Filmmaker uses record-breaking tongue to add another title to his list of personal wins
After entertaining himself as a child by pulling funny faces, Belgian man Sacha Feiner has now broken not one, but two, world records with his unique facial abilities.
The 43-year-old first claimed the largest tongue circumference (male) title in 2024 after inflating his tongue to 17 cm (6.69 in).
Now, he’s smashed the record for most tongue to nose touches in one minute with a total of 421 – way beyond the 334 that Renato Bayma Gaia (Brazil) claimed the record with in 2023.
Dad-of-one Sacha told us: “Having made quite a lot of funny faces as a child, I had always known that I was able to touch my nose with my tongue. In the same way, I discovered that my other ‘tongue inflation’ trick could earn me the record for the largest tongue circumference, which I have now held for nearly two and a half years.
“Before realizing that it could bring me a world record, I hadn’t (in all modesty) considered it a talent!”
He added: “Since I try my best to appear normal in everyday life, it’s not something I used to do in front of just anyone - except to shock my parents when I was a kid.
“On the other hand, now that I’m a record holder, I’m not going to hold back from showing it off at every opportunity… So, brace yourselves!”
Sacha, a movie director, scriptwriter and special effects/puppets creator who is currently working on an animated puppet feature, said breaking his latest record required intense concentration.
“Doing this for a minute isn’t all that tiring from a muscular point of view,” he said. “The hardest part is keeping the rhythm — it’s more a matter of concentration.
“I only trained a few times, just to make sure I could beat the previous record before my official attempt.
“The key was to reduce the range of motion so I could repeat it more quickly. It was more of a strategic kind of training… but as far as athletic performance goes, you could say I was already at the top!”
“Just imagine if I had really trained - I might have broken the sound barrier,” he joked.
Find more stories like this in our Human Body section.
Sacha said that people often assume his big tongue is a hindrance, but he said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He said: “Believe it or not, most people think that having the biggest tongue in the world is a handicap. Common assumptions tend to equate size with a certain slowness.
“I don’t know whether the size of my tongue helped me reach a speed of 421 nose touches in one minute, but what’s certain is that people’s prejudices motivated me to break that limiting image of having the biggest tongue.
“Because yes, the biggest tongue in the world can also be the quickest! And by extension, being big isn’t a handicap when it comes to being fast.
“What better motivation to break a record than the opportunity to help change mindsets around the world?”
Sacha joked that his greatest talent is “cluttering my career as a filmmaker with personal challenges” but that he takes them very seriously.
He said: “Since film projects develop very slowly, achieving this kind of record is obviously very rewarding as a tangible victory.
“As with my previous record, I’m preparing merchandise and gifts for friends (he made busts of his inflated tongue) - like animated trophies, a moving neon sign for my home, badges…
“Not to mention that public demand might force me to give workshops to pass on this essential skill.
“You have to face the responsibility of keeping the legend alive. But if that’s the price to pay for my son to remain proud of me…”
As far as other challenges go, Sacha says he’s waiting to be inspired by something else he spots in the Guinness World Records books, just like he’s done in the past.
He said: “I’ll let myself be inspired by other human achievements - and who knows, maybe another record will speak to me.
“Reaching light speed, or lifting the moon with my tongue… when you’ve got a well-trained tongue, nothing is impossible.”