Alaska Woman Breaks Guinness Record with Nearly 3-Inch Mouth Gape

Marie Pearl Zellmer Robinson from Ketchikan, Alaska, has earned a Guinness World Record thanks to her impressive mouth gape, which measures a whopping 2.98 inches.

​Robinson had always suspected she had a big mouth, but it wasn’t until she saw a video of Samantha Ramsdell—the previous record-holder with a 2.56-inch gape in 2021—that she considered her own might be record-worthy. Inspired, she had her gape officially measured by a dentist, and sure enough, it surpassed the existing record.

“I watched her video and thought, ‘Hey, I can fit stuff like that in my mouth too! I wonder if I could beat her,’” Robinson told Guinness World Records.

Speaking with the Ketchikan Daily News, she shared that her large mouth was always a running joke among friends and family. “People would say I could fit three and a half Jenga blocks in my mouth,” she recalled, adding that although it was often a source of childhood fun, it was never something she seriously considered until now.

​As an adult, Robinson says she doesn’t often show off her mouth gape anymore, admitting, “When I do, it kind of creeps people out. They say, ‘That’s a creepy jaw!’”

Her new world record feels like a personal victory, especially after missing out on participating in a 2013 Guinness attempt for the world’s largest Wellington boot race due to a scheduling conflict.

“Now I finally get to be part of the Guinness World Records club,” she said, proudly joining others in her community who also hold titles.