Ditch Fahrenheit's Journal 7 7

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California man's gumball (already chewed) called world's largest

 

Palos Verdes Estates resident Barry Chappell understands that the almost universal reaction of those who initially see his, um, achievement - a 175-pound chewed gum ball - is a loud "Ewwwww!"

 

But Chappell has demonstrated a literal sticktoitiveness few others can match over the six years he has meticulously molded his creation.

 

The smooth, yellowish orb - with a circumference of 62 inches - consists of an estimated 95,200 pieces of Nicorette gum. It is being lauded as the world's largest medicated gum ball by none other than Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

 

And if the world's foremost purveyor of all that is weird and offbeat makes that claim, well then, believe it or not!

 

"I can't believe I'm proud of this," said the 50-year-old Chappell.

 

Neither can his high school-age children, who, not surprisingly, did not want their names used for this story. (Teenagers, after all, are generally embarrassed by the mere existence of their parents, let alone one who keeps a ball of old chewed gum in a bathroom drawer for years, as Chappell does.)

 

But his offspring did play pivotal roles in the gum ball's origin.

 

It was shortly before the birth of his unidentified son 15 years ago that Chappell resolved to give up his two-pack-a-day Merit Light addiction.

 

So he began chewing the gum, which contains nicotine, in what proved a successful attempt to give up a habit that Chappell conceded was filthy.

 

But while

on an airplane with his then 5-year-old daughter in 2006, Chapell found himself in a sticky situation.

 

"I had chewed a lot of Nicorette and there was nowhere to throw it away, so I rolled it into a little ball and that's pretty much how the whole thing started," he said. "I've chewed more of this stuff than anybody I've ever met.

 

"What started out as a kind of a joke between my daughter and me has turned into a really fun project," he added.

 

These days Chappell carefully applies the wads of gum he collects to his giant gum ball in the moist environment of his sauna, believe it or not.

 

On Thursday night, Chappell unveiled his, um, work on the television show he hosts, "The Fine Art Showcase," which airs from a Torrance studio on his DirecTV shopping channel.

 

Joining Chappell on the show for the occasion was Edward Meyer, vice president of exhibits and archives for Ripley's.

 

"It's not as big as the world's biggest barbed-wire ball we bought, it's not as big as the world's biggest string ball we bought and it's not as big as the world's biggest rubber band ball we bought, but it's the world's biggest gum ball and that's pretty cool," Meyer said before the show.

 

"It's truly a Believe It or Not! action. What makes a guy collect gum for five years? We're always interested in the odd, the unusual, the little interesting things people do without the rest of us understanding."

 

So impressed is Meyer that he said he wouldn't mind putting the gum ball on display at the company's newly renovated Hollywood museum.

 

Among the 400 new exhibits in the $5 million revamp, the gum ball could sit alongside is a life-size replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger covered with 500 tiny figurines representing various movies and a 9-foot-tall Transformer from Thailand made out of car parts.

 

But for now, the gum ball will be immortalized in an upcoming Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic strip that runs in newspapers in 42 countries in 17 languages.

 

Chappell, meanwhile, has a much more modest goal in mind.

 

"I would love to completely get off of Nicorette gum," he said.

 

LINK: California man's gumball (already chewed) called world's largest

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