U.S.WEIRD NEWS

Rooney's 499 chin-ups in an hour set the new mark

Damien Rooney is a former MMA fighter from Northern Ireland; his Guinness mark covers sixty minutes of nonstop pulling, which is more than most of us manage.

On air: Hank Ledger, Vera Bullock and Dale Bearman on Weekend Edition
Published 9:02 AM ET, Sunday, October 18, 2026

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

▶ As it aired · U.S.

Watch it as it aired: Hank Ledger, Vera Bullock and Dale Bearman on this story, from Weekend Edition at 9:02 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are Hindustan Times's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Guinness World Records — Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance

First reported by Hindustan Times: “Former MMA fighter completes 499 chin-ups in an hour to set Guinness World Record”.
Covered on BBN on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 9:02 AM ET on Weekend Edition, by Hank Ledger, Vera Bullock and Dale Bearman.
Topics: Guinness World Record.
BBN covered this story before: Rain ends India-West Indies T20, and Croatia slices ham for a record (October 17).

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

Hindustan TimesFormer MMA fighter completes 499 chin-ups in an hour to set Guinness World Record

What BBN said about it

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe number is in: Damien Rooney, a former MMA fighter from Northern Ireland, completed four hundred ninety-nine chin-ups in one hour for the Guinness World Record.
Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorFour hundred ninety-nine, and he stopped there. That's a man who knows when to leave a little room to grow.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorOne short of five hundred. Somewhere a perfectionist is lying awake over that.
Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThat's about eight a minute, for sixty minutes, and I get winded closing a laptop.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorEight a minute.

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