World Record for Most Fast Food Restaurants Visited in 24 Hours Set By Social Media Stars

Setting a Guinness World Record back in the day must have been agonizing, since you had to wait an entire year to land in a printed book. Now, thanks to the internet, records can be instantly blasted out across the globe — and so, from largest fruit displays to longest barbecues, official Guinness World Records have become a cottage industry for anyone interested in a bit of notoriety.

Popular social media chefs Nick DiGiovanni (a former MasterChef finalist) and Lynn Davis (of Cooking with Lynja) certainly understand the allure of breaking a world record. Back in January, they set the record for "World's Largest Cake Pop." In June, it was the "World's Largest Chicken Nugget." And now, they're back at it again: Over the weekend, the pair published the video of their latest record: "Most Fast Food Restaurants Visited In 24 Hours."

The 17-minute video speaks for itself, but here's the recap: With the record set at 50 restaurants, the duo took to the streets of chain-dense Manhattan on August 10, kicking things off around 8:30 a.m. with a McGriddle at the McDonald's in Times Square. "The key to getting this record, it feels like, is getting those areas where you can hit a couple at a time," Nick states in the video as they rolled into a food court.

The pair were joined by a Guinness World Records adjudicator to make sure the rules were followed: The pair had to hit all the restaurants together; one food or drink had to be purchased and consumed from each location; and GPS coordinates and a receipt had to be provided from each place.

Later, it was clarified that Nick and Lynn, specifically, didn't need to consume the food or drink, and so many of the purchased items were given away. It's an interesting exception, especially taking into account that, to set the record for most pubs visited in 24 hours — which was broken earlier this year — those purchased drinks had to be consumed on the premises. (But hey, who am I to question the wisdom of a Guinness World Records adjudicator?)

In the end, Nick and Lynn broke the record by stopping at 69 restaurants in total, traveling about 8 miles, all on foot. The most frequently visited chains were McDonald's, Starbucks, and Dunkin'.

And yet, though the duo said they were feeling tired by the end, the whole journey took a mere 7 hours and 15 minutes, meaning Nick and Lynn left a whole 16 hours and 45 minutes on the table. As such, this world record would already seem ripe for the breaking. And again, by comparison, the aforementioned record for most pubs in 24 hours was broken less than a year after the previous mark was set.