sad Dug the spud news

Maeve Connoly

Maeve Connolly

Maeve is the deputy digital editor at The Irish News. She has worked for the company since 2000.

 Dug the not-quite potato
 Dug the not-quite potato  Dug the not-quite potato

SAD spud news from New Zealand where the contender for the title of world’s largest potato has been told he’s not actually a ball of flour, he’s a tuber of a gourd.

You say tomato…

Dug the ‘spud’ weighed in at 17lb 6 oz (8kg in new money or the combined weight of two newborns in parent money) but DNA tests by Guinness World Records have ruled him out of the running. Dug is, to get technical, a fruit, which means the world record is still held by Peter Glazebrook from Nottinghamshire.

Peter has clung on to that prestigious title since 2011 when he grew a giant spud that topped the scales at 10lb 14oz (5kg or one bruiser of a baby). Peter’s potato did not have a name which now seems like a glaring misstep given the fun he could have had.

Dug the Kiwi imposter was discovered by Donna and Colin Craig-Brown when they were digging in their vegetable garden on their farm near Hamilton in New Zealand.

Before they could claim the world record on Dug’s behalf, Donna and Colin had to cut into their precious ‘potato’ and send a sample for DNA testing in the UK along with photos and paperwork. Potato paperwork, did you ever?

In the meantime, Dug became a local celebrity in the loosest sense when the couple started posting ‘fun pics’ on social media. Tbf, Dug looks great in sunnies. However, after a while Dug began to grow mouldy and pongy. A cautionary tale for influencers? 

Finally, an email arrived from the Guinness World Record people: “Sadly the specimen is not a potato and is in fact a tuber — a type of gourd. For this reason we do unfortunately have to disqualify the application.”

Colin’s love for Dug has not been dimmed by the dig.

“I say ‘G’day’ to him every time I pull out some sausages. He’s a cool character,” Colin said.

That’s because he’s in the freezer Colin…

The proud not-a-potato dad added: “Dug is the Destroyer from Down Under. He is the world’s biggest not-a-potato.” 

Colin continued: “If it quacks like a duck, swims like a duck and has feathers on it, then it must be a duck. But nah – this one turned out to be a turkey.”

Colin isn’t letting it get him down and now that he’s had a hint of how world record glory might taste, he’s determined to produce a potato to rival Peter’s.

Gourd almighty, who knew growing spuds was so competitive?

Madame Tussauds, making dreams come true

John Boyega 
John Boyega  John Boyega 

Madame Tussauds is an out and out hotbed of news in 2022. 

Last week we learned that One Direction fans have been begging madame for parts of the waxworks before they are melted down - this week madame has announced that actor John Boyega is the next person to get the hot wax treatment.

John says the experience has been “kind of crazy, kind of cool, and surreal”.

John will be on display from the summer.

High Five Rod Stewart

The last time we checked in on Rod Stewart he was lovingly installing his model railway city in his English home after waiting eight months for it to journey over land and sea from one of his other homes in Los Angeles.

It would seem Rod has taken some time out from tinkering with trains to fill potholes.

Rod ordered a load of gravel and a few shovels and called up some friends and together they tackled a road near his home, because, as Rod puts it, “My Ferrari can’t go through here at all”.

And that’s just not cricket.

Rod posted about it on Instagram.

“I’m repairing the street where I live as no-one can be bothered to do it.”

He said neighbours were “bashing their cars up” and the straw that broke the camel’s back was an ambulance bursting a tyre on the potholed stretch.

High five Rod Stewart.

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