A couple from New Zealand said they were cleaning up their vegetable garden when they discovered a gigantic potato that weighed more than 17 pounds and may set a new world record.
Colin and Donna Craig-Brown said they weren’t sure what they’d found beneath a few inches of the earth in their Waikato garden at first.
Colin Craig-Brown tells the media, “I said to Donna this must be one of those white kumaras that we grew.”
He added, “Because some of them just grew massive here.”
Craig-Brown explained that it was only after he poked it with a fork that he realized it was a potato.
He recalled to media, “I said to Donna, ‘It’s a potato,’ and she went, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Yeah it is!’”
The potato, which had been growing in their garden for a few years before being discovered, weighed 17.4 pounds, according to the couple.
The couple applied to Guinness World Records to have the potato, dubbed “Doug,” recognized as the world’s largest.
The current record-holder is an 11-pound spud grown by British gardener Peter Glazebrook in 2011.
Colin Craig-Brown acknowledged the home’s shortcomings “garden can sometimes get a bit feral. There are some parts of the garden you need to pack a lunch and advise your next of kin before heading in to.”