Garry Turner (UK) is coming up to his 25th anniversary as a Guinness World Records title holder after embracing his very unique ability.
Due to a rare skin condition, Garry has the world’s stretchiest skin.
Garry first set his record back on 16 October 1998 on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime when he stretched the skin on his stomach to a length of six inches.
Just a year later, Garry broke his own record by stretching the skin on his stomach to a distended length of 6.25 in (15.8 cm), and nobody with stretchier skin has come along since to take his title.
But exactly how does he do it?
Garry has a rare medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder that affects the connective tissues of the skin, ligaments and internal organs.
His condition means that the collagen that usually strengthens the skin and determines its levels of elasticity has become defective.
This results in a loosening of the skin and hypermobility of the joints, and in serious cases, can cause a fatal collapse or rupture of the blood vessels.
Garry showed off his unique skill on the British TV show, hosted by former footballer Ian Wright, who even had a go of pulling the skin on Garry’s neck.
After the host asked him how he discovered his unusual ability, Garry said: “I was probably about eight years old, messing around at school and I asked a friend next to me, ‘Can you do this?’”
Garry pulled at the skin on his arm, adding: “And he replied ‘no’ and that’s when I realized it was something special.”
He assured the audience watching that stretching his skin didn’t hurt before pulling on his eyelids, neck, arms and stomach to demonstrate his abilities.
When asked if he can tie his skin in a knot, Garry quipped: “That’s stretching it a bit.”
Garry and Ian also enjoyed a bit of banter about the record holder’s support of football team Nottingham Forest.
After Garry stretched the skin on his arm that’s tattooed with the team’s badge, Ian joked they would have done better in the league if Garry was in goal and had stretched his skin to cover the entire space.
Ian also asked Garry if there is anything he can do that “freaks people out”.
“Probably the double chin,” Garry said before pulling the skin of his neck up to cover the bottom half of his face.
Ian then welcomed leading skin expert Brian Morgan on to the stage to explain just how rare Garry’s condition is.
Brian said that just one in half a million people have the same condition as Garry.
He explained to the host: “Yours and my skin is made of collagen fibres, it’s rather like the weave on a basket and what’s happening is [Garry’s] got very disorderly collagen fibres to allow it to stretch out and luckily it comes back again.”
He added: “Really the only problems are that he makes rather poor scars, he’s rather slow to heal if he cuts himself and he bruises and bleeds a little bit easily, but otherwise no [it doesn't cause any issues].”
Brian also joked that Garry would be “the tallest man in the world” if he could grow into his skin.
Garry’s unique skin also came in handy when he set the record for most clothes pegs clipped on a face mutlipe times, most recently with an astonishing 161 on the set of Rekorlar Dunyasi in Istanbul, Türkiye in 2013.
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