According to a report the Metro of 17 July 2018 of the World Nettle Eating Championships, held at the Bottle Inn, Marshwood, Dorset, the winner Phil Thorne ‘chomped his way through 104ft of stinging nettes, to beat his personal best of 96ft’. The women’s competition ended in a dead heat with both Mel Long and Rachel Woods managing to eat 62ft.

The event which was attended by about 400 people, ‘has its origins in 1997 when two farmers made a bet over who had the longest nettles  and the loser had to eat a stalk of them.’  This may or may not be true but in recent years the stalks have not been eaten, only the leaves growing on them.